Small happiness

- Hey. I'm here.

Tua swiped his card to leave the factory when he heard someone calling him. It was Tuan, Tua's lover. Tuan worked in the warehouse. Today the warehouse did not have to work overtime, but Tuan stayed behind to wait for Tua to go to dinner. Taking the helmet and putting it on Tua, Tuan said:

- Tonight I will take you to eat rice cake to ease your longing for the mountains and forests.

Hearing Tuan say that, Tua shouted:

- Oh! You seem to read my mind.

Tuan smiled gently:

- Yes, I can read it. Because I can never forget the look in your eyes every time I eat that dish.

- Yes! Every time I eat that dish, I miss my hometown less.

The rice cake shop is located in a small hamlet near the company. The owner of the shop is also a highland person who came here to make a living. Seeing a regular customer, the shop owner greeted:

- Just finished work? Being a garment worker is really hard. You two sit down at the table while I bring in the cake. The rice cake is very delicious today.

Tuan and Tua chose a table in the corner of the restaurant to eat and talk. In a moment, a tray of hot, white rice cakes was brought up on banana leaves.

Banh dao is the name of the lowland people. The Tua people call it pau co. This is one of the unique dishes of the highland people. The ingredients to make banh dao include wild dao tubers and upland sticky rice, which are ground into a watery powder and filtered through a cloth to thicken. To make a delicious, fragrant cake, the highland women must mix these two types of flour thoroughly in a ratio of two parts of dao flour and one part of sticky rice flour. Then, they shape the dough into bowl-sized balls, wrap them in banana leaves, tie them up and steam them like corn cakes. The finished cake has the aroma of upland sticky rice and wild dao tubers, and when eaten, it has a cool, sticky taste like Kinh people's dom cakes. For Tua, banh dao is a dish that has been with them throughout their childhood. Since the time they were little like birds in their parents' baskets and carried them to the fields, banh dao and men men were familiar foods every day.

- I have some good news to share with you - Tua said, gently biting into the rice cake.

Tuan looked at Tua waiting.

- Yes! Go ahead.

- I have just been informed by the team leader that my initiative of a mold for the bag cutting process has been highly appreciated by the company's leaders and put into practice. With this improvement, workers can both adjust the stitching line, install the zipper, and cut two bags at the same time, shortening the operation, reducing time while the product quality is always consistent and meets technical standards. When the initiative is put into practice, it will benefit the company by hundreds of millions of dong each year.

- Really? - Tuan exclaimed happily - Wow, you're really good. I'm so proud of you. I didn't expect that the Mong girl from that day would now become a talented garment worker with many initiatives and achievements.

Shaking head:

- I'm still the same village girl.

The story seemed to bring Tua back to the days when she first came here to work as a garment worker. At that time, Tua had just finished school and saw some girls from the same village going down to the lowlands to work for a company. She also asked her parents to let her go. Because of her difficult family situation, her parents had to agree. The girls from the same village rented a room together. They went to work at the company during the day and came home at night. Tua was frugal in her spending. She saved all her salary and sent it back to her parents. With her embroidery talent, from a village girl, in just over five years, Tua became a skilled seamstress.

Although working in the same company, it was only later that Tua and Tuan got to know each other through an incident. That was the period when the company and the workers had not found a common voice. Basically, the company did not care adequately about the workers' lives in terms of social insurance, health insurance, sick leave, maternity leave, etc. But the most frustrating thing was that the meals did not guarantee quality. In the company, the workers still called it a "free" meal. The meal consisted of only fried tofu, a few boiled spinach stalks, and a bowl of "ocean" soup with a lot of water. Every time the dish changed, it was just a few fried dried fish, a few stir-fried vegetables, not ensuring nutrition for workers doing heavy work. Many times, the work was very tiring but seeing the meal was hard to swallow. Tua and the workers also petitioned the company's union many times in hopes of improvement, but nothing changed.

At the climax of that time, during lunchtime, many workers discovered maggots in their rice, soup and food. Some workers were frightened and vomited when they saw it. All the workers did not dare to eat rice for fear of being poisoned. The incident quickly erupted into a strike. The company's union stood up to protect the rights of the workers, petitioning the company to pay attention to the workers' meals. The company's leadership ignored the workers' and union's requests, and even threatened to fire the workers if they refused to return to work.

Faced with the lack of cooperation from the company's leadership, the workers and the union resolutely fought back. The workers even stood all day in the sun in front of the company's gate to demand their rights. Due to the hot weather, eating only bread and drinking water all day, some workers fainted from exhaustion, including Tua. When Tua woke up, the first person Tua saw was Tuan - a member of the union. It turned out that when he saw Tua faint, he carried her to the base of a tree to revive her. Faced with the struggles of the workers and the union, the company finally had to accept the workers' legitimate demands. Since then, the company's new leadership team has paid attention to implementing the workers' policies. Workers and employers regularly have dialogues to find a common voice. The company has also pioneered many social security activities so that workers can feel secure in their commitment to the company. After that time, Tua and Tuan got to know each other and fell in love.

- This afternoon - Tuan's words pulled Tua back to reality.

- Yes! - Tua was a bit surprised to see his serious face.

- This time I will bring my parents to talk about us getting married.

A little shy Tua said:

- Yes!

*

Right from the first days of spring, the bustling rhythm of work has returned in the company and in the industrial park. For Tuan and Tua, this spring also has an important event: organizing a wedding. The Mong people of Tua often organize weddings in spring because this is the season when all things grow and flourish.

The day before the two families visited the house, they had already arranged the wedding according to the traditional customs of the Mong people. The engagement ceremony had two matchmakers who were familiar with wedding ritual songs, connecting the two families to do the engagement procedures and set a date for the bride's arrival. The dowry, in addition to pork, chicken, cash and some items, tobacco and corn wine were two indispensable things when starting the conversation. The ancestral altar could not lack five-color sticky rice and pork.

What made Tua worried was that after the two families had chosen a date and time for the wedding, the company's union had an initiative to organize a mass wedding for couples who were workers. This initiative was supported by many workers. Tuan himself, a member of the union, also enthusiastically responded. But Tua was afraid that his family would not agree. Because up to now, the Mong people have always attached great importance to life-cycle rituals, including weddings. Seeing Tua's concern, the company's union chairwoman comforted him:

- Miss Tua, don't worry. Mr. Tuan and I will be responsible for explaining and convincing both families to understand. Especially Mr. Tuan, a member of the union, if he can't convince both families, how can he propagate to the workers?

At first, due to fear of public opinion, the two families firmly opposed. Especially Tua's family thought that if the villagers did not drink the celebratory wine, it would be no different from their daughter getting married illegally. Tua's father even declared that if his daughter got married in a group, he would not attend. Hearing what his father said, Tua felt hurt and cried.

- Don't worry. Let me and the union convince dad. All parents love their children.

Listening to Tuan, Tua was still very worried. Because up until now, Tua's father was known to be a difficult person. In the family, once he decided on something, it was difficult for anyone to change his mind.

Unexpectedly, when the wedding day was approaching, my father called and said that everyone would come tomorrow. Hearing what my father said, Tua still couldn't believe it. Only when my parents and relatives showed up did Tua breathe a sigh of relief. I had told my parents to just show up, but my father still brought a pair of pigs, a few jars of corn wine, sticky rice, and colors to cook five-color sticky rice.

- I brought it down to prepare a wedding feast to entertain guests - Tua's father said - A Mong girl's wedding cannot be complete without armpit pork, corn wine and five-color sticky rice.

The collective wedding of six couples of workers in difficult circumstances was organized by the union and youth union in an intimate and cozy atmosphere right at the company hall.

Among the six couples, Kim and Van are quite special. They have been married for 20 years and have two children together, but due to financial difficulties, they were only able to have their official wedding ceremony today, wearing bride and groom's dresses. Tuan and Tua are the youngest couple. When the union representative asked Tuan to speak, he was confused and couldn't say anything. Then he asked to sing a song. The whole hall applauded.

At the wedding, the company and sponsors supported the entire cost of wedding photography, costumes, makeup, a pair of wedding rings, a cake, and a party to invite relatives, friends, and workers in the workshop. In addition to urban dishes, the banquet tables also included grilled pork, five-color sticky rice, and corn wine that Tua's father brought down. Looking at Tua and the brides in their pure white wedding dresses with family and friends taking photos, Tuan's heart was filled with happiness.

Also at the mass wedding, the organizers presented six couples with marriage registration certificates and gifts of cash and household items to celebrate their happiness. However, the most meaningful gift was when the company's representative presented the keys to six dormitories in the company's workers' village project to the couples.

After the wedding, Tuan and Tua returned to their happy room. Looking at the beautifully decorated room with a warm wedding photo hanging in the bedroom, Tua held Tuan's hand tightly and said:

- I can't believe this is true. So from now on we have a family.

Tuan nodded:

- Me too. This will be our new home. Our children will be born and raised here.

Tua shyly nestled into her husband's chest as he placed a kiss full of trust and hope on her lips. Yes. Tua was born in the highlands, Tuan was born in the coastal region. But now the company has become a family, the land of Hai Duong has become the new homeland of the couple. Today's six couples are the first residents of the workers' village. And soon, in the new village, more children will be born...