Chapter 159: Wild Boars Deserve Wives More Than He Does

Chapter 159: Wild Boars Deserve Wives More Than He Does

Unaware that his aunt was worrying about his marriage, Chen Sanshi woke up at the first sound outside. His first action upon opening his eyes was to reach under his pillow for a small bronze mirror. In the dim light, he examined his face from all angles. The bruised areas from last night had swollen like steamed buns this morning. Both cheeks were puffed up, his mouth was blue, and his eyes bulged like those of a frog in a field. It was quite unsightly.

He pressed gently on the swelling; it wasn't too painful. He hadn't expected the medicine Liu Cao had given him to be so effective.

Delighted, he did a couple of somersaults on the bed, slipped on his shoes, hastily put on his clothes, folded his quilt twice, grabbed the medicine bottle from the cabinet and tucked it into his chest, then opened the door and left the room.

By now, the sky had brightened, and the courtyard was bustling with activity. His father and Uncle Chen were washing their faces around a wooden bucket, and almost everyone's face showed varying degrees of swelling. As they touched their faces with towels, they hissed in pain and drew in cold air. Especially his father, whose face was more swollen than his own. After a night, he looked even more miserable, his features distorted beyond recognition.

"What happened to you?" Uncle Chen turned to look at his son and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Son, if you went to catch toads now, they wouldn't resist. You two look like you belong to the same species."

Chen Sanshi was unhappy. He cared about his appearance now and didn't like hearing such comments. "You look worse than me. If I'm a toad, what are you?"

"I'm the toad's dad, I guess." Uncle Chen laughed heartily for a while, then suddenly sniffed. Did he smell medicine?

Chen Sanshi's eyes flickered, and he quickly pushed past his father, snatched the towel from his hand, and stirred it in the bucket. After wringing it out, he gently patted it on his face. Normally, he would scrub his face vigorously, but today he was extra careful. Although he had applied medicine, it still hurt when he exerted too much force.

The medicine was given to him by Liu Cao. Perhaps she felt sorry for his miserable appearance? He wasn't sure. At the time, he was too nervous to refuse, and before going to bed, something compelled him to use it instead of returning it as he had planned. Thinking about her dark complexion, he tossed and turned all night, but in the end, he couldn't resist using it.

After washing his face,

the results were good... making him even more reluctant to return it.

Liu Cao came out of the kitchen with a basin of warm water for washing faces. She sensed a burning gaze on her and looked up to see Chen Sanshi staring at her. Although his appearance was a bit unkempt now, he was still a handsome young man. When his face wasn't ugly, his skin was whiter and smoother than hers, capable of captivating any girl's attention. Throughout her life, she had been rejected, despised, and ignored, but never had she been looked at like this.

Her heart raced strangely.

Those eyes, burning with fire, made her feel hot all over. She quickly turned away, pulled down a towel from the rope, placed the wooden basin on a stone stool, and faced away from him, stirring the hot water with her fingers unconsciously.

Chen Sanshi stared at her back, intending to thank her, but seeing her avoid him, his excited heart cooled down, feeling icy cold.

She doesn't even want to look at me!

"The porridge is ready. Help yourselves in the kitchen. We won't set the table," Aunt Chen called from the kitchen doorway, laughing at the sight of his face. "Sanshi, go knock on Dahu's door and tell them to get up for breakfast. After eating, go fishing and bring back a fish for the Kitchen God ritual."

"Okay," he couldn't help but glance at Liu Cao, who was facing away from him. Although he didn't want to admit it, Liu Cao clearly didn't want to talk to him. She hadn't even bothered to turn around, despite giving him medicine yesterday...

Wei Dahu had been awake for a while but didn't want to get up. When Aunt Chen called for breakfast, Tao Hua dragged him out of bed. As the door creaked open, she was fixing her hair and hurriedly said, "I'm up. Go eat first, Sanshi."

"Aunt said we need to worship the Kitchen God today and asked Brother Dahu to catch a fish," Chen Sanshi said through the door.

"We heard," Wei Dahu replied from inside. Sitting on the bed, he yawned. There was no need for a messenger; they could hear everything clearly. Without further delay, he grabbed his clothes from the foot of the bed, not bothering with his cotton shoes, and simply slipped on a pair of straw shoes before stepping out, completely unfazed by the cold.

"What are you wearing?" Tao Hua turned to see him and immediately became angry. "It's freezing outside, and you're wearing straw shoes. What were you thinking? Change them right now. Do we not have enough shoes or something? Are you immune to frostbite?"

"We're going to catch fish later. Straw shoes are more convenient," he insisted, refusing to change his shoes no matter how much Tao Hua urged him. Before they could leave, the couple nearly got into an argument over this issue.

When they stepped outside, many people were already squatting in the courtyard, each holding a bowl of porridge and slurping loudly, their faces filled with joy.

Having upset his wife, Wei Dahu didn't dare speak to her much. He crossed his arms and peeked into everyone's bowls one by one. Last night's leftover meat scraps, cold wild chives, pickled sour radishes—every bite made the porridge taste even better.

His stomach growled immediately.

"Hurry up. There aren't many sour radishes left. If you dawdle, they'll be gone," Chen Erniu and his wife squatted by the kitchen door, slurping their porridge. Their son Tianniu mimicked them, squatting with the demeanor of an old man, exhaling white breath with each spoonful and sighing contentedly, muttering about how delicious the porridge was.

Even the little ones were eating, and Wei Dahu couldn't care less about anything else. He strode into the kitchen.

They were the last to wake up. Mother and Aunt Chen sat by the fireplace, drinking porridge. Seeing him enter, Aunt Chen smiled. "After breakfast, go catch a fish. Get a big one. Don't bother with the small fish swimming in the stream. We can't be stingy with offerings to the Kitchen God. We rely on his blessings for a peaceful and happy life next year!"

"Mm-hmm," he asked casually, "Do we have enough oil at home? Tao Hua and Sister Daya love crispy fish, and the kids crave it too. It's probably frozen in the stream with this cold weather. Since we're catching fish anyway, why not catch more and fry them to eat?"

Despite being angry, Tao Hua still scooped porridge for him. Just as she handed him the bowl, she heard him mention that he liked crispy fish and felt a bit embarrassed. Softly, she said, "We need to save the oil for frying fruit balls in a few days. Catching a big fish will be enough."

Seeing him search for sour radishes, Tao Hua picked up a small bowl from the stove and poured all the sour radishes into his bowl. Wei Dahu grinned widely and pulled out a pair of chopsticks from a bamboo tube. After taking a sip of porridge, he mumbled, "Save what? We can always make more oil. Nothing should come before your cravings. I couldn't take care of you before, but now, whatever you want, I'll get for you."

Tao Hua didn't react, but Zhao Sufen was delighted. As a mother, she worried about her daughter. Tao Hua's pregnancy had been difficult, and the baby was quite restless. In just three months, she had lost weight visibly. She had no appetite and occasionally vomited, which visibly weakened her.

In the past two days, Zhao Sufen had been troubled by her daughter's lack of appetite. Although they shared meals, the food quality was good. Even if they didn't have rice every day, the meals were better than most families'. Yet, her daughter found no flavor in the food, even refusing to eat egg custard, which made her worry.

"That sounds good. Dahu, catch some small fish on your way. Tao Hua has lost her taste for everything. Use less oil to fry them, and I'll prepare a spicy and sour fish soup for her to stimulate her appetite," Zhao Sufen suggested eagerly. Frying fish consumed a lot of oil, and catching fish in winter was challenging. She hadn't mentioned it before, but since her son-in-law brought it up, she naturally agreed. Nothing was more important than her daughter's health.

Tao Hua didn't have a mother-in-law, which meant fewer conflicts between mother and daughter-in-law, but also less support during pregnancy and childbirth. For example, if she couldn't eat, there would be no one to help if her mother wasn't around. Her daughter's first pregnancy would be much harder without her.

Fortunately, her daughter was blessed with a caring husband. To a pregnant woman, the words "Whatever you want, I'll get for you" could alleviate much of the unhappiness caused by pregnancy.

Zhao Sufen had experienced this herself. Having given birth to three children, only Man Cang's father had been particularly considerate. From pregnancy to childbirth and postpartum recovery, she hadn't suffered much. Even when she craved sour food in the middle of the night, he would immediately get up and pick sour fruits from the mountain for her.

To put it bluntly, among her pregnancies, she was happiest when she gave birth to Man Cang. During Tao Hua's birth, as her first child, she knew nothing and only felt pain lying in bed. Her husband wasn't considerate, and the midwife was harsh. All she felt was fear, even when she heard her baby's cries. She only felt relief that it was finally over, with little joy.

As for Dogzi, the Qian family already had a grandson, so how could they care about this son? Even if Chef Qian valued his late-life son, he wasn't a considerate man, let alone having two troublesome daughters-in-law. From pregnancy to childbirth and postpartum recovery, she never had a moment of peace.

Therefore, during pregnancy, she hoped her daughter would be treated like Man Cang's mother, with the father being attentive and providing whatever she wanted. It wasn't about the food itself but the feeling of being cherished and cared for.

"Sure, I'm not good at preparing food, so I'll leave it to you, Mom. Let me know if you need anything, and I'll get it," Wei Dahu thought it would be better to have a mother around. His father was just a rough man who rubbed his hands together and waited for grandchildren, unaware that his daughter-in-law craved crispy fish.

"I'll handle the food. Let me know if you need anything," Zhao Sufen was even more satisfied.

Before Tao Hua could interject, the matter was settled. Seeing her mother worry about her and Dahu's concern, her heart softened, and the anger from their earlier quarrel dissipated.

She carried her bowl and squeezed between her mother and Aunt Chen to sit down.

Wei Dahu held his bowl and went to the courtyard to chat with his father. They whispered for a while, and although no one could hear what they were saying, they both dug into their porridge vigorously. After finishing, each carrying two buckets, they headed out.

"Catch fish? I'm coming too!" Chen Sanshi panicked, burying his face in the bowl and licking it clean of every last grain of rice. He thrust the empty bowl into his father's hands and sprang up to follow after them.

"You're staying home to chop wood. Your sister and Rice Straw still rely on you to build their house." Wei Dahu waved him away but beckoned to ManCang, who was watching with eager eyes from the side. "ManCang, come along."

"Okay!" ManCang beamed. Seeing his brother-in-law wearing straw sandals, he wanted to change into a pair as well, but Wei Dahu grabbed him. "Do you think you can match my toughness? You need more practice before you can wear straw sandals in winter." There was a strange satisfaction in his tone.

ManCang scratched his head and chuckled, snatching the wooden bucket from Wei Dahu's hand.

Chen Sanshi clasped his head and moaned, "I want to go too..."

"What you want is nonsense!" Wei Dahu couldn't help cursing. This fool, he pulled him aside and said, frustrated, "Rice Straw has already given you medicine bottles, yet all you can think about is catching fish. When I wanted to marry your cousin's mother, I put in so much effort. The dowry included cloth, wine, and pastries. I don't expect you to be as capable as me and earn silver, but at least show some diligence and hard work, right? Aunt Huang is clearly a capable woman. Have you ever seen an old lady remain so calm amidst such drastic changes? She's not just anyone! You have nothing now, you are nothing. Yet, you don't even think about working harder to prove yourself. All you can think about is playing around. I suggest you stop secretly looking at Rice Straw. You're not worthy of her."

"..." Chen Sanshi's face flushed red, still unwilling to admit it. "I... I didn't look at her." Wait, how did his brother see Liu Rice Straw giving him the medicine bottles?

"Do you think everyone is as stupid as you?" Wei Dahu wasn't keen on elaborating. He thought Rice Straw was a good girl, but Chen Sanshi wasn't quite there yet. As for Aunt Huang, she seemed quiet, but she was likely more capable than her two sisters-in-law combined. She only had one daughter, Rice Straw, whom she must value greatly. If Chen Sanshi hadn't developed feelings for her, that would be one thing. But since he dared to secretly admire her, shouldn't he make his intentions clear?

Building a house for them was a perfect opportunity. Instead of trying to impress them, this fool was thinking about playing.

Was he fit to marry a wife?

He was not! A wild boar was more deserving of a wife than him!