Lu Yuchun and the others hurriedly followed behind. Lu Yuchun was quite worried.
“Yuning, I saw that Liang Xiaoyue looked like she was about to grind her teeth to pieces just now. Do you think she’ll bully you again in the future?”
Lu Yuning shook her head.
“No.”
At least, she wouldn’t dare do anything again for the time being.
But… someone like this really was quite troublesome.
Lu Yuning sighed. If they were already dividing students into different classes at this point, she would definitely go to the class with the best students. Then she could avoid her.
It was just that there was really no way to reason with someone like this. She would never think that she had done anything wrong. Even after being forced to apologize today and having Lu Yuning retaliate against her, she would still only think that Lu Yuning was the one at fault.
—Lu Yuning was being far too aggressive!
In fact, this was also what Teacher Liu and the others felt deep down.
But Lu Yuning herself knew that if she wasn’t like this, she really wouldn’t be able to have any peace at school in the future.
Sometimes, a child’s innocence could cause the greatest harm.
Especially when they made a mistake but faced no real punishment. They would have even less understanding of when to stop.
They would only become more and more brazen!
Lu Yuning had merely retaliated in kind. Look, even after that, Liang Xiaoyue still hated her instead of reflecting on herself.
It just went to show that human nature wasn’t necessarily much simpler just because someone was young.
Lu Yuping curled her lips.
“Liang Xiaoyue looks so obedient and well-behaved. Who would have thought she’d have such a nasty side? She actually tore Yuning’s books for no reason.”
Lu Yuchun nodded in agreement.
“Exactly! You really couldn’t tell at all that she was this kind of person!”
Lu Yuning smiled.
“All right, let’s leave today’s matter at that. We just need to be a little more careful from now on.”
Lu Yuchun and Lu Yuping both nodded.
Just then, Fortune Child came running over.
“Yuning! Wait!”
Lu Yuning stopped and turned around.
Fortune Child walked up to her and said gratefully, “Thank you for believing me. If you hadn’t believed me, I wouldn’t even know what to do right now.”
Liang Xiaoyue’s scheme wasn’t particularly clever, but it was still disgusting. If she had actually succeeded, then even if Fortune Child wanted to prove her innocence afterward, there was no guarantee that anyone would believe her.
That was simply how the world worked. Many things weren’t necessarily about what was true or false, but about what other people believed in their hearts.
That was exactly why people said that rumors could be frightening.
Some people were naturally fond of watching other people’s misfortune. Even when there was no drama, they wished something would happen so they could have something to watch.
That was precisely why rumors had a market.
Lu Yuning actually didn’t want to have too much involvement with Fortune Child, but the power of the plot made it impossible for her to avoid her completely. So she could only follow her own instincts.
As for becoming good friends with the female lead?
She would pass.
Lu Yuning nodded.
“I know you didn’t do it. Of course I couldn’t wrongfully accuse you. You don’t have to thank me either. After all, this matter had nothing to do with you. You only got dragged into it because of me.”
Fortune Child pursed her lips.
“Yuning, why exactly do you dislike me?”
Lu Yuning was surprised.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“But you don’t play with me anymore.”
Lu Yuning found it amusing.
“I don’t think I ever played with you in the first place.”
She had transmigrated here early, and the original Lu Yuning hadn’t had much contact with Fortune Child at this point. Even according to the original plot, the two of them only gradually came into contact with each other after they started school.
Before this, the original Lu Yuning had always been busy helping with the family’s work, or else feeling sorry for herself, while Fortune Child was constantly doted on by her family and spent her days running around and playing.
One of them had too many friends and simply never noticed the original Lu Yuning.
The other didn’t dare approach anyone to make friends, so she could only admire them from afar.
In short, the two of them only gradually came into contact later.
Right now, and even before this, it had always been the people in the brigade privately discussing the two families and constantly comparing them to each other. That was how the so-called “comparison group” came about.
Lu Yuning had already observed all of this clearly during the months since she transmigrated here.
In fact, there was no real comparison between the original Lu Yuning and the female lead.
After all, from the very beginning, the two families had completely different approaches to education and values. There was really no basis for comparison.
It was nothing more than ordinary gossip among ordinary people.
Only because the original Lu Yuning was young and had little experience did she take these things to heart.
Perhaps in the novel, the author had deliberately exaggerated these so-called “comparisons,” which was why the original owner had made that wish.
All of this was merely Lu Yuning’s own speculation, but she felt that this was the truth.
—After all, she had observed them for several months and simply hadn’t seen that much of a difference between the two families.
Even when comparing them one by one, each family had their own way of living and their own strengths. It simply couldn’t be generalized.
Obviously, Fortune Child didn’t have Lu Yuning’s rationality or maturity. She only felt that Lu Yuning was brushing her off, and she immediately became unhappy.
“There is! You clearly just don’t want to play with me.”
Lu Yuning: “…”
“Fine, even if I don’t want to. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go home first.”
With that, Lu Yuning turned around and walked away.
Lu Yuping hurriedly followed her. Lu Yuchun hesitated for a moment before saying to Fortune Child,
“Fortune Child, actually, I don’t think Yuning doesn’t want to play with you. I think you two just don’t have the same interests. Whenever we’re together, we have to practice writing and solve problems. Do you like doing that?”
Fortune Child: “…”
Even after starting school, she still didn’t like solving problems or practicing writing.
If Grandma hadn’t kept telling her to study hard, she wouldn’t even really want to do her homework.
It was too tiring. She much preferred how things were before she went to school.
Back then, she could play whenever she wanted and sleep whenever she wanted. Now, she had to get up early every morning to go to school.
It was already the Autumn Equinox, and the weather had begun to turn cold. The morning wind made her shiver.
Fortune Child really didn’t like going to school.
So she’d better not force herself to play with Lu Yuning.
What if she played with her and Lu Yuning forced her to practice writing and solve problems?
Just thinking about it made Fortune Child afraid.
Forget it. Forget it.
Seeing that Fortune Child had fallen silent, Lu Yuchun shook her head and sighed before turning around and leaving as well.
After thanking all the older brothers and sisters, Lu Yuting ran over. When he passed Fortune Child, he merely gave her a slight nod without stopping, then caught up with his younger sister.
Fortune Child watched him run over and immediately start chatting happily with Lu Yuning. Feeling dejected, she turned around and looked at Lu Shisan behind her.
“Third Brother, where’s Little Brother?”
Lu Shisan said, “Little Brother went home.”
Fortune Child pursed her lips.
“Does he not even talk to me anymore?”
Lu Shisan said, “Oh, forget it, Fortune Child. He’s not going to play with us anymore, so stop thinking about it.”
Fortune Child snorted and grabbed Lu Yuxia, who was beside her, before running off.
“I really don’t understand why Little Brother suddenly stopped playing with me! I didn’t even do anything!”
Lu Yuxia: “…”
“I still have to go home. We can play together tomorrow when we get to school.”
With that, Lu Yuxia shook Fortune Child’s hand off and ran away.
This time, Fortune Child was genuinely aggrieved.
She couldn’t understand it. Why did it seem like everyone had suddenly stopped liking her?
Lu Yuning had no idea what was happening on the female lead’s side. After returning home, she found the paste left over from the New Year and carefully glued her books back together.
Grandma Lu had been busy earlier and hadn’t noticed. Later, she saw what had happened and frowned.
“What happened? Did you get into an argument with your classmates at school?”
Lu Yuting quickly explained everything that had happened that day.
Grandma Lu’s face immediately turned cold.
“Hmph. That Liang family’s granddaughter really is just like her grandmother. They’re both equally irritating!”
People in the brigade called Liang Xiaoyue’s grandmother Grandma Liang. In her younger years, Grandma Liang had been a widow. Later, she brought her son and married into Hong’an Village, becoming a wife in the Liang family. Even the son she had brought with her changed his surname and followed Liang Yousheng’s surname, becoming a Liang.
Unfortunately, Liang Yousheng was short-lived and died only a few years later.
After that, Grandma Liang relied on the more than twenty mu of land Liang Yousheng had left behind to take in a live-in son-in-law. She remained in Hong’an Village, raised her son, and even found him a wife who had come from the city…
That city-born woman was the current Auntie Liang. Auntie Liang gave birth to three sons, and before the founding of the country, she had already found wives for her sons and divided the family households. By that point, the family could be considered quite prosperous.
Liang Xiaoyue was the youngest daughter of Auntie Liang’s third son.
However, Auntie Liang and Grandma Liang had always disliked daughters, so they weren’t particularly good to her either.
Well, sometimes they were even more unreasonable than Sixteenth Grandma.
But Lu Yuning rarely encountered them. Even though Grandma Lu had seen them a few times, she had never been one to meddle in other people’s affairs.
Therefore, they didn’t know much about Liang Xiaoyue.
They did, however, know Grandma Liang very well.
The reason was simple.
Back when Grandma Lu and Grandpa Lu had gotten married, Grandma Liang had only just married into Hong’an Village, and Liang Yousheng was still alive at the time.
But Liang Yousheng had a nice-sounding name while being extremely ugly himself. If it hadn’t been for his strength and the more than twenty mu of land his family owned, Grandma Liang would never have married him.
At that time, the most handsome man in all of Hong’an Village was Grandpa Lu.
Even though Grandpa Lu was old now, with a beard and age spots and all that, his upright and well-defined facial features still made it obvious that when he was young, Grandpa Lu had absolutely been the most handsome young man for miles around!
Grandma Lu was also very beautiful. The two of them standing together had looked like a perfect golden couple.
But this made Grandma Liang extremely unhappy.
She had actually found an opportunity to come to the Lu family and seduce Grandpa Lu!
Grandma Lu had always remembered those things, though she had never told the younger generation.
However, the older people in the brigade still remembered them too, and Lu Yuting had heard quite a few stories.
Therefore, the moment Grandma Lu said that, Lu Yuting immediately gave Lu Yuning a meaningful look.
Lu Yuning ignored his antics and simply smiled at Grandma Lu.
“It’s fine, Grandma. I didn’t suffer any loss today.”
Grandma Lu nodded in satisfaction.
“Mm, that’s right. You should be like this. But in the future, don’t play with the children from that family. It’s better not to let yourself get caught up in her schemes.”
Lu Yuning obediently nodded in agreement.
Grandma Lu patted her head before turning around and continuing with her work.
Lu Yuting immediately moved closer to his younger sister and whispered all about the history between the two families.
Lu Yuning: “…”
“Brother, I think you really are too free. Don’t you have homework to do? If you don’t, then hurry up and go gather pig feed. In a few days, the pigs at home won’t have anything to eat.”
It would be freezing soon. By then, the few pigs in the pigpen really would have nothing to eat.
Lu Yuting said unhappily, “By then, we’ll have already slaughtered our pigs to eat. Why would we need so much pig feed?”
“What about the new piglets? Don’t they need to eat too?”
The big pigs would be slaughtered, but there were still the little piglets!
Lu Yuting: “…”
His little sister was really annoying!
Hmph!