Chapter 93

Mara Longxia (Spicy Crawfish)

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

---

As the sun slowly set behind the mountains, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

The two sounds that could be heard were the sound of the stream flowing and the sound of Yingying squeezing juice. The two sounds harmonized with each other.

"Sniff... Chinga, I'm so embarrassed... I want to die..."

"Onee-san, it's, it's okay. You were just, just feeling unwell for a moment... And Nogong is your older brother, so it's fine. We're, we're family, right?"

"Even more, sadder... Ahhh..."

The tender voice of my wife comforting Yingying, who was squeezing juice. But inside me, a burning anger was rising.

'What did you do to deserve squeezing juice?!'

The moment Yingying started vomiting, I immediately understood what had happened when I saw the Alpha Rice packaging in her hand and the white grains of rice pouring out of her mouth. Unable to resist the temptation, she had slowly stuffed four servings of Alpha Rice into her stomach and drank a lot of stream water when she rested. It was a natural consequence.

Since the Alpha Rice had swelled in her stomach, she had no choice but to vomit out the four servings of Alpha Rice that had expanded. Even though people in this era eat a lot, it was fortunate that her stomach didn't burst.

*Pang pang*

'So this is why in my past life, the women at the laundry place would beat their husbands' clothes?!'

With a new realization, I felt annoyed and started beating Yingying's clothes on the wide rock in the stream to wash them. Yingying was so embarrassed that she wanted to die, and the reason was that I was the one washing her vomit-stained clothes. My wife and Yingying, who had been raised delicately, had never done laundry before. Even if my wife were to do it, it would be a shame for her delicate hands to do such a task.

Because I was not at ease, I ended up washing Yingying's vomit-stained clothes. At first, Daeju offered to wash them, but Yingying fiercely refused, leaving only me to do the job.

*Pak pak*

I rinsed Yingying's outer clothes to remove the smell, wrung them out tightly, and hung them on a branch near the bonfire. Then, I picked up the remaining clothes. A small piece of silk fabric. A抹胸 (moxiong)...

A bra-like undergarment for young ladies in the Song Dynasty. If it were my wife's undergarment, I might have felt a warm and passionate emotion, but it was just Yingying's. And it was stained with vomit...

'In this reincarnation, I really do all sorts of crazy things!'

The moment I saw the moxiong in my hand, another loud cry burst from Yingying's mouth.

"Ahhh... I, I can't get married now..."

"Onee-san, it's, it's just a moxiong..."

Hearing Yingying say she couldn't get married, I thought it might not be so bad to save a man's soul. Whoever the victim might be, the Tang family would surely consider the person who took Yingying as a benefactor of the family.

'Yingying, I really worry about who will take you...'

Regardless of whether Yingying was sad or embarrassed, I washed her vomit-stained clothes and hung them on the tree, then began interrogating the two culprits. The two culprits in this incident were Tang Yingying and the leader of the Duxue Gang. Yingying couldn't have sneaked in without an inside helper, and since there were only four of us, the culprits were clear.

"What were you two thinking?"

At my question, Daeju and Yingying flinched.

"Let's say you came out secretly. When you return, the Tang family will already know everything. Didn't you two think about what would happen when you return? What were you thinking?"

At my question, Daeju had a calm expression, like a warrior facing death, but Yingying's face showed that she hadn't thought about it at all. It was very much like Yingying.

"Especially Tang Yingying! It seems like you had some leverage over Daeju, or perhaps you made an unreasonable request as a family member. It's fine for Tang Yingying, who is a precious daughter of the Tang family, but what about Daeju? It won't just end with a scolding from Uncle Yi. Even if Uncle Yi or Granduncle Yi don't kill you, Daeju will surely face a lot of trouble..."

"Ah... Sir..."

With a sympathetic tone, I finished my words, and Daeju looked at me with teary eyes. Tears of gratitude for understanding his situation.

In an era without the concept of bullying, how much bullying must he have endured? Children from wealthy families often treat the people working in their parents' businesses or their parents' subordinates as their own employees, so I could imagine how much he must have suffered.

But on the other hand, from what I've seen of Daeju, he didn't seem like someone who would accept such unfair treatment, which made me suspicious.

"Or, did you really have some leverage over him? Daeju, even if it was a request from Tang Yingying, you don't seem like someone who would accept such a request..."

At my puzzled expression, Daeju's face turned pale and stiffened.

My wife also asked with a puzzled look.

"Leverage?"

"Yes, my lady. Leverage. Something that forced Daeju to accept Yingying's request. For men, it could be money, gambling, or perhaps a woman's problem..."

As I mentioned the part about a woman, Daeju's eyes widened.

'So he can't lie about this?'

I smiled at Daeju's reaction and said to my wife.

"If it's a woman's problem, it could happen. But in the Tang family, the only woman Daeju might be interested in is Aunt. If he had leverage, what could it be? Unless he was caught peeking at Aunt while she was bathing... But Daeju isn't a teenage boy, let alone a young boy, so he wouldn't do something like that...!"

I said it as a joke, but Daeju looked shocked and turned to Yingying, who fiercely shook her head, saying it wasn't her.

"What? R, really?!"

Surprised, I shouted, and my wife looked at Daeju with disdain and hid behind Tang Ying. Then, Daeju, who was squeezing juice, started to defend himself.

"N, no, Sir, it wasn't like that..."

Daeju's sorrowful cry echoed into the night sky.

***

"So, you've been harboring feelings for Aunt for twenty-five years since you entered the Tang family?"

"Yes, ah... Sir."

"Alright, stop crying."

'Twenty-five years of love. A pure-hearted man, indeed.'

After calming Daeju, I summarized the story he had told me.

"Yingying came to you at night, saying she wanted to talk, and when you went, you accidentally saw Aunt bathing. You couldn't help but peek, and Yingying caught you? So you had no choice but to listen to Yingying's request?"

"Yes, that's right."

After hearing Daeju's story, I looked at Yingying.

'Odd. Yingying doesn't seem like the kind of person who would come up with such a thorough plan. She's the one who ate four servings of Alpha Rice and vomited it all out.'

'Maybe it was a lucky accident? But still, could it be Yingying?'

However, it was their business, and my concern was that I had to continue taking Yingying with me. After some thought, I decided to take Yingying with me.

I said to the two, who were drenched in tears.

"I understand Daeju's situation. We can't send Yingying back now... Daeju, go wash your face by the stream. I'm hungry, so let's have dinner. Yingying, you must be hungry too after vomiting everything. Go wash your face and come back for dinner."

Daeju looked somewhat relieved, and Yingying asked with a joyful voice.

"R, really? You'll continue to take me with you?"

"Of course, I can't send you back in the middle of this jungle. But you must listen to me and never touch the food supplies without permission."

"I understand! Gagga, I won't eat anything even if I'm hungry!"

As Daeju moved downstream, my wife took Yingying upstream.

I sent the two, who were drenched in tears, to the stream and lifted a wok to boil Alpha Rice over the bonfire, which I had prepared earlier.

As I lifted the wok and waited for the water to boil, a sharp scream echoed.

"Ouch!"

"Onee-san!"

A sharp scream came from Tang Yingying, who had gone to wash her face, spreading through the dark jungle. Then, a hurried voice came from my wife, who had gone to protect Tang Yingying from the sneaky Daeju.

'Snake?!'

In the middle of summer, snakes often come to the water's edge to cool off during the day or to warm themselves on the heated rocks at night. Especially in such a jungle, one must be cautious. Worried that Yingying might have been bitten by a snake, I ran to where my wife and Yingying had gone. Yingying was holding her index finger and frowning.

In the dim light from the bonfire, I could see something red hanging from Yingying's finger. I approached Yingying, grabbed her hand, and removed the red thing to examine it. My wife's voice echoed.

"Huh? It's a Longxia (lobster)?"

The creature, known as Longxia in the Central Plains, was a crayfish.

"Ah, are there Longxia here too?"

Seeing the crayfish, I had one thought. We could use this for a meal. Since someone had thrown away a meal's worth of food, leaving only the dog to lick it up, we needed to make a meal out of crayfish.

I asked my wife and Tang Yingying.

"My lady, can martial artists enhance their vision to see better at night?"

"Yes, Nogong. Why do you ask?"

I showed the crayfish in my hand to my wife and answered.

"I want to catch more of these. If we catch a lot, I'll make a delicious dish for you."

"Really? Gagga."

Yingying, who was genuinely excited about the food, asked with anticipation. Since we would all eat together, I nodded.

"Alright. Gagga, I'll try my best to catch them."

But unlike Yingying's enthusiastic response, my wife looked a bit awkward.

"Well, about the enhanced vision... That is..."

A hesitant expression and tone. I wondered why, and then I remembered that she had once eaten a mountain bear and turned into a panda. At that time, her inner energy had gathered around her eyes to enhance her vision, and she was worried it might happen again.

To reassure my wife, Zhuge Qing, I said.

"I, I found the bear transformation quite cute, so it wasn't bad..."

And a moment later.

My wife's eyes shone like searchlights as she began to thoroughly search the stream for crayfish. With a railgun in her hand and searchlights in her eyes, it seemed her genre was not fantasy but science fiction.

'Maybe she's a cyborg?'

---

With Daeju, who had come back after washing his face, joining us, the three of us quickly caught a large amount of crayfish. The wok was filled with large, plump crayfish, as if they had been well-fed in the deep mountain stream, untouched by human hands. It seemed like a good decision to have brought the wok.

"Nogong, what dish will you make?"

"Gagga, what dish will you make?"

After catching the crayfish, Tang Yingying and my wife looked at the squirming crayfish with anticipation.

I smiled at them and answered.

"The dish I'm going to make is Mara Longxia (Spicy Crawfish)."

After four days of only eating porridge, when I mentioned "mala," the Sichuan natives, Yingying and Daeju, seemed to be looking forward to the spicy flavor they loved, and they swallowed their saliva and looked at me.