Seventies Sweetheart: From Breakup to Billionaire-Chapter 187 - 190: Sweetheart

"No arguments, I just turned down his unreasonable request," Lin Xiang explained the whole situation to Mrs. Lin, "The meat and vegetables are still in the kitchen."

"Since he brought it over, let’s just eat it, ignore him!"

Have to say, after staying in the city for a month, Mrs. Lin’s horizons have broadened quite a bit.

She now deeply understands the value of the phrase: it’s better to have no affection than to have unrequited affection.

Her daughter is promising enough to get into a good university, and surely will bring her a prosperous future, so why bother with those calculating relatives?

As for living alone after her daughter gets married?

Her daughter said, no matter where she goes, she’ll always take her along, so she’s not worried!

Mrs. Lin went into the kitchen, "Whoa, this meat must weigh at least a pound! Uncle Lin really went all out today. What do you want for dinner, will you cook for mom?"

Lin Xiang: ...

"Shouldn’t it be you cooking for me?"

Since the school started, all the meals at home were made by Mrs. Lin, and Lin Xiang hadn’t cooked for nearly a month.

"I haven’t had your cooking for so long; I really miss it. How about some braised pork tonight?"

"Sure, I’ll go to the river later to catch a couple of fish, and we can cook some fish too."

By evening, there was no braised pork, and no fish.

Because Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin were enthusiastically invited to Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt’s house for dinner.

On the table was a big pot of stewed vegetables, less vegetables and more meat, and a plate of braised spare ribs. In the seventies, this was considered quite the feast for guests.

"I was calculating the days; you should be back around today. So I bought the meat ahead of time during the market day," Fifth Aunt warmly urged Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin to start eating, "Why just stand there, dig in!"

After filling their stomachs, Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin didn’t rush home but continued chatting with Fifth Aunt.

"The business is really good, although there are quite a few stalls selling noodles during the market day, most sell spicy noodles, only ours sell the three-flavor and tomato-flavored ones, so there aren’t too many competitors."

Apart from Uncle Lin and the state-run restaurant’s helper, there was another stall selling spicy noodles; all three businesses were doing okay, selling seventy to eighty bowls a day.

While Fifth Aunt’s two kinds of noodles combined sold up to a hundred bowls daily.

Even though they went to markets in different places every day, each market day’s audience was the local team under the commune.

It generally rotated every half month, so there were plenty of people at each market day.

"My husband and I calculated last night, we made at least this amount over the past month."

Fifth Aunt held up one finger.

A hundred yuan.

For rural people in the seventies, that was akin to a fortune.

After all, many families had total savings in the single digits.

For example, before she came through the book, the Lin Family had only a little over two yuan in total savings; even spending twenty cents on anti-inflammatory medicine for Lin Yun was done frugally.

"That’s great," Lin Xiang said, "Even though it’s a bit tiring, if you can endure hardship, you can make money."

Although it wasn’t a huge amount, it was enough to improve Fifth Uncle’s family’s conditions.

"I think that Chunya is not young anymore. I’ll save some dowry for her first, and after she gets married, I’ll start saving for Dong Sheng."

Dong Sheng was only eleven years old; marriage was still a long way off.

Chunya blushed, "Mom, you promised before not to rush me into marriage, right?"

"I’m not rushing you; I’m just saying it. Whether you marry or not, I’ll still save this money for you. Dong Sheng is still young, so I’m prioritizing you."

Chunya said nothing but her flushed earlobes gave her away.

Lin Xiang seemed to discover a new continent. As Mrs. Lin chatted with Fifth Aunt, she leaned over to Chunya and nudged her shoulder with hers, "So you have someone in mind?"

Chunya was startled and hurriedly looked around. After confirming no one noticed what Lin Xiang said, she glared at Lin Xiang, "Don’t say that, I don’t."

"Come on, tell me? I can give you some advice."

"I already told you I don’t have anyone in mind."

"What if you run into someone like Zhao Chunshui again? Let me check him out first to avoid any risks."

With her teeth tightly biting her lip, Chunya had a mental struggle before tentatively asking Lin Xiang, "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone else?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Between us? We are as close as real cousins; would I ever trick you?"

Chunya instinctively glanced at Fifth Aunt, seeing her attention was elsewhere, then whispered, "I met him at the market; he sells pancakes. My dad has to go to the fields lately, and after he drops us off at the place, he has to rush back, so my mom and I have to handle a lot of work."

"He comes to help every day. During the free time from selling noodles, we chat, and I think he’s quite nice. Although his family is a bit poor, mine isn’t rich either. As long as both put effort into it, life can still be good. Xiang, what do you think?"

Lin Xiang was silent.

Chunya was already considering future prospects with him and yet Fifth Aunt hadn’t noticed anything?

"Anyway, I don’t have much to do tomorrow; I’ll join you at the market to see just what kind of person has captured your attention."

Chunya’s face remained flushed, "But we agreed you won’t let my mom find out."

Lin Xiang nodded perfunctorily and then stopped paying attention to Chunya, going to find Fifth Uncle instead.

"Fifth Uncle, I just heard Chunya say, every day you drop them off at the market, you have to rush back? If it’s nearby, it’s fine, but some market days require walking for more than an hour, making a round trip three hours."

Fifth Uncle smiled wryly, "There’s no choice; it’s the busy farming season. Fifth Aunt and Chunya need to go to the market, Dong Sheng is too young, and I’m the only one who can earn work points at home."

Compared to selling spicy noodles, working in the fields is definitely tougher, so Fifth Uncle doesn’t want Fifth Aunt to suffer like that.

"Actually, now with a money-making venture, you don’t have to necessarily earn those work points. Once or twice is fine, but over time, what about your health?"

Fifth Uncle paused a while before saying, "Uncle understands your point, but market days are inherently unstable. Who knows when we won’t be able to do it, so we need a backup plan."

This is ingrained in the bones of Hua Country people, and Lin Xiang didn’t continue to persuade.

"Anyway, make sure to take care of your health."

"Don’t worry, it’s only during busy farming times that I’m this frantic. When the busy season is over and field work is lighter, I’ll let others earn the work points."

By the time Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin returned home, it was already completely dark.

The mother and daughter cleaned up and went to their respective rooms.