Rebirth Counterattack with Space

"Wah, wah, wah, sis, you’re the only one who’s good to me. Please, help me out here," Lu Jinsheng implored Lu Yun with a pitiful look.

"If you keep blabbering, all the dishes on the table will be gone," Lu Yun reminded him with a laugh.

"And to think I’m the youngest. You guys, you really don’t know the meaning of ’cherishing the young’..." With a howl, Lu Jinsheng couldn’t afford to waste any more time chattering and hurriedly went back to the battle of filling his stomach.

The meal was finished in no time.

After eating, Lu Jinsheng was sent to do his homework, while Lu Yun helped Xia Yuan clean up. With no outsiders present, she was too lazy to do it herself, so she simply used her spiritual power to tidy everything up in the blink of an eye.

Shitou signaled that he had something to say, so the four of them went into the study. Since it was a courtyard house, the study was decorated in an antique style, with a corner specifically for tea setups where they could enjoy tea.

They sat down to boil water and brew tea.

Once Xia Yuan set a cup of tea in front of each person, Lu Aiguo picked up his tea cup, took a deep breath, then tilted his head back and poured it all into his mouth, drinking it dry before smacking his lips, "The tea my wife makes is simply the best."

"Who drinks tea like that?" Xia Yuan rolled her eyes at him, not amused. Thankfully, Lu Aiguo only did this at home—if he acted like this outside, it would be utterly embarrassing.

"Hehe, this way it’s more satisfying. Shitou, go on, what’s the matter?" Lu Aiguo smiled pleasingly at Xia Yuan then turned to ask Shitou.

"I’ve taken a liking to a girl and want to date her with marriage in mind, so I thought I’d ask for your thoughts first," Shitou said leisurely, spinning the teacup in his hand.

"What good news," Lu Aiguo exclaimed happily, reaching over to slap Shitou’s shoulder hard, "Whose daughter is she? You’re not getting any younger; by rights, you should have been married by now. All your classmates probably have kids old enough to fetch soy sauce, right? And here you are, holed up in the research institute every day, unseen by anyone."

"Exactly. You’re not getting any younger, and these past few years, seeing you not being in a hurry has nearly driven your brother and me to our wits’ end. Look at you, twenty-six already. In our village, isn’t it common for folks to get married and have kids in their teens and just get the marriage certificate when they’re old enough? But you, you keep dragging your feet."

Xia Yuan also nodded vehemently on the side.

In the past, Shitou was notoriously reluctant to enter into a relationship or get married; even the mere mention from them would send him scurrying back to his research institute to hide for a long time, a clear act of passive resistance, driving Xia Yuan and Lu Aiguo to despair.

Seeing Shitou’s age increase year by year, their concern was greater than anyone else’s. All these years, they had come to regard Shitou as their own little brother.

Didn’t even Lu Jinsheng call him ’Little Uncle’?

Ever since Lu Jinsheng began to talk, they taught him to call Lu Aibing ’Second Uncle’ and Shitou ’Little Uncle’. Long ago, they fully accepted Shitou as part of their family.

This time, with Shitou bringing up the topic of love and marriage on his own, how could the couple not be excited? They suddenly felt as if they had been injected with an adrenaline rush.

"Whose daughter is she, what does she look like, how old is she, where does her family live, how many siblings does she have, what do her parents do, does she have a job, how did you meet each other..."

Xia Yuan looked at Shitou eagerly, bombarding him with a barrage of questions in one breath.

"..."

Lu Yun felt a huge wave of secondhand embarrassment for Shitou and grew anxious about how he would answer.

"You all know her—it’s fine as long as you agree," Shitou glanced quickly at both of them before staring intently into his tea cup, preoccupied with the liquid inside. He didn’t even let a single drop spill when Lu Aiguo had slapped him so hard just now.

"Of course, we agree. Come on, tell us, who is it?" Lu Aiguo began to recall which family’s daughter he and his wife both knew, but he couldn’t think of anyone off the top of his head.

The daughter from the Li family they both knew, but that girl was only eleven this year, so that was ruled out.

Did the Wei family have a daughter? Seems like she’s in her twenties, but she’s too unattractive, basically out of the question too.

The Zhang family couldn’t possibly be it; their three daughters are all married...

"Someone we both know?"

Xia Yuan also started using the process of elimination, but after a while, she got a bit confused too. It seemed like, after thinking it over and over, nobody was likely, right?

"Really can’t figure it out, stop speaking in riddles. Who on earth are we talking about?" Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan were both anxious.

"Our family." Shitou reached out to take Lu Yun’s hand in his, then raised his head to look sincerely at Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan, with a clear and firm gaze.

"It’s Xiaoyun, she’s already nodded. We plan to file our marriage report as soon as she graduates from college."

"..."

"..."

Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan stared blankly at the two hands clasped together before them. Looking at each other, one resolute and the other shy, they both were stunned into silence, exchanged glances, and saw shock in each other’s eyes, unable to utter a word for a long time.

...

"When did this happen?" After a while, Lu Aiguo finally managed to speak.

"Today." Shitou succinctly replied with two words.

"What if we don’t agree?" Lu Aiguo glared at Shitou, grinding his teeth and suddenly feeling an unbearable itch in his teeth—was Shitou still trying to be evasive with him at this point?

"In my whole life, I’ll only marry Xiaoyun, and she can only marry me. We can wait." Shitou looked fearlessly into Lu Aiguo’s eyes and spoke very seriously.

"Cough cough cough..."

Lu Aiguo choked on his own saliva and almost couldn’t catch his breath. "Is this a threat to us?"

Xia Yuan, looking at the two of them, suddenly asked, "Are you serious? Xiaoyun, Shitou is eight years older than you, have you really thought this through?"

"I am serious, an eight-year gap is not too far." Shitou’s voice didn’t hesitate for a bit.

"Mom, I’ve thought it through." Lu Yun also nodded her head. When it came time to really lay the matter out, it somehow didn’t feel as embarrassing as she had thought.

"Then let it be." Xia Yuan spoke as if lightly brushing off the subject, then lowered her head to continue fiddling with her tea.

"Wife?" Lu Aiguo was dumbfounded. Just like that? His wife had just nodded in agreement?

"What else do you want to do?" Xia Yuan poured tea for herself, drinking two cups in one go. She too didn’t believe that the two had come together just today; they had managed to keep such a big secret from them quite tightly.

"Shi, Shitou is my brother, no, I’ve always seen him as a brother..." Lu Aiguo stammered.

"Now if you just change your view and see him as a son, wouldn’t that solve everything... Anyway, you don’t have any blood relation with him." Xia Yuan abruptly set down her teacup and huffed at Lu Aiguo in irritation.

"Pfft--"

Lu Yun didn’t know why but suddenly found it very amusing and burst out laughing, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Yet, she couldn’t suppress the laughter, and her body started to tremble slightly.

"Go ahead and laugh. Heartless, every single one of you is heartless, just watching us get anxious. So you were keeping it a secret, not willing to say anything until the last moment, right?" Xia Yuan looked at Lu Yun and Shitou, her eyes narrowing dangerously.