When Widow Wang at the east end of the village was washing her clothes by the river, she could always catch a glimpse of the figure on the wall of the courtyard next door. Zhao Tiezhu, a taciturn and rough man, used the excuse of repairing the roof to peek at her through half the wall every day.
Rumors spread widely in the village, saying that Zhao Tiezhu had been a bachelor for ten years because he was greedy for Widow Wang's pretty face.
Widow Wang was too ashamed to go out, but was blocked in the cornfield by Zhao Tiezhu: "Your man has been gone for three years, it's time to live for yourself."
He gave her all the food stamps he had saved at home, then turned around and tore down the wall of his courtyard: "There will be no more walls in the future. I will treat you openly and honestly."
The villagers were waiting to see the joke, but Zhao Tiezhu took over three acres of Widow Wang's land with a hoe. Someone saw him climbing over the wall at night, and the next day there were two more baskets of eggs in Widow Wang's yard.
When the educated youth from the city wanted to take Widow Wang away, Zhao Tiezhu slapped the household registration book on the desk of the village party committee: "I will marry her and I will get the certificate today."
The whole village was in an uproar, but they saw Widow Wang nodding with red eyes. Later, people in the village said that what Zhao Tiezhu tore down was not just a wall, but the fence in Widow Wang's heart that had been wrapped around her for three years.
