Chapter 35: Su Bin Takes Action, Pressuring Educated Youth Xu

"Uh, it'll be ready to eat in a moment. Go back inside and wait."

His silly sister—all she ever thought about was food.

Before long, the rest of the family returned. Su Yu had to explain for quite a while before they understood that he was perfectly fine; besides, he hadn't even gone into the water, just fishing.

The family enjoyed a hearty meal, and once his hunger was satisfied, Su Yu lay down on his bed.

His archery skill had reached Level 4, Stage 9. He wondered what height he would reach if he managed to break through that barrier. He tried to allocate his three skill points, but it was clear they couldn't be used for archery; apparently, breaking through Level 9 was no easy feat.

Still, there was no rush. Life was getting better every day, and he had plenty of time to take it slow.

The next day, Su Yu set out to deliver a soft-shelled turtle to Manager Fan. Upon stepping out, he encountered someone he hadn't expected to see.

"Um, Su Yu, are you heading out?"

Seeing him holding a bucket and unsure of where he was going, the person standing before his door was none other than Xu Xiaoya.

"Oh... yeah, I'm heading out. What brings you here? Is something the matter?"

Seeing Xu Xiaoya hesitate, Su Yu felt a bit impatient. To be honest, even though she was very beautiful, there was a saying: if someone isn't a resource, they can be ignored. A gentleman should only reserve his chivalry for those who need it. Was there any point in showing off how much of a gentleman he was to his "brother's woman"? Absolutely not.

Since she wasn't a resource, there was no need to put on a show; he would just treat her like a man.

"Educated Youth Xu, what exactly is the matter? I have things to do, so spit it out."

Sensing Su Yu’s impatience, Xu Xiaoya looked nervous and immediately said, "Um... do you... do you have any money?"

Huh? This question left Su Yu at a loss for how to answer. Was she here to borrow money? That didn't seem right. In the countryside, even if you had money, there was nowhere to spend it. It was highly suspicious for her to be asking for a loan.

"What do you need money for? Is someone in your family sick?"

Although Xu Xiaoya was an educated youth, if someone in her family were ill and had written to inform her, it would be understandable if she tried to find a way to scrape some money together to send back.

"No, no, it's... do you know Lai San?"

As soon as he heard the name Lai San, Su Yu knew nothing good was happening.

"Go on."

"Not long ago, when I went to the commune to register, I ran into him. He was in a huge hurry to do something and asked me to carry a bag back for him. I didn't even have time to ask what it was before he left. But halfway back, I was bumped into by some people, and the things in the bag were broken."

"By the time I turned around to find the people who bumped into me, they were already gone. They seemed like a group of older children. I picked up the bag to check it, and I found a radio inside—it was broken."

"Several people saw him hand me the bag, and now Lai San has come to me with a receipt. It’s a new model, worth seventy or eighty yuan."

Su Yu realized immediately that this was a setup—a trap specifically for Xu Xiaoya.

He was actually impressed that someone would go to such lengths, using a radio as bait.

As mentioned before, Xu Xiaoya rarely interacted with strangers and was somewhat introverted. Lai San had pegged her perfectly. He didn't give her a chance to explain; he just pretended to be in a rush, shoved the bag into her hands, and walked away.

If it had been anyone else, they would have just denied there was a radio in the bag. But for a goody-two-shoes like Xu Xiaoya, lying about something worth seventy or eighty yuan was difficult. Once she admitted in public that the bag contained a radio and that she had broken it, the plan would be a complete success.

"Why did you think to come and borrow money from me?"

Su Yu wasn't a "nice guy" for the sake of it, and since he had no ulterior motives regarding Xu Xiaoya, he certainly wouldn't be a soft touch for no reason.

"Well, I went to the village chief, and he said he could help me think of a way to delay it for a few days. Lai San claims he bought the radio to propose marriage; he's waiting on it to go to his prospective bride’s family."

"Cough, cough... It was the village chief who told you I had money, wasn't it?"

Xu Xiaoya hadn't answered his previous question, but by mentioning the village chief, Su Yu quickly understood the root of the matter.

The problem was that every time Su Yu went to the county town, he borrowed a bicycle and returned with bags full of goods. Whether it was him or Huzi, they both did this. Su Yu couldn't hide everything from the village chief, so he had revealed a little, like the fact that he sold game he had hunted.

Although he hadn't told him exactly how much money he made, the chief wasn't a fool; seeing him return with bags full of goods constantly, he could estimate for himself.

"Follow me. I have something to say to you."

Su Yu pulled Xu Xiaoya into his house. She looked nervous, clearly worried that Su Yu might have bad intentions.

Su Yu was speechless. He walked into the room, waited for her to follow, and then broke the situation down for her piece by piece.

"If I'm not mistaken, the radio's motherboard is broken, right?"

Xu Xiaoya nodded. Seeing that Su Yu had guessed it instantly, she began to realize the implications herself.

"Think about it. A person like Lai San—never mind how he got the receipt for the radio—even if he did have one, seventy or eighty yuan is not a small sum. Can a hoodlum like him really afford that?"

"Even if he did manage to borrow the money, what girl would be so blind as to agree to marry him just because of a radio? Don't you think the whole thing is suspicious?"

Xu Xiaoya hadn't thought about it from that angle before—she was just too naive. With Su Yu’s reminder, she finally felt the strangeness of it all.

"You mean... Lai San set a trap for me to walk into?"

"But the receipt is real, and the radio is new. It's just broken. What is he after?"

Su Yu thought to himself, *He's after your "ample" assets, that's what.* In these lean times when people were barely getting enough to eat, her "granary" was so full that anyone who saw it would be dazed.

Seeing Su Yu glancing at her chest, Xu Xiaoya quickly pulled her coat tighter and gave him a glare, but she also understood his implication. He was after her—he was after her body.

At that thought, Xu Xiaoya felt a chill run through her.

If she hadn't come to find Su Yu today, she never would have known that people could be this wicked.

"Just wait. Lai San couldn't afford seventy or eighty yuan for a radio, and he doesn't have the guts for it. He has someone behind him. In a few days, someone will approach you, offering to pay for the radio."

"They'll probably tell you with feigned reluctance that the money was meant for their own wedding, and then hint that while they don't mind helping you, you'll have to marry them. If you refuse, they'll say they have no choice but to hand you over to Lai San. The person approaching you will definitely seem better than Lai San, making you feel like you have a choice. You'll choose them, won't you? After all, one is a villain driving you to the edge, and the other is a savior trying to pull you back. It's an easy choice, isn't it?"

"Shall we make a bet?"

"A bet? On what?"

"Let's bet on who that person is. My money is on Su Bin. What do you think?"

Su Yu’s first thought was Su Bin. For one, Su Bin could afford that amount of money; his father’s salary mostly went to his uncle, and his uncle doted on this son of his excessively.

Furthermore, although Su Bin looked down on everyone and was all talk and no action, he did have a bit of cunning and the audacity to carry out such schemes.

"Su Bin? No way. I'm not even close to him; we've barely spoken a few times. You're saying he's the one who set this trap to force me?"