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Wang Man was thinking about letting Gold Tooth win, but deep down, she still felt a bit unwilling.
Gold Tooth had clearly said that if she won, he’d give her one hundred taels of silver.
She was in desperate need of silver right now—should she take this chance to earn that hundred taels?
After weighing the pros and cons, she decided—forget it. For the sake of peace and quiet later on, it was better to let Gold Tooth win.
With that thought in mind, as soon as Skinny Monkey placed the dice cup down, Wang Man scratched her ear and said with mock annoyance,
“Ai ya, what’s going on? Why are my ears so itchy?
Well then, Old Jin, you go ahead and guess first.”
Gold Tooth chuckled.
“I guess small.”
Wang Man replied offhandedly,
“Then I can’t guess the same as you. I’ll go with big.”
The dice cup was lifted again—and unsurprisingly, it was small.
Gold Tooth won that round. The match ended in a tie.
Skinny Monkey looked at Gold Tooth, then at Wang Man.
Were they… going for a fourth round?
Gold Tooth asked,
“Little girl, it’s a tie. Do you want to go another round?”
Wang Man: …
Oh, come on! She’d gone through all that effort to convince herself to aim for a draw. No way was she doing this again.
She rubbed the injured spot on her forehead, which had started to itch.
“A tie’s fine, a tie works just as well.
If you really feel like there wasn’t a clear winner, we can settle it next time.”
“My head wound’s starting to ache—must be because all these people are crowding around me and messing with it.”
The onlookers who were suddenly blamed for it:
…
Wait, what kind of reasoning is that?
Gold Tooth laughed so hard his gums were showing. This little girl—she was completely to his liking.
“In that case, looks like there’s nothing we can do about the wager then.”
Wang Man waved her hand generously.
“Forget it, it’s fine.
Even though I really need silver right now, we still have to respect the rules of the bet.
Let’s leave it at that. Wang San, let’s get going—if we don’t leave now, it’ll be dark by the time we reach home.”
With that, she turned to leave.
Wang San had been fretting the whole time, terrified that Wang Man didn’t know how dangerous things could get—if she’d actually beaten Gold Tooth, they might’ve had serious trouble later.
But luckily, she did listen and arranged for a draw in the end. That was good enough.
Just as Wang Man was about to leave, Gold Tooth called out to her, smiling,
“Little girl, I’ve taken a liking to you—mm, and your candied hawthorn-making skills.
How about we make a trade?”
Wang Man looked at him in confusion.
“What kind of trade?”
“I’ll give you one hundred taels in exchange.”
Gold Tooth looked directly into Wang Man’s eyes as he spoke.
Wang Man agreed without even thinking,
“Sure, I accept the trade.
You have no idea—when you let out that deep breath earlier, I was this close to being scared to death.”
“I thought you meant you’d taken a liking to me,” Wang Man said.
“But I’m still Wang San’s wife—I can’t have anyone else fancying me.”
“Hahaha! Hahahaha! Little girl, how about this—are you interested in becoming sworn siblings?”
Gold Tooth found Wang Man far too amusing. If he had a little sister like her, life would be a lot more entertaining.
Wang Man was stunned for a moment and blinked.
“Did I hear you right? You want to be my Big Brother?”
Gold Tooth nodded.
“What do you think? Do you find this rough old man acceptable?”
Wang Man shook her head quickly.
“No, no, that won’t do. I already have a Big Brother.
If you become my Big Brother too, then wouldn’t he be bumped down to Second Brother?
I don’t think he’d be too happy about that.
How about you be my Second Brother instead? Even though you’re older than him… Ay, this is a dilemma!”
Gold Tooth felt like this was the day he’d laughed more than he had in years.
“No matter, just call me Big Brother Jin—that’s fine with me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Man called out brightly,
“Sworn Big Brother it is! This is our first meeting—please look after me from now on!”
Gold Tooth slapped the table and shouted with delight,
“Good! Good, good!
Little sister, now I, Gold Tooth, finally have a little sister!
Hahaha! Wang San, you’d better treat my little sister well from now on—
Otherwise, I won’t let you off easy!”
Wang San wiped the sweat from his forehead, still a little dazed.
Hearing Gold Tooth’s warning, Wang San quickly nodded.
“Boss Jin, don’t worry.
Your sworn little sister’s really something—I’m no match for her.”
What he said was the plain truth, though to others it sounded like he was just trying to curry favor.
Gold Tooth had just gained a little sister and was thinking of celebrating at a tavern, but Wang Man refused.
It was already so late—if they didn’t leave now, it would really be dark by the time they got back.
On the way home, Wang San didn’t say a word.
Clearly, he was sulking.
He’d been scared out of his wits today, thinking that this bold little girl who didn’t know the meaning of fear was going to throw her life away on the spot.
But Wang Man was in a great mood.
She held a fifty-tael silver ingot in each hand, tossing them up and down with joy—it was hard to describe just how happy she was.
She’d originally planned to give Wang San a good scolding, but for the sake of these hundred taels of silver, she decided to let it slide this time.
After all, if it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have earned that hundred taels.
As for calling Gold Tooth her sworn Big Brother, she figured it was just a formality—nothing to take too seriously.
After all, they weren’t truly family. If something really happened, he probably wouldn’t go out of his way to help.
Just as they entered the village, they saw Auntie Ma Liu sitting by the edge of a field ridge, staring longingly in the direction of the village entrance.
She looked incredibly pitiful.
Wang Man’s heart suddenly felt like it had been bitten by ants—an unbearable discomfort.
She hurried over in a few steps and called out:
“Mother, why are you sitting here all alone? It’s almost dark—why haven’t you gone home yet?”
Auntie Ma Liu had already seen her the moment Wang Man came running over.
She took Wang Man’s hand and stood up:
“Manya, you’re finally back!
Did something happen? Why are you so late?”
As she spoke, she reached out and felt around Wang Man’s body:
“Did you fall? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Wang Man grabbed her hand and comforted her:
“No, I didn’t fall, and I’m not hurt anywhere.
I just made a deal with someone—I sold the recipe for the candied hawthorn.
I sold it for 100 taels of silver!”
She leaned in close to Aunt Ma Liu’s ear and whispered.
She described the exchange as a business deal and didn’t mention anything about becoming sworn siblings with Gold Tooth.
After all, Gold Tooth was the head of a gambling den, and she didn’t want to worry Aunt Ma Liu.
After spending the past few days together, Wang Man had realized that Aunt Ma Liu was actually very timid, a total crybaby, and extremely indecisive.
Hearing what Wang Man said, Aunt Ma Liu was shocked.
She instinctively glanced around and said urgently:
“Let’s go home—quickly! We’ll talk at home!”
Wang Man nodded.
“Okay, we’ll talk at home!
Wang San, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and carry Mother home!”
When Wang Man called for Wang San, Aunt Ma finally asked:
“Ah San came too?”
“Yeah, he came along,” Wang Man replied.
Wang San muttered his agreement.
He was still shaken from the day’s events, and Wang Man hadn’t spoken a word to him the whole way back, which made him even more nervous.
After they got home, Wang San stood there—fully present, a grown man—yet his mother didn’t even look at him.
He couldn’t help but feel like an extra, someone unwanted, and he couldn’t quite describe the bitterness in his heart.
Not long after the three of them had just walked a short distance, they saw Wang Qing hurrying over toward them.
Wang Qing was the son of Wang Yida’s second son—his eldest grandson, in fact.
Since the eldest son had two daughters first, Wang Qing, being the first male grandchild, was considered quite precious.
Seeing that Wang San was carrying Aunt Ma on his back, Wang Qing finally let out a breath of relief:
“Grandma, I was just coming to carry you home.
Didn’t expect Third Uncle and Third Aunt were already here.”
Aunt Ma smiled cheerfully:
“Oh, they came already.
Ah Qing, looks like you made a trip for nothing.”
Wang Qing waved his hand:
“No worries. I’ll head back then.”
“Mm, go ahead, go ahead.
Be careful on the road—don’t trip or fall,” Aunt Ma said kindly.