The bride was abducted on her wedding day, leaving everyone present stunned.
The guests were filled with unease, looking around anxiously and whispering amongst themselves.
The groom, a man of considerable standing, had never lost so much face in his life and wanted to call off the engagement on the spot. No matter how much Liu Qing's mother cried and begged, she couldn't change his mind. He then turned around and chose a divorced woman from his initial shortlist to marry.
A ready-made banquet and a ready-made suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) were set up, and the wedding procession was led into the bridal chamber with music and fanfare.
When Liu Qing returned after a year of labor reform and re-education, the new factory director's wife was heavily pregnant and about to give birth.
Liu Qing, burdened by the stigma of being a criminal, couldn't find a job or a husband.
Even her blood relatives changed their attitude.
Her parents would beat and scold her at the drop of a hat, she was a disgrace, her brothers and sisters were cold and sarcastic, hating her for bringing shame to the family, and her two sisters-in-law looked down on her for being a freeloader and implied that they wanted to drive her away. In the end, she had no choice but to marry a widower in the countryside who couldn't find a wife.
Both are stepmothers, but how can an old and poor widower in the countryside compare to a powerful and influential factory director?
One was a high-ranking leader whom everyone fawned over, and the other was a country bumpkin who couldn't even get enough to eat.
Let alone marriage, Liu Qing used to not even give such a person a second glance; just standing next to him and talking to him felt like an eyesore.
But this is the person she used to look down on, the one she will spend her life with.
We eat from the same pot, live in the same room, and sleep in the same bed.
He would kiss her face with his stinky mouth that he never brushed his teeth, and touch her body without washing his hands, feet, or taking a bath, with dirt still under his fingernails.
All of this made Liu Qing feel nauseous.
She felt as if she were sinking into a dark swamp, swallowed by boundless despair, with no hope in sight.
Xiaochengzhuang, in northern Henan.
Shortly after the Spring Festival in 1978, the People's Commune called, requesting that the brigade send someone to the commune to collect the university admission notice.
Party Secretary Cheng Zhenguo sent the village accountant, Cheng Denghui, and the head of the educated youth affairs office to the commune to collect the notification letter. He specifically arranged for one villager and one educated youth to supervise each other and prevent anyone from cheating.
The news spread throughout the village almost as soon as the two left.
Right after the New Year, before everyone had started work, they all gathered together chatting excitedly, guessing how many of the villagers who had passed the preliminary exam would actually pass.
Xiao Jing was making little clothes when Wang Qiuju became pregnant again, and as her older sister, she felt she had to show her support. Hearing the news, she lost all interest in her work and dawdled all morning, barely managing to sew a few stitches.
At noon, as the family was eating, the quiet village suddenly erupted into chaos, as if water had been poured into a calm oil pan.
The noisy sounds grew closer and closer. Xiaojing sensed something was wrong, so she stopped eating, put down her chopsticks, and ran outside.
As I opened the outer door, I saw accountant Cheng Denghui riding his bicycle from the other side of the road towards us. He was surrounded by a group of people, and several children were running ahead of him, jumping and shouting, "They passed! They passed! Uncle Cheng Lin and Aunt Cheng Jing both passed!"
Overwhelmed with joy, Xiao Jing stood there stunned until Cheng Denghui's bicycle rode up to her, which brought her back to her senses.
Everyone laughed and teased her.
"Look how happy Xiaojing is, tears are streaming down her face."
When Xiaojing touched her face, she indeed felt a handful of cold tears.
She was still a little dazed, feeling lightheaded and unable to find the feeling of solid ground beneath her feet.
She murmured to herself, "I... I passed the exam?"
"Yes, yes, you passed the exam."
“It’s absolutely true. I personally brought the admission notice back from the commune. How could it be fake?” Cheng Denghui said with a smile, “Don’t just stand there, quickly take the admission notice.”
The university's acceptance letter was simple, even somewhat rough.
But such a thin piece of white paper, with a few simple lines of text, can change a person's destiny and carry a person's future.
Seeing her name written on the admission notice for 'Beijing Textile University', Xiaojing felt a lump in her throat, and tears welled up in her eyes again.
Xiao Jing was so happy that she was so focused on holding the admission notice that she cried and laughed, and she didn't care about anything else.
The family took out the candy they had bought during the Lunar New Year and shared it with everyone present, so that everyone could share in the joy.
At the end of January, Xiao Jing, carrying all the necessary paperwork and her own luggage and food, rode with Cheng Lin on the village's tractor to the county train station.
Family members could only see them off at the platform, wiping away tears as they bid them a reluctant farewell.
Cheng Lin was admitted to a university in the provincial capital. His train ticket had an earlier departure time, so he boarded the southbound train first.
Afterwards, Xiaojing boarded a train alone to Beijing.
The road ahead is not far from where the light will shine.
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