Hard times: I worked as a truck driver in the county town

The college entrance rate in county towns is extremely low. In addition, even if a college graduate does get into university, they are generally not assigned to work in the county town.

Although it's said that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup, does that mean she'll never have contact with her parents' family again? But if she goes to university, works in another city, and gets married, then she might only see them a few times a year.

The school strictly prohibits high school students from dating. If caught, they will be punished and their scholarships and college entrance examination eligibility will be revoked.

In addition, with people not having enough to eat, many are malnourished and have little energy to date.

High school students are mostly over eighteen, so it's normal for boys and girls to develop vague feelings for each other. But even if they like each other, at most they'll ask each other for help with schoolwork, walk a short distance home after school, and wouldn't even dare to hold hands.

However, there is one exception: when a girl is about to graduate from high school, her parents find her a boyfriend.

Regardless of gender, once people reach marriageable age, they generally won't delay in finding a partner and getting married. Well-off men and women are highly sought after, and parents often start looking for partners for their daughters who are about to graduate high school. This is different from high school students dating each other.

Engagement before school is a common occurrence these days. Some girls even get engaged when they're about to graduate high school, but then postpone marriage because they've been accepted into university, asking their partners to support them while they finish their studies.

Aunt Zhang introduced Jiang Cheng to a potential matchmaker, and Zhao Zhiping was genuinely interested. However, while he could make decisions for his daughter, he couldn't make decisions for Jiang Cheng. Aunt Zhang had already said that she took Jiang Cheng to a blind date yesterday, but Jiang Cheng didn't like the woman he met.

Let's not be too formal when introducing Zhao Qian this time. Let's find an opportunity for Jiang Cheng to meet Zhao Qian. If Jiang Cheng takes a liking to her, things will be easier to discuss later.

Creating an opportunity for Jiang Cheng and Zhao Qian to meet was quite simple. Zhao Zhiping simply found a mechanical part at a farm machinery factory. He then asked the matchmaker, Aunt Zhang, to contact his daughter, Zhao Qian, saying that the part needed to be sent to the city and asking Zhao Qian to take it to the transportation station and find a driver to deliver it.

Scheming against your daughter isn't scheming; it's doing it for her own good. As long as Jiang Cheng takes a liking to her, Zhao Zhiping will bring his wife to meet him. If she thinks Jiang Cheng is a good person, then the matter will basically be settled.

Even if Zhao Qian didn't like Jiang Cheng, it didn't matter. Matchmakers had come to propose marriages for her beforehand, and some of the conditions were quite good, but Zhao Qian didn't like him, so Zhao Zhiping would basically go along with her.

But this time she's driving a car, so as long as she's not ugly, she has no choice.

These days, women from working-class families are looked down upon even by car drivers. They're considered ungrateful, disobedient, immature, unfilial, and wild-hearted.

With all sorts of moral accusations and talk about filial piety, how many women can resist these days?

Following Zhao Zhiping's instructions, Aunt Zhang took a very ordinary mechanical part and went to find Zhao Qian.

~~

Transportation station, rest area.

Jiang Cheng had prepared burlap sacks, ready to ensnare the girl. No, he was preparing to go to the lumber mill that afternoon to collect sawdust.

Director Liu from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative took some time this morning to visit Jiang Cheng. Last time, he mentioned needing sawdust and bark as firewood, so Director Liu helped him contact the leaders of the Forestry Bureau.

It was just a matter of the forestry bureau leaders giving the timber factory a heads-up. The forestry bureau said they would send an clerk over this afternoon to take Jiang Cheng to the timber factory to pick up sawdust.

Upon hearing this news, Jiang Cheng immediately went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought three large burlap sacks for ninety cents each. These sacks were purchased in the name of the transportation station; individuals cannot buy new burlap sacks because they are considered production materials.

Just when Jiang Cheng thought the day would pass by like this, around 11 a.m., he heard someone calling for him from outside the office.

"Master Jiang is in the break room next door, you can go there."

Station Chief Chen told the two women who had come that they wanted Jiang Cheng to bring a spare part to the city for the agricultural machinery factory. However, the transport station's trucks don't run to the city every day; they should use a passenger bus to carry the parts.

Furthermore, Station Chief Chen noticed a pretty young woman accompanying the middle-aged woman, and felt that she didn't seem to be there simply to ask Jiang Cheng for help delivering something.

Jiang Cheng sat on a chair in the lounge. People who wanted to enter the lounge would basically pass by the window.

First, the figure of matchmaker Aunt Zhang flashed past the window, then a girl with braided hair who looked quite pretty from the side.

The door to the lounge was ajar and opened with a push. Aunt Zhang first pushed the door open a little, saw that Jiang Cheng was sitting alone inside, and then walked in with a big smile.

"Master Zhang, this is Zhao Qian, the daughter of Master Zhao from the agricultural machinery factory. Master Zhao said that the factory needs your help to deliver a part to the agricultural machinery factory in the city. He is too busy to come over right now, so he asked his daughter to deliver it." Aunt Zhang said this in a pretentious manner as she entered the room.

Jiang Cheng looked at Aunt Zhang's expression, and then at the girl who followed her in.

This girl has eyes that look like eyes and a mouth that looks like a mouth. Although her clothes are patched up quite a bit, she's really pretty. She's attractive but not stunning; she's the refined type that grows on you.

"The parts that Master Zhao wants to deliver, I'll fill out a form, and you can sign it later." Jiang Cheng immediately understood what Aunt Zhang meant; this must be the high school girl they were talking about yesterday.

Jiang Cheng hadn't expected Aunt Zhang to act so quickly. She'd only mentioned it yesterday evening. Yesterday she said she didn't know anything about the person, and today she'd brought them over.

There were many illiterate people these days. In the early days after liberation, 90 percent of the country was illiterate. Even now, more than 70 percent of people in rural areas are illiterate.

In the county town, more than half of the young people, especially the young women, are either completely illiterate or semi-literate. Those who have gone to high school have a different kind of demeanor.

"Okay, thank you, Master." Zhao Qian replied politely.

Jiang Cheng nodded, took out a form, and pretended to fill in some information. Then he had Zhao Qian sign it; only after she signed it would the transportation entrustment agreement be considered complete.

As Zhao Qian was signing, Jiang Cheng saw Aunt Zhang waving for him to leave. Jiang Cheng nodded and immediately followed.

"Xiao Jiang, isn't this girl pretty? And she's a high school student, so she can start working right after graduation," Aunt Zhang said.

"Isn't she going to college?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"It's good enough for a girl to get into high school; she probably won't get into university," Aunt Zhang said with a smile.

Yi'an is just an ordinary county town; the fact that even one college student from there is big news for the whole county. The quality of teachers in the county also plays a role; many of the high school teachers are only graduates of vocational schools or teacher training colleges.

The teachers themselves had never been to university, there were no review materials or exam papers, and it was completely incomparable to high schools in the city.

Zhao Qian has good grades, but she's not one of the top students in high school. Even the top students don't have much confidence in getting into university, let alone her.

"That's great. She's still studying. Will her family agree?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Don't worry, I spoke to her father about your situation first. Didn't you see she brought an accessory? Her father asked her to bring it," Aunt Zhang said.

After hearing what Aunt Zhang said, Jiang Cheng realized that he had been a little flustered and hadn't analyzed the situation. Jiang Cheng had always wanted to find a beautiful partner, but when asked specifically what kind of beautiful woman he wanted, he couldn't say.

Jiang Cheng now knows what kind of beautiful woman he wants, like Zhao Qian. She's quiet and refined, and he wonders what would happen if he took off her pants after marrying her.

"That's good, Auntie. Then I'll trouble you to do some work. If things go well with her, besides the five yuan, I'll give you half a pound of meat as a bonus," Jiang Cheng said generously. The main reason was that Zhao Qian was really pretty and a high school student.

"Don't worry, just watch what your auntie can do. I guarantee I'll help you get things settled as much as possible," Aunt Zhang said with a smile.

Matchmakers prefer to arrange marriages between men and women who are well-off, because if one of them is well-off, there is a high probability that they will be attracted to the other.

Like Li Xiufang's case yesterday, if Jiang Cheng agrees, things might be settled by the New Year. This morning, Li Xiufang's mother went to see Aunt Zhang to ask if the young man her daughter met yesterday had taken a liking to her. Her daughter, Li Xiufang, had no objections.

(Seeing the comments, sometimes I only update one chapter a day, but that's the word count for two chapters. Today I'll update two chapters to see how it goes.)