"Wang Chu'an, why are you still sleeping? Didn't I tell you yesterday to go talk to your friends and make sure they help you pick up the bride tomorrow?"
Lying in bed, Wang Chu'an was utterly bewildered by this unfamiliar and angry voice, and he blurted out, "Wedding? Whose wedding? Why do I need to pick up a bride?"
Hearing this, Wang Lijuan marched right over, grabbed his ear, and twisted hard. "Are you out of your mind from sleeping? You're getting married tomorrow, and you forgot even that?!"
Struggling to pry her hand off his ear, he scrambled out of the bed. "Hiss—that hurts like hell! Easy!"
Seeing him get up, she let go, shot him a withering look, and snapped, "Less drinking with your buddies! Downwarding that swill made you forget something as big as your own wedding. Now get up and get some food."
With that, Wang Lijuan turned and walked out. Left sitting on the edge of the bed, Wang Chu'an was completely lost.
A girlfriend? He didn't even have a girlfriend! Get married? Marry who? And who was that woman just now?
Just then, a wave of memories that did not belong to him suddenly flooded his brain.
It made him realize he had time-traveled, ending up in the year 1984 inside the body of a guy who shared his exact name!
This Wang Chu'an had been drinking with a few childhood friends last night, gotten completely plastered, crashed out, and never woke up.
As for himself, he had been unemployed lately, spending his days cooped up playing video games. Right at the start of a match, he realized he had brought the wrong skills for his hero, got so worked up he knocked over a drink onto a power strip, shorted it out, and got electrocuted straight across time and space.
"What the hell? Is time travel this convenient nowadays? They didn't even need Truck-san to give them a hand."
Having accepted the reality of his transmigration, a small surge of excitement bubbled up inside him.
After reading novels for all these years, who hadn't fantasized about traveling through time? Of course, having a system or some sort of Golden Finger would have made it even better.
Still, even without a system, a modern guy like him ought to do pretty well in this newly reforming and opening-up era. The more he thought about it, the happier he got, and a grin spread across his face.
Yet, a second later, the thought that he was getting married *tomorrow* sent a pang of panic through him.
In his past life, he had been an absolute rookie when it came to romance—a lifelong single. Aside from a few young waitresses at the restaurant where he worked, when would he ever have had a chance to meet any girls?
Besides, none of those girls gave him a second glance. He couldn't afford a house, and he couldn't afford a car—who would marry a guy like that?
According to the memories he had just absorbed, the original owner and this girl had met on a blind date. They hadn't seen each other many times, but they hit it off, made things official a month ago, and tomorrow was the big day.
In the original owner's memories, this girl was a real stunner, bearing a striking resemblance to the major celebrity Liu Shishi from his previous life.
As for why she had set her sights on Wang Chu'an?
Well, he wasn't bad-looking himself—he looked roughly seventy to eighty percent like Zhu Yawen, the actor often dubbed "walking adrenaline."
Standing well over six feet tall, he had a slightly rebellious, handsome air about him that proved irresistible to young women. That was one of the main reasons he had managed to win over Fang Shiyu.
The thought that such an absolute beauty was about to become his wife filled him with uncontainable joy.
Back in his original era, forget about a beauty like that—even an average-looking woman would expect a house, a car, and hefty betrothal gifts before she'd even consider marriage.
In his past life, he had been an orphan, raised in an orphanage with mediocre grades. After graduating from junior high, under the director's recommendation, he started apprenticing under an old master to learn culinary arts.
He spent ten full years at it, working his way up from prep cook and vegetable cutter to finally becoming a head chef. Just as he had finally made it as a master cook, the restaurant went under due to the pandemic, leaving him unemployed at home.
Even without the pandemic, heaven only knew how many years he would have had to work just to afford a down payment on a house. As for getting married, that was something he wouldn't even dare to dream about.
With these thoughts cleared up, his fear vanished entirely, replaced by a growing, eager anticipation for the future.
He threw on his clothes and stepped out of the room to see the woman who had pinched his ear earlier sweeping the floor. He smiled and called out, "Sis, what's for breakfast? I barely ate anything last night and I'm starving!"
Without even glancing at him, she kept sweeping and snapped back, "Eat, eat, all you ever think about is eating like some starving ghost! You can forget your own wedding tomorrow, but you remember your stomach!"
Seeing her anger, Wang Chu'an put on a flattering smile. "Sis, didn't I drink too much yesterday? My head was just a bit fuzzy when I woke up!"
Looking at his slightly pale face from the hangover, a shred of pity tugged at her heart, though she kept up her sharp tone. "Drink, drink, that's all you know how to do! Why didn't you just drink yourself to death? I brought your food back, it's sitting in the pot—go get it yourself!"
He glanced at her, thinking to himself, *Well, you actually hit the nail on the head there. Your brother really did drink himself to death.*
"You got it, I'm on it!"
After dealing with Wang Lijuan, brushing his teeth, and washing his face, he headed into the kitchen, lifted the pot lid, and found the sweet potato porridge still warm.
Catching the rich aroma, his hangover-ravaged stomach growled even louder. He hurriedly filled a bowl, grabbed some pickled vegetables, and polished off two large bowls in a row.
"Burp—"
Once stuffed, he felt truly brought back to life. After washing his bowls and chopsticks, he came out and saw his eldest sister still cleaning up, so he asked, "Sis, where are Mom and Dad? How come it's just you here?"
She looked up at him and said, "Done eating? Mom and the others went beach-combing, and Dad went out to sea early this morning. You're the only one who slept until now."
Feeling awkward and not quite knowing what to say, he offered a sheepish grin. "Weren't we celebrating yesterday? I had a couple of extra drinks, but I promise I won't drink like that again."
"You're getting married tomorrow. From now on, you can't carry on like you used to—running out to drink and play cards over nothing. You need to take care of your home."
"Got it, I know. I'll change, don't worry! Oh, by the way, where are Mom and them beach-combing? I'll go take a look."
"Down at the beach on the east side of the village. If you're going, grab your gear from the old family house."
"Alright, I know."
With that, he broke into a jog toward the old house.
Actually, Wang Chu'an's prospects weren't half bad. He learned cooking from his paternal uncle, Wang Mancang, who was the head chef at the town's state-run restaurant.
Later, as the reform and opening-up policy took hold, every household's living standards improved. Whenever families held banquets, they loved hiring professional chefs from restaurants to come and cook at home, and Uncle Wang Mancang was a well-known master of his craft across the surrounding towns and villages.
Because of this, the number of people hiring his uncle to cook skyrocketed. At first, it was manageable; the uncle and his wife could handle it just the two of them.
Eventually, the workload piled up. They could still manage the work, but it was brutally exhausting.
So, after discussing it with his father, Wang Mangul, they decided to bring along Wang Chu'an, who had graduated from junior high and was just idling at home.
For one, it gave the boy a chance to learn a trade; for another, a growing teenage boy could eat you out of house and home.
At sixteen, he was at the prime age for devouring everything in sight. Following his uncle everywhere meant he ate and drank well, which was how he grew to be over six feet tall.
As for why Wang Mancang didn't bring his own children along?
Well, his eldest son, Wang Chuanjiang, had enlisted in the army at eighteen and later transferred to become the director of the town police station.
His second son had graduated from a technical secondary school and was assigned to work as an accountant in the town. His eldest daughter was in high school at the time, and his youngest daughter was in middle school.
When all was said and done, Wang Chu'an was simply the best fit. Every time he went out with his uncle to cook for other families, aside from all the good food and drink, his uncle always slipped him some cash—starting at three yuan and eventually rising to eight yuan a time.
That really wasn't a small amount of money, considering a regular worker's monthly salary back then was only around forty or fifty yuan.
As for his eldest sister Wang Lijuan accusing him of drinking and gambling, it was mainly because he had spare cash in his pocket and enjoyed eating and drinking with his childhood friends. He would also play small card games where the wins and losses amounted to just two or three yuan—he wasn't actually a degenerate gambler throwing his life away.