Learning to play games, a 40-year-old woman achieves a remarkable turnaround.

Chapter 272 What a childlike old man!

Yuan's mother gently patted the back of Yuan Bao's hand, her gaze tender yet firm: "Don't take it too seriously. Your father is just feeling down for a while, he'll get over it soon."

From now on, you and Baoguo should study hard. Good days are ahead for our family.

As she spoke, she pulled Yuan Bao back to sit down at the table. She pushed a small dish of food in front of Yuan Bao, the steaming heat filled with a comforting, homey atmosphere.

Yuan Bao took a bite of the crispy fried dough stick and nodded in agreement, "Mom is right. Once Dad figures it out, everything will be fine."

Yet a faint worry lingered between her brows, and she stirred the bowl unconsciously with her chopsticks.

Her father's relatives are eccentric and shameless. They won't give up until they achieve their expectations after these two attempts.

Their hateful faces lingered like a dark cloud, and although Yuan Bao said he didn't care, it felt like a thorn was stuck in his heart.

Seeing her daughter's hesitant expression, Yuan's mother sighed: "Are you still worried about your uncle and aunt?"

Seeing Yuan Bao nod in agreement, she reached out and smoothed her daughter's stray hair. "Actually, if they come to our house and cause a ruckus, that's fine. But I'm worried they might go to your dad's workplace..."

Before the second half of the sentence was finished, the mother and daughter already understood each other without saying a word.

The eldest brother, Baoguo, had finally finished eating. He never liked to get involved in these matters, so he said something and went back to his room.

Yuan Bao gripped the spoon tightly, the metal handle becoming slightly hot from his grip: "If they really go to the workplace, Dad's colleagues who don't know the truth might think that Dad owes them something."

When rumors start spreading, it will inevitably have some negative impact on Dad.

Thinking of how her father was being pointed at and gossiped about at work, she felt a tightness and pain in her chest, as if a ball of cotton was stuck in it.

Yuan's mother added a soft-boiled egg to her daughter's bowl, the yolk slowly oozing golden juice: "We'll deal with whatever comes our way. If it really comes to that, Mom will go with your dad to resolve it."

A sharp light shone in her eyes, "How many difficulties have we overcome on our own over the years? Are we afraid of them?"

She took a bite of the soft, tender egg white and nodded emphatically: "Yes! As a family, there's no obstacle we can't overcome."

After breakfast, Yuan Bao held Xiao 9 in his arms, but in his mind, he was talking to Xiao 9 about the strange relatives of his father's family.

"Little 9, what I'm saying isn't an exaggeration. Based on past practices, when my uncle and aunt come to our door and see our current situation, they'll spread the word, and then a whole bunch of people will be implicated."

Then they would come over every few days. If my dad didn't help, they would spread rumors that he had become rich and would ignore them, his poor relatives.

"Before, there was a rumor that my dad was sick and needed to take medicine for a long time, so no one dared to come to our house, for fear that my dad would ask them to borrow money."

“My uncle wanted to build a three-story villa, but he said he didn’t have the money, so he asked my dad to borrow money for him. I don’t know if my uncle has paid it back. I guess he hasn’t. They always just borrow and never pay it back.”

Although Little 9's intelligent brain couldn't quite grasp these intricacies, it still offered Yuan Bao a suggestion: "Master, have you forgotten about the 'Painful Amnesia Talisman'? You can use that!"

Yuan Bao's tightly furrowed brows instantly relaxed, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes: "That's right! How could I have forgotten about that!"

This thing is incredibly useful! The moment they get the slightest mischief, it makes them wince in pain and slowly fades their memories of my dad. It's practically a tailor-made 'miracle cure for annoying relatives'!

She couldn't wait to mentally summon the game store and quickly swipe her fingers across the screen.

When I saw the price of the "Painful Amnesia Talisman" in the product listing, I couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Amazing! After completing the cultivation quest, it actually dropped from an astronomical price to 10 per talisman! This is a steal!"

Without hesitation, Yuan Bao clicked the buy button and bought 10 tickets in one go.

Imagining that Uncle Yuan, Aunt Yuan, and those other relatives she remembered who loved to take advantage of others would be warned with pain every time they tried to do something wrong, she smiled smugly: "Let's start with these few who are jumping the highest, and see if you dare to mess with our family again!"

Then, carrying Little 9 back to her room, the solid wood tabletop was bathed in warm sunlight. She carefully took out the talisman, her fingertips tracing the fine lines, a confident smile playing on her lips.

Following the instructions, she took out a specially made magic pen, and the ink spread across the paper. She wrote the names of Uncle Yuan, Aunt Yuan, and several other relatives she remembered who loved to gossip on the talisman paper, each stroke carrying the determination to dispel trouble.

"This solves the problem once and for all." Yuan Bao blew on the ink with satisfaction, folded the talisman into a small square, and the talisman disappeared, automatically flying to the relative with the corresponding name.

As Yuan Bao hummed an off-key tune as he returned to the living room, he happened to bump into Yuan's mother coming out of her room.

"Oh, did you win the lottery? You're smiling so happily now." Aunt Yuan wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, her eyes full of doting affection.

Yuan Bao shook the little 9 in his arms, the ends of her hair swaying gently with the movement: "That's more effective than winning the lottery! I just thought of a brilliant idea that will guarantee those annoying relatives will never dare to come to our door again."

She deliberately lowered her voice, her eyes curving into sly crescents.

Yuan's mother's curiosity was piqued, and she leaned closer: "Really? Tell me quickly, what are you up to?"

"It's a secret!" Yuan Bao stuck out his tongue at his mother and made a gesture of secrecy. "You can rest assured, just wait and see! I guarantee that Uncle Yuan and Aunt Yuan will never come to visit again."

Yuan's mother was amused by Yuan Bao's feigned mystery and gently tapped the tip of her nose: "Good, good! You little rascal, you're keeping your mother in suspense!"

The sounds of the mother and daughter laughing together drifted into the inner room, carried by the aroma of food.

Grandpa, who was fiddling with the birdcage, twitched his ears and slowly strolled out with Grandma.

Grandma was still clutching half a piece of rice cake that she hadn't finished feeding him, and her eyes crinkled with laughter: "Oh my, what's making you so happy? Tell us, the two of us old folks, so we can have a good laugh too."

Yuan Baochao's mother quickly gave a wink and jumped between the two grandparents, taking their wrinkled arms: "Nothing's wrong! I just suddenly remembered that the weather is nice today, and I wanted to take you to the river to walk the birds and bask in the sun, and also to see if the newly planted willows have sprouted yet!"

Upon hearing this, Grandpa's eyes lit up instantly, like two lamps had been lit. He excitedly slapped his thigh and shook the birdcage in his hand, making a crisp sound: "Let's go! If we don't go to the river soon, Old Zhang will start showing off his gray sparrow to everyone again."

He moved nimbly toward the door, not forgetting to turn back and shout into the house, "Old woman, fill the bird feeder! We're going to show Old Zhang today how melodious my thrush's call really is!"

Seeing her grandfather acting like a child eager to show off his new toy, her grandmother smiled and playfully scolded, "You really are a child at heart."

Yuan's mother and Yuan Bao were amused, and even the little dog next to them started meowing. The whole house was filled with a relaxed and joyful atmosphere.