Chapter 11

Ye Manzhi didn’t want to get entangled with Zhou Mu or his family any further. Just like her third sister-in-law said, since they had broken up, they should each move on with their lives and avoid any unnecessary ties.

That evening, she still had to attend a community assembly organized by the neighborhood committee. She brushed Zhou Mu off with a few words and hurried off to the children’s elementary school.

Lately, the city had been promoting a “Marriage Law Awareness Month” campaign. Each district and neighborhood was required to participate in an unprecedented and vigorous mobilization effort.

Most of the residents of Guangming Street were workers and family members from the 656 Factory. They came from all over the country, spoke with different accents, and had varying levels of understanding of the Marriage Law. As a result, the Guangming neighborhood office had become one of the city’s key focus points for inspection.

When Ye Manzhi arrived at the elementary school, there were only a few dozen people scattered across the playground.

“Auntie Li, didn’t our neighborhood committee notify households in advance? Why are there so few people here?”

“We already went door to door with notices, but this Marriage Law awareness thing feels like a school lecture. If people don’t want to come, we can’t drag them here by force! The ones you see here—I practically begged to show up!”

Ye Manzhi and Chen Caixia exchanged glances.

The two of them were responsible for assisting the fifth and sixth neighborhood committees in promoting the Marriage Law at the grassroots level.

Their committees oversaw nearly 5,000 residents—these few dozen people didn’t even make a dent!

Chen Caixia came up with a clumsy idea: “How about we each run home and round up some people to fill the seats? No matter what, we have to get through tonight’s event!”

Serving the people still felt a bit abstract to them. Both were still on probation, and securing a formal position as street-level officials was their real goal.

Ye Manzhi looked toward the school gate and sighed, “Too late to round anyone up—Director Mu is here.”

Mu Lan looked around the setup—she was fairly satisfied with the banners and posters—but when she saw how few people had shown up, she furrowed her brows deeply.

She was one of the rare grassroots female officials of the era who had received higher education and typically didn’t criticize subordinates in public.

Though clearly displeased, she spared them the embarrassment and said, “This is your first time organizing a mobilization event—treat it as a rehearsal. Try to come up with more strategies to boost attendance for future events. You must ensure that the Marriage Law becomes a household name and truly understood by all!”

With that, she stepped up to the podium to give her speech. She cited real-life examples from her work, emphasizing the consequences of domestic violence and the abuse of women in marriage. The atmosphere was quite good—if only there had been more people.

Ye Manzhi felt a bit uncomfortable, like Director Mu’s hard work had gone to waste.

The next day at work, she and Chen Caixia, feeling like students who feared the worst performer in class might get first place, went straight to Liu Jinbao and asked, “How did things go over at the third and fourth committees?”

“Not great. Only about forty people came. Deputy Director Zhang scolded us, saying we care more about getting perms and drawing our eyebrows than our actual work.”

“It’s fine, it wasn’t ideal on our end either. We’ll just have to think of something else.”

Liu Jinbao sighed, “I heard from Zhuang Ting that these kinds of voluntary events never get a high turnout. No point in stressing about it.”

The group of rookies consoled each other, and everyone felt a bit better.

Ye Manzhi thought, Well, the campaign runs for a whole month—there’s still plenty of time.

However, that baby-faced Liu Jinbao, who had just told them not to worry and to take it slow, turned around and contacted a local performing troupe—and organized an outdoor folk performance right in the open space in front of the grain depot!

Back in those days, there weren’t many forms of entertainment for the general public. Even in the city, most people just went to bed once it got dark.

On the day of the performance, it might not have been a full-blown citywide turnout, but it was close enough.

Chen Caixia was so anxious her teeth hurt. Holding her cheek, she asked, “Xiao Ye, what should we do? Should I try contacting someone to screen a movie?”

Aunt Feng, who was reading the newspaper nearby, sneered, “You young people are all so generous, coming to work and even paying out of your own pockets. Our neighborhood office doesn’t have funds for this stuff. Whether it’s a folk performance or a movie screening, you’ll have to pay for it yourselves.”

“I heard the performance troupe didn’t charge any performance fees though!”

“They didn’t charge a performance fee, but you still had to feed them. Food and drinks cost money too, don’t they? With that many people, do you know how much grain gets used up?”

Ye Manzhi took Chen Caixia’s hand and said, “Our main goal is to promote the Marriage Law. Movies won’t help with that. Let’s come up with a no-cost plan.”

The two of them didn’t have the kind of financial resources Liu Jinbao did.

She had already figured out that kid had money when he came to her to get clothes made.

He never cared about the price of fabric—he only cared about how it looked once it was worn.

Ye Manzhi knew she didn’t have the economic strength to pull off anything on that scale.

But the Marriage Law awareness events in the Fifth and Sixth Committees had been duds for several days in a row. Aside from a few active community members, most people felt their lives were just fine and thought attending the talks was a waste of time.

The lack of results was so frustrating that Ye Manzhi couldn’t even enjoy her meals.

Normally, she might’ve gone home to ask her family for ideas, but ever since her third brother lost his opportunity to study in the Soviet Union, the mood in the Ye household had been so gloomy it felt like it could leak black water.

Feeling guilty, she didn’t dare go near Old Ye, so she just ate dinner quietly and holed up in her room.

“Laiya!” her fourth brother knocked on the door from outside. “Is Ye Lihua in your room?”

“What did she do now?”

Calling the cat by her full name—definitely meant trouble.

“She damn well ate my Xiaoqing!!!”

“No way. I could believe she went after the fish in your tank, but there’s no way she ate a cricket.”

No wonder she hadn’t heard the screeching chirp of the cricket today—turns out Lihua had taken it out!

“She absolutely did! She’s the fattest one in the whole house and still couldn’t spare Xiaoqing!”

Ye Mangui looked like he was in mourning. That cricket had cost money!

“Go look again—how could a kitten do something like that? She doesn’t even like crickets. Maybe it just escaped.”

Ye Manzhi managed to talk her grumbling brother down and send him off, then turned back to face Lihua with a stern face. “Where did you hide the cricket?”

“Meow meow meow~” Lihua nimbly leapt onto the desk and elegantly sat next to a stack of sketchbooks.

A wave of dread washed over Ye Manzhi…

Those sketchbooks were her money-makers!

Her tailoring business had only taken off thanks to those books.

She had always liked pretty clothes, and to earn that 70-cent tailoring fee, she had run all over the city, sketching every stylish spring and summer outfit she saw in store windows.

Customers would pick styles from the sketchbooks, then go buy fabric themselves—affordable and good quality!

Trying not to gag, she lifted the top sketchbook with one hand and gave it a shake.

Sure enough!

A squashed, dark-green iron cricket plopped to the ground!

“YE! LI! HUA!!!”

Before she could even settle the score, Ye Lihua had already leapt out the window and escaped.

—

Ye Manzhi waited for her half the night, but the cat never showed. Right before bed, she was still thinking about giving that furball a proper scolding.

But the next morning, when she woke up and sat dazed on the bed for a while, her anger suddenly melted away. She scooped up the little cat, who had snuck back in during the night, and gave her two big smooches.

She didn’t even bother with breakfast—just flew out of the house like a gust of wind and rushed to work.

Grabbing a stick of chalk from the office, she dragged along a still-groggy Chen Caixia and hurried back to the military factory housing compound.

“Xiao Ye, what are you doing?” Chen Caixia huffed breathlessly, standing in front of the community bulletin board.

“Sister Caixia, we’re about to become superstars with one call—everyone will come running!”

Chen Caixia: “……”

Dreaming big for someone who hasn’t even had breakfast.

Ye Manzhi pulled out her chalk and carefully wrote on the blackboard portion of the bulletin board:

“Introducing a few fabric-saving cutting patterns!”

She even used yellow chalk to highlight the words “fabric-saving.”

It was peak morning rush hour, and all the factory workers heading to their shifts, along with family members out early to buy groceries, passed right by the board.

She had barely finished writing the title when a few literate women stepped up to ask questions.

“Xiao Ye, where are those fabric-saving patterns?”

“Hang on, can’t you see she’s still writing on the board?”

“It’d be great if they really save fabric. Ever since we’ve had to use ration coupons to buy cloth, I’ve never had enough cotton. Even trying to make a pair of shorts means patching scraps together.”

The women chatted among themselves, and soon the bulletin board was completely surrounded.

Ye Manzhi rolled her notebook into a makeshift megaphone.

“Everyone, please don’t crowd! If you’re in a hurry for work, go ahead—we don’t want anyone to be late! Tomorrow evening at 6:30, at our factory’s elementary school, we’ll be holding a special class to introduce several cutting techniques that really save fabric!”

Someone asked in disappointment, “We have to go to school for that? Why not just draw it here on the board?”

“There’s too much content—it wouldn’t fit! And besides, if I just draw it out with no explanation, you wouldn’t understand it anyway.”

“Xiao Ye, are you sure these cutting methods really save fabric? You’re not pulling our leg, are you?”

Ye Manzhi had already prepared for this kind of doubt. Smiling, she asked, “Grandma Qu, how much fabric do you usually need to make a woman’s blouse?”

“My daughter’s about your size. Last time I used four feet two inches.”

“Four-two isn’t bad, but if you used my method, three feet seven would be enough! That means for every two shirts, you’d save a whole foot of fabric!”

Grandma Qu was skeptical. “Really?”

“I can vouch for that!” another voice chimed in. “I had Xiao Ye make clothes for me before. The tailor on the street told me I’d need five and a half feet of fabric. But with Xiao Ye’s method, only four feet eight inches was enough!”

The speaker was Lin Qingmei. She shouted it out, then stepped back from the crowd and winked at Ye Manzhi with a grin.

Chen Caixia still had no clue what Ye Manzhi was scheming. If she really brought people in using this trick, and it turned out to be a lecture on the Marriage Law instead…

…then these neighbors would definitely teach the two of them a lesson!

While helping maintain order in front of the bulletin board, Chen Caixia kept throwing glances at Ye Manzhi.

What’s really going on here?

Ye Manzhi flipped open her sketchbook and gave her a quick peek, then turned to address the gathered aunties:

“Comrade Chen Caixia and I have been assigned by the neighborhood office as liaisons to the Fifth and Sixth Residents’ Committees. So we’re giving priority to introducing these cutting methods to the residents of Guangming Second Street and our Military Factory Compound!”

“These fabric-saving cutting patterns were calculated precisely by engineers and tested repeatedly by experienced tailors. They’re based on valuable experience, and we hope everyone will come to listen tomorrow. It’ll not only help you save fabric, but also lighten the burden on the country!”

Even though the “engineer” was actually her third brother and the “old tailor” was herself, the fabric-saving method was 100% real and legit!

Lin Qingmei stood nearby, watching with a smile as Ye Manzhi gave her motivational speech to the neighbors.

But when it looked like they were going to be late for work, she plunged into the crowd and pulled Ye Manzhi out of the human circle.

“I’ve got amazing news for you! But I have to rush to work after I tell you.”

“Can’t it wait till tonight?”

“No way—I wanted to come find you last night!” Lin Qingmei said, both cheerful and smug. “That bastard Zhou Mu might not be going to the Soviet Union after all!”

“Who told you that? I thought he was leaving at the end of the month.”

The whole issue with Xu Yingxue faking her medical check had been buried for a while. Did the Zhou family’s dirty laundry finally get dug up?

“I ran into Liu Guoqing on my way home from work yesterday—he’s the one who told me. Talk about karma!” Lin Qingmei grinned, purposely teasing, “Guess what stopped him from going?”

“What?”

“The Provincial Education Bureau did another surprise health check before they were cleared to go abroad! And for some reason, that morning Zhou Mu had a low blood sugar episode—nearly fainted right in front of the officials!”