Chapter 2: The Moldy Vegetable Dumpling

Wang Man thought that Wang San was a wooden-headed fool, utterly lacking in awareness. She couldn’t understand how someone like him had ever managed to become a petty thug.

What’s more, he had far too many bad habits. She’d have to slowly help him change them.

She had no intention of living a life where one meal was uncertain and the next even more so.

As for leaving—she hadn’t considered it.

And even if she did, where would she go?

Back to that so-called “home,” only to be sold off by them again?

Forget it. She didn’t have that kind of twisted fetish.

Wang San stood there for a moment before heading out.

Soon, he returned with a chipped bowl in his hands.

Judging by the look of it, it was clearly just water.

It wasn’t dark yet, and although the light in the room wasn’t great, she could still see clearly enough.

Just as Wang San brought the bowl to Wang Man’s lips, her eagle-sharp eyes immediately noticed two tiny worms wriggling in the murky, filthy water.

She instinctively turned her head away.

A fresh wave of dizziness washed over her, leaving her weak and helpless.

Wang San was puzzled when he saw that she wouldn’t drink.

“Didn’t you say you wanted water? I brought it—why aren’t you drinking it?”

Wang Man snapped at him without holding back:

“You call this water? Did you scoop it out of a filthy ditch or something?

There are actual worms in it! Are you blind? Can’t you see them?”

To be honest, Wang Man didn’t have the best temper—at times, she could even be rather irritable.

More importantly, she had a blunt personality.

She said whatever was on her mind, firmly believing that bottling things up was doing herself no favors.

Wang San took a closer look—and sure enough, there were two tiny red worms wriggling in the water.

Wang San scooped out the two little worms with his hand and wiped them off on his clothes.

Then he brought the bowl over again and said,
“Go ahead and drink. I already took the worms out.”

Wang Man clamped her mouth shut and refused to even look at the water in the bowl.

“Get lost. I’m not drinking that. Go fetch me some clean water.”

Even though Wang Man practiced martial arts in the modern day, she had a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

Especially when it came to food and drink—she was particularly fussy.

Wang San got angry too.

“You said you wanted water. I brought it, and now you won’t drink it. Fine then, don’t drink it!”

With that, he downed the entire bowl of water in one gulp, then slammed the bowl down heavily on a rickety, three-legged table.

Wang Man: …?

This guy really had no sense of hygiene.

When she saw Wang San trying to climb onto the bed, Wang Man kicked him hard.

“What do you think you’re doing? I told you to get me clean water—hurry up!

Otherwise, I’ll die of thirst, and you’ll end up with nothing to show for it!”

Wang San: …?

Real men don’t fight with women. I’ll endure it!

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go out!

So he tried a more conciliatory tone and said;

“Wife, it just rained outside, and the ground is all muddy—it’s hard to walk.

And the well is a bit far from our house.
How about I get you some more of the same water as before? Just make do with it, okay?”

Wang Man closed her eyes.

“Forget it. Just let me die of thirst.”

Wang San gritted his teeth.

“Fine, fine! I’ll go fetch it right now!”

Seriously, he had originally planned to buy a Wife to help take care of his Mother and do some housework.

But now look at this—he ended up buying a little empress who needed to be waited on by him instead.

Wang Man had no idea how much time had passed before she was groggily awakened by Wang San.

“Wife, I brought water. Hurry and drink it!
Don’t worry this time—I got it from the well,” he added quickly, afraid she’d find fault again.

Wang Man was truly dying of thirst, so she drank the entire bowl in one go as soon as he handed it to her.

Then she added,
“Got anything to eat? Bring me something—I’m starving to death.”

Her stomach let out a loud gurgle, the sound grating on her nerves and making her increasingly irritable.

Wang San looked a bit troubled.

“Wife, there really isn’t anything to eat right now.”

Wang Man gave him a glance, then shut her eyes again.

As if she’d believe that. How could there really be nothing at all?

Just then, another round of rumbling echoed—this time from Wang San’s stomach—leaving him visibly embarrassed.

There really was nothing left in the house.

“How about this—you wait a bit, and I’ll go ask the neighbors if I can borrow something?”
He spoke as he was already heading out, not waiting for Wang Man to respond.

It wasn’t long before he came back—empty-handed.

Wang Man was lying in bed, deep in thought. When she saw him return with nothing, she raised an eyebrow.

“You didn’t go, did you?”

Wang San put on an indifferent face and said,
“I went. They wouldn’t lend me anything.”

Seeing that completely unconcerned expression on his face, Wang Man felt a surge of anger rise within her.
She wanted nothing more than to pin this man down and beat him senseless.

But in her current condition, that was clearly impossible.
So she could only clench her back teeth and growl through them:

“I swear—are you actually proud of yourself right now?”

Wang San said helplessly,

“How could I be proud? They just didn’t want to lend me anything. What, do you think I’m going to cry about it? Even if I did cry, they still wouldn’t lend me anything!”

See? He was acting all wronged.

Wang Man weakly pointed a finger at him and said,
“It’s a matter of character—shows you’re a person with no integrity.”

Wang San didn’t argue back. After all, he was just a petty thug; where would his integrity come from?

“You have to give me something to eat, right?
Or do you just want me to starve to death?
Are you really trying to ruin everything for both of us?”

Wang Man spoke weakly—she was truly starving, her insides feeling like they were stuck together from hunger.

Wang San nervously paced around, scratching his head one moment, then his chest the next.

Wang Man’s eyes almost twitched from watching him, a bad feeling settling in her gut.

 “You—what are you scratching? Do you have lice?
Stay away from me, don’t let it spread to me.”

She’d been afraid of lice since she was a child—not because of the bites, but because the thought of it was just too disgusting.

Wang San neither admitted nor denied it, which basically confirmed that he did have lice.

Thinking about the fact that this bed belonged to Wang San, Wang Man felt an unbearable itch all over her body, as if thousands of lice were crawling over her, ready to suck her blood at any moment.

Just as Wang Man was feeling miserable all over, a faint sound caught her attention.

Raising her eyes, she saw an old woman standing at the doorway—her hair completely white, face full of wrinkles, dark and thin, with a stooped back.

No need to guess—this was Wang San’s Mother, Huang Yuegui, known as Aunt Ma Liu.

She was called Aunt Ma Liu because Wang San’s Father was the sixth son in his family, nicknamed Ma Liu (“Pockmarked Six”) due to the many pockmarks on his face. Everyone called him by this nickname.

Ma Liu held a somewhat higher status among his generation, and those younger than him called him Uncle Ma Liu.

Because of this, Mrs. Huang also earned the nickname Aunt Ma Liu.

When Huang Yuegui came in, Wang San hurried to support her.

“Mother, what are you doing here?”

Aunt Ma Liu waved away Wang San’s hand that was supporting her. With trembling, gnarled hands, she reached into her bosom and pulled out something, holding it out in front of Wang Man.

Wang Man instinctively reached out and took it, bringing it up close for a careful look.

It seemed to be a vegetable dumpling, but it was covered in mold and gave off a strange smell.

Suddenly, Wang Man wasn’t hungry anymore.

She threw the dumpling to the ground with a harsh flick.
“This thing is already moldy. It can’t be eaten.”

Seeing her toss the dumpling onto the ground, Aunt Ma Liu hurriedly bent down to pick it up, carefully brushing off the dirt. She spoke cautiously,
“Manya^[1]probably Inspired by her full name “Man”  with a soft, feminine suffix like “ya”, often used to imply elegance or beauty., I know you’re hungry. There’s no grain left in the house at all.
This vegetable dumpling was given to me by someone a couple of days ago. I didn’t have the heart to eat it, so I saved it.

You should just make do and eat it—at least it’ll fill your stomach.”

Hearing this, Wang Man felt like dying right then and there.

What was going on? The vegetable dumpling was given to her two days ago, and she was supposed to have saved it? So, she hadn’t eaten anything for the past two days?

Thinking this, she looked up and glanced at Wang San.