Daily News: You promised yourself to be a fisherman, but you've become a martial arts god?

Li Nian's words were righteous and resounding.

Upon hearing this, Sister-in-law Zhang was filled with indignation.

Despite her anger, Zhang Dasao couldn't retaliate because Li Nian's words were so convincing and ethical.

If I were to speak my mind directly and let my neighbors hear it, wouldn't that ruin my reputation?

He cursed Li Nian in his heart for being a fool.

So clueless about romance!

Seeing Zhang Dasao's frustrated expression, Li Nian smiled with satisfaction.

This is the effect he wanted.

I'm doing this for your own good, and I'm refusing you. What are you going to do about it?

The village is so small that the neighbors can hear each other arguing.

If Sister-in-law Zhang scolds him and coerces him into joining her gang, it will solidify her reputation as a slut.

Sister-in-law Zhang secretly had someone steal his family's winter food and secretly asked him to find accomplices, just to prevent outsiders from gossiping!

"Erlang, where did your family get your food?"

Sister-in-law Zhang suddenly realized something.

She clearly remembered that Zhang San had stolen all of Li Nian's family's grain. She had watched with her own eyes how Li Nian's family had managed to survive for so many days with the little rice left at the bottom of the jar. They shouldn't have any grain left.

"Does the rice smell good?"

"The smell of meat?!"

Suddenly, Sister-in-law Zhang smelled the aroma of food.

Following the smell into the house, Zhao Lijuan, who was cleaning up leftover food, suddenly widened her eyes in surprise.

Li Nian cooked a lot of food tonight, and there are still quite a few leftovers.

"How come you have so much rice and meat in your house!"

Sister-in-law Zhang questioned her sharply.

"Sister-in-law Zhang, I went fishing today and was lucky enough to catch a few grass carp. I sold them and exchanged them for some grain."

Li Niansheng said calmly.

Someone in the village runs a business at the fish market. Today, he's selling grass carp there. Zhang Da Sao can easily find out by asking around; there's no need to hide it.

"Sister-in-law Zhang, thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you out."

"I deeply sympathize with Brother Zhang's plight, but I cannot do such a thing."

"Furthermore, after my elder brother passed away, I was the only male left in the family. The Li family bloodline cannot end with me."

Li Nian said sincerely.

"snort!"

Faced with Li Nian's sincere thanks, Zhang Dasao was speechless with anger, snorted coldly, and turned away.

"Li Nian! You're lucky! I can't believe you actually caught fish in the dead of winter and traded them for food!"

"However, judging from your grateful attitude, you probably don't know that I had your grain stolen!"

"If I can steal once, I can steal again!"

"When you're truly starving to death, I don't believe you can still hold onto your principles. You won't escape my grasp, and the more you resist, the more I like it!"

Sister-in-law Zhang's face was full of mockery.

It's as if I can already see Li Nian, her eyes glazed over from hunger, begging for help to get a loan.

"That bastard, he's definitely not going to let this go!"

Seeing Zhang Dasao's attitude, Li Nian guessed what Zhang Dasao was thinking, and a cold glint flashed in her eyes.

This was within his expectations.

A person who steals someone else's life-saving food is as vicious as a snake, and will not give up until they achieve their goal.

He knew that refusing to join the group would anger Sister-in-law Zhang, but he still did it because he was very clear that as long as he didn't join the group, Sister-in-law Zhang would continue to make things difficult for him.

He would never abandon his sister-in-law and niece to seek their help.

In that case, it's better to just refuse.

Perfect timing, he also wanted to get Zhang Dasao to use the same trick again.

Although he did not cultivate the martial arts of this world, his decades of military service in his previous life had honed his skills in hand-to-hand combat, making it no problem to deal with petty thieves!

"Sister-in-law, Duoduo, I'm going to bed now."

Li Nian closed the door and spoke to her sister-in-law and niece.

After a brief chat, Li Nian went to sleep in the side room.

This body is very weak. After a large meal tonight, it desperately needs to rest and digest the food in its stomach.

As for Sister-in-law Zhang's side...

The wind and snow were heavy at night, so it wouldn't be good for Sister-in-law Zhang to hire a thief to steal from her house tonight.

"Jiro..."

Holding her daughter, Zhao Lijuan watched Li Nian's departing figure, her eyes filled with tears, her gaze full of relief and indescribable emotion.

Li Nian had told her during the day that she wouldn't go to Zhang Dasao's house to ask for favors, but she was still unsure.

Only after Li Nian rejected Zhang Dasao to her face did she finally feel relieved.

If Li Nian goes to Zhang Dasao's house to ask for help, even if the mother and daughter can survive the winter on the food Li Nian bought today, they will have a hard time surviving in this difficult world without a man in the family.

Li Nian's decision to stay or leave determined the life or death of the mother and daughter!

She was truly grateful that Li Nian hadn't abandoned them!

I'd do anything to keep my daughter alive!

Zhao Lijuan tightened her grip on her daughter's arm, her tearful eyes filled with unwavering determination.

Silent all night.

Li Nian woke up as the morning light shone into the room through a hole in the wall.

Li Nian sat up, stretched lazily, and felt like firecrackers were going off inside her.

"Cool!"

Li Nian couldn't help but let out a satisfied shout.

His eyes were brighter than yesterday, and his sallow complexion had regained some color.

"Youthful bodies are really different; they recover so quickly!"

After stretching her body a little, Li Nian nodded in satisfaction.

"Let's take a look at today's intelligence!"

Composing himself, Li Nian sat on the edge of the bed and summoned the system.

[Today's information has been updated]

[Immortal martial arts have been detected in this world. Cultivation in seclusion takes a considerable amount of time. To prevent information from becoming useless, the information exchange function has been activated.]

"Deduction", "Proverbs", "Resurrection"...

"Information exchange!"

Li Nian's eyes lit up.

Although I don't know how these functions work, having more features is a great thing!

After all, this is a system function, so it must be excellent!

Suppress your excitement and focus on the three functions.

"Deduction": It can only be activated after accumulating 15 days of inactive information.

"Advice": It will take half a year.

"Resurrection": Requires one year...

"It takes quite a while!"

Li Nian frowned.

After a moment, his brows relaxed.

Activating the three functions takes a considerable amount of time, but in the world of cultivation, seclusion can last from a few days to several years, or even longer, which is not much at all.

At present, he has only just solved the problem of basic needs for food and clothing, and his life is not yet stable. He needs more intelligence to improve his life.

It's not too late to consider enabling new features once life is stable.

After making a plan in secret, Li Nian activated the system.

"Open today's intelligence report."

In an instant, lines of text appeared on the frame in front of me...