Chapter 17: Delivering Meat
Zhang Zhaodi and the others cleaned the courtyard, then boiled water for a bath and changed out of their bloodstained clothes.
Su Yaoguang used the hair pomade she made herself while washing her hair.
When she came out after bathing, Zhou Wangshu had also finished cleaning up.
Zhang Zhaodi and her daughter bathed in the room, while Zhou Wangshu carried water to the wood shed and cleaned himself there.
Su Yaoguang sized up the handsome man fresh from his bath, her gaze lingering on his neck. She turned and went into the room, then came out and handed him a bottle: “This is for scar removal. Try it.”
Zhou Wangshu took it and lowered his eyes to give thanks.
“Don’t skimp on it. I made this myself; I’ll make more when it’s used up,” Su Yaoguang said. “After you apply the medicine, come with me to deliver the meat.”
“Deliver to whom?” Zhou Wangshu asked.
“Of course to Grandma, whom I should show filial respect to,” Su Yaoguang said. “She was right—no matter what, she’s still my grandma. Not sending even a little meat would get us gossiped about behind our backs.”
Zhang Zhaodi came out wiping her hair and, upon hearing Su Yaoguang’s words, a flash of heartache appeared in her eyes: “Then how much do you think is appropriate to send?”
“We’ll keep two jin and send one jin over!” Su Yaoguang said. “Also take two pig trotters. I’ll carry the pig trotters, Wangshu will carry the meat. We’ll send it over now.”
Zhou Wangshu went back to the room to apply the medicine. Not long after, he came out. Su Yaoguang tied up the one jin of meat with string and handed it to him. She herself carried two pig trotters as she walked outside.
Zhang Zhaodi was a bit uneasy and wanted to go with them, but Su Yaoguang stopped her.
Su Yaoguang said she would deliver the things and come right back. Grandma probably hadn’t woken up yet, so no one would make a fuss with them. It was just a quick trip; there was no need for so many people to go.
The two carried the meat toward Second Uncle Su’s house. Along the way, they met quite a few villagers, and whenever they asked where she was going, she would loudly say she was delivering meat to Grandma’s house.
“Yaoguang, is this your little husband?”
“Wangshu is still young; don’t scare him.”
“What’s a big man got to be shy about?” A passing villager patted Zhou Wangshu on the chest.
Zhou Wangshu endured the pain. After the villager left, he leaned against a nearby big tree to catch his breath.
“Are you okay?” Su Yaoguang frowned. “Uncle Yang is really something. He used to slaughter pigs; doesn’t he know how strong he is?”
Seeing Su Yaoguang concerned for him, Zhou Wangshu forced a weak smile: “I’m just too useless. I’m a man, yet I need you to protect me. Yaoguang, with me being so useless, won’t you dislike me?”
Su Yaoguang looked at Zhou Wangshu’s cautious expression, her thoughts drifting far away.
In the past, it was always Xiao Yanci who disliked her, thinking her too crude and her earnings too meager. Back then, had she also been like Zhou Wangshu, afraid of being abandoned?
Zhou Wangshu tugged at her clothes corner gently, his eyes full of grievance: “Yaoguang, I will definitely work hard to train and strive to have strength like that too.”
Su Yaoguang came back to her senses and smiled as she said: “Are you silly? Would I dislike you just because you lack strength? As long as Wangshu truly sees us as family, no matter what you’re like, you’ll be family to me that I won’t abandon.”
“Family?” Zhou Wangshu was stunned for a moment.
“Yes, when Wangshu faced danger, he didn’t run away but stayed to bear it with me. At that moment, I knew you were different from others.”
Zhou Wangshu looked at this brightly smiling young girl with a complicated expression.
She had it wrong.
The one who could have run away back then was her. She had stayed despite the mortal danger to protect him. No matter how ungrateful he Zhou Wangshu was, he wouldn’t abandon someone who trusted him like that.
“It’s getting dark; let’s hurry and deliver the meat. Once this trouble is settled, we still need to go back and make something delicious,” Su Yaoguang said. “Wild boar meat may be gamey, but I can turn it into delicious food.”
As the two passed by the Jiang family doorway, they heard Jiang Yihui’s angry roar coming from inside.
“I can’t even lift my arm now; how am I supposed to write well? You’re so capable, so just do all my schoolwork for me.”
Xiao Yanci said indifferently: “Young Master, that wouldn’t be appropriate. If the teacher found out, he would surely punish you.”
“The teacher has to grade dozens of people’s schoolwork; how could he check carefully? He’ll just skim over it. Anyway, today’s matter is all your fault. If you had protected me properly, my arm wouldn’t be injured. Now with only two days left before returning to the academy, I can’t finish the schoolwork at all. You’ll have to take responsibility for it.”
Su Yaoguang sneered.
An incompetent person like Jiang Yihui only knew how to put on airs and had no real talent or learning. In her previous life, Xiao Yanci had passed the xiucai and juren exams consecutively, but he couldn’t even pass the xiucai.
However, in her previous life, Xiao Yanci had been quite accommodating toward Jiang Yihui. Back then, Jiang Yihui was Xiao Yanci’s lackey at the academy, always clinging to him. Thinking back now, Xiao Yanci had probably already hooked up with Jiang Yihuan by then, while she had been the foolish one kept in the dark.
Zhong Lanhua and Zhang Zhaodi had never gotten along. In her previous life, Zhong Lanhua always said ambiguous things that she and her mother hadn’t understood at the time, but now she realized they were sarcastic jabs at them mother and daughter.
Seeing Su Yaoguang lost in thought again, Zhou Wangshu coughed lightly to remind her.
Su Yaoguang pulled herself out of those dark memories and said to Zhou Wangshu: “Let’s walk faster. This place is unlucky; better to stay away from them.”
“That Brother Xiao is quite pitiful,” Zhou Wangshu remarked. “If he had met a master like Yaoguang, he surely wouldn’t be in such a tough spot now.”
“Wangshu, stay away from that Xiao Ci. You think he’s pitiful, but you don’t know that the pitiful must have something detestable about them. You’re still too naive, easily fooled by appearances.”
“Yaoguang seems to really dislike him,” Zhou Wangshu said. “Did he do something to wrong you?”
“No, we just met. But that guy looks sly and treacherous; clearly not a good person.”
The two arrived at Second Uncle Su’s doorway. Su Yaoguang pounded on the door forcefully and shouted inside: “Grandma, Second Uncle, Second Aunt Su, Wangshu and I came to deliver meat.”
Her voice was so loud that the neighboring households across the way could hear it.
Second Aunt Su opened the door and, seeing the things in Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu’s hands, said sarcastically: “You made your grandma so mad she got sick and is still in a coma! Now you’re bringing this bit of meat—what, to mock whom? Let me tell you, Su Yaoguang, forget this little meat; even if you brought the whole wild boar, this matter isn’t over. Your Second Uncle and I were just about to go find you, but you came quickly and saved us the trip. So tell me, your grandma got sick because of you—how do you plan to make up for it?”
“Second Aunt Su, Grandma was just too happy and didn’t watch her step, so she fell, and that’s how it happened. How can you blame us? We didn’t even touch her.”
“Happy about what? She was angered by you.”
“She heard we were delivering wild boar meat and got so happy she missed her step. I knew Grandma would want to eat wild boar meat when she woke up, so I brought some over.”
