A Life Partner is Hard to Find

"Gui Hua, let's abandon this child. We already have A'Da, we can't afford two children..."

Familiar words echoed in his ears. Zhou Ming opened his eyes and saw the familiar scene from the last time he entered the game.

Looking at the slightly kind figures before him, countless memories flooded his mind. Remembering the little things this poor couple had done for him, even though Zhou Ming knew this was just a game, his nose couldn't help but sting, and he almost shed tears.

"Father, Mother, in this life, I will never let you suffer so much again!"

Zhou Ming secretly made up his mind to change the fate of this impoverished family!

Time began to fly by again. To win the race against time, Zhou Ming used every available moment to learn every skill he could master.

In less than three months, Zhou Ming could speak clear words, telling his father, Zhang San Niu, that there was a bamboo forest north of Niu Tou Mountain, and under the bamboo forest were several bamboo rat nests. These bamboo rats were easy to catch. As long as you sealed off the other holes, leaving one, then inserted a hollow bamboo tube into it, put wet straw in the middle of the bamboo tube, lit the straw, and blew smoke into the hole, you could quickly catch the smoked-out bamboo rats at the other holes.

That afternoon, a surprised Zhang San Niu indeed returned with five plump bamboo rats, two large and three small. One of them was a nursing mother rat, still alive and with plenty of milk.

The arrival of the five bamboo rats improved the family's meal, and Zhou Ming also gained a new source of milk besides his mother, Gui Hua. His small body grew faster than before.

"Husband, has something possessed our Ergou? I'm afraid this child..." At night, his mother, Gui Hua, whispered to Zhang San Niu with some fear.

The poorer and more remote the mountain dwellers, the more they feared things that could not be explained by science. They often associated them with "being possessed" or "ghost possession." Some more extreme ones would even invite a shaman to perform spells on these possessed people, like roasting them over fire or drowning them in a pond to drive out the evil.

"What do you know, woman? That child Ergou is a Star Lord reincarnated, sent to our family by the heavens. Don't go talking nonsense outside, or you'll anger the heavens, and we'll both suffer!" Zhang San Niu warned fiercely, afraid that the woman would accidentally let the secret slip.

Gui Hua shrank her shoulders and trembled all over. She looked at Zhou Ming, who was sleeping soundly and deeply beside her, with a complicated gaze. There was some fear in her eyes, but also a hint of inexplicable anticipation.

Around one and a half years old, under the "special" care of his parents, Zhou Ming could walk. His steps were more agile than his three-and-a-half-year-old brother's, his behavior was unusually steady, and the words that came out of his mouth always gave people a sense of astonishment.

For example, he told Zhang San Niu that when planting beans in the summer, the number of bean seeds under each seedling should be one-fifth less than in previous years. By the time of the autumn harvest, each mu of land could yield fifty catties more beans. Zhang San Niu, half-believing and half-doubting, tried planting half a mu using this method. In late autumn, he indeed harvested over twenty catties more beans.

When winter came and food was scarce, Zhou Ming asked his mother, Gui Hua, to take two handfuls of millet from the nearly empty rice jar, put them outside in the snow, and then use wooden sticks to prop up a simple winnowing basket. He scattered some millet under the basket and tied a hemp rope to the other end of the wooden stick. In less than half a day, he actually caught over thirty sparrows.

Over three years, relying on Zhou Ming's various clever ideas, this poor family was able to get through any difficulty, no matter how great.

Even the disaster where his brother, Zhang Da Gou, drowned while fishing in the river was averted because he pulled him back in time.

When he was six years old, it was still that familiar night. His younger sister was born. After arguing with his mother, his father still heartlessly picked up his sister and walked towards the dark outside.

When he reached the door, his sleeve was firmly pulled by a pair of small hands.

"Ergou, don't pull me," Zhang San Niu said in a deep voice.

"Father, I have a way to support my sister, I can support her!"

"Ergou, how could you..." The words reached his lips but rolled back down his throat. Looking at the thin figure before him, with that incredibly serious look on his face, Zhang San Niu simply couldn't believe that such words could come out of his second son's mouth.

His sister was finally kept and named Zhang Xiao Hua.

However, the team that went up the mountain to weed the next day included a six-year-old figure.

Clearly, two mu of barren land could not support a family of five. The only way was to burn the forest and open up new land. First, a large area of forest would be burned down, then the tree stumps would be dug out with a hoe, and then the land would be leveled and ridged. After years of intercropping and fallowing, a piece of raw land could become fertile cultivated land, requiring effort that might even be the work of a generation.

When he was thirteen, without the help of large livestock, Zhang San Niu's family managed to expand their original two mu of barren land to five mu. In addition, Zhou Ming also used the agricultural and forestry techniques he had learned to cultivate half a mu of orchard and half a mu of vegetable garden. In spring, summer, autumn, and winter, fruits and vegetables were never lacking, and it even spurred a wave of land reclamation in the village. Following the example of Zhang San Niu's family, large areas of ownerless mountain forest on the back mountain were turned into orchards and vegetable gardens.

After the age of fourteen, the family basically had no problem with food and clothing. When he was fifteen, they even built a larger and sturdier bamboo and wood house. His brother, Zhang Da Gou, also reached the age of marriage, and they had already agreed with a family from a neighboring village that the girl would marry into Niu Family Village after the end of the year.

After settling his brother Zhang Da Gou's major life event, Zhou Ming himself also had to consider finding a suitable life partner.

A life partner held a significant weight in the scoring of this game. Zhou Ming wanted to find a good wife to spend the rest of his life with.

First, she had to be beautiful, gentle, virtuous, and diligent in managing the household. Also, she had to be fertile, preferably able to bear him ten or eight children. After all, the number of descendants also affected the achievement points he could get at the end of the game, so the more descendants, the better.

Looking in the mirror, Zhou Ming examined his appearance and nodded with satisfaction. At sixteen, he wasn't as handsome as Pan An, but in the entire Niu Family Village, he could be considered tall and handsome, a proper heartthrob!

Coupled with the various miraculous things he had been rumored to have done in the village over the years, the number of girls who had taken a liking to him exceeded half a reinforced platoon.

However, the one Zhou Ming fell for at first sight was Wang Xiumei, the daughter of the impoverished scholar Wang Xiucai from the east end of the village. It was just a fleeting glance while she was washing clothes by the river. Her graceful and charming figure, her shy and beautiful face, and her large, fertile... coupled with her scholarly background, made Zhou Ming instantly decide that this was the perfect match he was looking for!

"Take her down, I must take her down!"

Wiping away the drool from the corner of his mouth, Zhou Ming quickly launched an unprecedented romantic offensive. He wrote love poems, sent gifts, told stories, poured out his heart, confessed under the moon, and exchanged glances. In less than a month, he completely won her over, making her determined to marry no one but him, Zhang Ergou.

Wang Xiucai, who had always been prejudiced against such matches, naturally opposed the marriage. But after learning that his daughter's heart and body had both fallen into Zhang Ergou's hands, he could only wave his hand helplessly, pinching his nose and accepting Zhou Ming as his son-in-law.

Just as they had chosen an auspicious day and were about to get married, news arrived: Li Wenhao, the second son of Village Chief Li Shou Zheng, seemed to have also taken a liking to Wang Xiumei, Wang Xiucai's daughter. Although he was already married, he insisted on taking a concubine. After accidentally encountering Wang Xiumei, he was so smitten that he immediately sent people with eighteen boxes of large crimson gifts to her door, insisting on recognizing Wang Xiucai as his father-in-law.

"Nephew Li, it's not that this old man is unwilling, but my daughter already has someone in mind. You should take these betrothal gifts back!" Wang Xiucai waved his hand and refused.

"Someone in mind? Who? Who dares to steal my Li Wenhao's woman?"

A layer of frost appeared on Li Wenhao's face, and a chilling killing intent flashed in his eyes.

"Do you know Zhang Ergou from the north of the village? That's the kid who abducted my precious daughter," Wang Xiucai said with a look of indignation.

"Zhang Ergou~!" Li Wenhao gritted his teeth, the fierce killing intent on his face becoming even more obvious, making the nearby Wang Xiucai shiver involuntarily.

In the blink of an eye, the auspicious day for the wedding arrived.

The firecrackers in the brazier at the entrance had been set off for a long time, and the auspicious hour of noon quickly passed, but the sedan chair carrying the bride was still nowhere to be seen.

"Bad news, bad news! The bride, the bride has been snatched away by Village Chief's son Li Wenhao and a group of people!"

An extremely urgent voice brought news like a bolt from the blue.

The crowd fell into chaos, and Zhou Ming, dressed in a groom's outfit, stumbled, almost falling headfirst.

"Li Wenhao, you dare to steal my wife! I'll fight you to the death!!"

New and old grudges surged into his heart. Zhou Ming, consumed by rage, tore off his wedding clothes, rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and roared as he sprinted towards Village Chief Li Shou Zheng's house!