Chapter 52.2: Director Zhao’s heart is as strong as iron

On the weekend, Zhao Mian returned to the village for her break and brought back two more application forms for Zhao Ke.  

“Director Zhang from the Women’s Federation said that some other production brigades weren’t enthusiastic about signing up, so they’re short on numbers. If our brigade can send two more people, it would be ideal.”  

Zhao Ke held the two thin sheets of paper, the corners of her mouth lifting. “Forget two or three—if she lifted the cap on our brigade’s numbers, I could fill her entire training class.”  

Zhao Mian chuckled. “You’re training so many midwives—do you think there will be enough places for them to practice?”  

“That’s not the way to look at it,” Zhao Ke said. She had read the Women’s Federation’s newspapers and reports—midwives were in short supply across the country. A single midwife per village was sufficient, and three would indeed be more than needed. But at the provincial and city levels, even ten times that number wouldn’t be enough.  

Confidently, she declared, “If I train them well, I can send them out whenever an opportunity arises. Who knows, they might even land government jobs.”  

Only by seeing more of the world does one truly broaden their horizons.  

Zhao Mian gazed at her, pride filling her eyes, which then turned to concern. “You’ve gotten darker and thinner. It must be tough, right?”  

Zhao Ke leaned against her sister’s shoulder, her eyes shining. “It’s strange. I used to be afraid of hardship, exhaustion, and trouble. But lately, even though it’s been so tough, I don’t find it frustrating at all. Instead, I feel full of motivation.”  

Zhao Mian studied her for a moment before smiling. “You used to be so lazy, but you’ve changed a lot.”  

Zhao Ke grinned brightly. “Do I look prettier now?”  

Zhao Mian looked at her and nodded seriously. “Yes.”  

“Even with darker skin?” Zhao Ke picked up a mirror and examined her face. “Comrade Yu Xiulan said this morning that I look like a lump of coal and might not be able to get married.”  

Zhao Mian shook her head. “No. The people who love you will see the brilliance of your soul.”  

“Wow~” Zhao Ke beamed. “Is it this good to be your little sister? I get such high praise?”  

Zhao Mian said sincerely, “That’s not praise. Everyone who follows your lead and works hard is drawn in by your character and strength. That’s just the truth.”  

If this went on, Zhao Ke might start feeling embarrassed.  

She threw an arm around her sister’s shoulders and raised an eyebrow. “So, has anyone been drawn in by your charm?”  

Zhao Mian’s expression remained calm, but she lowered her gaze and stayed silent.  

Oh-ho~  

Someone was eyeing her family’s prized cabbage?  

Zhao Ke straightened up and pursued the matter. “Something’s going on? What is it? Tell me, Jie.”  

Zhao Mian pursed her lips slightly before answering honestly, “Master Yu’s son, Fang Xu, has sent me two letters. I replied politely to the first one, but I haven’t responded to the second.”  

Just as she thought! He had ulterior motives!  

Zhao Ke ground her teeth internally at the thought of someone coveting her sister, but outwardly, she remained casual. “Why?”  

“In his first letter, he asked about Master Yu, saying he was worried that his mother only reported good news and not the bad. So I wrote back.”  

Zhao Ke scoffed inwardly—like Bai Gu Jing delivering food to Tang Seng ^[1]Bai Gu Jing(white bone spirit) is a demon in Journey To The West. Tang Seng was a Tang dynasty Buddhist Monk. In chapter 27 of Journey To The West, Bai sends food to Tang with the intention of … Continue reading, his intentions weren’t pure.  

“Less than two weeks later, he sent a second letter asking if we could stay in touch. I don’t think it’s appropriate to correspond like this with a young man, so I haven’t replied yet.” Zhao Mian paused before adding, “But out of courtesy, I should still respond.”

She was just too kind. When dealing with a cunning fox, one couldn’t be too polite, or else the other party would only push their luck.  

Zhao Ke asked, “When did you receive the letter?”  

“The day before yesterday.”  

With such a long journey, mail delivery wasn’t convenient, and a round trip taking ten days to half a month was normal. Let him stew in uncertainty for a few more days.  

Zhao Ke secretly plotted, “Then delay your reply for another three or four days. He should get the message, and you can also subtly mention in your letter that you’ve been busy and that it’s inconvenient to correspond frequently.”  

That wasn’t even subtle—it was practically spelling it out.  

But Zhao Mian trusted her younger sister’s judgment and agreed without hesitation.  

·  

Deep in the mountains, Fang Xu repeatedly reminded his orderly, “If there’s a letter for me, make sure to notify me immediately.”  

The orderly assured him, “Don’t worry, Researcher Fang.”  

Fang Xu waited eagerly.  

·  

Meanwhile, back in Zhao Village, even on her day off, Zhao Mian didn’t rest and joined Zhao Ke in digging drainage channels.  

Zhao Ke tried to persuade her, “Jie, you finally have a break. Just stay home and rest.”  

“It’s fine. I’m used to working. One more person means one more helping hand, and we can finish sooner.”  

They needed to dig the drainage channels from the edge of the fields all the way to the river. At least three were required.  

With limited manpower, they couldn’t make the channels any larger. For efficiency, each trench could only be about half a meter wide and deep.  

After a week of work, they had only managed to dig about two thousand meters, still far from their goal.  

In the scorching heat of July, under the blinding sun, the physical labor was even more grueling than usual.  

As the leader, Zhao Ke couldn’t show even the slightest sign of discouragement. Every day, she kept everyone’s spirits high with her enthusiasm.  

She even paid out of her own pocket for Zhao Mian to bring back some rock sugar. Yesterday, their family had boiled a huge pot of mung bean water and left it in the well overnight to chill, bringing it over today for everyone to drink.  

Zhu Jianyi sat on a dirt mound, sipping the sweet mung bean water, and sighed, “Since when do we get sugar water when working for others? Say what you want, but our Jie is really generous.”  

Zhao Feng corrected him, “My Jie. That’s my Jie.”  

Zhu Jianyi, his face dark with sunburn, nudged Zhao Feng’s shoulder and grinned, showing his teeth. “I’m such a loyal friend—why nitpick over that? Your Jie is my Jie too.”  

He was indeed loyal, so Zhao Feng didn’t argue about him trying to claim kinship.  

Zhu Jianyi sneaked a glance at Zhao Mian, who looked radiant even under the sun, and muttered, “Mian Jie is really beautiful. She looks even better now that she’s working at the commune.”  

Zhao Feng’s face instantly darkened. As soon as Zhu Jianyi finished his mung bean water, Zhao Feng locked his arm around his neck. “You keep staring! I’ll beat you to death!”  

Zhu Jianyi struggled desperately, broke free, and sprinted away. He taunted while running, “I’ll keep looking!”  

Furious, Zhao Feng gave chase. “Just wait till I catch you!”  

Realizing Zhao Feng was serious, Zhu Jianyi abandoned his teasing and ran for his life.  

Zhao Feng, with his strong, tanned arms gleaming in the sun, moved quickly and soon caught up. With a flying tackle, he pinned Zhu Jianyi to the ground.  

The two wrestled in the dust, stirring up clouds of white dirt.  

Wang Lao San took a sip of the chilled mung bean water and commented to Zhao Rui, “Young people sure have a lot of energy ah.”  

Zhao Rui nodded. “Yeah, they’re really rowdy.”  

Zhao Jianguo chuckled, “You two are barely in your twenties, and you’re already talking like old men. I’m the one who should be saying that.”  

Everyone around burst into laughter.  

Not far away, Fu Hang sat on a dirt mound, one foot resting in the trench, his long legs stretched out casually. He watched in silence as Zhao Ke’s bright, sunny smile lit up the scene.

Lin Haiyang easily blended in with the village youth, but he didn’t forget about Fu Hang. When he glanced back, he caught sight of him watching someone. Following his line of sight, he immediately smiled knowingly.

Returning to Fu Hang’s side, he teased ambiguously, “What’s this? You like Director Zhao? No wonder you built your house over there—were you planning this all along?”

Fu Hang neither confirmed nor denied it. He withdrew his gaze, looking down at the dirt beneath his feet, and said blandly, “It’s just that my body is more honest than my heart in seeking direction.”

Lin Haiyang: “……”

What kind of cryptic nonsense was that?

Not far away, Chen San’er was idly kicking clumps of dirt, sending them flying in different directions. One lump happened to hit the side of Zhao Yunyun’s leg.

Exhausted, Zhao Yunyun sat cross-legged on the ground, completely unbothered by appearances. Seeing that Chen San’er was the culprit, she didn’t even have the energy to scold him. Instead, she shot him an enormous look of disdain, leaving him to interpret it however he pleased.

Romance was the last thing on her mind.

Well, to be fair, she did think about it on the first day.

But once she started working, those thoughts vanished.

As Zhao Ke had said, everyone doing labor here ended up covered in dust and grime. At best, a good-looking person was just a better-looking version of a dust-covered worker.

But as long as they were dirt-covered, the illusion was shattered.

Another clump of dirt provocatively flew her way.

Fuming, Zhao Yunyun grabbed a lump of dirt and hurled it at Chen San’er, that mud-faced mutt.

Unfortunately, Zhuang Lan got caught in the crossfire. Dodging instinctively, she stumbled right into Zhao Feng, who had just returned with Zhu Jianyi, their arms slung over each other’s shoulders.

Their backs pressed together.

The sudden heat against her skin made Zhuang Lan spring away instantly.

Zhao Feng grinned foolishly at her retreating figure.

Zhu Jianyi seized the moment to punch him.

The two of them started wrestling again.

The whole scene looked like a bunch of elementary school kids goofing off—except for Zhao Ke, who was entirely focused on work. Once she saw that everyone had finished their mung bean water, she called them back to labor.

The “elementary school kids” responded in unison, “Okaaay—”

At five in the afternoon, Zhao Ke arranged for a simple assessment for those participating in the midwife training. When Yin Zhiqing learned that two more people had signed up, she also asked to take part.

“You’ve made arrangements?”

Yin Zhiqing nodded. “Xiaowan’s father will take care of her after work, and Teacher Wu agreed to look after her during the day.”

Principal Gu and Teacher Wu liked children, and taking care of the well-behaved Tang Xiaowan would probably be to their liking.

Although Yin Zhiqing was more educated and learned faster, in terms of actual study time, she had spent about the same amount as the other women, so her participation was fair.

Zhao Ke agreed.

The assessment was still verbal, but since there were fewer participants, there was no set order.

Yin Zhiqing and the other women sat together while Zhao Ke held Tang Xiaowan in her arms. “Xiaowan, let’s be little judges, okay?”

Mouth stuffed with rock sugar, Tang Xiaowan pursed her lips seriously, looking especially focused.

She had no idea what a “judge” was, but she nodded earnestly. “Mm!”

Zhao Ke asked questions freely, and the women answered as they pleased. Whenever someone gave the best answer, she would guide Tang Xiaowan’s little hand to make a mark under that person’s name.

By the end, the tally was clear at a glance.

The top three were educated youth Yin Xiaojun, Sun Jihong, who had previously failed to sign up as a livestock caretaker, and Fifth Aunt Zhao Chunhua.

Zhao Ke reassured those who weren’t selected, “There will be more opportunities in the future.”

The others were somewhat disappointed, but Aunt Jin showed no sign of concern—she simply left after not making the cut.

Zhao Ke then confirmed with the selected three, “Have you all made arrangements at home?”

They nodded.

Zhao Chunhua was straightforward. “We’ve all known this training will take a long time. My family settled everything ages ago!”

She had a forthright personality and was the head of her household. Her husband listened to her, her children were grown enough to take care of themselves, and her in-laws were also around to help.

Zhao Ke was already aware of Yin Xiaojun’s situation, so she turned to Sun Jihong. “Sun DaJie, how did your family arrange things?”

Her household had a heavy burden—her in-laws were both in poor health, and she had four children. The eldest was ten, and the youngest had just been weaned.

Sun Jihong replied, “My husband goes to work, and my eldest daughter will take care of her grandparents and younger siblings.”

Her eldest daughter and son should have been in school, but their difficult family situation made it impossible.

Zhao Ke knew that in her spare time, Sun Jihong would go to Yin Xiaojun for help. For an illiterate woman with heavy family responsibilities to sacrifice half a year’s work points for midwife training—it was almost an all-or-nothing gamble. She had real determination.

“Tell your family that if anything urgent comes up while you’re away, they can come to me.”

Sun Jihong wiped the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, Director Zhao.”

Zhao Ke encouraged her, “Just focus on learning. I won’t let you regret this decision.”

Sun Jihong choked up instantly.

The next morning, Zhao Ke had Uncle Ban drive the ox cart, waking up early to send the three of them to the commune.

Zhao Mian also returned to the commune with them.

Once they arrived, Zhao Ke led the three to register at the Women’s Federation and introduced them to Director Zhang and the other staff.

Women from other villages either came alone or stood awkwardly on the sidelines, while Zhao Ke interacted with the Women’s Federation staff as if they were old acquaintances. Seeing this, Yin Xiaojun and the others couldn’t help but straighten their backs, feeling more at ease.

Afterward, Zhao Ke accompanied them to their lodgings.

It was a large shared kang, and the conditions were poor. But since the commune provided food and lodging, it was only natural for things to be simple.

“Don’t worry about anything else, just focus on studying. If anything comes up, go find my Jiejie at the bearing factory. She’s already familiar with the commune and can handle things.”

Zhao Chunhua spoke to her the most casually. “Don’t worry, we got it.”

“I still have things to do back in the village, so I’ll head out first.”

After Zhao Ke left, some women from other production brigades came over and cautiously asked, “Mei-za, who was that just now?”

Zhao Chunhua said proudly, “My niece. She’s also the Women’s Director of our village. A high school student, and quite capable!”

The other women gathered around.

“The Women’s Director in your village is so young!”

“I saw her talking with the other cadres at the commune too!”

“Yeah, yeah, I saw it too. She was really polite.”

“She’s really impressive…”

Zhao Chunhua, appearing nonchalant but actually showing off, said, “It’s nothing, she just knows a lot of people.”

The three women from Zhao Village’s production team felt incredibly at ease standing among the others.

They were different from the other women—they had backing!