Chapter Twelve: The Great Steelmaking Campaign

The members of the collective were fervent about the Great Steelmaking Campaign, and within just a few days, they had built all nine "earth blast furnaces." Coal and firewood were fully prepared, but they lacked raw materials.

The team leader organized a scrap iron collection group to gather discarded metal objects from all over.

Wang Hongbing, who was widely regarded as an expert, had been feeling down lately, hunched over and listless. This should have been his moment to shine, yet, contrary to his usual self, he stayed cooped up at home all day.

The team secretary Yang and the leader Wang Hongkui had asked him several times to provide guidance on the steelmaking, but he always declined, citing stomach and headache pains. Normally, he was obedient to his elder brother Wang Hongkui, so it seemed his health was genuinely poor.

He thought to himself: officially, the three main heirs were his sons, but in truth, they were Chen Facai’s offspring. If he lost this ability, their lineage would be cut off.

Among all sins, the greatest was leaving no heir, so he resolved to rest well for a few days, determined not to become unfilial.

“Nothing is more poisonous than a woman’s heart.” At this moment, Wang Hongbing understood this saying more deeply. He felt he had been played by Caiyun. For her to be so ruthless, it meant she didn’t truly care for him; she had only pretended to be close to him to learn culture, deceiving him into a false sense of intimacy, leading him into her trap.

Seeing Wang Hongbing’s recent condition and behavior, Caiyun was a little afraid; she didn’t know what serious consequences might come.

Recalling that night, Caiyun felt she was not a good woman. If she had ignored him from the start, none of this would have happened.

She didn’t understand why she acted that way, knowing full well what he intended, yet she gladly engaged with him.

After much thought, she admitted there was something about Wang Hongbing that attracted her.

Facai was impatient—whatever he wanted to do, he did immediately, always coming and going in a rush, quick to act and quick to sleep afterwards.

Caiyun felt she was merely his outlet for release, and they often argued over this.

She liked men who were cultured, tasteful, and refined, like Wang Hongbing, who was also handsome, so she greatly admired him.

Because of this, Wang Hongbing’s sweet talk, teasing, kisses, and flirtations held a powerful allure for her.

Facing his emotional advances, Caiyun's words, actions, and inner world were often torn in conflict.

She would try her best to avoid and resist physically, yet inwardly felt joy, pleasure, excitement, which in turn stirred desire and impulse.

If not for the grudges between the Wang and Chen families, and not feeling guilty toward Facai, perhaps Caiyun would have long since crossed the line.

Wang Hongbing didn’t fully understand this; he only knew Caiyun did not want to betray Facai, but he didn’t know whether she genuinely liked him or was merely using him.

It wasn’t until the night at the drying ground that Wang Hongbing confirmed he had been played by Caiyun.

Now, none of that mattered. What weighed on him was whether this condition of his had been completely destroyed by Caiyun, whether the family line would truly end.

As for the great steelmaking, he had no heart to care.

The campaign had reached the stage of practical implementation, but no one knew quite how to proceed, all hoping Wang Hongbing could come on-site to guide them, even if just to offer advice.

The most urgent was the collective secretary, Yang Shaowen; he ordered team leader Wang Hongkui to bring Wang Hongbing out, but Wang Hongkui didn’t know what had happened to his brother or how to get him to come.

At this moment, he thought of Caiyun, hoping she might persuade Wang Hongbing, and so he went to the canteen to find her.

“Caiyun, go and call Wang Hongbing over, tell him I need to speak with him.”

“Captain, I’m busy right now, you should ask someone else.”

Caiyun was reluctant, but the captain insisted, so she had no choice but to go.

“Hongbing, your brother wants to see you, says he has something to discuss,” Caiyun said with a forced smile when she arrived at Hongbing’s home.

“I’m not going,” Hongbing replied coldly.

“You should go. I can’t attend the steelmaking, and if you don’t go either, that’s not good,” pleaded Han Xiuxia, bedridden.

“Shut up. If you want to go, then go yourself,” Wang Hongbing snapped angrily.

Caiyun wanted to ask about his health but felt it was inappropriate. Knowing persuasion was useless, she returned to report honestly to the captain.

The days for Wang Hongbing dragged on endlessly until he could stand it no longer and went to the county hospital’s urology department for a checkup. The hospital was crowded with patients; he sat anxiously awaiting the doctor’s verdict.

Silently, he prayed: “God, oh God, please don’t let me be the last of my line. I have done nothing to wrong you.”

Though a staunch believer in science, at this moment he found himself praying to God—a fact he himself found hard to believe afterward.

“Wang Hongbing?”

“Here,” he answered when the doctor called.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked.

Wang Hongbing explained his condition. After examination, the doctor said, “At present, it doesn’t seem serious. Go home and rest a few days. If it doesn’t improve, come back. Understand?”

“Understood, thank you, doctor.”

On the way home, the entire area buzzed with the steelmaking effort, people’s enthusiasm soaring. He felt ashamed for not having participated even a single day.

Secretary Yang Shaowen led everyone, working day and night by the furnace, dozing briefly when tired, snacking on rations when hungry.

Chen Facai was tending the bellows at the earth furnace when two people from the commune arrived to take him away, saying he had not paid his contribution on time and must attend a study session at the commune.

“Caiyun, the commune has taken your man away,” someone told her.

“Why?” Caiyun asked anxiously.

“I don’t know. Go see for yourself.”

Caiyun found team leader Wang Hongkui to ask. The leader said it was about the contribution payments; anyone who hadn’t paid in full had to attend the commune’s study sessions, and they could return as soon as payments were complete.

Upon learning this, Caiyun felt she had to find a way to raise funds quickly. But because Qingying had adopted Yulan, Caiyun had not agreed, so she couldn’t borrow from Qingying either.

She consulted with Fafu, deciding to sell the large wooden door to raise money and rescue Facai.

As Fafu dismantled the door, Caiyun stroked the carved horse on it repeatedly, tears in her eyes as she watched him haul it away. Such a fine door sold for only four yuan, with Fafu adding two yuan secretly to cover the full contribution. The next day, Facai was released.

After Facai returned home, Caiyun quietly brought him some delicious food from the canteen to help him recover, and his health soon returned to normal.

Facai, knowing the wooden door had been sold, fashioned a simple door from sticks and sorghum stalks to shield from wind and rain.

After several days of smelting, they had consumed much coal and firewood, and the furnace blazed fiercely, yet the scrap iron still failed to melt properly. The molten iron did not flow out, causing the furnace to clog.

They had no choice but to use hammers and steel bars to break and pry out the fused coal-iron blocks inside the furnace, presenting these as the steelmaking achievement to report to the commune.