Lin Zhen

* Adult
* Young Adult
* College

**Lin Zhen** (Chinese: 林贞 *Lín Zhēn*) is a minor character in Link Click.

## Appearance

Lin Zhen has long black hair and dark brown-redish eyes. In her college years, Lin Zhen puts her hair up into two braids that fall down her shoulders and she wears a blue headband with a small, rectangular yellow hair clip. She wears a white, gray, and pink-striped tank top finished with high-waisted jean shorts. As a young adult, she keeps the hairclip, but wears a yellow v-neck and a long blue skirt. She is also seen wearing the same shirt in a green colour in one of the photographs that flash by the screen. In her scenes as a full-grown adult, she wears a long, cream-colored down jacket with a coral turtleneck and blue jeans underneath.

## History

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia were roommates in college and have had a close relationship since then. After college, they opened Xialin Noodle House (Chinese: 夏林面馆) together, with their signature "Bowl of the Girls' Dorm" (Chinese: 女寝那一碗) becoming a hit with the public overnight. The dish contained a unique ingredient that made it stand out, which Lin Zhen had kept a secret even to Yu Xia.

The pair continued to run the restaurant for many years. However, their visions for the restaurant turned out to be different. Yu Xia wanted to align the restaurant with contemporary commercial trends, implementing the latest technologies, continuously expanding the business, and rebranding the restaurant to XGM (小干妈). Lin Zhen however, disagreed with her visions, cherishing the the restaurant's humble and down-to-earth roots. She eventually decided to leave the restaurant, and returned to her rural hometown to open a new Xialin Noodle House, more akin to its original form.

Left in charge of the business alone, Yu Xia approached Time Photo Studio with a request to enter photos taken in their past. After a few failed attempts, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang discovered that Lin Zhen had frequently traveled to Xiang Zhuang, a place known for a plant known as fragrant flowers (Chinese: 香花草), which the locals would dry and grind into a powder to use as a spice. They arrived at the conclusion that this had been the secret ingredient of Lin Zhen's signature dish.

The discovery however, carried a much greater significance to Yu Xia: Xiang Zhuang is her hometown, and she was the one who introduced Lin Zhen to the spice back when they first had the idea of opening a noodle restaurant in college. Touched by the revelation, Yu Xia traveled to find Lin Zhen at the new Xialin Noodle House, finally reconciling with Lin Zhen.

## Personality

Lin Zhen comes off as a soft-spoken and well mannered lady who keeps to her ideals and enjoys cooking. In college she is shown to be a bit more playful, teasing Yu Xia about her seasonings, belting karaoke, and laughing when Yu Xia gets scared from horror movies. As a young adult, she retains some of that mischief, as shown when joking with Yu Xia about sleeping together. Due to her love of cooking, she is stubborn, refusing to think about pleasing the public in a different way, preferring to satisfy her customers with her own homemade cooking and not Yu Xia's newly branded chain restaurants.

## Quotes

* (To Yu Xia) *"My happiness is watching the expression on your face as you eat the noodles."*
* (To Yu Xia) *"You've got intelligent management, precise cooking line, perfect commercial packing. It's really out of place for a person like me who cooks with passion."*
* (To Yu Xia) *"Welcome back."*

## Etymology

林 (*Lín*) is a common Chinese character, the 18th most common surname in mainland China. It means "forest" or "woods" and is made up of the radical/character 木 (*Mù*) duplicated.

贞 (*Zhēn*) is the simplified character for 貞. Possible meanings include virtuous; chaste; pure, or loyal & steadfast.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *Link Click* Donghua: Episode 2 — Secret Recipe