Whenever Widow Wang from the east end of the village washes clothes by the river, she catches sight of someone on the wall of the neighboring courtyard. Zhao Tiezhu, a taciturn, rough-around-the-edges man, uses the excuse of fixing his roof every day to steal glances at her over the half-height wall.
Gossip runs rampant through the village. Everyone says Zhao Tiezhu has been a bachelor for ten years because he's lusting after Widow Wang's pretty face.
Widow Wang is too embarrassed to leave her house, but Zhao Tiezhu corners her in a cornfield. “Your husband has been gone for three years. It's time you started living for yourself.”
He stuffs all the grain coupons he's saved at home into her hands, then turns around and tears down his own courtyard wall. “No more looking over the wall from now on. I'll treat you well out in the open.”
The villagers wait for a laugh, but Zhao Tiezhu shoulders a hoe and takes charge of all three mu of Widow Wang's land. Someone sees him climbing over her wall at night, and the next day two baskets of eggs appear in her courtyard.
When a city youth comes to take Widow Wang away, Zhao Tiezhu slaps his household registration booklet down on the village head's desk. “I'll marry her. We're going to register our marriage today.”
The whole village is in an uproar, but they see Widow Wang nod with tears in her eyes. Later, the villagers say Zhao Tiezhu didn't just tear down a wall. He tore down the fence Widow Wang had built around her heart over the past three years.
