Chapter 1 The Textile Factory She's very delicate and can't stand the hardship. ...
In March 1970, at the Shanghai State-owned 316 Textile Factory, city leaders suddenly came to inspect the work. The factory director, assistant director, workshop director, and other cadres all accompanied the leaders into the workshop with serious expressions.
"Textiles are a pillar industry of the city... We can't be careless."
"Comrade Zhou was awarded the title of Model Worker of the City when he worked in the workshop..."
The middle-aged woman in blue overalls had short hair. Even though she had become a cadre, she still looked like she did when she was a factory worker. She had a very beautiful face, an oval face that looked a little square because she pursed her lips. She had a pair of big, round almond-shaped eyes that were still bright and piercing even as she got older.
"That's the spinning workshop."
"Comrade Zhou's daughter is also working in the workshop now; she is a machine operator."
"Really? What's your name?"
"Qin Xiangxiang."
The textile factory was a very noisy place. The workshop was filled with the roar of machines, which made people's ears vibrate. People in the workshop had to shout to talk. When a machine broke down, the female workers would bang on the machine, making loud noises to attract the attention of the mechanics.
Therefore, most of the female workers who have worked in textile factories for many years have some hearing problems. As they get older, their hearing deteriorates, and they have to be shouted at loudly for them to hear them. They also have loud voices, which is something they are used to working in the workshop.
At this moment, there was a large crowd of people outside, but no one in the workshop knew what was happening outside. The machines were still running, and the female workers were working quickly, pulling out the still-warm yarn one by one and re-inserting the yarn tubes.
Some female workers sit on the track car to inspect each spindle, promptly identifying any problems to ensure the machine operates normally 24 hours a day and produces high-quality fine yarn.
Some female workers lacked enthusiasm for their work and secretly slacked off, resulting in substandard yarn. They were scolded by the machine operator and still refused to accept it.
"Xiao Qin, you were very capable today!"
"The future will belong to young female workers like you. People have to accept getting old."
The "good times" for a female textile worker don't last long. When she's young, she's quick and sharp, but after a few years, her physical strength and eyesight decline, and she can't keep up with the younger workers.
The people accompanying the leaders on their inspection arrived at the spinning workshop and happened to see the machine operator praising a young and beautiful textile worker. This young textile worker, like Secretary Zhou, had short hair, a beautiful oval face with round and plump features, a pair of large and bright almond-shaped eyes, a pert nose, and a cherry-like mouth. Even in her blue coarse cloth overalls, her graceful figure was still evident.
When the group of people saw her, they all looked amazed. She didn't look like a factory worker at all; she looked more like a lady from a respectable family in the past.
When the city leaders saw her, they immediately recognized her as the daughter of Zhou, the head of the Youth League Committee at the factory. They praised her repeatedly, saying that she was beautiful, cheerful, and perfect, just like the peony embroidered on the red brocade quilt, a national beauty, a symbol of wealth and prosperity, and pleasing to the eye. Like mother, like daughter. He said to the factory director, "You've really raised a good daughter. She will be a pillar of your factory in the future."
"Women are just as capable as men."
"Each generation has its own tradition."
Listening to the city leaders' exaggerated remarks, everyone else in the textile factory smiled and chimed in, while secretly wondering what was going on. They knew that the city leaders' inspection today was a surprise, and no one knew about it or had time to prepare.
Qin Xiangxiang, whom everyone in the factory had watched grow up, was pretty and pleasing to the eye, but her personality was a source of frowns. She was a spoiled, troublesome little devil who was forced by her own mother to work as a textile worker. A few days ago, she even quit and said she wanted to switch jobs.
She is lazy and has extremely poor work enthusiasm, a complete different person from her mother who was once a model worker in her youth.
Normally, it's considered good if she doesn't cause trouble or slack off, but today she actually behaved like an excellent factory worker.
Have you really come to terms with it?
After the city leaders left, the factory leaders also publicly praised Qin Xiangxiang, saying that Zhou Tuanwei had done a good job of raising her daughter. Zhou Tuanwei, who was usually stern and rarely smiled, rarely showed a smile in public. Only then did the others realize that Zhou Tuanwei was really beautiful, and that the beauty of the mother and daughter was inherited from each other.
As the shift ended, the young and pretty female worker walked out of the workshop and saw the middle-aged woman waiting for her under the eaves in the distance. She couldn't help but look at her toes and dared not raise her head.
Qin Xiangxiang is a person who gets into arguments and is often called shrewish, but when she sees her own mother, she's like a mouse seeing a cat, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.
Her mother, Zhou Aodong, was extremely strict with her from a young age, always scolding her for being as stupid as a donkey. Whenever she made a mistake, she would either beat or scold her, forbidding her from doing this or that. Qin Xiangxiang was afraid of her, but she couldn't help but resent her in her heart.
She used to think that her father was good to her, her grandmother was good to her, her uncle was good to her, her aunt was good to her, her maternal uncle and aunt were good to her... all these relatives were good to her, only her mother was the worst to her.
But last night she had a very long dream, and in the dream she finally understood that the best person in the world to her was her mother.
This dream was so real. She dreamt that her mother, Zhou Aodong, died, and then she died too... Moreover, she was actually a supporting female character in a book who was a control group.
After dying in her dream, she floated around and saw a strange comment section:
Qin Xiangxiang is such an idiot!
Qin Xiangxiang was toxic, stupid, and disgusting; she's finally offline.
Qin Xiangxiang deserved it...
When Qin Xiangxiang woke up from her dream, she thought it was just a dream. But when she woke up in the morning, everything that happened confirmed her dream, especially just now—city leaders really did come to inspect the work!
In her dream, she deliberately didn't work properly because she had a fight with her mother. She was scolded by the parking attendant, and the city leaders happened to see it, which made her mother look bad. She was also criticized by the factory.
Despite her mother's diligent work ethic, she missed out on the position of assistant factory manager and was not promoted because her daughter lacked enthusiasm and had a poor work attitude.
That wasn't the end of it; their family's bad luck began to truly take hold.
In 1971, which is next year, her family was reported for having connections with overseas countries. Later, letters containing secret correspondence with relatives in Hong Kong were found hidden in their possession. Her mother admitted to all the wrongdoings and, along with her father, was dismissed from their factory positions and sent to a farm for labor reform.
Because Qin Xiangxiang had a military officer husband, and this relative from Hong Kong was her maternal grandfather's sister, her mother's aunt, and her great-aunt, Qin Xiangxiang had no idea about this relative, so it didn't implicate her.
After her parents left Shanghai, Qin Xiangxiang and her five-year-old son Li Qingfeng could no longer stay in Shanghai and were forced to go south to join the army.
Li Qingfeng was her child after she married naval officer Li Jianzhi. In 1965, Qin Xiangxiang was eighteen years old, and her family helped her find a husband. In the end, they chose Li Jianzhi, a twenty-four-year-old naval officer.
Li Jianzhi was from Bincheng in Northeast China. His family lived in the countryside and consisted of his widowed mother and three younger siblings. He was the eldest brother in the family. He was 1.86 meters tall, tall and handsome. He came to Shanghai for two years of further study in 1964 and was very likely to be assigned to work in Shanghai. He was a hot commodity.
Qin Xiangxiang's parents were factory workers, one in a textile factory and the other in a machine tool factory. She had a Shanghai urban household registration and was an only child. She was also beautiful, and the two quickly fell in love and soon got married.
The year after their marriage, Qin Xiangxiang became pregnant. However, unfortunately, Li Jianzhi was assigned to the Mingzhou Thousand Islands Coastal Defense Area in 1966. Due to the tense situation in the East China Sea at the time, Li Jianzhi's troops were stationed on an unnamed island.
Qin Xiangxiang naturally refused to go to the island with the army. She was a resident of Shanghai, which was one of the best cities in the country at the time. It was full of factories of all sizes and had an external port. It was also one of the few remaining ports that traded with the international community. Living conditions in Shanghai were good, and she could come into contact with many foreign things. It was also a priority supply area for pork in the country, and she could occasionally buy pork without ration coupons... Of course, she refused to go with the army.
So she lived with her parents while pregnant. After giving birth to her son, Li Qingfeng, she lived in a worker's housing unit in Shanghai. She lived a comfortable life, without having to serve her in-laws or have any other sisters-in-law. Her husband would also send her half of his salary and some subsidies every month.
In the following years, her husband, who lived on a remote island, did not return to Shanghai, and she did not take her son south to visit relatives. They continued to live apart.
Until 1971, she was forced to take her son south to join the army. Fortunately, her husband, Li Jianzhi, was transferred to work at the Qiandao main island base. From Shanghai port to Dinghai port of Qiandao, they took the Zhongzhe No. 2 line, which took about ten hours to reach the destination.
After arriving on the island, Qin Xiangxiang found it difficult to adapt to island life. Besides the hardships of living there, what she found hardest to accept was the low status of women on the island, a stark contrast to Shanghai.
Shanghai has a large number of textile factories and a huge number of female textile workers. Many of these women earn more than their husbands and are the economic pillars of their families. In addition, textile factories operate on three shifts, so many women are busy at work while their husbands at home do laundry, cook, and take care of the children. This is not surprising.
However, in many parts of the country, there are no textile factories, and the main labor force in the family is the man. The woman is busy around the stove and cannot even sit at the table to eat. The so-called "women hold up half the sky" has become just a slogan. In rural areas, people must rely on men. Women have no real status. Even if they can be allocated land and counted by the head of the household, they cannot be the head of the household. They can only be attached to the man and become dependents.
Qin Xiangxiang, an only child who grew up in a textile factory in Shanghai, found it difficult to integrate into the patriarchal environment. When a woman in the same compound gave birth to twin girls, Qin Xiangxiang was genuinely envious and congratulated her, but was accused of being sarcastic.
Qin Xiangxiang said that female factory workers in the city earn money to buy herself Pechoin clam oil and many beautiful clothes, but people said that she was showing off her city life and leading girls astray.
...
Although these are all reasons, Qin Xiangxiang did look down on this and that after arriving on the island, and she just couldn't stand this garbage environment.
What she couldn't stand most was being criticized for "showing off her ability to have sons." Heaven knows that Qin Xiangxiang dreamed of having a daughter, but instead of having a daughter, she had three sons in a row. She was so angry that she vomited blood, and people even accused her of "preferring sons to daughters" and deliberately showing off her ability to have children.
On the island, Qin Xiangxiang was not well-liked, while her neighbor, Lin Xiuqin, was thriving in the family compound. Qin Xiangxiang and her husband, Li Jianzhi, had a distant relationship and often quarreled, while Lin Xiuqin and her husband were a loving couple and even had twins.
The two families are in stark contrast. Qin Xiangxiang is jealous of Lin Xiuqin in every way. Lin Xiuqin takes the college entrance examination, so she also takes the college entrance examination. Lin Xiuqin does business, so she also does business.
Qin Xiang wanted to raise money to open a textile factory, but because she didn't understand foreign languages, she was swindled by the partner who sold her the machines. She was cheated out of her money and heavily in debt. Unable to bear the blow, she was hit by a car and died.
After she died, Qin Xiangxiang saw the book reviews and realized that she was just a supporting female character in the novel "Sweet Military Marriage in the 1970s," whose existence was only to highlight the female lead, Lin Xiuqin.
Thinking of this, Qin Xiangxiang shuddered. She didn't want to be part of the control group, nor did she want to be hit by a car.
Moreover, she's not smart enough, and she can't change her pretentious temper no matter what she does; she should stay far away from the female lead.
First of all, he divorced Li Jianzhi!
Then we need to find those "letters to the outside world" to prevent our mother from being blamed.
Her mother, Zhou Aodong, was a model worker when she was young, which had already ruined her health. She finally made it to become a middle-level manager in the factory, but was then sent down to the countryside for labor reform... Later, her health failed her at the farm, and she died of illness.
“Mom…” Qin Xiangxiang raised her head and looked at her mother in front of her. Her eyes were red. In her dream, her mother died. Only then did she realize her regret. She knew that her mother cared about the textile factory, but she was still cheated out of her money when she opened the textile factory. If it were her mother, she would definitely not be as stupid as her.
No matter how strict her mother was with her, as long as her mother was there, she was her mother's little girl, her silly precious daughter.
Unable to control her emotions, Qin Xiangxiang stepped forward and hugged her biological mother, Zhou Aodong.
"Think about it, what's wrong?" Zhou Aodong, who had been looking serious, was stunned as her daughter threw herself into her arms.
You know, her daughter was afraid of her since she was little, and refused to get close to her. She only wanted her father. As she grew up, she was even more afraid of her and wished she could never see her own mother.
And then she actually...
Zhou Aodong sighed: "If you want to change jobs, then tell your aunt."
"I won't change it, Mom. I'm not a stupid donkey."
Qin Xiangxiang in the book is indeed a fool, easily fooled by a group of people. Her mother, Zhou Aodong, made her work as a textile factory worker, but Qin Xiangxiang couldn't stand the hardship, so her aunt helped her find another job.
She traded a regular job as a textile factory worker for a temporary job as a piano teacher at the cultural center.
She worked in the fine spinning workshop, the most difficult textile workshop, but also one with relatively good benefits. It was a skilled job with a suburban subsidy. Although it was hot, tough, and tiring, and she had to work three shifts, she could earn seventy or eighty yuan a month. On the other hand, the piano teacher at the cultural center had an easy and respectable job, earning only twenty-five yuan a month, which was less than the twenty-nine yuan and fifty cents a factory apprentice earned.
In those days, workers had the best treatment. It was very difficult to get into their state-owned textile factory, and the wages and benefits were among the highest in the textile factory. How could her aunt have the nerve to ask her to exchange her regular female worker position for a temporary job with her husband's niece?
Unfortunately, the Qin Xiangxiang of the past was as foolish as a pig, and she really wanted to switch places.
She felt that since her parents had salaries and her husband sent her money every month, it wouldn't hurt for her to work as a factory worker and earn an extra 40 or 50 yuan. She thought it would be more respectable to be a piano teacher at the cultural center, where she wouldn't have to work in the factory and could just play the piano with her child every day.
Qin Xiangxiang in the past truly knew nothing of human suffering.
She didn't know how miserable life was for women in the countryside, or what it meant for a woman to earn seventy or eighty yuan a month independently. A job as a textile worker was their dream, a lifesaver, more real than slogans about respecting women. It truly allowed women to stand tall at home.
Zhou Aodong: "Then you should work hard from now on."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Mom... if I'm going to change jobs, I should find a permanent one, like a sales clerk or cashier."
Even if Qin Xiangxiang knew her tragic future, it didn't mean she could suddenly become diligent and motivated. She was self-aware; she couldn't stand factory work. She could manage for a day or two, but to be a textile worker for an extended period was worse than death.
She's very delicate and can't stand this kind of hardship.
Zhou Aodong's eyes widened: "You—"
"Mommy~" Qin Xiangxiang hugged her mother tightly, rubbing against her and acting coquettishly, "I can't stand that kind of hardship, and my being a factory worker will hinder your future career as a factory manager. What if one day people say that my work attitude is not good and it affects you?"
This was the first time Qin Xiangxiang had ever acted spoiled towards her mother. She had never dared to act spoiled towards her mother before, for fear that her mother would scold her, beat her, or scold her.
Zhou Aodong was bewildered by her daughter's sweet talk. In the past, this girl was timid and cowardly when she saw her, which made her furious. But now, when she called her mother softly, she couldn't say a harsh word.
This girl is beautiful and endearing. Her almond-shaped eyes are clear and innocent, with a charmingly naive quality that melts anyone's heart.
"She is your good girl, your lovely girl."
Zhou Aodong sighed: "Alright, Mom will try to find you an easier job."
The workshop operates on three shifts, but there are also long day shifts, such as in the cotton inspection room, which are easier but pays little. These are considered cushy jobs, and it's unlikely you'll get any honors or be promoted to a management position. Most of these cushy jobs are held by women with connections or the wives of some management officer.
Zhou Aodong didn't want his young daughter to be involved in mundane family matters with those women, so he sent her to work in the workshop, secretly hoping to influence her.
"Mom, you agreed?" Qin Xiangxiang was stunned. She had thought she would be scolded by her mother, but her mother actually agreed.
You should know that her mother, Zhou Aodong, was a very proud person, just like her name. Her maternal grandfather initially thought his wife was pregnant with their eldest son, so he named him Aodong. Later, it turned out to be a daughter, but he didn't change her name to something slightly more feminine.
Her mother was also very strong-willed when she was young. When her family suffered a misfortune, she, as the eldest daughter, persevered and her family was not considered capitalists, but rather small workshops and small businesses. Her mother actively worked as a worker, going to the factory to do the hardest and most tiring jobs, striving to become a model worker, and married her father, a worker from a poor family... Only then did life gradually improve.
She and her mother, Zhou Aodong, look quite alike and are both eldest daughters, but their personalities are completely opposite.
Although not particularly bright, Qin Xiangxiang inherited her mother's talents. Her fingers are very dexterous, and she is quick-witted and skillful. She can play the piano, and she is also good at cutting and sewing. If she works hard as a textile worker, she might become an outstanding worker like her mother.
Following the path her mother had laid out for her, she was to work hard in the factory for a few years in her early twenties, then become a middle-level manager and leave the factory—a path of hardship before reward.
But there was nothing she could do. Even these past few years had become unbearable for her. Qin Xiang thought to herself, "Who told me to be such a stupid, clumsy, and lazy person?"
She wants to be a mama's girl.
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