Hard times: I worked as a truck driver in the county town

Jiang Cheng never expected that the system would grant him such good fortune if he married Li Xiufang.

However, Jiang Cheng gave up on the option. After so many years, he had come to understand the system's fortune-boosting effects. Sometimes, a higher fortune boost wasn't necessarily a better choice.

Having good fortune at most means that the other person won't harm him, but not being harmed doesn't mean that the woman he marries is a good woman.

There are many women who are malicious towards outsiders, but are good to their husbands and children, and help their husbands scheme against others; this may even bring them good fortune.

A woman who is filial and helps her maternal family is better than a woman who is not filial and is rather materialistic; the latter will befriend whoever is successful in her maternal family. While the former may seem better, in terms of how much help she provides to her husband, the latter is more likely to be more beneficial.

Getting married is an important life choice, and Jiang Cheng thought it was normal for it to trigger the system. These days, it's easy to find a wife, but if you're not compatible, getting a divorce isn't so easy.

In any divorce, regardless of the reason, both men and women will be gossiped about behind their backs. However, it's even more serious for women. Even if the divorce is really just due to personality clashes, they will be accused of being unfaithful, immoral, and restless.

At most, men will be accused of having problems with their thoughts or conduct, but they won't be accused of many other things.

So, while a man might lose face in a divorce, for a woman, it feels like the sky is falling. Therefore, even if couples have conflicts and resort to physical violence, they won't utter the word "divorce."

Jiang Cheng felt like he was finally able to take control of the system's abilities for the first time. Finding a partner was a very important life choice, and different partners represented different opportunities. This fortune should appear in all of them, so it could be used as a reference.

Jiang Cheng drove the matchmaker, Aunt Zhang, home. Aunt Zhang was quite shrewd, considering that Jiang Cheng was willing to give her an extra five yuan as a matchmaker's fee.

Aunt Zhang had only met the girl in person; the girl was still in high school and wouldn't graduate until the end of June. She didn't know whether the girl was willing to go on blind dates or what her family thought.

But Aunt Zhang thought that with Jiang Cheng's good qualities, he could be a good match for anyone, not just a high school student, but even a college student.

Schools are on holiday now, and Aunt Zhang said she would try to get Jiang Cheng to meet the girl once. If he still wasn't satisfied with her appearance, then there would be no need to bother talking to her anymore.

After dropping the matchmaker off at her home, Jiang Cheng drove back. When he got home, his family naturally asked how it went. Jiang Cheng didn't mention that he wanted someone good-looking; instead, he said he didn't want to go to the clinic.

Just registering patients won't lead to much of a career advancement. But if it's something like a nurse, Jiang Cheng says he doesn't want his wife to take care of other men, like giving them injections in the buttocks.

Anyway, this blind date was just left as a formality, and Wang Lan said that they could just find another matchmaker.

The next day, February 7th, was Lunar New Year's Eve.

The streets will be bustling today, as many companies will have their cafeterias host a New Year's Eve dinner. Going to work this morning will mainly involve tidying up some things and attending a meeting, so it won't be too busy. Many companies will give employees an early holiday after their New Year's Eve dinner.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, many families prepare a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, so giving everyone an early holiday is also a way to allow them to go home and prepare for the New Year.

However, Jiangcheng's transportation station is a service industry unit, like hospitals, restaurants, and cinemas. Forget about early holidays; they're on standby during the Spring Festival, and even on holiday, they need to be available to pick you up immediately.

Jiang Cheng had breakfast and carried some peanuts and sunflower seeds in his pocket, as staying in the rest room was too boring if he wasn't driving. When he was bored, he would squat by the roadside and eat sunflower seeds and peanuts.

When I arrived at the transportation station, the office door was not yet open, and Station Chief Chen had not yet come to work.

Actually, there are only two people in the unit, so being late or leaving early doesn't matter. It's just like the basic supply and marketing cooperatives in the communes below. No one would say anything if they opened the door half an hour early or half an hour late.

It's just that everyone is used to going to bed early and waking up early, unless they are lazy people who don't have a job. For normal people, going to bed at eight or nine o'clock at night, not to mention waking up as soon as the radio goes off in the morning, is enough to sleep until around seven o'clock.

Jiang Cheng's two younger sisters usually have to get up around 6 a.m. They don't need to wash clothes every day because of the cold weather, but they still need to start a fire and cook.

Seeing that the stationmaster hadn't arrived, Jiang Cheng parked the car, went to the office to get hot water tickets, and then went to the bus stop to get two bottles of hot water, one for each of them.

There's a water boiler room near the bus station where they use a traditional stove to boil water. Many small businesses in the vicinity go there to get their water. Even if a business has a canteen, it doesn't usually boil water for breakfast in the morning; most canteens only prepare one meal at noon.

Employees in the workplace buy water tickets at the water dispenser, and then their subordinates can get water for free using these tickets. Individuals without water tickets pay one cent per bottle of water.

After getting the hot water, Jiang Cheng went to the ticket office at the bus stop to get the newspaper.

Every legitimate organization is required to subscribe to newspapers. There's no voluntary participation involved; it's a mandatory requirement from above. Subscriptions are mandatory for Party newspapers, provincial and county newspapers, and the People's Daily.

Large organizations with many leaders might order more than ten copies per organization. The transportation station only orders one copy for each of them; if they don't order, the post office and the county propaganda department will come to them on their own initiative.

After grabbing the newspaper, I went back to the office to start a fire and burn coal. If I didn't drive, today would be another leisurely day.

It was almost 8:30 when Station Master Chen arrived at the transportation station. The reason was that an elderly person in his family had fallen ill and had been taken to the hospital early that morning, which had caused the delay.

Jiang Cheng gave Station Master Chen the dispatch slips from yesterday, chatted for a while, and then went back to the break room.

~~

No. 34, Qianjin West Road, Yi'an County.

Matchmaker Aunt Zhang was incredibly efficient at earning her money by arranging marriages. There weren't many high school students in the county, and even fewer pretty girls who were in high school.

So Aunt Zhang quickly found out the location and learned about the situation from the "intelligence team".

The high school girl Aunt Zhang mentioned was surnamed Zhao, and her name was Zhao Qian, which matched her appearance.

Zhao Qian's family was of modest means, with two younger brothers and a younger sister. Normally, in a county town, families with sons rarely allow their daughters to continue their education.

However, Zhao Qian was genuinely an outstanding student with excellent grades, and her teachers came to persuade her to continue her studies. Having a daughter in high school was a source of pride for her parents, and under the teachers' persuasion, they even went to her father's workplace to ask for help from his superiors. Only then did Zhao Qian's father reluctantly agree to let her continue her studies.

However, the Zhao family was not considered a poor household. Zhao Qian's father, Zhao Zhiping, was a master craftsman at the county's agricultural machinery factory. Because Zhao Zhiping had only a primary school education and could write and calculate, he had learned some machine repair and assembly at the factory when he was young.

After liberation, Zhao Zhiping was transferred to work in an agricultural machinery factory. Now he is considered a senior worker and earns 49 yuan a month.

With a salary of forty-nine yuan and some bonuses, he earns more than fifty yuan a month. This is a considerable income, but precisely because of this, even when only Zhao Zhiping was working and his family of six was employed, they were not classified as a low-income household.

If a student is from a low-income family and has good grades, they can receive a 9.5 yuan scholarship to attend high school.

The key issue is that Zhao Qian's grandparents are still alive, although they don't live with them but with Zhao Qian's uncle. Zhao Zhiping still has to give them three yuan a month for their retirement, and since Zhao Qian's grandparents are getting old and need to go to the hospital several times a year, Zhao Zhiping also has to cover some of that cost.

They weren't considered a low-income household and weren't eligible for student aid. However, due to some objective factors, Zhao Qian's family actually had a tough time, though that was true for most residents that year.

After learning about the situation from the "intelligence team," Aunt Zhang first went to Zhao Qian's house, mainly to take a good look at her. Normally, women would stay home this morning unless they had something to do.

Zhao Qian's parents are not home, and she is currently on winter vacation. As the older sister, Zhao Qian is cleaning the house.

She was of good height, with delicate features, and even fairer skin than Li Xiufang, whom she had seen yesterday; she was top-tier beauty. After seeing Zhao Qian, Aunt Zhang felt confident. If Jiang Cheng didn't even like someone like her, then her matchmaking efforts were in jeopardy.

Unless Jiang Cheng directly says he has his eye on someone and then the matchmaker speaks up, it's really hard to find a suitable match.

"Auntie, who are you looking for?" Zhao Qian asked, a little embarrassed by Aunt Zhang's probing.

"Oh, I'm looking for your dad. Your dad's name is Zhang Zhiping, right?" Aunt Zhang replied.

"My dad went to work. What do you need him for?" Zhao Qian asked.

"And what about your mother?" Aunt Zhang asked in return.

"She went to work too," Zhao Qian said.

Now, because of the steelmaking project, many people in the county have been recruited to work. Zhao Qian's mother, who had no job before, is now working as a temporary worker in a company cafeteria.

When Aunt Zhang heard that Zhao Qian's parents were not around, she knew it was inappropriate to tell Zhao Qian certain things. To earn the money she would earn from matchmaking, Aunt Zhang decided to go to Zhao Zhiping's workplace to find him.

Aunt Zhang knew where the agricultural machinery factory was; it wasn't far. She politely exchanged a few words with Zhao Qian, then said she was going to find her father at his workplace, and then left.

Arranged marriages are not allowed these days, but children's marriages are still largely decided by their parents. Parental consent and matchmaker arrangements remain the mainstream. If the woman's parents agree, the marriage is at least 80% likely to succeed.

Arranged marriages are prohibited, primarily to prevent the sale of daughters. This is done to prevent daughters from being married off to divorced, older, or disabled men for exorbitant dowries.

If it's clearly a case of marrying off a daughter for money, reporting it to the Women's Federation will likely lead to the woman's case being resolved on her behalf. However, if the man seems like a good match, but the woman doesn't like him, yet her parents think he's suitable and are forcing their daughter to marry him, then even if you report it to the Women's Federation, they will only consider it a family conflict and resolve it internally.

Yi'an County, Agricultural Machinery Factory.

"Master Zhao, someone is looking for you."

"understood."

Today is Chinese New Year, and the factory is basically closed. Zhao Zhiping is a skilled master craftsman in the factory. When he's not busy, he lets his apprentices do the work while he provides guidance.

Hearing that someone was looking for him, Zhao Zhiping didn't know who would be looking for him at this hour. But since someone was looking for him, he couldn't keep them waiting, so he walked straight out of the workshop to see who it was.

When he arrived at the gate, Zhao Zhiping saw a woman in her thirties or forties looking for him, but he did not recognize her.

"Hello, Master Zhao, my name is Zhang E. I'm here to talk to you about something," Aunt Zhang introduced herself to Zhao Zhiping. Matchmakers are usually thick-skinned and more proactive than most people.

Zhao Zhiping didn't know that the other party was there to arrange a marriage for his daughter, but since the other party had something to say, he naturally listened.

"Master Zhao, your eldest daughter is twenty-one years old this year, right?" Aunt Zhang pulled Zhao Zhiping aside and asked directly.

"Hmm, so what if she's twenty-one?" Zhao Zhiping had a hunch about who Aunt Zhang was when she asked that question.

Zhao Qian is 21 years old, which is her nominal age. According to the Western age calculation, she is only 20 years and 3 months old, but generally, age is calculated according to the nominal age.

"Master Zhao, I've come to talk to you about a potential boyfriend for your daughter, an exceptionally good one. Most girls wouldn't be interested, but your daughter is a top high school student in the county, that's why I came to you," Aunt Zhang said, sounding as if Zhao Zhiping's family had struck it lucky.

Judging from Aunt Zhang's tone, it's safe to say that Zhao Qian was lucky to have found this potential partner.

Zhang Zhiping is indeed proud to have a daughter in high school, but she started elementary school at eight, spent six years in elementary school and three years in junior high, and this year is her third year in high school, so she is indeed twenty years old.

The legal marriage age now is 20 for men and 18 for women. Many women Zhao Qian's age already have children who can crawl, while in the countryside, 20-year-old women already have children old enough to run errands.

If you finish high school and then start working, and don't date or get married, you'll be considered an old maid in the county.

Right now, Zhao Zhiping isn't in a hurry to find partners for his eldest children, but he does plan to do so after his daughter graduates this year.

In the past, matchmakers had tried to find Zhao Qian a boyfriend. After all, she was in high school and quite pretty, so it was normal for some men to have their eyes on her. Many people said it wouldn't affect Zhao Qian's high school studies; they could get engaged first and get married after graduation.

Zhang Zhiping had witnessed matchmakers exaggerate when introducing potential partners before, but this matchmaker's praise was particularly direct and impressive. Even if there was some exaggeration, Zhang Zhiping felt that the potential partner couldn't be bad.

"Then tell me what the other party's situation is," Zhao Zhiping asked with some interest.

"Let me tell you, that kid is really something. He finished junior high school, and after graduating, he joined the army. He was selected to be a driver in the army. You know about the new trucking station that was just established in the county?" Aunt Zhang paused here and asked.

Even this brief introduction at the beginning piqued Zhao Zhiping's interest. Having a junior high school education was considered educated in the county, and his military service experience was a plus, both in terms of work and dating.

Especially for soldiers who are in charge of transport vehicles, they basically become drivers after returning to civilian life.

Zhao Zhiping is a mechanic at the agricultural machinery factory. Other units might not pay attention to the fact that there is a truck transportation station in the county, but people from the agricultural machinery factory will.

"The one you're introducing is now a driver at the transportation station?" Zhao Zhiping asked in surprise. If that's true, then his high school girlfriend dating him would definitely not be marrying down.

"That's right, he's a young man who drives a car. Once he starts working, he naturally wants to find a partner and get married. There are plenty of girls willing to marry him. But he has high standards, so I thought of your daughter who's in high school," Aunt Zhang said.

"What does the other person look like? What's their personality like?" Zhao Zhiping asked again.

They had already started actively trying to find out more about the other party, and Aunt Zhang knew that this was going to be very successful.

He's about 1.7 meters tall, earns around 400 yuan a month, is old, and doesn't talk much.

(My grades were already bad and are still slipping, so I hope you guys can give me some support. Thanks to menghu for the donation, and also~ I didn't get any monthly votes today. So thank you to the guys who voted for the recommendation.)