Grandma Lu and the others had also been startled and all frowned.
Grandma Lu said, “What’s happening this time?”
The neighbors who had come over to visit had already rushed out to watch the excitement.
At this hour, most families in the brigade had finished dinner and opened their courtyard gates to enjoy the evening breeze and chat. It also made it convenient for neighbors to visit one another.
After all, they were all clansmen and fellow villagers, so there was nothing to hide.
The family next door was naturally the same.
Lu Yuting had already darted out to join the spectacle.
Lu Yuning also stuffed the last bite of ciba into her mouth, jumped up, and ran outside. The cotton cloth wrapped around her head was hanging loosely and looked ready to fall off at any moment.
Lu Yuqing: “…”
Mother Lu smiled helplessly. “This child.”
Lu Yuqing stood up and sighed. “I’ll go keep an eye on her.”
Lu Yujie also rose to his feet. “I’ll go too.”
He was worried Big Sister wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on Third Brother.
Meanwhile, over at the Ninth Household, Fubao was crying in Grandma Jiu’s arms. Her pitiful little face was enough to soften anyone’s heart.
“What happened?”
One of the onlookers asked, but Grandma Jiu ignored them. She only glared viciously at Lu Shier.
“Look at how badly you scared your little sister! Are you trying to get yourself killed today?”
Second Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household frowned and twisted Lu Shier’s ear.
“What were you doing scaring your sister for?”
Lu Shier yelped, “Ow! Mom! Grandma! I didn’t do it on purpose! I just wanted to ask Little Sister whether we’re still going to the mountains tomorrow to pick wild plums. I didn’t even get to eat a single one from today…”
The crowd watching the drama: “…”
That’s it?
The Ninth Household was causing such chaos over something this trivial?
At that moment, Lu Shier lowered his eyes slightly, and the corner of his lips curled up faintly.
Hmph. He had been stupid in his previous life, but he wouldn’t be stupid again in this one.
Lu Yuning: “…”
She saw it!
Lu Shier had definitely smirked just now!
Something was wrong!
Wasn’t Lu Shier supposed to be the female lead’s little cousin who adored her endlessly? For Fubao’s sake, he had even been willing to break the law without hesitation!
Lu Yuning was deeply puzzled.
In the plotline provided by the system, Lu Shier had committed kidnapping just to teach a lesson to a vicious supporting female character who had bullied the female lead. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Even after being released and living a miserable life, he still came running whenever the female lead called for him, without the slightest change in attitude.
He had even never blamed the female lead after her child caused his own children to end up dead or crippled!
But now, Lu Yuning felt that both Lu Shier’s words and expression were very off. It was exactly the same sort of manipulative behavior as those white lotus bitches!
Frowning inwardly, Lu Yuning silently noted the change in Lu Shier and decided to observe him more carefully later.
Standing nearby, however, Lu Yuting had far fewer reservations. He muttered under his breath, “Tsk, did that beating knock some sense into Lu Shier’s head? He actually knows how to act all passive-aggressive now.”
Lu Yuning was stunned!
She turned to look at Lu Yuting.
How did he know the phrase passive-aggressive? Wasn’t that internet slang from the future?
In fact, in the lifetime before she had gone to the underworld, those expressions were already considered ancient internet slang—the kind that even appeared in history textbooks.
But compared to the current era, the term still belonged much further in the future. Did people nowadays really say things like that?
For a moment, Lu Yuning was completely bewildered.
Seeing his little sister staring at him, Lu Yuting grinned.
“Little Sister, don’t you think I’m right?”
That proud expression made the corner of Lu Yuning’s mouth twitch involuntarily.
Still, she put on an innocent, confused expression and asked, “Third Brother, what does that mean?”
Lu Yuting: “… Haah, you’re still a child. You wouldn’t understand.”
Lu Yuning narrowed her eyes. “Third Brother, you’re only three years older than me. If I’m a child, then you’re a child too.”
Big Brother shouldn’t laugh at Second Brother—nobody was any better than anyone else.
Hmph!
Lu Yuting: “…”
Lu Yujie laughed and flicked Lu Yuting on the forehead.
“Enough. Stop bullying Little Sister, or I’ll beat you up.”
Lu Yuting sighed dramatically. “Sigh, in this family, my status is the lowest.”
Lu Yujie snorted. “Good that you know.”
Lu Yuqing helplessly pulled the cotton cloth off Lu Yuning’s head and loosened her half-dry hair.
“Just watch for a little while longer. We’ll comb your hair when we get home.”
“Mhm, got it, Sis.”
Meanwhile, as they were talking, Grandma Jiu started scolding again.
“Couldn’t you ask at any other time? Why did it have to be now? And if you wanted to ask, why whisper sneakily like that? Was it something shameful?”
After hearing this, Second Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household looked even worse, though she loosened her grip on Lu Shier’s ear.
No matter what, this was still her son. Her mother-in-law had clearly gone crazy, completely disregarding their Second Branch’s dignity just for the sake of her granddaughter!
Obviously, Second Uncle Lu from the Ninth Household felt the same way. Keeping a straight face, he said, “Enough already. It’s the middle of the night—haven’t we caused enough of a scene?”
Feeling the force on his ear lessen, Lu Shier’s heart warmed slightly, but his face only became more pitiful.
“I really didn’t do it on purpose. I was just afraid of scaring Little Sister, so I wanted to ask quietly.”
Actually, he had done it deliberately.
He knew Fubao was most afraid of people silently sneaking up behind her to speak, so he had intentionally crept up and whispered to her.
Sure enough, he had scared her into bursting into tears.
Watching her cry in Grandma’s arms until her face turned red, Lu Shier finally felt much more satisfied inside!
Hmph! Since Heaven had let him be reborn back into childhood, he absolutely couldn’t waste this opportunity!
He would never again be like in his previous life—abandoning his wife, children, parents, and brothers all for the sake of this little sister.
In this life, all he wanted was to stay as far away from this Fubao little sister as possible. He didn’t want to bask in her glory—he only hoped she wouldn’t drag him down again.
Grandma Jiu didn’t listen to his explanation at all, nor did she care. Right now, all she cared about was the precious granddaughter in her arms.
Seeing Fubao’s little face flushed red from crying and her eyes swollen made her even angrier.
“You brat! I used to think you knew how to protect your little sister and had some sense, but now I see you were just pretending! Second Son, are you just going to stand there watching? Are you going to discipline him or not? If you won’t, then I’ll do it myself!”
Seeing his mother go this far, Second Uncle Lu from the Ninth Household also became annoyed.
“Mom, enough already. It’s not that big of a deal. Do you really need to make such a fuss this late at night? Just comfort Fubao a little. She’s such a good child—she won’t blame her little brother.”
Second Aunt Lu immediately added, “Exactly, Mom. Shier already knows he was wrong…”
Seeing their attitude—that the matter should be over since they’d already disciplined him—only made Grandma Jiu angrier. Holding Fubao in her arms, she strode forward to hit Lu Shier.
Lu Shier immediately started yelping loudly.
“Grandma! Grandma! Don’t hit me, I was wrong!”
Fubao sobbed and screamed, “Grandma, don’t! Don’t hit Brother…”
The moment Grandma Jiu heard Fubao crying even more miserably, she stopped immediately and began softly comforting her again, though she didn’t forget to glare viciously at Second Uncle Lu’s family.
The crowd watching exchanged looks and whispered among themselves.
“This family really spoils Fubao too much, don’t they?”
“Yeah, this is honestly a bit excessive.”
“Hey, speaking of which, where’s Ninth Uncle?”
“That’s right. Ninth Uncle and Jiu Yeye aren’t here…”
“Not just Ninth Uncle—even Third Uncle and Third Aunt from the Ninth Household aren’t here either.”
“Where’d they go?”
“Who knows?”
“Could they have gone to harvest grain from their private plot?”
That was actually quite possible.
But even if that wasn’t the case, the Ninth Household clearly wasn’t as harmonious as people had imagined.
Then again, with such a huge family living together, how could there not be friction?
Lu Yuning stretched her neck to look toward the rooms in the courtyard. There were clearly lights on inside, yet nobody came out. Even the female lead’s other brothers were absent, which was indeed strange.
After watching the drama for a while, everyone felt the excitement was more or less over, so they stayed by the gate chatting about other things—mostly gossip concerning the Ninth Household over the years.
From their conversations, Lu Yuning learned many things that hadn’t been included in the system’s plotline.
For example, when Fubao was born, several other children in the brigade had also been born around the same time. There had even been other baby girls born that day.
But back then, Grandma Jiu had insisted that the brigade’s best midwife, Second Great-Aunt, deliver her grandchild. Everyone else had to make do with other midwives in the brigade.
Because of that incident, Grandma Lu had even quarreled with Grandma Jiu!
Apparently, Mother Lu hadn’t originally gone into labor so early. It was because Third Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household had slipped on the road and dragged Mother Lu down with her while they were walking together, causing Mother Lu to go into premature labor and give birth to Lu Yuning…
Lu Yuning frowned.
That was way too much of a coincidence!
And this wasn’t the first time.
Previously, Third Brother had told her that the family originally planned to give her the nickname Fubao too, but Grandma Jiu had snatched it first for her own granddaughter.
And now she was hearing that Mother Lu’s labor had also been caused by Third Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household. She couldn’t help but think deeper about it.
Could it be that the original owner had actually been the original “Fubao”?
Did that mean the original owner was the truly fortunate child?
After all, Lu Yuxin from Grandma Jiu’s family hadn’t been the only girl born that day.
Right—there was also Lu Yuping, Lu Yuchun…
The more she thought about it, the stranger the whole matter seemed!
Perhaps there had never been such a thing as a “fortunate baby” in the first place. Perhaps the so-called protagonist halo involved more than just the author’s favoritism toward the female lead.
For example, the luck of the little girls born on the same day as her…
If that were true, then there was definitely something very wrong with Fubao’s so-called “luck” and “good fortune”!
Only someone like Lu Yuning, who had gone through the Underworld’s pre-employment training, would think along those lines. None of the people present felt there was anything strange about it. They were only sighing over how, that year, the children in the brigade had been born one after another like piglets…
In comparison, there had been fewer births these past two years.
Well, compared to that year at least.
Of course, after thinking it over, Lu Yuning felt it actually hadn’t been that much fewer.
She quietly overturned her earlier speculation again. Perhaps she really was overthinking things.
After all, children were born together every single day somewhere. It wasn’t exactly some incredible coincidence.
Still, the original host truly had terrible luck. Even before she was born, she had already become entangled with the female lead. No wonder the two of them had been compared together ever since childhood.
Then again, that kind of comparison seemed unavoidable anywhere. As long as the children were around the same age and from the same place, people would always compare them.
The more Lu Yuning thought about it, the more confused she became, to the point she nearly tangled herself up in her own thoughts.
Forget it, forget it. Better not think about it anymore. It was already really late—she should sleep.
After yawning, Lu Yuning’s eyelids immediately started drooping.
The moment Lu Yuqing saw it, she bent down and scooped her into her arms, carrying her toward home.
“Little Sister, don’t fall asleep yet. Wait until we get home and comb your hair through properly. Sleep after it’s completely dry.”
In a daze, Lu Yuning muttered, “Sis, I’m sleepy…”
Lu Yuqing: …
Seeing that Grandma Jiu was completely focused on coaxing Fubao while Second Uncle from the Ninth Branch and his wife had already dragged Lu Shier back into their room, Lu Yujie and Lu Yuting also turned around and followed their sister and younger sister home.
Meanwhile, the Grandma Jiu, who was fully occupied comforting Fubao, failed to notice that only she and Fubao remained in the courtyard. Everyone else from the Ninth Branch had already returned to their rooms, and soon the lights in every room were blown out.