Chapter 24: Chapter Twenty-Four: The Big Boss Goes Online

The courtyard house has several unsolved mysteries, one of which is why Qin Huairu married Jia Dongxu. Logically speaking, although in 1952 there was no public-private partnership yet and the urban-rural gap wasn't huge, Jia Dongxu was still a city person—how could he have taken a village girl as a wife? And how did they meet?

Focusing on Qinjia Village in Pingchang District of the city, this Qinjia Village isn't large—just over three hundred households, most of them surnamed Qin. One household headed by Qin Dahai had a son and a daughter; this daughter was exceptionally beautiful, a famous beauty of the surrounding ten li, and she is the big boss Qin Huairu of the courtyard house.

Qin Huairu is already seventeen this year; suitors come to her family nonstop, but she hasn't taken a liking to any of them—she just wants to marry into the city and become a city dweller.

It wasn't that an opportunity had arrived; technical staff of Pingchang District discovered an iron ore deposit near Qinjia Village. Finding such a deposit in these difficult times was a major matter. After successive reports up the chain, the leadership of the Metallurgy Department Commission decided to establish a branch of the steel rolling mill in Qinjia Village to reduce transportation costs.

But now there are too few state-owned units; in the city there are only two steel rolling mills, one of them state-owned. Because it was established not long ago and its staffing is insufficient, it simply cannot meet the personnel needs or technical guidance required for the branch.

The other one is Lou's Yagangchang, so the department commission's leadership locked onto Lou's Yagangchang, planning to borrow its personnel for a year of technical guidance—and thus Yi Zhonghai was selected.

Yi Zhonghai had long earmarked Jia Dongxu as his choice for old-age support; now that Yi Zhonghai was going to Pingchang for a year of support, he feared Jia Dongxu would slip from his control, so he went to Lou Dong, insisting—dead serious—that he must bring Jia Dongxu along.

Lou Dong felt there was no need to offend a master over such a trivial matter; besides, there's no formal ranking yet, and anyone with good skills is called a master, so he agreed to Yi Zhonghai's request.

Although Jia Dongxu was extremely reluctant, he dared not defy Yi Zhonghai's wishes; helplessly, he followed Yi Zhonghai to Pingchang, and thus a dozen masters brought this twenty-something young man Jia Dongxu to Pingchang.

The branch of the steel rolling mill isn't far from Qinjia Village; it's actually the nearest village to the mill. When Yi Zhonghai's party arrived, they came by car—a rare sight at that time, especially in a remote village like Qinjia Village.

Thus almost the whole village turned out to watch the spectacle, and Qin Huairu spotted Jia Dongxu at a glance, thinking to herself, 'These are all masters; this lone young man can't be much different—if I find a chance to get close, I don't even know whether we'll end up married.'

Thus Jia Dongxu caught Qin Huairu's eye, though he was still unaware, wearing a worried frown as he followed Yi Zhonghai toward the factory.

You say they all came as masters, but Jia Dongxu was just an apprentice—there was no use for him in technical guidance, and the work was done by the branch's own staff, so the dozen masters treated him as an errand boy.

The department's leadership, considerate of the branch's workers, opened a supply-and-sales cooperative in Qinjia Village—actually just a slightly larger grocery store selling cigarettes, alcohol, oil, vinegar, needles, thread, and the like.

The task of buying things for the village was assigned to Jia Dongxu; one master told him today to buy a bottle of liquor, another tomorrow to buy a pack of cigarettes—and this back-and-forth really gave Qin Huairu an opportunity.

That day, as usual, Jia Dongxu sauntered toward the village to buy supplies for the masters; just as he was nearing the village entrance, he saw a particularly pretty girl carrying a basket heading out of the village.

As they were about to meet, the girl tripped on something—by coincidence she fell toward Jia Dongxu, who, seeing this fortunate turn, hurried forward two steps and caught the pretty girl.

After being steadied, the girl glanced at Jia Dongxu, her face flushed, she broke free from his hand and ran off without even taking her basket.

Seeing the girl leave, Jia Dongxu lifted his hand to sniff the scent she'd left on him, smiled satisfied, and sauntered off to the supply-and-sales cooperative—of course that girl was the big boss Qin Huairu.

As for Jia Dongxu, he's decent-looking enough; otherwise Qin Huairu wouldn't have taken a liking to him. After this chance encounter he harbored a little idea, and whenever he came to the village he kept an eye on Qin Huairu—several times he didn't see her, which left him feeling restless.

Finally, one day Qin Huairu was cutting piggrass on the village hillside; Jia Dongxu saw it and couldn't let such a great opportunity pass, he went up and started chatting with Qin Huairu—she took the bait, acting shy and exchanging a few words with him.

From then on, almost every time Jia Dongxu went to buy supplies he could see Qin Huairu cutting piggrass there; the two became acquainted through this back-and-forth. To impress Qin Huairu, Jia Dongxu often boasted in front of her about how capable he was and how highly regarded he was at the factory—despite the fact that among the dozen masters he was the only youngster.

As time went on, Jia Dongxu opened his heart to Qin Huairu; at first she pretended reluctance, but after a few occasions she accepted him, even letting him touch her hand and such, which left him feeling restless.

Finally, on a quiet late night, Jia Dongxu got his wish and kissed Qin Huairu's lips.

After gaining that favor, Jia Dongxu couldn't let it go, but Qin Huairu firmly refused, insisting she would only agree after marrying him. Unable to obtain it, his longing grew like a cat's claw; waiting for a day off at the steel rolling mill, Jia Dongxu went home and raised with Jia Zhangshi the idea of marrying Qin Huairu.

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi exploded: 'I barely managed to drag you out of the village, and now you want to find another country girl? I certainly can't agree—but I can't overcome Jia Dongxu either.'

Jia Zhangshi then began introducing potential matches to Jia Dongxu, but he wouldn't see a single one, insisting he must marry Qin Huairu—even telling Jia Zhangshi that if she didn't let him marry Qin Huairu, he'd remain a bachelor for life. After saying that, Jia Dongxu followed Yi Zhonghai back to the branch.

Seeing that his mother wouldn't be easily persuaded, Jia Dongxu went to Yi Zhonghai hoping he would mediate—but Yi Zhonghai also didn't want Jia Dongxu to marry Qin Huairu, feeling from his previous encounter that he couldn't control her, while Jia Dongxu had made up his mind to marry her; with no other option, Yi Zhonghai could only go to Jia Zhangshi to seek reconciliation.

Finally, seeing she couldn't overcome Jia Dongxu, Jia Zhangshi proposed that marrying Qin Huairu was acceptable, but Qin Huairu must bring a sewing machine as part of her dowry, otherwise she wouldn't agree. Jia Dongxu, seeing an opening, went to negotiate with Qin Huairu, who tearfully told him her family couldn't produce a sewing machine.

Seeing that things had come to this, Jia Dongxu thought the wife-to-be couldn't get away, so he turned to Yi Zhonghai, pleading and promising to support him in his old age; only then did Yi Zhonghai agree to provide the money for the sewing machine.

Thus Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu became engaged, giving her family twenty dollars as betrothal gifts and agreeing to marry when Qin Huairu turned eighteen.