We were about to ask a few more questions about the factory when a clerk from the personnel department came to the security office to interview the applicants.
I had heard Chen Gang say that many personnel departments secretly charged workers a fee to get into the factory, so I had imagined the people in those departments as stern, intimidating figures.
But now I saw that this was not necessarily the case.
The personnel clerk was a young woman, only a few years older than me. She was slightly plump, with a round face and a pair of narrow, squinting eyes. Put her in a crowd, and she was so ordinary that no one would have been able to pick her out.
She chatted and laughed with the security guards, looking almost kind and pleasant.
But the moment she started dealing with us, her attitude changed completely.
Sitting inside the security office, she examined our ID cards and diplomas one by one through the window. She repeatedly compared the photographs on our documents with our faces. Only after she decided that an applicant was acceptable could that person pass through the narrow automatic gate, which was just wide enough for one person.
When I saw that most of the girls ahead of us had been allowed through, I let out a long sigh of relief.
It looked as though we might actually find work today.
Like the girls before her, Lijuan passed without any trouble.
Then it was my turn.
The personnel clerk glanced at my documents. After barely looking at them, she waved me through.
I was delighted.
As I stepped through the automatic gate, I wanted to walk lightly and confidently. But every time I put weight on the sole of my left foot, it hurt, so I curled my toes inward as much as I could and tried to distribute my weight between the ball of my foot and my heel.
I did my best to keep my balance and make my walk look normal.
But as I passed through the narrow gate, I failed to notice a metal threshold sticking up from the ground.
My foot stumbled against it.
The edge struck the sole of my left foot exactly where it already hurt.
A sharp, piercing pain shot through me.
When I put my foot down again, I could no longer walk normally. I had to hobble along on my toes.
I was almost at the line where Lijuan and the other girls were standing when the personnel clerk suddenly came out of the security office and shouted:
“Out! You—get out!”
I stopped and turned around, stunned.
“Me? You mean me?”
She narrowed her eyes impatiently.
“Yes, you. You don't need to come in. Get out. Now!”
I still couldn't understand what was happening.
“Why? Why don't you want me?”
She looked contemptuously at my left foot and said without the slightest expression:
“This isn't a charity. We don't hire disabled people.”
I tried to say something, but she snapped:
“Are you leaving or not? If you don't leave, I'll call security!”
I hurriedly pleaded with her.
“I'm not disabled. I just hurt my left foot by accident.”
She had completely lost patience.
“Cui Qi! Cui Qi! Come and get this person out!”
I knew there was no point arguing anymore.
Before the security guard could come after me, I hurriedly limped out of the factory gate, utterly humiliated.
The moment I stepped outside, the automatic gate slammed shut behind me.
I thought about the humiliation I had just endured.
Strangely, I didn't shed a single tear.
I simply stood there, staring through the gate as Lijuan and the other girls walked toward one of the buildings inside the factory compound.
For the first time, I felt completely useless.
Lijuan had gotten into the factory. There was no way I could continue living alone in that rented room.
Fear began to take hold of me.
Right now, the most important thing was to find a factory—any factory—that would provide food and accommodation.
As long as no one checked my temporary-residence permit, I wasn't afraid of how hard or exhausting the work might be.
Standing there in that enormous unfamiliar place, I felt like a stray dog desperately searching for someone to take it in.
Did it matter whether that owner's home was rich or poor?
As a dog, what right did I have to complain about the wealth of the person who took me in?
But because of my injured foot, this factory had already regarded me as disabled. Surely other factories would reject me too.
Just as that personnel clerk had said, what factory would be willing to take in a “disabled” worker like me?
It was working hours now.
Apart from the distant roar of machinery, I could hear almost nothing.
I felt utterly alone and helpless.
Then my eyes fell on a dilapidated little factory diagonally across the road.
A large red hiring notice was pasted conspicuously beside its entrance.
I rushed toward it like a starving stray dog spotting a bone by the roadside, forgetting the pain in my foot.
The hiring notice was handwritten, the characters crooked and uneven.
But the requirements were astonishingly low:
大量招工，男女不限。
大量招工，男女不限。
They were hiring large numbers of workers, men and women alike.
No educational requirements.
No physical requirements.
I could hardly contain my excitement.
The security guard on duty was a thin, undersized middle-aged man. He merely glanced at my ID card and let me in.
I was worried.
I was still limping badly.
But he seemed not to notice—or simply didn't care.
The factory was incredibly small.
There were only two buildings, neither of them large. One was a single-story structure, the other had two floors. Both looked old, worn, and gray.
There was only one concrete path running through the compound, with waist-high weeds growing thickly on both sides.
Seeing those green weeds reminded me of the fields back home.
To my surprise, I felt an indescribable sense of familiarity and comfort.
The security guard led me into the single-story building.
Inside were several tables covered with something golden.
Looking more closely, I realized they were piles of tiny metal components.
The room was large.
About seventy or eighty workers sat around tables of different sizes, busily working.
It seemed they were connecting the tiny metal pieces into long, narrow strips that looked like watchbands.
There were also three or four machines in the middle of the room, occasionally breaking into noisy bursts.
There was only one desk in the entire room.
A pretty young woman sat behind it.
She was wearing a beautiful T-shirt and sitting there with an expression of boredom, as though she had nothing better to do.
I was sure she had noticed my abnormal walk the moment I entered.
I became terribly afraid that she would refuse to hire me because of it.
The security guard led me to her desk and said respectfully:
“Miss Zhao, she's here to apply for a job.”
The girl called Miss Zhao lazily glanced at me.
She pulled a form from the desk and handed it to me.
“Can you write?”
The question sounded strangely condescending, but I was so relieved that I almost felt honored.
“Yes. I can write.”
She nodded.
“Then fill this out.”
Could getting a job really be this simple?
Whatever the case, she hadn't rejected me because of my “disability.”
A wave of relief washed over me.
The form asked for the usual things—name, address, and so on.
I filled it out quickly and handed it back.
She glanced at it once and asked bluntly:
“Can you start work now?”
My heart jumped.
Could it be that I had actually found a job?
I answered cautiously:
“Now? Does the factory provide food and accommodation?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Yes. Food and accommodation are provided. Bring your own belongings. There's a 30-yuan deposit, and we'll keep your ID card for half a month.”
Although I was afraid that saying the wrong thing might annoy her and make her change her mind, I still had to speak up.
“Okay. But I need to go back and get my luggage.”
She was already becoming impatient.
“Then go get your luggage. Come back to work tomorrow.”
She handed my ID card back to me reluctantly.
I nodded repeatedly and let out a long breath of relief.
Taking my ID card, I hurried out of the factory as if I had just been granted a pardon.
I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs:
I have a job! I finally have a job too!
It wasn't until I walked out through the gate that I noticed the factory's name:
Yongxin Arts & Crafts Factory.
I went back to the entrance of the Liangguang Factory and waited for a long time before Lijuan finally came out with the other girls.
When she heard how simple my interview had been, she could hardly believe it.
Their interview had been much more complicated.
First, they had taken a written test.
One person who couldn't even write had been sent away immediately.
Then a security guard had made them practice basic drills—marching in place, turning left, turning right, and so on.
Even getting into Liangguang Factory required a 100-yuan deposit.
Luckily, Chen Gang had given Lijuan 100 yuan the night before, so she was able to pay it.
In return, she received three days' worth of meal tickets, valued at four yuan per day—a total of twelve yuan.
Those who hadn't paid the deposit received no meal tickets.
Lijuan said that the personnel department had taken them around the factory for a brief tour.
The factory buildings were enormous.
The factory had been established ten years earlier. Back then, there had been only seventy or eighty employees.
Now it had grown into a large factory with more than a thousand workers—and it was still planning to expand.
As Lijuan told me all this, her cheeks were flushed and her face was glowing with excitement.
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