Chapter 27: What Else Can You Even Do

Aunt Ma Liu was in an especially good mood at the moment, and her tone had noticeably lightened.

Wang Qing had already answered and soon disappeared from sight.

Once they got back home, Aunt Ma Liu finally asked:

“Manya, since you sold the recipe, does that mean we can’t make and sell candied haw anymore?”

Wang Man paused for a moment.

“That…? I don’t think he said anything about that.”

“He didn’t?” Aunt Ma Liu frowned. “Logically, if you sold the recipe, we shouldn’t be selling it anymore. Otherwise, that wouldn’t be right.”

Wang Man nodded.

“Then we won’t sell it anymore. Doesn’t matter. We’ve got silver now, we won’t go hungry.”

Aunt Ma Liu nodded as well, then turned to Wang San:

“Ah San, why are you so quiet? Don’t tell me you lost money gambling again today?”

Wang San glanced at her.

“How’d you know I was gambling today?”

“Hmph, don’t lie to me. You both came back this late, clearly you went off to gamble and Manya had to go find you. I can even smell that foul stench on you.”

Wang San sniffed himself when he heard that.

“What stench? I don’t smell anything.”

Though, to be fair, he did smell like sweat.

At that moment, Wang Man’s stomach gave a loud growl. She was just about to go cook when Aunt Ma Liu called out:

“Manya, I already made porridge. Just bring it out and we can eat.”

Wang Man lifted the pot lid—sure enough, it was rice porridge.

She had added some wild greens, and it looked fairly thick and nourishing.

She had already told Aunt Ma Liu before that she had a head injury and needed good food to recover. And given how frail Aunt Ma Liu’s body was, she needed nourishing too.

So you can’t be stingy with food — first, get your body back in shape, only then can you do anything else.

Otherwise, if you’re sick and weak, you’re just waiting to starve to death.

Luckily, Aunt Ma Liu actually listened this time, or else Wang Man would’ve had to make a whole new batch of porridge.

As the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet, the family finished their dinner.
Wang Man told Wang San to go wash the dishes, and she washed up briefly before heading to bed.

Her injuries still hadn’t fully healed — she needed a lot of rest.

Not long after, Wang San finished the dishes and came inside to get ready for sleep.
As he opened the door, a breeze swept in — and Wang Man immediately caught a strong whiff of his sweaty stench.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“Wang San, you didn’t take a bath?”

Wang San froze for a moment but said nothing.

“I’m talking to you! Are you mute?
Did you bathe or not? You reek of sweat! Go wash up — what, are you trying to stink us all to death?”

Wang San lay down silently on his wooden plank bed, refusing to say a word or move.
He was fully committed to being tight-lipped and stubborn.

Wang Man was about to just let it go.
Whatever, don’t wash then. Not like he’s sleeping in the same bed as me anyway.

But just as she closed her eyes and was about to drift off into dreamland — she suddenly opened them wide again.

“Damn it! Go bathe now!
If you don’t, then get the hell out of this room.”

She almost forgot — that guy had lice.
If he didn’t clean himself properly, the lice might just crawl across a bridge and end up on her bed.

Wang San’s voice was still dull and low:
“I’m tired. Don’t wanna wash.”

Wang Man exploded in anger:
“fuck! Wang San, are you trying to rebel now?!
Your mother told you to go bathe and you dare disobey?!
Your skin’s feeling too tight, huh? Want me to loosen it up for you?!”

Saying that, she got up and stormed over to Wang San’s wooden bed.

As soon as Wang San heard her yell out “fuck,” his whole body jolted and he jumped to his feet.

He had a bit of a trauma response to those two words — because every time Wang Man said that, it definitely meant she was pissed off.

Just as Wang Man rushed toward him and Wang San got up, the two of them gloriously collided.

Wang Man was knocked to the ground, clutching her injured forehead:
“Goddammit, Wang San! Are you trying to kill me?! You dare hit my forehead? You want me to tear you to shreds?!”

Wang San was startled and quickly went to help her up:
“Man-niang, are you okay? Let me see, did you hit your wound?”

Wang Man rubbed her forehead furiously:
“Damn it! fuck! You bastard!
It’s been days, and you’re still dizzy in the head — dizzy my ass!
Can’t I get some peace?!
Are you trying to make me lose it?!”

As soon as Wang San heard her string of curses, his skin immediately tightened with fear.

Hearing Wang Man’s tone didn’t sound like she was actually cursing him, Wang San finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Man-niang, are you alright?” he asked cautiously.

“Do I look like someone who’s alright?! Go take a damn bath already — this is all your fault!”

Wang Man was still fuming, but remembering the lice on Wang San’s head, she quickly pushed him farther away from her.

This time, Wang San didn’t say a word and hurried out to scrub himself clean.

By the time he came back, Wang Man was already asleep, softly snoring away.

He knew his little wife had a fiery temper and liked to hit people at the slightest provocation, so he could only suppress his own irritation and asked in confusion:

“Why are we still picking red hawthorn? Didn’t you already give the recipe to Big Bro Jin?
If you go pick more, won’t he get upset?”

Wang Man rolled her eyes.

“Who said I’m picking them to sell?”

“If you’re not selling them, then why bother picking them at all? They don’t keep long.”

Wang San looked even more confused.

Ripe hawthorn spoiled easily and attracted bugs — not something you wanted lying around.

“Your uncles have been looking out for you all this time — don’t you think you should pick some hawthorn, make some candied skewers, and give them a taste?”

Wang Man said with a sharp tone.

Wang San: …

To be honest, that thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“Hurry up! I’m waiting outside.
Don’t make me wait too long, got it?”

Wang San quickly got himself together.
The two of them each slung a worn-out basket over their backs and headed toward the hawthorn grove — the one where the big snake had been spotted.

Wang Man looked at the two tattered baskets and asked:

“Wang San, do you know how to weave baskets?”

If he did, they could chop some bamboo tomorrow and have him make new ones.

Wang San shook his head.
“Nope.”

“Then what about hand-woven baskets?”

Wang Man remembered they didn’t even have a proper basket at home — the last time she had to borrow one from her aunt. If they could make their own, that’d be much better.

Still, Wang San shook his head.
“Don’t know how.”

“Can you make tables or stools then?”

Even if he couldn’t weave, building simple furniture would be useful. The table at home was missing a leg, and all their stools were either broken or wobbly. Sit the wrong way and you’d end up face-down on the floor.

Wang San shook his head again.
“Nope.”

Wang Man lost it.

“You can’t do this, can’t do that — what can you do?!”

This man was basically useless.
Lazy too — no wonder he ended up a small-time thug.

Seeing she was about to blow up again, Wang San mumbled weakly:
“I can eat.”

“Eat? Wait — yeah, you can eat. You can also gamble. And you’re good at loitering around outside doing God knows what!”

Wang Man was so mad she laughed — but not in a good way — and sarcastically added to his “skills.”

Good grief. What kind of person was this? Absolutely unbelievable.

Wang San stayed silent.
Everything she said was true. He had no defense. And he didn’t dare talk back either.

Otherwise, he might get beaten now and lose his standing forever.