After failing the college entrance exam, Lin Xiaohe walked into a roaring screw factory with a woven-plastic sack in hand.
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The repetitive clacking of the assembly line was his new fate, and greasy work clothes took the place of his school uniform.
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Until one day, his screwdriver got stuck on the conveyor belt.
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“Such clumsy hands.” Chen Xiaoyu expertly helped him out, her fingers stained with the same black machine oil as his.
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At the cafeteria, sharing a table, she pushed half a portion of braised pork toward him. “You’re new. Eat your fill, or you won’t have the strength to take the line supervisor’s scolding.”
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He awkwardly learned to save money like she did, and rented a moldy little room with roommates in the urban village.
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When the line supervisor deliberately made things difficult for him, Chen Xiaoyu slapped the inspection stamp down on his box of parts. “I checked them. They all pass!”
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Lin Xiaohe tucked his pay slip into his night-school textbook, while Chen Xiaoyu sat at her sewing machine, mending his worn-out work clothes.
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In the spring of their eighth year, beneath the magnolia tree on the factory grounds, he held up his bankbook with trembling hands.
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“We... We have enough for the down payment. Should we put it in your name?”
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Chen Xiaoyu covered his head with her oil-scented work jacket.
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“You fool. Both our names go on the property deed.”
