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Wang Man slowly calmed her anger, her sharp eyes sweeping over the group as she sized them up.
Wang San…
That fierce woman again—Mother was obviously scheming something with him. The way she looked at him clearly spelled trouble.
Before the thought could fully settle, Wang Man’s voice rang out:
“Speak. You all ate the eggs I was going to sell—how do you plan to compensate me?”
“Huh? Compensate?”
The little thug Li Daniu lived up to his name. He was tall and muscular, his skin dark, with bulging eyes that gave him a menacing look.
But Wang Man wasn’t afraid. In the modern world, what kinds of people hadn’t she encountered?
She had seen far scarier ones than him.
Especially among those who practiced martial arts—one misstep and their face could be beaten out of shape. Compared to that, this was nothing.
Li Daniu deliberately bulged his eyes even more, thinking he could scare Wang Man into silence.
After all, she was just a young girl—surely she’d be afraid.
To their surprise, Wang Man neither flinched nor showed the slightest fear. Instead, she replied coldly, still fuming:
“You ate my eggs…
You ate my things. Of course you have to pay. Or what—do you think you get to eat for free?
Don’t flatter yourselves—there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
And you—yes, I’m talking to you—I suggest you pull those bulging eyes back in. You didn’t scare anyone, and if your eyeballs fall out, don’t expect to put them back in.”
Li Daniu hurriedly shut his eyes, afraid his eyeballs really might fall out.
Wang Datou put on a foolish grin and cautiously said:
“Little lady—oh no, Sister-in-law, look, what’s eaten is eaten. It’s not like we can cough it up and give it back, right?
How about this: from now on, we won’t do this kind of thing again, alright?
You’ve already hit us and vented your anger—why not just let it go?”
As soon as he met Wang Man’s mocking gaze, Wang Datou hurriedly lowered his head.
There was a reason why he was called “Datou”—Big Head.
Since he was a child, his head had always been noticeably larger than others’, which didn’t quite match his scrawny frame.
Wang Man let out a cold snort.
“And what, you think things are that simple?
Those eggs were bought with borrowed money—I was planning to trade them for silver after working at the tavern.
Now they’ve all been eaten by you, and you think just saying ‘let it go’ is enough? If it were you, would you agree to that?”
Wang Datou hung his head even lower. What Wang Man said made perfect sense, and he had no argument against it.
Zhu Yazi, on the other hand, was far more hot-tempered. After getting beaten earlier, he was already full of rage with nowhere to vent it. Now this little girl was still clinging to the issue—what was she trying to pull?
“We ate them already, so what do you want? Just say it!
All this beating around the bush is annoying as hell.”
Instead of getting angry at his aggressive tone, Wang Man actually nodded.
“Straightforward. As expected of a thug.”
The group of hooligans…
Something didn’t feel quite right about that tone. Was she complimenting them or insulting them?
Wang Man’s lips curled slightly, and she continued:
“Then let’s do the math. How many eggs did you eat that day, and how much do you owe me?
I bought the eggs from Granny Wang Si, and it cost me exactly thirty-seven taels.”
“One tael per egg. But these were eggs I cooked using a secret recipe while working at the tavern—if I sold them outside, they’d easily go for two taels each, right?
Don’t deny it—you all thought they tasted amazing, didn’t you? Bet you’ve never had eggs like those before.”
The thugs nodded. They had to admit, the eggs were indeed delicious—so fragrant, so flavorful. They had never tasted anything like them.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have devoured several dozen eggs in one sitting.
Seeing they didn’t deny it, Wang Man continued:
“Thirty-seven taels, doubled, makes seventy-four taels.
I’m not even asking you to pay more—just compensate me those seventy-four taels and we’ll call it even.”
The thugs widened their eyes in disbelief. Where were they supposed to get seventy-four taels?
They were thugs—barely scraping by from one meal to the next, with no idea where the next would come from.
Whatever coins they had were long gambled away. Who would bother saving anything?
The three of them all turned to look at Wang San.
Wang San…?
Why are you all looking at me? I don’t have the money either.
Still, he spoke up:
“Manniang, didn’t you borrow twenty-two taels from me before? Couldn’t you just deduct it from that?”
Wang Man nodded in agreement.
“Sure. Seventy-four taels minus twenty-two, that leaves fifty-two taels. So, pay up.”
“Um… could we maybe owe you for now? We’ll pay when we’ve got the money,”
Wang San asked in a negotiating tone.
After all, when Wang Man forcibly took Wang San’s silver earlier, she had said the same thing.
Wang Man shook her head.
“That won’t do.
I don’t even have any silver myself—how can I let you owe me?
You must pay today. Otherwise, this matter doesn’t end here.”
Zhu Yazi plopped down on the ground and snapped impatiently:
“We don’t have silver, but we’ve got our lives. If you want one, take it.”
This was clearly him playing the rogue—refusing to pay and trying to weasel out of it.
“Heh, trying to cheat me now? Didn’t I hit you hard enough earlier?”
Wang Man wasn’t falling for that. She picked up the firewood stick again and tossed it in her hand, as if weighing it.
Seeing the firewood stick in her hand, Zhu Yazi’s eyes instantly widened. Furious, he shouted:
“You already beat me once—are you seriously going to hit me again? Isn’t that going too far?”
“I’m going too far? You all ate every one of my eggs without asking me—who’s really going too far here?
I’m asking for compensation. Isn’t that perfectly reasonable?
Even if we went to the yamen, I’d still have the upper hand.
What now? Trying to skip out on paying?
If that’s the case, then let’s pick up where we left off—stick to flesh.
I don’t mind putting in a bit more effort. After all, I’m not the one getting hit.”
Look at that—blatant threats, enough to make anyone grit their teeth in fury.
But there was nothing they could do—they couldn’t win against her.
“Fine, fine, we’ll pay! We never said we wouldn’t!”
Zhu Yazi fumed as he nodded repeatedly.
“But we don’t have any money! If we’re broke, how exactly are we supposed to pay?”
“That’s easy!”
Wang Man knew they had no money, but she still had to make things clear. Otherwise, people would never take her seriously.
“No money? Then work it off!
Once you’ve worked off the full fifty-two taels, we’ll call it even.”
“Work? What kind of work?”
The thugs asked in unison.
They were the type who loved eating but hated labor—having them do real work was practically unbearable.
Wang Man stood up and paced in a circle.
“We don’t have farmland, so there’s not much else you can help with.
How about this—
Go up the mountain and chop firewood.
Chop enough to make up for the fifty-two taels, and that’ll be the end of it.”
Her head was still not fully recovered, so chopping wood herself wasn’t realistic right now.
Auntie Ma Liu wasn’t even worth mentioning—she could barely see. If she went stumbling around the mountains, she might fall into a ditch, and that would only cause more trouble.
As for Wang San, that little thug was hopeless—no use counting on him.
The firewood they were currently using either came from kind uncles in the village who helped deliver some, or it was just dried leaves Auntie Ma Liu gathered from around the area.
Besides, they barely had any food to cook, so the firewood usage was minimal.
But winter was a different story.
In winter, they would need a lot more firewood. Especially with this dilapidated house—wind came through from all sides, and without insulation, they’d rely completely on fire basins to get through the cold.
The group of thugs huddled off to the side, whispering among themselves.
“How much firewood do we need to chop to make up fifty-two taels?”
Li Daniu asked.
He was a big brute—not good with numbers.
Wang Datou thought for a moment and said:
“Firewood doesn’t sell for much. A hundred jin of good-quality firewood only goes for ten taels.
If it’s average or worse, it could be eight taels… maybe even six.”