Lin Xiaomeng

Biodata

Background / History

Lin Xiaomeng grew up in the countryside near Mount Sanqing. She began cooking for her bedridden grandmother at eight, accumulating more than a decade of kitchen experience. Her parents died in a car accident more than ten years before her introduction, leaving her grandmother to raise her 11 16.

Her grandmother is deaf and unable to speak, with no source of income. Xiaomeng funded her university tuition by working while studying. After graduation, she returned home to care for and accompany her aging grandmother rather than remain in the city, eventually finding work at the Fortunate Inn 16.

Appearance

• Build: 172 centimeters tall and under 50 kilograms, with long legs and a narrow waist 6.
• Face: Fair, luminous skin, a small high nose, thin rosy lips, and bright, expressive eyes 3.
• Distinctive smile: A small pointed upper canine on the right and a deep dimple in her left cheek 3 11 18.
• Hairstyle: Wears her hair in a cute bun during Dan Teng’s livestream 6.
• Presentation: Has a fresh, understated “girl next door” appearance; Dan Teng notes that she does not know much about makeup or dressing up 3 17.
• Physique: Her slender back has visible muscle contours, which the narration associates with her frequent chores at home and the inn 16.

Personality

Xiaomeng is cheerful, gentle, and hardworking. She greets guests warmly and becomes more enthusiastic as the inn’s business improves, rather than complaining about the increased workload. During the fried-rice trial, she stays beyond her scheduled shift and insists on washing the kitchen utensils despite Lin Zhe offering her a break 3 9 16.

She is frugal and conscious of her grandmother’s needs. Initially reluctant to accept leftover fried rice worth thirty yuan per serving, she explains that the same amount could buy her grandmother a month’s steamed buns. She is also modest about her cooking, crediting Lin Zhe’s special eggs for much of the dish’s exceptional flavor 12 16.

Although initially surprised by managerial responsibility, she grows more confident through the canteen’s success. She prepares carefully considered business plans and welcomes older village applicants without putting on managerial airs 37 38 42.

Abilities & Skills

Cooking

Xiaomeng is an experienced home cook whose strongest dishes are staple foods rather than elaborate meals 11 12 33.

• Egg fried rice: Quickly prepares diced vegetables and sausage, evenly incorporates the eggs, and separates the rice grains during stir-frying 11.
• Rice noodles and noodles: Can make both stir-fried rice noodles and egg-fried noodles, allowing the canteen to expand beyond its original signature dish 33.
• Dumplings: Produces neatly folded dumplings with thin wrappers and generous filling. Her trial batch cooks without splitting or leaking 40.
• Learning speed: Grasps the key points of a three-delicacy dumpling tutorial after roughly one viewing, building on her existing dumpling-making experience 40.
• Limits: Describes herself as an ordinary home cook, not a professional hotel chef. The extraordinary flavor of the canteen’s fried rice depends heavily on Lin Zhe’s attribute-enhanced eggs, though her dumplings made with ordinary eggs also earn praise 12 17 41.

Hospitality and Inn Operations

Before additional staff are hired, Xiaomeng covers several jobs at once 3.

• Handles reception, customer inquiries, check-ins, and checkouts 3 6 9.
• Cleans vacated rooms, the lobby, and shared restroom and bathing facilities 3 18.
• Also serves as a duty manager and prepares meals for herself and Lin Zhe 3 11.
• Confidently introduces herself during Dan Teng’s livestream, immediately helping attract more than a dozen room bookings 6.

Canteen Management

Her business-management education becomes directly useful as she takes charge of Good Fortune Canteen 12 38.

• Customer feedback: Keeps a notebook of comments and suggestions, using complaints about menu variety to propose new dishes 33.
• Menu planning: Receives authority to make breakfast-menu decisions and develops ideas with profitability in mind 32 38.
• Accounts: Calculates and reports daily and lunchtime takings to Lin Zhe 30 33 36.
• Recruitment: Recommends local applicants, publicizes vacancies through the village WeChat group, and later conducts hiring herself 19 37 42.
• Staff coordination: Supervises the kitchen workers and maintains a friendly working relationship with them 19 23.

Relationships

• Lin Zhe — Employer, distant relative, and romantic interest. Xiaomeng is the niece of the elder brother-in-law of one of his distant uncles. His encouragement and concern for her grandmother deepen her attachment to him. She spends over an hour drafting a reply to his good-night message before sending only “Good night.” Despite these feelings, she tells her grandmother that they have a normal employer–employee relationship 3 16 33 34.
• Grandma Wu — Grandmother who raised her and shares her home. Xiaomeng returns after college to care for her. Grandma Wu worries when she stays out late and enthusiastically considers Lin Zhe a potential marriage partner, prompting Xiaomeng to forbid any premature proposal 16 33 34.
• Hu Ting — Neighbor and later coworker. Xiaomeng recommends her for a nearby job after Hu Ting’s child starts kindergarten. Hu Ting subsequently recommends her older female cousin for a canteen vacancy 19 38 42.
• Dan Teng — Lin Zhe’s friend, whom she calls “Brother Dan.” His livestream brings her attention from viewers, and he praises her fried rice and dumplings. His suggestive jokes repeatedly embarrass her 6 16 17 41.
• Jiang Yining — An inn guest whose growing closeness with Lin Zhe makes Xiaomeng jealous while the kitchen workers gossip about them 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Trivia

• Prefers fluffy pets such as kittens and puppies over poultry 11.
• Uses an electric scooter to commute between Lin Family Village and the inn 34 40.
• Rarely goes online and does not recognize “Little Black Book” when Dan Teng mentions it 41.
• The chapter text also calls the dining operation Fortunate Appetite dining hall, alongside Good Fortune Canteen 12 19 40.