Uncle Second's Warning

Just moments ago, Uncle Second, Lu Yi, had said he would make up the difference if Lu Mingyuan didn't have enough Luck Points. Hearing that, Lu Mingyuan hurriedly refused.

"Uncle Second, there's no need. I've already taken care of the Luck Points."

How could he not know what kind of situation his uncle's family was in?

Uncle Second was a genuine farmer. Most of the family's income came from the dozen or so acres of poor farmland they owned. On top of that, Uncle Second took odd jobs whenever he had free time, while Aunt Second did needlework to supplement the household income. That was how they managed to keep the family afloat.

In truth, they couldn't save much money over the course of a year.

Even if Uncle Second's family didn't eat or drink, they'd only earn about four hundred taels of silver a year. Converted into the RMB purchasing power of his previous life, that was only around forty thousand yuan—just enough to get by.

But if they exchanged those four hundred taels for tradable Luck Points, namely Earth Luck Points, they wouldn't even get three hundred points. They might only get around two hundred.

That amount of Luck Points was a mere drop in the bucket for Lu Mingyuan.

He estimated that his new divine ability was short by about three or four thousand Luck Points.

Besides, this wasn't just a question of whether the amount was enough. If he took the money, how would his uncle's family survive?

Would they drink the northwest wind?

And Uncle Second had two children still in school—Lu Mingyuan's younger cousins. They were at the age when they needed money. It was already good if the family didn't have to dip into its savings to cover expenses throughout the year. How could they have any surplus?

So Lu Mingyuan absolutely couldn't take his uncle's money. That was what Uncle Second needed to support his family.

Who knew that even after Lu Mingyuan had just said he really didn't need it, Uncle Second, Lu Yi, still hadn't given up on the idea. "Mingyuan, listen to your uncle. I took your advice and have been growing vegetables and fruit these past few years. I've saved up some, too. If you're still short..."

Lu Mingyuan was at a loss for words. His uncle really was an honest man—he just blurted things like that out?

But he really didn't need the money, so to finally put his uncle's mind at ease, he could only say it plainly. "Uncle Second, Jing Zhi and I have already talked things over. She'll have a dowry. So you don't need to worry about the Luck Points."

"A dowry? That's right. Jing Zhi's father served in the army back then, so he should have some Earth Luck Points. As for expenses, apart from supporting his eldest son through his studies, he hasn't had much else to pay for these past few years. He should have some saved up now. But did Jing Zhi's father say he would use Earth Luck Points for her dowry?"

"Mm! Jing Zhi told me herself. Uncle Jing agreed, too."

Lu Mingyuan answered with complete certainty. Jing Zhi often talked to him about it, and he had confirmed it several times himself. There shouldn't be any mistake.

Besides, the other party had no reason to lie to him about this.

Even if this didn't work out, Lu Mingyuan still had other options.

Whether it was setting up a school to earn money and exchange it for Earth Luck Points, or working hard to improve his Talent Qi cultivation and increase his Human Luck Point earnings, there were ways to do it.

A man could always find a way out.

In fact, if Lu Mingyuan advanced to three stars, he could earn at least four Human Luck Points a day—that was more than a thousand a year. It would only take two or three years to make up the three or four thousand he needed. It would go by quickly.

If he really didn't want to wait and wanted to create a new divine ability right away, he could borrow from someone. The government had a special Earth Luck Point loan service. The interest was a bit steep, though. Even "take nine, repay thirteen" was considered mild.

But Lu Mingyuan had plenty of confidence in his new divine ability. Even if he didn't make a fortune from it, earning a hundred or two hundred thousand wouldn't be a problem.

No matter how high the interest was, he could pay it back. If I borrow five thousand and repay ten thousand, that should be fine, right?

The government's interest wouldn't exceed one hundred percent.

So Luck Points weren't a problem for Lu Mingyuan at all.

And that was without even touching the assets worth tens of billions under his Anonymous alias.

In fact, if push came to shove, Lu Mingyuan could publish a fairly specialized book on the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network and set a high price for it—say, ten thousand. Then he could have Anonymous buy a copy.

That would bring in the Luck Points, wouldn't it?

But there were loopholes in that plan, and it wasn't very sound. More importantly, it didn't fit the persona Lu Mingyuan had built for himself.

Judging by the knowledge he usually displayed, Lu Mingyuan wasn't remotely qualified to publish a book yet, much less have the famous Anonymous buy it afterward.

If people found out he was Anonymous, he'd become a juicy morsel in the hands of others.

So unless he was desperate, Lu Mingyuan wouldn't choose that option.

Hearing his nephew's firm reply—that he really would accept the Jing family's dowry to make up the Luck Point shortfall for creating his divine ability—Uncle Second Lu Yi sighed inwardly, certain of something.

"I see!"

But then he asked, "Mingyuan, there's something I want to ask you. Give me an honest answer."

Across from him, Lu Mingyuan saw his uncle's expression suddenly grow serious and was rather confused. Why the sudden change?

"What is it? Go ahead and ask, Uncle Second. I'll answer as best I can."

Lu Yi didn't ask right away. Instead, he glanced toward the doorway, then swept his eyes around the courtyard. Only after confirming that no one else was eavesdropping did he ask quietly, "Mingyuan, tell your uncle the truth. You've accepted the Jing family's support. Aren't you afraid people will say you made it on the strength of your wife's family? Aren't you afraid people will gossip?"

Lu Mingyuan was surprised to hear his uncle bring this up. He glanced at the ordinary, honest-faced man before him and suddenly understood why his uncle had started talking about Luck Points.

"Uncle Second, did you hear some gossip?"

Though he asked, Lu Mingyuan was already eighty percent certain. His uncle must have overheard something by chance, which was why he'd brought it up. Usually, Uncle Second never talked about things like this. They just shot the breeze together.

"Uh!"

Lu Yi hadn't expected the boy to suddenly ask him that. A trace of embarrassment crossed his face before he said, somewhat crossly:

"Don't change the subject. Answer my question first.

"Mingyuan, listen to me. Once you accept the Jing family's support, people are sure to gossip. That's inevitable. No one can avoid it.

"If you don't amount to much, then at most people will bring it up now and then, and that will be the end of it.

"But once you achieve something beyond the ordinary, they'll spread it everywhere. Are you sure you'll be able to handle that?"

Gossip and rumors really could destroy a person.

But was this really his Uncle Second?

Lu Mingyuan glanced at his uncle in surprise. He hadn't expected him to say this. It didn't sound like something his uncle would say. Could it have been his shrewd Aunt Second?

His nephew's meaningful gaze swept over him, leaving Lu Yi baffled. What was the boy plotting now?

He couldn't help lightly smacking the back of Lu Mingyuan's head. "I'm talking to you. Why are you staring at me?"

"Oh! Right! It's nothing."

Seeing that his uncle was about to give him another smack, Lu Mingyuan quickly dodged and said, "Don't worry, Uncle Second. I've never cared about that kind of thing.

"Besides, if I really become successful thanks to Jing Zhi's dowry, I won't deny it. I'll even make sure everyone knows. So you don't need to worry that gossip will affect me in the future.

"Your nephew here has a pretty big heart."

Lu Yi watched Lu Mingyuan seriously for a good while before saying, "That's good."

Going by his nephew's usual character, he really wouldn't care about this. But what about the future? Who could say what the future held?

So when his wife brought it up some time ago, Lu Yi had decided to talk to his nephew about it in advance. He didn't want the boy to go astray in the future and become ungrateful. If that happened, Lu Yi wouldn't have the face to meet his elder brother and sister-in-law in the afterlife.

"Hey, Uncle Second, why are you suddenly lecturing me today?"

His uncle really was acting strangely today. When would he usually say things like this?

"What lecture? I'm just sharing some wisdom about how to get along with people. If I were lecturing you, how could I possibly win? You're the little scholar of Guihua Lane. You always have a good argument."

Lu Yi shot Lu Mingyuan a glance. In the past, the boy was always lecturing him, and the worst part was that he could never argue back, because what the boy said really did make sense.

Now, at least, Lu Yi had finally gotten the upper hand for once.

If an uncle always lost to his own nephew, it was a real blow to his confidence.

Thinking of this, Lu Yi suddenly felt a rush of satisfaction, as if he'd just seen his own vegetable patch yield a bumper harvest.

No, it felt even better than that.

Meanwhile, Lu Mingyuan had no idea what his uncle was feeling. He didn't reject the title "little scholar," and even felt a little proud.

He'd built that reputation up little by little through years of hard work.

At first, Lu Mingyuan had only gathered the children from the street at his home and taught them to read and write out of gratitude. Eventually, their numbers grew and the group got bigger and bigger, so, at the villagers' suggestion, he renovated the "Listening Waves Study" and reopened it.

But there was only one teacher in the whole study, Lu Mingyuan, and he was still young at the time. So he earned the elegant nickname "little scholar."

Lu Mingyuan didn't reject it. He was a teacher, after all, so calling him "sir" was perfectly normal.

As for the "little" in front, that didn't matter, as long as people didn't call him the wrong thing.

While Lu Mingyuan was thinking about all this, Lu Yi suddenly said, "Mingyuan, do you know why I told you all this today?"

Lu Mingyuan didn't answer. He just turned to look at his uncle and waited for him to continue.

Lu Yi looked at the great willow tree in the courtyard and took a moment to remember. Then he said, "A little over two hundred years ago, there was a young man surnamed Qian in our Guihua Lane.

"His family wasn't well off, but his ancestors had earned military merit, so he was able to enter an academy when he was young.

"At the academy, he studied hard because of his family's circumstances. He soon stood out and met a young lady from a prominent family, surnamed Huang.

"The two of them fell for each other at first sight.

"With the Huang family's support, the young man surnamed Qian advanced by leaps and bounds. Before long, he became a five-star Master and earned people's admiration.

"But gossip followed close behind.

"People said he'd climbed to the top on the strength of his wife's family, that he wouldn't be where he was without the Huang family's support.

"I heard the Huang family had given him thirty or forty thousand Earth Luck Points right from the start. That was how he managed to take the first step.

"Sure, it was true that he'd risen thanks to the Huang family. But the effort he'd put in himself mattered, too.

"But the man surnamed Qian just couldn't accept it. He felt he had no dignity, that he was a kept man. So his relationship with his wife—the young lady from the Huang family—grew worse and worse. He started beating and cursing her.

"In the end, things got worse and worse until a murder occurred."

"A murder? Did he... kill his own wife?"

Lu Mingyuan was utterly shocked. He gestured across his own neck.

His uncle nodded.

Seeing this, Lu Mingyuan sighed inwardly. It seemed people like that existed everywhere.

No matter how learned a person was, they couldn't escape this.

"What happened in the end?"

"Of course he was sentenced to death and beheaded. Killing your wife is a grave crime."

"That's good, then! By the way, Uncle Second, was that Huang family the one that runs the pawnshops in our city?"

"Mm! I heard that back then the Huang family had nearly monopolized the pawnshop business in Changfeng City. But because of that man surnamed Qian's revenge, many members of the Huang family were killed. Afterward, the family gradually declined. Nowadays, they get by on just three or four pawnshops."

"Something like that really happened?"

"There are plenty of stories like this. I heard them all the time when I was young. Uncle Jing used to live here, too. He must have heard them. That's why I actually admire his willingness to support you."

"Hey, Uncle Second, I'm not that kind of person. Besides, plenty of people have helped their wife's family after becoming successful. We can't only look at the bad examples."

"I was just telling you about it. Don't let them down in the future."

"Don't worry."

Lu Mingyuan replied firmly. It was so hard to find someone who treated him with complete sincerity. Of course he would cherish her. How could he possibly let her down?

Besides, Lu Mingyuan didn't care what other people said. As long as they weren't maliciously slandering him, he wouldn't pay them any mind.

After that, the uncle and nephew chatted in the courtyard for a while and had a little something to eat. Then they brought the appropriate gifts and headed to the home of Matchmaker Liu at the eastern end of the lane.