Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 257 The Matchmaker Introduces Lin Mei to a Potential Partner

His younger sister, Li Xiao, looked up at him with a puzzled expression: "You're not even that fast. Aren't you supposed to be clumsy? You're not even as fast as me."

Li Ju'an winked at Li Xiao, winking and giving him a knowing look, and continued to praise, "Jia Dong, do a good job. You still have to deal with the fish in this basket and that basket. I'll give your sister a lot of praise later. The child has really grown up and become sensible. Working at the movie theater has really made you more observant and quick-witted."

When Lin Jiadong heard his future brother-in-law praising him so enthusiastically, his tail practically wagging in the air, and his face beaming with pride. He suppressed his smugness, keeping his head down and working even faster on the river carp in his hands. He even endured the fishy smell, forcing himself to clean the fish thoroughly.

He learned from Li Ju'an's method, dipping the fish pieces in starch and turning them a few times to coat them. This method produces fish that is golden brown on both sides, not soggy, and not sticky – very delicious!

Lin Jiadong stared at the buckets of bear oil, wild boar oil, and wolf oil in Li Ju'an's house with envy, and exclaimed, "Goodness, there's so much oil!"

The Lin family was very frugal with their oil coupons. Every time it was time to exchange the coupons for oil, Lin's mother would carefully calculate the amount needed. When it came to cooking, they would almost always just coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of oil and then quickly stir-fry the food. Generally, they rarely stir-fried; steaming was the more common cooking method.

Lin Jiadong's eyes littered with envy when he saw the Li family's many barrels of oil, all made from the fatty meat of wild game they had hunted in the mountains and cooked themselves. Li Ju'an laughed and said, "What are you looking at? There's even more in that room."

He casually pointed, and Lin Jiadong turned his head to find even more buckets of oil piled up in the corner of the west room. It was all lard from an old sow, from the eldest male pig. If you poured that lard into soup, or even just made a bowl of plain noodles, the aroma of the steaming lard would make the taste completely different.

Lin Jiadong was completely convinced. He gave a thumbs up and exclaimed, "Brother Li, isn't this guy much better than those matchmakers who introduced my sister to people? If Mom keeps nagging about my sister, I'll have to say something."

Li Ju'an nodded, watching Lin Jiadong finish processing dozens of kilograms of river carp, and then told him to carry away a heavy river carp. This carp weighed about five or six kilograms, quite heavy. Lin Jiadong smiled broadly, rubbing his hands together to thank him profusely.

After Lin Jiadong left, his younger sister Li Xiao came over and looked at Li Ju'an very seriously, saying, "Brother, you really like Sister Lin Mei. But Sister Lin Mei's mother looks fierce and is very difficult to talk to."

Li Ju'an understood that Lin's mother was arrogant and wanted her daughter to marry into a good family in the city, with a large dowry, which she could then use to help Lin Jiadong get married. In his previous life, he had scoffed at this idea and couldn't understand it. Now, having lived two lives and traveled far and wide, he had seen too much. Everyone had their own calculations and their own way of living.

To get Lin's mother to agree, we need to follow her wishes in order to win her over.

He ruffled Li Xiao's fluffy hair and said, "Have you finished your homework? If you have, go wash your feet and go to bed."

"I finished writing a long time ago, brother, and I've already prepared the water for washing your feet. Brother, I've also prepared a basin of hot water for you. Sit on the edge of the kang and soak your feet; it'll feel nice."

The little sister, so petite, was already so sensible. Li Ju'an felt a warmth and tenderness in his heart. In the room lit by a kerosene lamp, soaking his feet in hot water, he felt a cozy sense of contentment.

He thought to himself that the day after tomorrow was the day to build the new house, a three-story self-built house. He was determined to take his mother and sister and live a good life that everyone in the village would envy.

……

On the other side, Lin Jiadong had already excitedly returned to the Lin family home carrying a heavy carp. He craned his neck and shouted, "Mom! Brother Li brought the fish!"

Mr. Lin had never seen such a big fish before. He was greatly surprised when he saw it, his eyes widening as he asked, "Who sent it? Which Brother Li?"

"Brother Li Ju'an!" Lin Jiadong, still a teenager, happily embellished his story, recounting Li Ju'an's fishing trip to the fishing village in great detail, praising him to the skies, which made Lin's father nod in agreement.

Lin's father also chimed in with praise, "The young man from the Li family is quite capable. His father is in poor health, and he took on the responsibility from a young age. It's truly remarkable." He thought of how he himself had also shouldered the burden of supporting his family at a young age, raising three or four younger siblings. He wiped his face and nodded repeatedly at Li Ju'an.

Upon hearing this, Lin's mother said, "Li Ju'an was a good child when he was young. He was honest and kind-hearted, just like Song Lanhua. It's a pity that he had bad luck and no family to help him. If his uncles and aunts could help him, he wouldn't have to go hunting in the mountains. He could have found a proper job through connections. Being able to make a living is the right thing to do."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiadong asked in confusion, "Why doesn't Brother Li have a proper job? When we went to the cinema as apprentices, even our master earned a meager thirty-seven yuan a month, which was already quite a lot. That wasn't enough to buy much oil and meat. Brother Li has barrels of oil piled up in the corner of his house, and he can't possibly use them all. Isn't that enough?"

Lin's mother laughed, poked Lin Jiadong's forehead with her finger, and said, "What do you know at such a young age? When you're three or four years older, I'll ask a matchmaker to introduce you to someone, and then you'll know the benefits of your job."

In those days, if you could work as an apprentice at a movie theater, you could become a full-fledged employee after a few years. Then you could become a projectionist, and when the weather warmed up in spring and summer, many village leaders would ask around to find you and help you get extra freelance work after get off work, like showing open-air movies to the villagers.

Lin Jiadong was still unconvinced, muttering to himself, "Whatever, it's good that Brother Li brought us meat. He even gave me comic books."

Lin's mother glanced at him. Startled, he quickly shrank back and covered his mouth, realizing he had let something slip. He thought about how he was now working, not in school anymore and couldn't read comic books, so he straightened his back and raised his voice with more confidence, shouting, "Mom, I'm a working man now, what's wrong with reading comic books? Anyway, I just like Brother Li."

He turned around and took the carp to the kitchen, then happily went to tell his sister about it.

Lin's mother and father exchanged glances. Lin's mother was still angry, while Lin's father tried to smooth things over, laughing and saying, "The child is all grown up now and has his own ideas."

Seeing that her husband was still calm and not worried at all, Lin's mother anxiously whispered in his ear, "Haven't you seen that your girl's heart has flown away these past few days?"

Where has Ah Mei's heart flown off to?

"Where else could it fly to? It must have flown to that brat from the Li family." Lin's mother sighed anxiously, sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and began to pour out her grievances.

"I gave Zhang the matchmaker a lot of eggs and asked her to help me find a good young man in the city, at least someone with a decent family background and a decent job. Xiao Qin who works at the department store, Xiao Chen who works at the supply and marketing cooperative, and Xu Da, the driver—that young driver—all took a liking to our Amei. But Amei, for some reason, won't even meet them. I told her, 'It's fate. Maybe you'll meet them and find your destiny.'"

"But what Ah Mei said really made me furious. Guess what she said?"

Without even looking up, Lin's father casually asked, "What did the girl say?"

Lin's mother was so angry that she could hardly breathe. She glared at her and said, "Amei rejected me outright, saying that we weren't meant to be."