Grandma Lin

Biodata

Background / History

Household and Farming

Grandma Lin lives with Grandpa Lin and their granddaughters, Lin Er and Lin Huihui. She combines agricultural work with cooking, bathing the children, supervising homework, and keeping track of their whereabouts. During the peanut harvest, she and Grandpa Lin begin threshing early in the morning; Lin Er’s father returns during busy farming seasons because they cannot finish all the harvesting themselves 11 12 13.

Her household economy relies heavily on homegrown produce and livestock. The family keeps at least twenty or thirty chickens, selling their eggs and reserving older hens and surplus roosters for meals at New Year. She avoids raising pigs because feeding them costs too much, selling them brings little profit, and she cannot bear to eat one after raising it for a year 15.

When Lin Er returns home with a bruised, gentian-violet-stained face, Grandma Lin immediately takes her hand and starts toward the school. She stops only after Lin Er insists that her teacher has already handled the fight. After checking that there is no swelling, she scolds and smacks her for fighting 11.

Starting the River-Snail Business

Grandma Lin initially disapproves when Lin Er brings home spicy river snails that she claims came from someone else. Rather than accept the food without repayment, she supplies two apples for Lin Er to give in return. Later, Lin Er reveals that she has actually sold a bucket of snails outside Experimental High. Grandma Lin and Grandpa Lin count 134 yuan, after which Grandma Lin telephones relatives and Lin Er receives a succession of lectures 29 31 32.

Dad Lin confirms that cooked river snails can sell well and suggests that Grandma Lin try the business. By the following morning, she and Grandpa Lin have already gathered two large basins. Lin Er retrieves her cooking equipment and seasonings and explains the preparation method, intending to give her grandparents an income source rather than continue secretly supplying the family herself 32.

Grandma Lin believes that salt is the secret behind the exceptional cleanliness of her snails. In reality, Lin Er secretly cleans them with magic. When the salt appears ineffective, Grandma Lin adds more, unaware that Lin Er’s spells are responsible for an important advantage over competing vendors 35.

The business also changes her treatment of Lin Er. She eventually stops pressing her granddaughter about exactly how much money she possesses and becomes less suspicious when she brings food home. She allows Lin Er to help count earnings but excludes Lin Huihui out of concern that someone might coax the figures out of the younger child 39.

Approving Martial Arts Lessons

Grandma Lin initially objects to Lin Er learning martial arts and becomes particularly angry when the visit to a prospective master causes her to miss evening study. She scolds and repeatedly smacks Lin Er during the motorcycle ride home 41.

After a week of persuasion from Grandpa Lin, she reluctantly agrees. The apparent cost—five hundred yuan a month—is substantial beside the family’s annual harvest income of five or six thousand yuan. The new snail-business earnings make the expense possible, while Lin Er’s arguments about girls’ safety and studying far from home persuade her that physical training could be worthwhile 42.

Grandma Lin wakes Lin Er before dawn, gives her clean clothes, and accompanies her to Master Li’s initiation ceremony. The five hundred yuan ultimately serves as the ceremonial red-envelope gift; Master Li exempts Lin Er, his first disciple accepted after opening the school, from subsequent tuition 42.

Personality

Grandma Lin is protective but quick to punish. Her first response to Lin Er’s apparent injuries is to confront the school, yet she switches to reprimanding her once reassured that she is unharmed. When the sisters quarrel over snacks, she hits both rather than determining who is at fault 11 20.

Her thrift extends to food, utilities, and social obligations. She regards purchased bathing water as wasteful, saves the seasoned liquid left from a snail dish to cook fish, and questions why Lin Er needs more than five yuan at boarding school. She discourages accepting classmates’ snacks rather than spending money to reciprocate—a position Lin Er sees as limiting the family’s friendships 12 29 32.

Her rules about acquiring food are inconsistent. She insists on repayment for supposedly gifted snails, but eventually stops asking where Lin Er catches fish, suspecting that the child may be netting them from someone’s fishpond. She is more willing to tolerate the uncertainty when the catches are small mixed fish rather than conspicuously large ones 29.

Despite her skepticism, she acts decisively when convinced. She gathers snails immediately after hearing the business proposal, expands beyond school customers into city sales, and eventually supports martial arts training for practical self-protection rather than achievement 32 36 42.

Abilities & Skills

Cooking

• Makes home-style dishes that Lin Er considers delicious, including fish stir-fried with green peppers 32.
• Initially relies on a limited range of seasonings, chiefly oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar 32.
• Adopts the spicy river-snail recipe for commercial cooking and uses beer in its preparation 35.
• Does not know that the snails’ unusually thorough cleaning depends on Lin Er’s magic 35.

Selling and Stall Management

• Calls loudly enough to be heard over the busy plaza and encourages prospective customers to try samples 38.
• Divides stall duties clearly with Grandpa Lin, keeping payment and handover separate from filling orders 38.
• Counts and bundles earnings, adjusts household work to prioritize the more profitable business, and guards information about its income 39.

Farming and Household Management

• Threshes peanuts, prepares meals, and supervises the children’s daily routines 11 12 13.
• Raises chickens as a low-cost source of saleable eggs and occasional meat 15.
• Collects river snails and organizes additional help when processing becomes a bottleneck 39.

Relationships

• Lin Er — Granddaughter. Their relationship combines affection, frequent scolding, physical punishment, and disputes over money. Lin Er introduces her to the snail business, gradually earning greater trust and independence 11 32 39.
• Lin Huihui — Younger granddaughter. Grandma Lin bathes her, sends Lin Er to call her home, and disciplines her for misbehavior. She later keeps her away from counting business earnings to prevent accidental disclosure 12 20 39.
• Grandpa Lin — Husband and business partner. He generally follows her directions at the stall, but also shields Lin Er during confrontations and persuades her to approve martial arts lessons 31 38 42.
• Great-grandma — They do not get along particularly well. Grandma Lin envies Great-grandma’s comparatively leisurely life, without fieldwork after marriage or kitchen work after her son married 13.
• Younger sister / Lin Er’s grandaunt — Supplies secondhand clothing. When Lin Er secretly introduces other clothes into the household, Grandma Lin mistakenly credits her sister and tells Lin Er to repay her kindness when grown 21.
• Grandma She and She Pengfei — Help process snails as the business expands. Grandma Lin gives She Pengfei egg-yolk cakes afterward but does not tell Lin Er whether or how much she paid for their assistance 39.

Notable Quotes

“Take it. You should be thinking about your studies now. Earning money is for later. If you don't have enough, the family will give you more!” 32

“Let's leave the peanuts for now. We'll sell river snails first!” 39