You need to raise your pet using a system [Era]

Chapter 17 Niu Datou's Scheme

At the Niu family home, Niu Bao looked smugly at Niu Aixiang who had returned home.

"Big sister, look, your method isn't as good as mine!" Niu Bao said smugly.

"Yes, yes, yes, your older sister is not as smart as you. Xiao Bao, how did you come up with this idea?" Niu Aixiang praised him while peeling peanuts and pouring him sugar water, busy and happy.

Niu Bao, with his legs crossed, took a sip of sweet water and, in a very good mood, told her about his plans.

“When I heard that Lu Yuanbo went to his aunt’s house, I realized that no one in the Lu family could stop him. Lu Yuanhuan is timid, and even if I said something at her door, she wouldn’t be able to drive me away.”

“I calculated that it would be the time when people were getting off work. As long as I made a big fuss, someone passing by would definitely see it. Sure enough, the first person to see it was Granny Zhang. She’s the best at gossiping. Before long, a lot of people gathered around.”

"Hey, big sister, don't you think I'm lucky? There are only a few kids in the Lu family at home, and even that gossipy old woman Lu Mingxi isn't here. So no matter what I say, Lu Yuanhuan can't explain it and can only be misunderstood!"

"Now it's all good. Those people who saw it yesterday can all testify to me that Lu Yuanhuan and I have been dating for a while now. She has feelings for me. If she doesn't marry me now, who else will want her! Hahaha!!!"

Niu Bao talked and laughed at the same time!

He truly hadn't expected the plan to succeed so easily!

"Big sister, you're so stupid. You were thinking that I should wait until the Lu family was completely cut off from supplies, then secretly approach Lu Yuanhuan, and that she would definitely agree to the engagement for the sake of her family. But I asked her today, and she didn't agree!"

If Lu Yuanhuan agrees, he will stop bothering her and make a scene so that she gets discovered!

“Yes, yes, our little Bao is so smart. Big sister just wanted to wait until the Lu family was completely finished before you stood up and offered to help her. Wouldn’t she treat you as her savior and then listen to everything you say when she married into our Niu family?” Niu Aixiang was also puzzled.

"By the way, little brother, didn't I ask you to contact Lu Yuanhuan? You said at the time that Lu Yuanhuan was a bit hesitant, but it seemed like there was a high chance he would agree, right? Why did you suddenly become so determined not to agree today?"

Niu Bao was taken aback by these words.

Yup!

Half a month ago, he listened to Niu Aixiang's advice, contacted Lu Yuanhuan, and revealed that as long as she dated him, he would give them food to help them in their time of need.

Lu Yuanhuan hesitated at the time, but Niu Bao could clearly sense that she wanted to agree.

But half a month passed, and he originally wanted to wait for Lu Yuanhuan to come to him and beg him.

He waited for half a month, but Lu Yuanhuan did not come to find him.

"The Lu family doesn't lack food?" Niu Bao suddenly asked. "Where did they get the food?"

Niu Aixiang scoffed, "Where would his family get food? At most, Lu Guobin would give them some relief, and at worst, only Lu Shufen would help them. The other members of the Lu family are too distant from his family. Who would help a relative beyond five degrees of kinship?"

"Hey! Never mind that," Niu Aixiang waved her hand, then her face lit up with a big smile as she praised Niu Bao, "You're really something, little brother! With this, if Lu Yuanhuan doesn't marry you, who else can she marry! Now that's great, we might not even need to pay the bride price!"

Niu Bao was excited that he could save food and get a wife for free.

"It's just that Lu Yuanhuan is still a bit young and can't do things right yet!" Niu Aixiang said with some regret.

Niu Bao nodded repeatedly, "Yes! People in the village get married young; they can have a wedding banquet when they're seventeen or eighteen."

But Lu Yuanhuan won't be seventeen for another year or two!

However, dating first is not bad either, Niu Bao became happy again. He had been looking for his future wife in the village for a long time, and Lu Yuanhuan was his first choice.

Therefore, he doesn't mind waiting two or three years.

……

Completely unaware of the shameless scheming of the Niu siblings, Lu Yuanqing was still trying to appease them.

"Third Brother!!!"

Lu Yuanqing felt extremely distressed. "Don't cry, don't be afraid. Your third brother is here, so don't be afraid!"

"Third Brother, sob sob, I didn't date Niu Datou, they're just talking nonsense. I'm not a promiscuous woman, I'm not..."

"They're foul-mouthed, how about your third brother takes you to yell back at them!"

"Oh no, they'll fight! Don't fight!" Lu Yuanhuan looked at him anxiously with her swollen eyes, afraid that he would immediately go out to settle scores.

The less trouble, the better.

"If Third Brother won't hit them, how about you hit them instead?" Lu Yuanqing teased her on purpose.

"Pfft! I... can't beat him!" Lu Yuanhuan said, lowering her head. She felt so useless.

"Third Brother, am I doing something really wrong?"

"Why would you say that? I think Huanhuan, you're the best-behaved, you're very good!" Lu Yuanqing said truthfully. The original owner's younger sister was very sensible and really very good.

"But...but I don't dare to explain, I can't explain it clearly, I'm useless!"

"Nonsense! Look how amazing you are. Third Brother became depressed because of Mom and Dad, lying in bed every day questioning his life. But what about you? You are still my sister. I am not as strong as you. During Third Brother's bad time, you took care of so many nephews and nieces in the family and also went to work to earn work points. Tell me, aren't you amazing?"

"Really?" Lu Yuanhuan was very unsure. "But I'm timid and weak. When Niu Datou was talking nonsense, I didn't dare to call him, and I didn't even know how to explain it."

"I can't even compare to Xiaoxi. She and Xiaodong rushed up and beat them up!"

"They pointed at me and gossiped a lot. If my uncle hadn't come, I wouldn't know what to do!"

"I'm the most useless person in my family. I don't dare to scold them or hit them!"

When the women in the village are beaten by men, they will fight back to vent their anger, even if it means getting hurt.

Especially Aunt Zhang, who loves to gossip, said that when she was young, she married into Lujia Village and her husband liked to beat people. When she was beaten, Aunt Zhang would wait until her husband was asleep at night and then take the laundry stick she used to wash clothes and beat him hard to vent her anger.

After her husband begged for mercy, he hit her again not long after. She continued to wait until he fell asleep and then hit him back, never suffering any loss.

After a few rounds, he never dared to hit her again.

However, Lu Yuanhuan's weak nature was inherited from someone else, completely different from the fiery and strong-willed women of Bashu.

“Everyone has a different personality, and you’re great as you are!” Lu Yuanqing didn’t want her to doubt herself and become self-conscious because of a lousy person or a trivial matter.

"Let's just consider it bad luck that we encountered something unpleasant, but when we encounter problems, we can't run away from them; we have to face them bravely!"

"Face it?" Lu Yuanhuan looked up hesitantly. "They all say that I have absolutely no connection with Niu Datou. He's just making things up, and they all believe it!"

Why would they believe it? It's clearly not true!

Lu Yuanhuan was very puzzled. She didn't understand why these people would so easily believe Niu Datou.

"Sigh!" Lu Yuanqing was also annoyed, and even a little confused at first, but in the end he realized that it was just human nature!

"Huanhuan, because there's no reasoning with them! They're just low-class people who like to bully the weak and fear the strong."

"Brother, when Uncle arrived, before he even spoke, did everyone start to shut up? Even if they did speak, they didn't dare to say it loudly, but instead muttered in hushed tones!"

Lu Yuanhuan's eyes widened suddenly. "Yes!"

Lu Yuanqing twitched the corner of his mouth, patted her little head, and continued to talk to her: "You have been to school, so you should know what it means to be unable to support a single tree alone."

"Where there are people, there will be trouble. Look at our village, you can walk from one end to the other in a few steps. We're so close together, it's inevitable that there will be conflicts."

"When Mom was alive, didn't she often argue with Aunt Xia next door over the smallest things?"

“There are few people in the family, so bullies who prey on the weak will take advantage of you. There’s no reasoning with them. In our family, there’s only your brother and me as an adult now. The rest of us are your age and can’t be bothered. Their family has many members, so even if they bully us, we can’t fight back because there are too few of us and we can’t win.”

"They bullied us and won't feel any remorse, so don't expect them to regret it. They might even be proud of how powerful they are!"

"That's outrageous!" Lu Yuanhuan exclaimed, stunned. This was the first time she had heard such an explanation, and she was completely taken aback.