The growth system comes at the age of 30

Chapter 260 Hiding His Name in Spring Festival Couplets (5K views, please vote!)
Jiang Zhiqin turned around and took out a large red envelope. Judging by its thickness, it should be the same as the one her mother gave to Li Beixing.

Chen Jingle instinctively raised her hand to refuse: "That's too much, Auntie..."

Jiang Zhiqin scolded, "Silly child, how can you not accept a red envelope the first time you come! Just take it obediently!"

After saying that, his eyes lit up with a smile.

Chen Jingle's subconscious actions still reveal some things.

It's good that he's not greedy. Judging from our previous conversations, he's an upright person, but he's too polite and a bit reserved.

It's normal for someone to come as a guest for the first time.

Chen Jingle glanced at Li Beixing, and seeing her smiling, he accepted the gift with both hands.

"Thank you, uncle and aunt!"

"That's right."

Jiang Zhiqin smiled broadly and took two more bags from Aunt Wang next to her: "And some ingredients. Since you like cooking, you can take them back and practice. You can't refuse either."

This made Chen Jingle feel embarrassed.

On my first visit, they offered me food and gifts, so I could only accept them with both hands to express my gratitude.

In Jiangbei, there is a custom of giving gifts in return to guests, regardless of whether the family is poor or rich.

The gift Chen Jingle brought was quite valuable, and the return gift from Li Beixing's family was equally impressive, as evidenced by the ingredients used in the meal just now.

Jiang Zhiqin smiled gently and said, "Remember to visit your uncle and aunt often when you have time. You don't need to bring any gifts, just come in person."

Those words sound so familiar.

"Okay, I will." Chen Jingle could only nod with a smile.

Jiang Zhiqin then said to Li Beixing, "My dear girl, could you help see Jing Le off?"

"Okay~" Li Beixing quickly perked up.

After putting their things away and getting into the car, the two looked at each other.

Li Beixing couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Let's drive first."

"Ah."

Chen Jingle laughed, quickly fastened his seatbelt, rolled down the window, waved to the three people in the yard, and the car started to move.

After driving for a while, he asked, "Did I do anything wrong in front of your parents just now?"

Li Beixing tilted his head and thought for a moment: "I personally feel that everything is fine, there shouldn't be any problem. Seeing how poised and confident you were in front of my parents, with everyone smiling and laughing throughout, it was a pleasant conversation for most of the time. I'll ask my parents about it later."

"That's good."

Chen Jingle breathed a sigh of relief, but in reality, he was far from as calm as he appeared.

He didn't like the feeling that the decision-making power wasn't in his hands; the only thing he could do was to do his part well.

I feel pretty good about myself.

All I can say is, do your best and leave the rest to fate.

……

They went back to the studio first, spent a little time together, and then Chen Jingle drove home by himself.

When they saw his car stop in the yard, his parents came out of the living room.

Mom asked first, "How did it go? What did Beixing's parents say?"

To avoid worrying her parents, Chen Jingle downplayed the issue, smiling and saying, "They just asked a few simple questions. They probably already knew the basics from Beixing beforehand; it was just a formality. They asked about things I didn't know beforehand. Her parents are very easy to get along with. They didn't make things difficult for me at all; on the contrary, they were very welcoming. Then we had lunch together. The dishes were of a very high standard, so it seems that her parents are quite satisfied with me."

"That's good." Liu Yuehua breathed a sigh of relief.

She was afraid that people would look down on their humble family, even though her son was indeed very outstanding.

If it doesn't work out, she can't imagine how painful it would be for the two young people.

It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Li Beixing's daughter is deeply in love with her son.

While dating is fine, when it comes to marriage, the opinions of both sets of parents must be taken into consideration to a large extent.

"Don't worry, before she left, her mother told me to visit them more often when I had time, and she gave me a lot of return gifts, so it shouldn't be just empty politeness," Chen Jingle said with a smile.

Dad then asked, "What exactly did you eat for lunch?"

Chen Jingle replied, "There's a lot of seafood, like lobster, abalone, sea cucumber, and grouper. There's a chef auntie who cooks for us, and she's a really nice person."

My parents were a little surprised. It was indeed a very high-end setup, and their family's financial situation was much better than ours. They even had a housekeeper to cook for them. They didn't know if they really favored their son or if that was just how they were.

My mom asked curiously, "What did you bring back with you?"

"I didn't look at it carefully. I was too embarrassed to open it at the time, so I just put it in the trunk. I'll take it out first."

Chen Jingle opened the trunk, removed the bag, and looked inside: "Hmm, it's all ingredients. I mentioned that I enjoy cooking, so her mother gave me some ingredients to bring back so I could practice. They're all relatively expensive ones. For example, this fish is called Su Mouse Grouper. Don't let its appearance fool you; it costs over 200 yuan per jin (500 grams). Even farmed ones cost over 100 yuan. This one is about 2.5 jin (1.75 grams)."

For example, this bag of abalone, double-headed dried abalone. Although it's not the largest kind, this size is just right for a family gathering. And this snowflake beef steak, it should be S-grade Wagyu from Harbin in Northeast China. After all, our country doesn't import Japanese Wagyu beef. Now that breeding technology has improved, the quality of domestically produced Wagyu is actually better than imported... I'll put them all in the refrigerator for now and deal with them for dinner.”

Chen Zhenwei and Liu Yuehua were speechless.

Goodness, a fish costs several hundred dollars. They would never be willing to eat it.

Not to mention there's also abalone and steak.

They are indeed a wealthy family.

Our family's life has improved, and we can now enjoy such good food.

What they didn't know was that Chen Jingle usually bought decent ingredients, just not this high-end.

However, in terms of cooking quality, every meal we eat at home would cost several hundred yuan per person at a high-end restaurant, and each meal could cost several thousand yuan.

Because good food depends not only on the quality of the ingredients themselves, but also on the skill of the chef.

Does a top chef's cooking mean that anyone can just eat it anytime?
……

dinner.

Chen Jingle used the ingredients he brought back from Li Beixing's house to cook several dishes for his parents, which received unanimous praise.

Chen Qiyun, that little guy, has only been able to come over for a meal occasionally lately, but tonight she finally got to, and she was still savoring the taste long after she finished eating.

It makes me want to laugh.

There was a little incident on the 28th.

Chen Jingle went out and had a meal with Liang Cheng and a few other classmates he was close to in high school.

For various reasons, we hadn't been able to get together for a meal for several years. This year, we reunited, and it felt like the clouds had parted to reveal the clear sky.

As people reach their thirties, they are all busy dealing with life's challenges, and such gatherings will only become less and less frequent in the future.

It's simple for men to get together for a meal. As long as it's not for business, they can just find a decent little restaurant on the street, eat, drink tea, and chat.

Unsurprisingly, Chen Jingle's transformation nearly made everyone except Liang Cheng drop their jaws in astonishment.

It took a lot of effort to convince them that they hadn't had plastic surgery.

The brothers were filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment towards Chen Jingle's current life.

In terms of living comfort, no one can compare to Chen Jingle now.

No need to work, earning hundreds of thousands a month, living in a quiet detached villa in the suburbs, spending all my free time petting cats or growing flowers, cooking whatever I want to eat, and the food tastes even better than top restaurants, traveling in an Audi and a Yadea, and if I want to show off, I can even have a Ferrari.

Most importantly, he has a harmonious and happy family, healthy and safe parents, and a beautiful girlfriend who only has eyes for him.

This is the epitome of a winner in life!
All that's missing is a child.

……

There is no Lunar New Year's Eve this year; the 29th is Lunar New Year's Eve.

Every year, Chen Jingle's family eats the New Year's Eve reunion dinner together with his grandparents, second uncle, and second aunt, as the large family makes it more lively.

Sister Xiu got married, otherwise there would have been another spot available.

In Jiangbei, the New Year's Eve dinner is usually held in the morning or at noon, rather than in the evening.

So Chen Jingle didn't go out for a run today. He just did some simple exercise at home in the morning and then helped prepare today's reunion meal.

This year, it's finally Chen Jingle's turn to take the helm.

Wu Hu~
Proven strength!

In Jiangbei or the surrounding area, cooking for family gatherings is not a job that just anyone can do.

Many people spend most of their lives still working as cooks or serving dishes.

If you accidentally spill braised pork belly, you probably won't dare come back for Chinese New Year for two or three years. You'll be the laughingstock of the surrounding villages for the rest of your life, and you'll have a new nickname from then on—

The one that spilled the braised pork belly.

Rural areas have many local folk customs, and on New Year's Eve, people need to worship gods and ancestors to express their gratitude.

Therefore, we should arrange the chicken, duck, and pork first.

After paying respects to all the gods and ancestors, it's time to eat.

In the Lingnan region, poached chicken is an indispensable dish for festivals and celebrations; no feast is complete without chicken. Besides poached duck and poached pork, practically anything can be poached. The prerequisite is good quality ingredients.

The free-range Sanhuang chickens raised by farmers for 120-150 days are fed rice bran mixed with leftover rice and various rotten vegetable leaves every day, which is when the meat is at its best.

When making poached chicken, Chen Jingle likes to take it out and put it in ice water. This makes the poached chicken tender and smooth. Paired with the special Jiangbei-style dipping sauce of sand ginger and garlic, it's incredibly delicious!
It has to be a dish of sand ginger, otherwise it just doesn't feel right.

Apart from that, all other dishes were prepared according to banquet standards. Considering that the grandparents had poor teeth, dishes that were difficult to chew were avoided as much as possible. Banquet dishes, or even state banquet dishes, were very suitable at this time.

As for the matter of worshipping the gods, my father and second uncle were in charge.

Grandma, Mom, Auntie, and Chen Qiyun helped with washing the vegetables, while cousin Chen Jinghao assisted Chen Jingle in preparing the vegetables.

He's now working as a cook in the hotel restaurant, but when he gets home he still has to be a kitchen helper.

Chen Jingle only needed to be responsible for cooking.

Some simple dishes would be given to Chen Jinghao to cook, to test his skills, while Chen Jingle would watch from the side and occasionally offer a word or two of advice.

"The heat is a bit too high, turn it down a bit. Keep an eye on the color changes of the food in the pot, and don't fall asleep. Okay, season it and it's ready to serve!"

It's been a few months since I last saw Chen Jinghao, and his cooking skills have definitely improved.

After all, Chen Jingle taught him a lot when he came back last time, and he would occasionally ask Chen Jingle some technical questions on WeChat.

In terms of talent, Chen Jinghao is definitely not as good as Chen Jingle, after all, how can a normal player compare to a cheater?

However, with cooking skills, making a living shouldn't be a problem. If you persist in this industry for ten years and can become a head chef in a typical mid-to-high-end restaurant, that would be considered a success.

Expecting him to become a chef at state banquets is unrealistic.

……

After the dishes were almost cooked, Dad and Second Uncle returned from their prayers. They chopped up the chicken and duck and prepared to eat!
This meal is truly lavish.

Besides several types of boiled vegetables, there are also braised lion's head meatballs, beef with broad bean paste, squirrel fish, braised pork knuckle, braised pork belly with pickled cabbage, steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli, braised abalone with oyster sauce, and crispy stir-fried squid...

Just as I was about to sit down, my second uncle suddenly leaned over and asked in a low voice with a smile, "Is that your girlfriend who often comes to your house? When are you going to bring her home so we can all have a meal together?"

During that period, Li Beixing came to Chen Jingle's house almost every day. Although he could not see his second uncle and aunt most of the time, he would see a car parked at Chen Jingle's house once or twice. With the gossip from other people in the village, he could guess what was going on.

When asked, the elder brother and sister-in-law just smiled and gave vague answers.

Chen Zhenlin simply asked Chen Jingle.

Chen Jingle's expression remained unchanged: "Let's see how things go after the New Year, it's still a long way off."

If it's a large family-style meeting and meal, it's basically settled, equivalent to an engagement.

Uncle grinned: "Okay, as long as you can bring it back."

There's no time to lose. My nephew will be 31 after the New Year. In the countryside, that's definitely considered an older single man.

My parents, in particular, were extremely anxious. In the past, whenever this topic came up, it would always end in a bad mood. This year, they can finally have some peace and quiet.

Chen Jingle stayed at home and didn't go out to work, and the rumors in the village were all over the place.

Some say he committed a crime outside and is afraid to go out again; some say he owes money to others and is back to hide from his debts; others say he's involved in telecom fraud at home, otherwise where would he get the money to buy an Audi?
Chen Jingle usually doesn't go out or interact with those people, so naturally he didn't know that they were talking about him behind his back.

Chen Zhenlin interacts with other people in the village, or attends village meetings, and is often asked about these rumors. He is very unhappy about them, but there is nothing he can do about it.

People compete for a breath, Buddha competes for a stick of incense.

That's how it works sometimes.

As for Chen Jingle, he didn't care about any of that. Let whoever wants to talk, he thought they were all idiots!

Everyone was very satisfied with the reunion dinner and praised it highly.

After finishing his meal, Chen Jingle glanced at his phone and saw that Teacher Li had sent him a new message.

It's a photo.

Li Beixing went back to her rural hometown with her parents for the Spring Festival and won't be back until the third day of the Lunar New Year. In the next few days, she can only make video calls to keep warm.

She sent Chen Jingle a lot of photos of her hometown, which were quite interesting.

It's like observing Teacher Li's childhood growth through the photos.

Chen Jingle responded by mentioning the various delicious foods he had prepared that day.

Li Beixing was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

You should know that during the few days she went back to her hometown, her parents cooked for her. The food was not only inferior to Chen Jingle's cooking, but also far inferior to Aunt Wang's. It was just something to eat.

In this situation, Chen Jingle deliberately tempted her with all sorts of delicious food, how could she not be angry!

Seeing the angry emoji sent by Teacher Li, Chen Jingle couldn't help but chuckle.

Indeed, occasionally acting silly can help deepen the relationship between couples.

……

After waking up from my afternoon nap, I started tearing down the couplets and door gods in preparation for putting up new ones.

We agreed beforehand that I would write the couplets myself this year.

Chen Jingle laid out the red paper and was ready.

My parents were watching from the side, very curious.

Because Chen Jingle had always worked in his study, they had never observed him before, and this was the first time they had seen their son write calligraphy.

Chen Jingle didn't try to be unconventional with the couplets on his front door; he simply wrote them in a way that conveyed auspicious meanings.

Sun-drenched homes are always filled with spring.
A family that accumulates good deeds will have abundant blessings.

Horizontal banner: Virtue brings blessings

"How is it?" he asked his parents.

Mom nodded in satisfaction: "It looks good, it's easy to read aloud, and it's not as ordinary as the mass-produced ones sold outside. It also has a good meaning."

Dad said he didn't care, as long as it wasn't pasted crookedly.

However, it's always a good thing that the writing is beautiful. When relatives come to visit, he can proudly tell them that his son wrote this, and that it's different from the mass-produced stuff you buy outside!
Ah, a typical Chinese father!
As for what Chen Jingle wrote for his room, it was much more casual.

The seas are churning and the clouds are raging.
The world is in turmoil, with thunder and lightning.

The main reason for writing such a couplet is that my mindset has changed.

With the new year bringing new beginnings, standing at the juncture between the old and new year, looking back and looking forward, one can clearly feel that society is at a critical historical juncture. Moreover, his current position is quite different from before, and the goals he sets for himself are naturally different from those he set a few months ago.

The situation is changing too fast; we must strive to keep up with development.

First, paste the couplets on the main gate. As for the couplets on your own bedroom door, stick a few magnets on the back of the couplets and stick them on the door so they stick firmly!
"It's done!"

Take a picture and send it to Li Beixing.

As a result, Teacher Li said, "Write a pair for me too!"

"Didn't you not put up Spring Festival couplets on your villa?" Chen Jingle asked in surprise.

Li Beixing said, "I want to stick it on my bedroom door."

"That's weird~ There's no sticker on the front door, why is there one on your room door?"

"Hey, can you write this for me?"

No one can resist Teacher Li's coquettishness, not even Chen Jingle.

I had no choice but to say, "Okay, what do you want to write?"

"You help me think of something!"

Got~
Chen Jingle thought for a moment and said, "May good fortune arrive with spring, and may peace and happiness come with the four seasons. How about this?"

Li Beixing couldn't help but laugh when he saw it.

How could someone be so shameless as to ask him to write a Spring Festival couplet and then hide their own name in it?

A smirk immediately appeared on his face, and he said, "If you're not afraid of being laughed at, then write it!"

Chen Jingle chuckled: "What do I have to be afraid of? If your aunt and uncle ask about it later, I'll just say that you forced me to write it."

"Then I don't want it."

"No, it's already written. This is a small business, and once sold, there are no returns! Please accept the 50 yuan writing fee!"

Li Beixing sent over 520 yuan directly, saying generously, "Keep the change!"

Wow, that's really impressive!
I can't accept it!

Li Beixing suddenly thought, "Hey, if I had known, we should have set up a stall and written Spring Festival couplets for people. We could have earned at least a few hundred yuan."

Chen Jingle: "...My calligraphy is worth tens of thousands of yuan, and you expect me to go out and sell it for ten yuan a piece? You'd be more suited to write that!"

Li Beixing was annoyed: "Are you saying my handwriting is ugly?"

“I didn’t say that, you admitted it yourself.” Chen Jingle laughed heartily.

Teacher Li was furious!
"By the way, it's New Year's Eve today, how should I give you the Spring Festival couplets?" Chen Jingle asked.

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(End of this chapter)