Reborn in 1979, with a female educated youth lying next to me.

The person in front of me was of medium height, not yet fifty years old, and wearing an old shirt.

He had a few gray hairs at his temples and spoke in a loud voice.

Upon seeing Li Zhenhe, he reached out and patted him on the left shoulder, saying, "You little rascal, you still know to come and see your uncle!"

Seeing this standard gesture, and then looking at the smile of the person in front of him, Liu Jia felt a lump in his throat and his eyes welled up with tears!

If I hadn't been holding it in, tears would have started to fall!

Master Peng!

Unexpectedly, I saw my benefactor, Master Peng, in Qingcheng!

What surprised Liu Jia even more was that Master Peng was actually Li Zhenhe's maternal uncle!

What a small world! So small it brings tears to my eyes!

In a daze, Liu Jia seemed to hear those familiar words again.

"You brat, don't you know how to put the wrench in the toolbox?!"

"You little rascal, you're quite clever. One day you'll surpass your master."

"You little rascal, don't always be so stubborn. A car won't move without gas, and the same goes for people. You need to think more positively."

Whenever he said these words, Master Peng would reach out and slap himself on the shoulder.

The force was just right, not too strong.

Just like when he says he's a brat, it sounds like a scolding, but there's no scolding at all.

Liu Jia didn't know how to describe his current feelings. If he wasn't afraid of scaring Master Peng, Liu Jia would have liked to go over and call out again.

At this moment, Peng Shunnian took the things from Li Zhenhe's hands.

"You came all this way, but you brought so much stuff. It's like your uncle can't afford to feed you for the next couple of days."

"Don't bring these next time you come. We have everything here, we don't lack anything."

"How is your mother's leg? For so many years, her leg has been uncomfortable whenever it rains or the weather gets bad. You have to tell her to be careful."

Seeing his eldest nephew, Peng Shunnian was happy, and he wanted to ask about his sister as soon as possible, so he kept talking.

Li Zhenhe didn't know what to say first.

Seeing Li Zhen and Liu Jia behind him, Peng Shunnian smiled again.

"This young man is promising; he looks like he'll amount to something."

Liu Jia stood up straight and bowed respectfully to Peng Shunnian.

"Hello, master!"

"what?"

Li Zhenhe and Peng Shunnian were both stunned, their foreheads covered in a layer of fog.

What does "Hello, Master" mean? Is it some kind of special address?

At this moment, Liu Jia realized that he had said something wrong and quickly tried to smooth things over with a smile.

“My uncle doesn’t look like someone who does farm work. He’s in a factory, so he must be a leader or something, or at the very least a supervisor!”

Hearing Liu Jia say this, Peng Shunnian laughed again.

"I can't be called a big leader. I'm just an ordinary worker in the machine factory. I'm thinking of working for another two years, then retiring and letting my son take over!"

Liu Jia felt a warmth in his heart upon hearing this.

I had heard such words from Peng Shunnian.

In order to ensure that his son could take over the business smoothly, Peng Shunnian retired early and later went to work in the city doing repairs.

Liu Jia felt a renewed sense of joy.

You can meet people who care about you earlier.

"Quick, don't just stand here, come inside! My pork stew with vermicelli is ready, it smells amazing! You all have to eat two big bowls today!"

Upon hearing the name "pork stew with vermicelli," Li Zhenhe immediately began to swallow hard.

Worried that Liu Jia might feel uncomfortable there, Li Zhenhe deliberately held Liu Jia's arm.

"Brother, I can't speak for everything else, but my uncle's pork stew with vermicelli is absolutely amazing, it'll make you fall off your feet from the aroma!"

"Then I won't hold back later!"

As soon as Liu Jia entered the courtyard, he smelled the aroma of stew. These days, eating a hearty meal of pork stew with vermicelli is like celebrating the New Year.

Normally, unless it's a holiday or an important guest comes to the house, farmers would never be willing to buy meat to eat.

Even if you have to be careful when buying a pound of meat, you still have to be frugal and eat it for several days.

Pork stew with glass noodles—I never even dared to dream of it.

At the dinner table, there were only Liu Jia, Li Zhenhe, and Peng Shunnian.

"He said he was going to get some stamp done at dawn, but he hasn't come back since he left this morning. Let's not wait for him."

“Your aunt is a very busy person. A couple of days ago, she arranged a marriage for someone. The woman’s family said they wanted to meet again, so your aunt went along with them.”

As Peng Shunnian spoke, he served food to Liu Jia and Li Zhenhe. Before long, their bowls were bulging like small mountains.

"Master Peng, stop working and eat quickly, I can't finish all of this."

After Liu Jia finished speaking, he was stunned.

Peng Shunnian was pleased to hear this and immediately put down his chopsticks.

"That's strange. Why do you seem to enjoy being called Master Peng? How about I take you on as my apprentice? I do know a bit about car repair!"

What was meant as a half-joking remark caused Liu Jia to suddenly stand up.

"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Master. I'm willing to become your apprentice!"

"Liu Jia, stop messing around and sit down!" Li Zhenhe said, then looked at Peng Shunnian, "Uncle, I'm not bragging, but my brother's car repair skills are top-notch!"

Li Zhenhe was worried that Peng Shunnian wouldn't believe him, so he went on to talk about how Liu Jia had fixed his tractor.

Peng Shunnian looked serious, already imagining Liu Jia repairing the car in his mind.

"Indeed, I was right about you. This young man is indeed promising."

Liu Jia remained standing upright, showing no intention of sitting down.

"Master, I wasn't joking just now. I really hope you'll accept me as your disciple!"

"Alright, it's settled then. It'll be an honor for me to take on a capable apprentice!"

Peng Shunnian was overjoyed. He turned around, took out a bottle of Lao Zhen wine, and poured two glasses.

He placed one cup in front of himself and handed the other to Liu Jia.

Li Zhenhe stared, his eyes wide.

"Uncle, you've been hiding such a good thing. I work at the supply and marketing cooperative, and it's not easy to buy this kind of wine. If you weren't taking on an apprentice today, would you still be holding back?"

At this moment, Liu Jia's gaze also fell on the Lao Zhen wine in front of him.

Lao Zhen Jiu is different from other baijiu; its appearance alone surpasses that of ordinary baijiu by leaps and bounds.

Most baijiu (Chinese white liquor) is packaged in ordinary glass bottles, but the Lao Zhen baijiu bottle is engraved with dragons and phoenixes!

In today's terms, that's equivalent to Moutai!

It's so rare!

This is a rare and precious wine, so expensive that even ordinary city dwellers can't afford it.

The fact that Peng Shunnian brought it out today shows how happy he is.

Seeing Liu Jia in a daze, Peng Shunnian pretended to be angry.

"Liu Jia, don't listen to Zhenhe's nonsense. Come on, let's do this together, and I'll accept you as my apprentice!"

Liu Jia raised his wine glass with both hands and immediately said, "Master, then this disciple will drink first!"

Liu Jia drank it all in one gulp, and Peng Shunnian did the same, emptying his glass in one go.

Li Zhenhe looked at this and that, and found himself suddenly unable to join the conversation, so he simply buried his head in eating the pork stew with vermicelli.

As Liu Jia sat back down in his chair, something suddenly occurred to him.

In his previous life, Master Peng rushed back to Qingcheng because of a family emergency: his son, Peng Tianliang, had been imprisoned.

He left the repair shop because of this.

After making inquiries, Liu Jia learned that Peng Tianliang had ruined his future by taking the blame for a woman from the same factory.

Based on the timeline, Peng Tianliang's incident must have occurred within this year.

The so-called factory should be a machinery factory.

Taking advantage of Peng Shunnian's good mood, Liu Jia asked casually, "Master, I heard you say you went to get a stamp at dawn? What kind of procedures are you going to complete? Is there anything we can help you with?"

Peng Shunnian raised his head.

"No need. He wasn't doing his own thing. He was doing something for Old Zhou's daughter. Old Zhou and I work in the same factory. I've met that girl before."

Liu Jia's heart sank, instinctively feeling that Peng Tianliang's accident was related to the Zhou family's daughter.

Li Zhenhe was a restless person; he started asking about gossip as soon as he heard a few words.

"Uncle, did you find someone in Tianliang? Why else would you be so diligent? This is great news. Maybe we can even have a wedding banquet at the end of the year."

After asking the question, Li Zhenhe stuffed a mouthful of rice noodles into his mouth.

Peng Shunnian smiled sheepishly.

"Not so fast. We've just started dating, how can we get married so soon? We need to see how things go."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jia became even more certain of his earlier idea.

Peng Tianliang's troubles must be because of that woman!

Since nothing has happened yet, I absolutely cannot sit idly by.

"Master, what's that woman like?"

Liu Jia was anxious and asked a question out of the blue.