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

Li Ju'an pondered the timeline of Lin Mei's arranged marriage in his previous life, which was when she was 19 years old. He still had one year. As long as he could change the Li family's current living conditions and put Lin Mei's parents at ease, there would be a turning point in his relationship with Lin Mei.

He took another big bite of the meat bun in his hand, feeling truly satisfied after eating it all. What's more, the bun wasn't made by anyone else, it was made by Lin Mei, so the flavor and the sentiment behind it were even more special.

He took his younger sister, Li Xiao, back to the Li family's mud-brick house. His mother, Song Lanhua, was busy by the wood-fired stove, blowing air into the fire. She had already heard about her son's journey down the mountain from Xiao Zhao in the production team, and her worries were finally relieved. She thought about cooking a good meal for her son.

In the 80s, large iron pots were used to cook rice in rural areas. The crispy layer of rice stuck to the bottom of the pot was the most delicious and chewy. Song Lanhua, the mother, always saved the crispy layer of rice stuck to the bottom of the pot for her son, Li Ju'an, because he loved that crispy layer of rice.

"Mom, I'm back."

When Song Lanhua saw her son return, her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

She rushed forward and quickly checked her son's injuries. When she saw the bloodstains from the bandages on his shoulder and the three thick wolf skins hanging on his body, she felt heartbroken and tears streamed down her face.

"You damn bastard, you dare to hit Zhang San? Do you have a death wish? You just got back, and I was thinking you got off easy after being hurt by Da Gu Zi, but today another tough guy shows up."

"You're going to drive your mother crazy. What's wrong with staying away from this thing? Are you going to try and fight it off if you see its big claws?"

The usually gentle mother rarely spoke so fluently and incessantly. But Li Ju'an didn't find it unpleasant at all; instead, a strange warmth welled up inside him.

In his previous life, he spent many years doing business in the south, rarely returning to his hometown and neglecting his aging mother, which filled him with guilt. When he became wealthy and successful, he had ill-gotten gains, and his family benefited nothing from it. Now, he is clean-handed and lives an upright life, determined to ensure that his family, who care about him, can live a prosperous and comfortable life.

Li Ju'an wasn't annoyed by his mother's scolding. He grinned and put down the hemp rope on his shoulder, then laid down the pieces of venison.

"Stop scolding Mom, let's stew venison for lunch."

When Song Lanhua, the mother, saw the large amount of venison chunks, she was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth.

Her eyes widened, and she remained speechless for a long time. She might have thought it was luck when Li Ju'an killed the large lone fawn. But just a few days later, her son had brought back a whole, robust male sika deer, complete with magnificent antlers and a bountiful amount of venison—an absolutely unexpected surprise.

Li Xiao grinned and said, "Mom, can we have some meat today?"

Last time, the venison was very firm and had a strong, unpleasant odor, requiring a lot of spices to remove the smell. The venison was also tough and difficult to chew. Now, the house is overflowing with venison, enough to make even the poorest family in the village envious.

The mother felt sorry for him, but seeing her son's smiling face and expectant eyes, she didn't want to go against his wishes. Continuing to scold him at this point would only make things worse.

Song Lanhua swallowed the rest of her rambling, and finally said, "Wash your hands, it's time to eat! Next time, don't go into the woods alone in the dark. If you're going, go with a group of people."

"Okay, got it."

The kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of meat.

Song Lanhua selected venison hind leg meat, added water, cooking wine, salt, and ginger slices to the pot, and stewed the venison until it was 80% cooked. She then added soy sauce for color and stewed it until it was tender. In addition to braised venison, her mother also made a stewed meat pot.

She skimmed off the foam floating on top of the stewing pot, threw in a handful of seasonings, covered the pot, and soon the aroma of meat filled the room.

Li Xiao stood by the stove, watching her mother cook, her mouth watering. She watched as her mother began to debone meat and dip it in minced garlic, and then busied herself preparing a cold cabbage salad.

The sweet and sour cabbage hearts are so delicious! Most people don't know how to make them properly. Li Xiao and Li Ju'an love their mother's cabbage heart salad the most.

The kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma, a rich, meaty fragrance that most people couldn't easily obtain, unless someone in the village was hosting a large banquet for an event.

The fragrant aroma of meat wafted through the air, filling the earthen houses of Lijiatun.

The villagers usually eat cornmeal and pickled vegetables for lunch. But when they smelled the delicious aroma of meat, how could they resist? One by one, the villagers were chewing their cornmeal with gusto, but when they suddenly smelled the enticing aroma, they stopped eating, looked out the window, and suddenly felt that their mouths had lost their taste.

Uncle Lu couldn't help but spit out: "What smells so good? Aren't you going to call people to eat? You're throwing a big feast and you didn't even give us a shout?"

The Lu family cursed inwardly which family was so unethical, cooking so many fancy dishes that the whole village was filled with the aroma of meat. Wasn't this deliberately tempting them? They were so hungry that they didn't even want to eat their pickled vegetables, and they found the cornmeal too hard to swallow.

When Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang saw their uncle put down his chopsticks, put on a stern face, and stop eating, the two brothers exchanged glances and realized they also felt their mouths were tasteless. They then exchanged meaningful glances.

"Want a couple of sips of malted milk powder?"

"That is required!"

While their uncle opened the door and ran to the courtyard to investigate, the two brothers crawled into the cupboard and began rummaging through it. They took out the last few drops of malted milk powder and ate them in large mouthfuls with small spoons.

The chocolate-flavored malted milk powder, with its milky aroma, was so delicious it was unbeatable. The two brothers fought over it fiercely, their faces turning red, almost coming to blows. Suddenly, their uncle stepped back into the house, cursing, "It's meat from the Li family again! That meaty smell wafting from that corner of the Li family's place. You two lads, come with me and see what good stuff the Li family's young man has caught this time."

Uncle Lu was annoyed. He thought about how Li Ju'an from the Li family had grown up alongside Lu Zhiqiang, and how he had been a troublemaker as a child. How come the difference between them was so great as adults? Li Ju'an was already able to go hunting in the mountains, shoulder the burden of the Li family, help his mother with the pressure, and even ensure that the Li family could eat meat every meal. What were the two boys from the Lu family doing?

He had gone to great lengths to pull strings and get the temporary jobs at the forest farm for the two boys, but they slacked off and almost got fired. He had to ask around and plead their case to get them allowed to stay. Now…

When Uncle Lu entered the house and looked up, he realized that the two mischievous boys of the Lu family were gone. There was no sign of the two brats on the kang table. He then turned to look at the kitchen cabinet, where he saw the nearly overturned malted milk powder and the two boys' backs as they eagerly chewed it. The sight made his anger surge, and his blood rushed to his head.

Inside the Lu family's house, the old man roared angrily: "You brat! What are you doing sneaking around like that!"

Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang were so frightened that their hands trembled and they dropped their spoons. They turned around quickly with panicked expressions, using their bodies to block the malted milk powder can, but a little bit of malted milk powder on the tip of their noses still gave them away.

Lu Zhiqiang shouted, "We absolutely did not steal any food!"

Lu Jinyang covered his face in anguish and tugged at his cousin's sleeve, trying to tell him to stop explaining.

Lu Zhiqiang thought his brother was scared, which emboldened him even more. With his nose covered in chocolate brown smears, he puffed out his chest even more righteously and shouted.

"We definitely didn't eat malted milk powder!"

Lu Jinyang closed his eyes in sorrow, his expression becoming even more pained.

……