Chapter 119: I Didn’t Expect A Man to Be So Awesome!
According to the somewhat outdated Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, physiological needs are the most basic and intense human needs, with eating being the most fundamental of them all.
A Man was born in a difficult era and lacked sufficient education. She hadn’t learned these things, which led to her wicked plan failing.
A Qian and A Yu weren’t much better off than when they first met Yuan Ye. They begged daily, eating only two meals every three days, their eyes constantly gleaming. Today, after being tied up for most of the day, their stomachs were already shriveled with hunger. As soon as the food was served, they began to devour it, completely ignoring A Man’s various taunts and mockery beside them, stuffing food into their mouths with all their might.
At this moment, let alone the slight noise A Man was making, even if meteors were raining down outside and people were dying in droves, they would have to wait until they were full before saying anything else!
A Man babbled for a long time with no effect. Seeing them eat so heartily and so much, she started to feel pained. She finally couldn’t hold back, grabbed A Qian, pried the fried chicken nuggets from her mouth, and yelled, “You two useless things, can’t you hear me talking? How dare you eat, spit it out for me!”
A Qian couldn’t snatch it back and didn’t care about A Man’s nonsense. She turned, grabbed a bowl of soup, and drank it down directly. Only then did she let out a satisfied burp and murmur with vacant eyes, “This is so delicious. I have no regrets even if I die now.”
After speaking, she licked her lips and looked at the remaining food with a lingering gaze, her eyes filled with a hunger that people from the Modern Era couldn’t comprehend. She was too full to eat anymore, so she turned and hesitantly asked A Man, “Do you guys usually eat this much?”
In terms of quality alone, it was better than what ordinary Local Lords ate. If you added the taste, except for a few famous figures who maintained a frugal image, most Daimyo couldn’t easily enjoy such deliciousness.
Seeing her expression, A Man finally started to feel pleased. She said with restraint, “We don’t eat like this every meal. Usually, we only eat well at night. During the day, when we’re busy, we mostly just make do with rice balls. After all, I hold a high position now and must set an example for those below me, so I can’t be too extravagant.”
“It’s great to have rice balls every day…”
“I earned all of this with my life,” A Man said calmly, slowly recounting to these two “old acquaintances” how she accidentally met Yuan Ye, how she traveled over four hours, and killed more than forty River Pirates overnight to save him. She also spoke of how she diligently worked every day, offering advice, meticulously assisting him, and managing his household, making him the most profitable Local Lord in Owari.
Finally, she detailed the Night Battle at Takeuchi Manor, explaining how she repelled over forty waves of enemy attacks that came like a tide, how she cleverly devised a plan to kill the enemy Commander-in-Chief and turn the tide of the battle, and how she carried Yuan Ye through an enemy formation of over four thousand soldiers, covered in blood, breaking through the encirclement, and saving his life.
Simply put, her contribution is the primary reason the Yuan Ye Family has reached its current status. Enjoying top-tier treatment is only natural, and no one can say a word against it.
After she finished speaking calmly, she felt another wave of exhilaration rise from the base of her spine to the crown of her head, making her feel incredibly comfortable. She had wanted to brag for a long time but never found an opportunity. It was finally today, which was no easy feat.
A Qian’s mouth hung open like a little frog, completely stunned. She couldn’t believe so much had happened in just over a year, and even more so, she was shocked at how formidable A Man had become. She could move freely within enemy lines, slay generals, and capture banners, becoming a pillar and important retainer in a rising Local Lord’s domain, a truly important person.
After A Yu tugged at her and whispered a few words in her ear, A Qian suddenly reacted and roared, “You’re spouting nonsense! Three or four River Pirates could kill you, I don’t believe you could kill over forty people by yourself!”
A Man was in a good mood and didn’t bother with her rudeness. She simply tilted her head back and looked at A Qian through her nostrils, saying indifferently, “You two are frogs in a well… You probably don’t even understand what ‘frogs in a well’ means, do you? So, it’s hard to explain to you what ‘after three days, one should look at a person with new eyes’ means. You two little beasts understand nothing.”
A Qian truly didn’t understand much. Like A Qing before her, she was illiterate. However, her eyes began to redden again. She felt heaven was unfair, wondering why the shameless old beast A Man was so lucky to stumble upon a rich person, allowing her to thrive and live such a comfortable life.
Seeing A Man thrive was more unbearable to A Qian than dying.
A Man felt even more pleased seeing her like this. After her satisfaction, the value of these two “old acquaintances” diminished. Her expression turned cold, and she began to discuss business. “Alright, enough reminiscing. Let’s talk about you two! Why did you come here? Did you take another job from the Saito Family and come to cause trouble? If you really want to cause trouble, don’t blame me for not showing mercy and tying you up with stones to throw into the sea!”
Reminisce about what? We’ve all just been listening to you brag…
A Qian cursed A Man in her heart, but after a moment’s hesitation, she didn’t hide her purpose. She said directly, “The Saito Family paid us to come here, but it has nothing to do with you. They just want us to look around and observe the situation in Owari. The old man also asked us to look for you again… We looked for you once last year but couldn’t find you. We thought you… well, anyway, the old man asked us to look again this time, so we’ve been searching everywhere.”
As soon as A Man heard this, she understood. She cursed, “You two useless fools, you can’t even find two living people? Didn’t I leave a secret mark for you in the Castle Town of Nagoya Castle?”
“Bullshit, there was nothing!”
“Are you two blind? Did you not even search properly, just hoping we’d die out there? You’ve been hoping we’d die sooner, haven’t you?” A Man had indeed left a secret mark, sending A Qing to draw it all day, but she only did it once. Afterward, she followed Yuan Ye everywhere, busy with one thing after another, and didn’t follow up, which led to the loss of contact. However, she certainly wouldn’t admit it was her fault; it must have been these two little beasts who didn’t do their jobs properly, born as useless people.
The useless A Qian looked humiliated and said no more. Last year, they had casually searched and then went to look for their grandfather. They reported that they had searched everywhere and couldn’t find them, believing A Man and A Qing might have died in an accident. This was true and hard to deny.
After holding back for a while, she said, “Anyway, the old man wants you to go back quickly. Mino has been unstable lately. The old man said the Saito father and son are about to clash, and there are too many things happening. He insisted that we find you and bring you back!”
She paused, then looked A Man and A Qing up and down with a scrutinizing gaze, and said with suspicion, “You two don’t plan on staying here, do you? The old man won’t agree! We are from the Village Head’s village, we are the Kōka Group, we can accept employment to make a living, but we can’t truly be dogs for others. This is what the old man always says!”
“I’ve told you, you are the ones who are being dogs, don’t you understand human language?” A Man kicked her. “Besides, only the old man is from the Kōka Village Head’s village. You two are from Kyoto. Your father is a poor cobbler who lost at cards and couldn’t pay his debts, so he pawned you off to me. I didn’t make you call me master and treat you like dogs; it was already out of consideration for the old man. How dare you lecture me about this?”
A Qian’s face showed a look of insult again, and she glared at A Man hatefully, but she didn’t argue with her. She just emphasized, “This is the old man’s order. He wants you to go back. It’s useless for you to tell me.”
After emphasizing her point, she turned her gaze to A Qing and asked, “A Qing, are you going back?”
A Qing was stunned and showed a slight hesitation. She lowered her eyelids and remained silent for a moment. A Qian didn’t give her time to think and immediately pressed, “Are you also not listening to the old man anymore?”
A Qing still didn’t speak. Logically, she should go back, but she was reluctant to leave here. It wasn’t the abundance of food and clothing she was reluctant to leave behind; she wasn’t afraid of hardship. But to suddenly leave and return to a life of wandering felt inexplicably regretful.
A Qian instantly understood. A Qing, like A Man, had been corrupted by a life of ease. She couldn’t help but start mocking, “It looks like you’re living quite comfortably and don’t want to be part of the Kōka Group anymore. Then why don’t you just stop calling yourself A Qing and call yourself A Ba from now on!”
A Ba was also known as “Tomoe Gozen” or “Lady Tomoe,” a Maidservant of Kiso Yoshinaka. She was beautiful, skilled in Martial Arts, and adept at using the Naginata. Legend has it that during a battle, six mounted Samurai suddenly attacked Kiso Yoshinaka from behind his main camp. A Ba stepped forward and faced them alone, using her Sleeves to block Arrows, never retreating. She then used her Naginata to counter the enemy’s mounted charge, killing two on the spot, severely wounding three, and the remaining one, terrified, fled on his horse, defecating himself.
From this battle, she became famous, considered the most renowned Female Warrior in Japanese folklore. The “Tomoe-style Naginata” was named after her. Even Tokugawa Ieyasu’s concubine, who dared to face the Takeda Akazonae head-on while pregnant, was slightly inferior to her. By telling A Qing to change her name to A Ba, A Qian was sarcastically implying that she wanted to be a Female Warrior and live a life of wealth, forgetting her roots.
This sarcasm was disgusting. A Qing’s small face suddenly flushed red. She stood up abruptly, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword. Without looking at A Qian, she tilted her head slightly towards the ground and said coldly, “Say that again!”
A Qian was taken aback, her expression changing several times. Finally, she swallowed and sat back down hesitantly, not daring to speak again. Although she hadn’t grown up with A Man and A Qing, they had lived together for nearly two years. She knew some of A Qing’s daily habits and understood that when she tilted her head and didn’t look at people, she was truly angry. She had no doubt that if she said a couple more foolish things, A Qing would draw her sword.
The main reason was that A Qing was the one among the four of them who specialized in Martial Arts, possessing the strongest individual combat ability. The two of them combined couldn’t defeat her, so they couldn’t afford to provoke her. If A Qing hadn’t kept them in check, the two of them would have rushed forward years ago and beaten A Man, that shameless, constantly spouting old beast, at least three meals a day.
They couldn’t afford to provoke her before, and now that A Qing had better equipment and a stronger killing intent, she was even more unprovokable. A Qian could only sit back down in frustration. A Man’s expression also began to darken. She was already annoyed. Yuan Ye had shown her kindness by feeding her and treated her very well and respectfully. The old man had also shown her kindness by feeding her and raised her from infancy. She was now in a difficult position, unsure of what to do, feeling reluctant to give up either side. Yet, A Qian dared to stir up trouble, and with her temper, she couldn’t tolerate it.
She slowly got up, looked down at A Qian and A Yu, rolled up her sleeves, and said with a belly full of displeasure, “I never expected this, I never expected this. In just over a year, you two little brats have become increasingly presumptuous, even daring to say such nonsense. Have you forgotten the beatings you used to receive every day?”
A Yu, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. Kneeling, she pushed A Qian slightly behind her and smiled shyly, saying cautiously, “Sister A Man, Sister A Qing, A Qian didn’t mean it that way. You know she never speaks…”
A Man interrupted her before she could finish, turning her spearhead and slapping her on the head. She cursed, “Shut up! Among the four of us… no, among you two, you are the worst. A Qian is a fool with no brains who jumps around all day, and it’s all your instigation. If we’re going to fight, we should hit you first!”
A Yu endured the slap and held back. A flicker of resentment crossed her small face. Knowing she couldn’t reason with this old beast, she began to shrink behind A Qian again.
After delivering the slap, A Man didn’t continue to kick them forcefully. After all, kicking them wouldn’t solve the problem. After a moment of thought, she stuck her head out the door and called for someone. She had A Qian and A Yu tied up again, dragged them to the woodshed, and locked them up, intending to starve them for two days to teach them a lesson.
A Qing watched silently, not objecting. A Qian and A Yu opposing them wasn’t a new development. In the past, under A Man’s command, she had also beaten them quite a bit. Locking them up was completely fine. She just softly asked A Man, “Sister, what should we do now?”
