Courtyard House: New Life, New Silly Zhu

Chapter 92

"How's Da Ya? Is everything going smoothly?" Zhang's mother poured a cup of hot water for Zhang Da Ya and placed it beside her.

Zhang Daya looked at her nominal mother with no warmth in her eyes.

Since the renovation of the Eight Great Hutongs, young girls like Zhang Daya have been given jobs after undergoing education and rehabilitation.

It was around this time that Zhang Daya was assigned to the textile factory. Younger people might not know much about it, but older people know the background of female textile factory workers.

Therefore, she often received strange looks from some people, but fortunately, she was still young when she was undergoing reformation, so she was not affected.

However, there are pros and cons to this. People as beautiful as her are carefully trained so that they can be sold for a good price.

After enjoying life to the fullest, if you ask her to earn her own money, the meager salary she earns each month is simply not enough to enjoy life.

So in many factories, young and attractive girls couldn't stand the hardships of life and went out to work as door-to-door saleswomen, while she thought about more.

With her exquisite looks, finding a man to marry would be a piece of cake.

But she just wanted to find a capable man who could guarantee her a comfortable life for the rest of her days.

However, her status was too awkward, so they found a family with a daughter who shared the same name and surname to become her godparents. After she got married, all her dowry was left to her family.

Sure enough, not long after, a worker named Zhang at the steel rolling mill had a daughter who was 18 years old, while she was already 20.

Although they are two years apart in age, they share the same name. Whenever someone asks about her background or who her parents are, she says that Master Zhang is her father.

So, after arriving at the factory, Xu Fugui went straight to his former colleagues.

At this time, the protection of some personal information was not done very well.

Xu Fugui quickly found information about Zhang Daya's father.

Upon seeing the residential address, Xu Fugui didn't dare to delay for a moment and immediately set off for the Zhang family's residence.

Upon arriving here, Xu Fugui did not go directly to inquire, as that would be the worst course of action. Instead, he turned around and found a matchmaker.

"Matchmaker Wang," Xu Fugui called out from a courtyard.

"Who is it? Come in, the door's unlocked." Although he couldn't see anyone, the voice came from inside the courtyard. Xu Fugui then walked into the courtyard.

This is a small courtyard. Half of the courtyard has been destroyed by artillery shells and has not been repaired, but there are still two side rooms inside the courtyard, which look quite nice.

"Coming, coming." A middle-aged woman hurriedly walked out from the back of the side room with small, quick steps.

Upon seeing the middle-aged woman, Xu Fugui smiled and cupped his hands in greeting: "Matchmaker Wang, I've heard you're the most famous matchmaker around here, so I've come to see you today."

Upon hearing this, Matchmaker Wang beamed with joy: "Oh, it's all thanks to the support of our neighbors! But if it's really about arranging a marriage, then you can't go wrong by coming to me."

"Alright, Matchmaker Wang, I'll get straight to the point. My surname is Xu, and I'd like to find a wife for my son."

"It's natural for men to marry when they're of age and women to marry when they're of age, but let's go inside and have a proper chat first." The matchmaker invited Xu Fugui inside.

"I wonder which family's daughter your son wants to marry? Or what kind of girl does he want me to find for him to meet?" the matchmaker asked.

Xu Fugui had prepared a draft before he came; he couldn't directly ask the girl from the Zhang family he wanted to find.

Instead, they should try to find out indirectly whether the Zhang family has a girl named Zhang Daya.

According to Xu Fugui's guess, since Zhang Daya works in a textile factory, she is likely from the Eight Great Hutongs.

But if the Zhang family really did have a daughter who grew up on this street, then she would actually be from a respectable family.

"Well, my son is of marriageable age, but he's young and doesn't seem to be in a hurry, so I came to ask if there are any suitable girls available," Xu Fugui said.

Looking at Xu Fugui, the matchmaker Wang smiled and said, "A child's marriage is simple in some ways, and difficult in others. The most important thing is to find someone of equal social standing."

Xu Fugui nodded, signaling Wang the matchmaker to continue.

"Then I'd like to ask you, how many people are in your family? How many of your family members have jobs? Does your son have a job?" Wang the matchmaker asked.

"There are four of us. My wife, son, and I all have jobs. My daughter is still young and in school. My son is a projectionist at a steel mill," Xu Fugui said, introducing his family with a hint of pride in his voice.

He couldn't help but be proud. In the courtyard, no other family had as many jobs as his, and those jobs were all incredibly good.

"Wow, that's really great! Your family's conditions are truly excellent." Matchmaker Wang couldn't help but praise them. With such conditions, if you wanted to find a wife, you could pick and choose without any problems.

However, Wang the matchmaker still had professional ethics. She opened her booklet and looked for a suitable candidate.

After all, if a girl marries into a family without any powerful connections, she will suffer after marriage.

However, since ancient times, it has been customary for women to marry into a family of higher status or lower status. Therefore, the family of the girl that Wang the matchmaker found could not be too well-off. Otherwise, if the couple quarreled in the future, neither of them would give in to the other, and such a life would not last long.

Soon, Wang the matchmaker found the Zhang family in her booklet.

The Zhang family has a son and a daughter. The son is still young, but the daughter is already eighteen, just the right age to get married, but she doesn't have a job.

More importantly, the men in the Zhang family are capable; one of them is a master craftsman at the steel rolling mill.

Master craftsmen like these earn high salaries, especially skilled workers who have many apprentices, so Zhang's daughter won't be bullied if she marries into the family.

However, Matchmaker Wang also knew that sometimes it was easier to handle things by letting others choose for themselves, so she quickly said to Xu Fugui...

"I have two candidates in mind," said Matchmaker Wang, holding up two fingers.

"Which two?" Xu Fugui asked.

Matchmaker Wang smiled and said, "One is a girl from the Li family. She is 18 years old this year, good-looking, and has a good personality. However, she lost her father when she was young and only has her mother. Her family is of average means, but she has a job."

Xu Fugui nodded without saying anything and continued listening.

"The other one is a girl from the Zhang family. She's a nice person, from a good family, and beautiful, but she's stubborn and has some problems with her job," said Matchmaker Wang.

Upon hearing this, Xu Fugui frowned slightly, surprised that the Zhang family actually had a daughter.

However, in Wang the matchmaker's eyes, Xu Fugui's behavior showed that he disliked the Zhang family girl's personality.

Matchmaker Wang quickly lowered her voice and said in a deliberately profound tone, "Don't let her personality or her less-than-ideal job fool you; she's a beautiful girl and can bear children, and that's enough."

Xu Fugui looked at Wang the matchmaker and asked with a deliberately smirk, "Just how strong-willed is this girl? Did you watch her grow up? And what's wrong with her job?"

Upon hearing this, Matchmaker Wang immediately replied, "Of course! This girl has been stubborn since she was little. Once she makes a decision, no one can change it." After a pause, Matchmaker Wang added, "As for work, it's nothing special, just unstable. She might have to find a new job later."

The matchmaker paused when she was debating whether or not to tell Xu Fugui that the Zhang family's daughter didn't have a proper job and was just a temporary worker.

But people have two mouths, and they can say both good and bad things. So Wang the matchmaker blurred the lines here. After all, being a temporary worker wasn't bad; at least she got a salary of eighteen yuan.

Xu Fugui didn't listen any further, since knowing the general outline was enough, but he still had doubts, as this was too strange.

But she's a respectable girl, not the frivolous person he imagined.

It's no easy feat for a young woman to work in a textile factory, as female textile workers are no ordinary people. Xu Fugui even showed a similar movie back then.

However, Xu Fugui could only find out this much; he couldn't inquire about the textile factory.

After all, everyone knows what's going on in the textile factory, but no one can talk about it.

Xu Fugui now regards the job that Wang the matchmaker deliberately obscured as that of a textile worker, because that job has a bad reputation.