Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 195 - 187: Brown-nosing

Chapter 195: Chapter 187: Brown-nosing

"Duan Muhong looks gentle and refined, and doesn’t seem to have a bad temper. He’s also been devoted to you for a long time. It’s just a pity that somehow he’s not to your taste."

Xia Yuan sighed with a smile, as she had discussed her daughter’s marriage with Lu Aiguo long ago. As long as their daughter liked a man, they would not demand a family of power, only that he had good character, decisiveness, a family without a lot of messy issues, and most importantly, that he truly cared for Xiaoyun.

To see if a man is good, what’s actually more important is not his family background, nor his appearance, but rather his personality.

A man without his own opinions, who’s too pliable and easily swayed by others, doesn’t have the ability to be good to his wife. Such a man might have all the external conditions and may seem very fond of you now, but as soon as he faces a challenging situation, especially a major one, he will lose his bearings. Then, if someone with evil intentions, with a hidden agenda, comes along to stir the pot, he could be led into a pit, possibly even regarding the instigator as a "benevolent savior."

For a woman, being with a man like that is definitely unfortunate.

"I actually think that what he has is not so much devotion, but more of a sense of discontent." Upon recalling Duan Muhong’s remark "My father is Duan Cangsong," Lu Yun couldn’t help but chuckle.

Discontent? That’s quite possible. "What’s so funny?" Xia Yuan, after considering Lu Yun’s words and finding them to be reasonable, asked curiously as she saw her laughing.

Lu Yun recounted the previous events up to a certain point and then, thinking about the rest, suddenly felt a bit uneasy herself.

Xia Yuan, on the other hand, didn’t notice Lu Yun’s discomfort and, upon hearing the name "Duan Cangsong," grasped who it was after a short thought and was also amused by the phrase "My father is Duan Cangsong."

"So it’s that Duan family’s child. No wonder his aunt from the Fan Family always carried an air of arrogance whenever she encountered me, making things feel a bit awkward. It turns out she believed our family was reaching above our station?"

"Who thinks our family is reaching above its station?" Lu Aiguo, who had just come in from outside, caught the end of the conversation and couldn’t help but ask curiously.

"It’s that Fan Family that lives a few houses behind us. Turns out their son-in-law is from the Duan Family of Capital City..." Xia Yuan laughingly recounted the whole story.

"It’s good that Xiaoyun didn’t take a fancy to Duan Muhong. With his family background, they’d probably look down on us, born from the countryside with a merchant background. Rather than having Xiaoyun marry into that family and end up tolerating disdain, it would be better to marry into an ordinary family."

"Just the Duan family? My daughter has the right to look down on others, not the other way around," Lu Aiguo reassured Lu Yun with a comforting smile, then added, "I didn’t have a good opinion of Duan Muhong from the start. He may sound well-mannered, but in reality, he’s just a weakling, just like Shitou said - the moment he faces a little trouble, he’d be so weak he probably couldn’t even protect his own woman."

"Hasn’t public security improved a lot since the nationwide crackdown in ’83? Where are there so many security issues? Oh, weren’t you supposed to have a social engagement tonight?"

Xia Yuan was not the least bit worried. Even if Xiaoyun encountered robbers, she wouldn’t need to be afraid, with a spiritual power level of fourteen. Just using her spiritual power to attack, she could easily throw the robbers into mental disarray if she was ruthless enough.

"How could I be in the mood for socializing with others when Shitou has come back?" Lu Aiguo’s gaze shifted to the empty space where Shitou and Lu Jinsheng were practicing their moves, "Jinsheng has improved since last time. He’s not as pitiful as before when dealing with Shitou."

"That’s because Shitou is holding back his Cultivation Level." Lu Yun immediately saw through Shitou’s act of going easy and felt that he was intentionally trying to win people over with an ulterior motive.

"That does seem to be the case. When did Shitou become so ’gentle and lenient’?" Lu Aiguo looked closely and was puzzled. This wasn’t Shitou’s usual style, was it?

"Let’s go, hurry up and eat, the food is getting cold. And you two, hurry up and come in for dinner after a quick spar."

Xia Yuan glanced at them without discerning much and wasn’t interested in looking any longer. She called Lu Aiguo and Lu Yun into the house, and then raised her voice to signal the other two to follow, leading the way inside.

Lu Aiguo quickly followed her in.

Lu Yun also followed, but turned her head for a final look at the two people in the courtyard.

Shitou then stopped and patted Lu Jinsheng’s shoulder, "Not bad, you’ve made some progress, but still need to keep training. Let’s go eat first."

"Mmm," Lu Jinsheng nodded eagerly. His uncle was the person he respected the most, so it was no wonder he was excited by his praise.

The food was served on the table, and Lu Aiguo even opened a bottle of Maotai particularly for himself and Shitou, "Eat more now that you’re back. All of these are your sister-in-law’s homemade cooking, your favorite dishes."

"It tastes the same as before, outstandingly good," Shitou nodded, and began to eat voraciously, though he barely touched his drink.

Lu Aiguo didn’t push for drinking; in fact, he drank very little himself, just sipping occasionally. Seeing his restraint, Xia Yuan didn’t bother saying anything to him.

Xia Yuan was most pleased to see Shitou eating so enthusiastically; she had made the effort to cook this meal especially for his return after all.

Over the years, the family had gotten accustomed to hiring help for chores, and she rarely involved herself in these domestic tasks, only displaying her cooking skills on special occasions.

Since it was rare for Xia Yuan to cook herself, everyone in the household cherished these moments. Not only was Shitou enjoying the meal wholeheartedly, but Lu Aiguo and Lu Jinsheng also weren’t slow, snatching up the food with swift movements, like a whirlwind sweeping away leftovers. Lu Yun and Xia Yuan were not as rough in their actions but ate quite swiftly too.

"Mom’s cooking is always the best," while gobbling up his food, Lu Jinsheng added some flattery.

"Eat up. You’re the biggest brown-noser here, who do you take after?" Lu Aiguo slapped Lu Jinsheng on the head, teasingly scolding him with a smile.

"Dad, go easy, you’ll smack me dumb. Be careful or I’ll tattle to grandma and grandpa when we go back to our hometown, saying you bullied me," Lu Jinsheng shouted after receiving the smack on his head.

"Oh, you’ve learned to tattle now, have you? Let’s see if you can tattle faster, or if my bamboo shoot stir-fried pork is faster," Lu Aiguo threatened brightly.

"Wuwuwu, Mom, you’re not even helping. Your son is about to be tortured to death here," Lu Jinsheng turned to Xia Yuan with a feigned cry.

"Who told you to be a boy? In our family, disciplining boys is your dad’s job. As a girl, your sister is my responsibility. I can’t just interfere with your dad disciplining you. Anyway, as long as I don’t let you starve to death, it’s fine."

Xia Yuan was completely unmoved by Lu Jinsheng’s fake crying, showing a face filled with ’sympathy’ as she smiled at him, but her words made him wail out in protest several