TFWYH – Chapter 11 The way of quarreling

Fortunately, Tang Wan didn’t know what that mother and daughter were thinking—otherwise, she’d probably be speechless.

Tang Wan had wanted to take the village’s ox cart to town, but Ling Yue was too frugal to spend that money.

In the end, the two had to walk.

When they arrived in town, Tang Wan went to the money house to cash in the fifty taels.

Each large silver ingot was worth ten taels—five in total, round and shiny. She casually tossed them into the basket, making Ling Yue’s eye twitch.

After exchanging the money, Tang Wan took her to buy seasonings.

Unfortunately, in this era, the variety of seasonings was limited—especially doubanjiang (fermented chili bean paste), which didn’t exist at all.

She would have to make it herself!

Tang Wan took a turn and, following her memory, headed toward the North Market.

They passed through Flower Street.

Immediately, Ling Yue tensed up, gripping Tang Wan’s hand tightly, terrified she’d be sold.

Tang Wan gave her a puzzled glance. Seeing her acting like she was facing a great enemy, Tang Wan thought for a second and then said, “Don’t be scared.”

Ling Yue: …Could you say more than just two words? Now I’m even more scared!

Luckily, nothing bad happened. Tang Wan didn’t sell her, but led her through Flower Street to the vegetable market.

There, Ling Yue watched as Tang Wan bought all sorts of things no one usually wanted.

Like small red chilies, dried Sichuan peppercorns…

And in large quantities too.

On top of that, when they entered the grain store, Tang Wan asked the shopkeeper if he had any moldy broad beans.

The shopkeeper looked at her like she was insane.

“You’re sure you want moldy broad beans?”

“Yes!” Tang Wan nodded.

The shopkeeper thought she must be an idiot. “…We actually have some. How much do you want?”

Tang Wan thought for a moment. “A hundred jin!” (about 50kg)

The shopkeeper: …Definitely an idiot!

“Big sister-in-law, how do you eat moldy broad beans?” And weren’t you talking about opening a shop? Where’s the shop? The dock’s in the opposite direction!

Tang Wan looked at her and, organizing her thoughts, tried to explain as clearly as possible: “Doubanjiang. A cooking essential. It keeps for ten years. After making it, you can use it at home or sell it to restaurants.”

Ling Yue was slowly getting used to how her sister-in-law spoke. But when she heard that, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Stores for ten years?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“…And it needs moldy broad beans?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“…Why don’t I believe you?”

This was Tang Wan’s first time being human. Conversation wasn’t just storytelling anymore—she couldn’t just recite saved scripts from memory.

And yes, she could tell: it was hard.

Anyway—“Just trust me! Once the doubanjiang is made, then we rent a shop!”

Ling Yue forced a stiff smile.

Fine!

It’s your money anyway—I’ll trust you!

It helped that she was young and easy to fool.

If it had been someone older, like Jiang-shi, no way would she let Tang Wan do whatever she pleased.

Thanks to this, they’d actually be able to open a shop later on.

After buying everything, Tang Wan went to a familiar butcher stall and bought two jin of pork.

When it was time to pay, butcher Tang Hongba rolled his eyes at her and refused the money.

Not only that, he gave her a whole lump of pork fat.

“Take it. Look at you—you’ve lost weight.”

…That kind of “skinny” only a dad could see.

Tang Wan accepted the items but still tried to pay.

She didn’t think it was right otherwise—but butcher Tang refused no matter what.

Fine then.

“Thanks, Dad!”

Tang Hongba chuckled and scolded, “Stupid girl.”

Little did they know, someone was watching from the shadows.

An Xiaohua was the wife of Tang Tiancheng, Tang Hongba’s eldest son.

She and Tang Wan had never gotten along, even before Tang Wan got married.

She always felt the family favored this little sister-in-law, giving her better food, better clothes.

Their conflict had only deepened over time.

What made An-shi the angriest was how her husband always defended this sister of his.

She had finally married off the annoying girl, only for her to come back and mooch off her family again!

An-shi didn’t dare cause a scene in front of her father-in-law, so she waited until Tang Wan left before chasing after her.

Tang Wan looked at the dark, ugly woman in front of her, completely puzzled.

Especially that look of hostility in her eyes—Tang Wan had no idea what it was about.

An-shi let out a cold laugh, dripping with sarcasm: “Who was it that said she wouldn’t come back after getting married? Tang Wan, can’t you be a little more shameless? You’re not part of the Tang family anymore, so why are you back here taking meat?”

Tang Wan blinked. “Who are you?”

“You don’t even know who I am?!” An-shi was shocked, staring at her like she was crazy, voice rising sharply. “You’ve only been married a few days and already learned how to play dumb?”

Tang Wan honestly didn’t remember.

The original host’s memories were like a book—if she wanted to look, she’d flip to the right page. If not, it stayed in the corner collecting dust.

In the end, Ling Yue couldn’t watch anymore and whispered, “Big sister-in-law… I think she’s your sister-in-law.”

Tang Wan froze, looked carefully at An-shi, and finally matched her face to someone in the original host’s memory.

So the question became:

“What do you want?”

An-shi had been seething. Now hearing that, she exploded: “A married daughter is like water thrown out! Why are you coming back to take meat from your family?”

Tang Wan gave her a look like she was mentally challenged. “What does that have to do with you?”

“You… You dare talk to me like that?!”

“Gonna bite me?”

“You… You…” An-shi really didn’t dare bite. She could only point and shout: “Don’t you have any shame? You’re married—don’t come back here for meat!”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“What kind of attitude is that?!”

“Gonna bite me?”

“…Is this even how you argue?”

An-shi glared at Tang Wan, her chest heaving with rage—clearly fuming.

But the worst part was… she really didn’t dare bite her.

Ling Yue looked at her sister-in-law in awe.

Just a few words, and she had the woman about to blow a fuse. So impressive.

Tang Wan couldn’t be bothered with An-shi. She grabbed Ling Yue and walked right past her.

To Tang Wan, a father caring for his daughter was perfectly normal. They were family.

Even when she got rich one day, she wouldn’t abandon her dad. Supporting him in his old age was the right thing to do.

Tang Wan wasn’t just a robot—she came from a society thousands of years in the future, a highly advanced one.

In that world, ideas like male superiority were long gone. All that mattered was who was capable.

In a family, those with the ability would naturally care for those without. No need to draw lines so clearly.

So everything An-shi said made no sense to her. Was this woman mentally ill?

Little did she know, in other people’s eyes, she was the strange one.

Sure enough, after they walked a distance, Ling Yue finally spoke:

“Big sister-in-law, actually… your sister-in-law wasn’t totally wrong. You’re married to my brother now—you’re part of the Ling family. You really shouldn’t be taking things from your maiden family to support us.”

Tang Wan used to do this a lot, but Ling Yue had never thought much about it before—mostly because she didn’t like her back then.

Now that An-shi pointed it out, Ling Yue finally realized…

That wasn’t right!

And she also realized maybe she had misunderstood her sister-in-law in the past.

Even though Tang Wan had a temper, she often brought food back from her maiden home.

Even if she didn’t share it with the three of them, at least she gave it to big brother.

But sometimes when she and her younger brother were starving and secretly stole some, Tang Wan would just scold them.

Back then, she thought her sister-in-law was terrible.

But she never once considered: bringing things back from her family came with its own problems—like being bullied by An-shi.

With her own brother not understanding her… no wonder her temper was bad.