Northeast: My Absurd Woman

Chapter 12 My mind is in turmoil

Inside the room, Zheng Meizhi could be heard tapping the kang (a heated brick bed) with a broom.

"Grandma, I've told you eight hundred times already, Yang Wuni and I have already consummated our marriage."

It's not like I'm the only one who slept with you. Any of those men you pick would be better than me.

"If you don't leave, I can't marry you. The government doesn't allow polygamy now."

Zhang Changyao pleaded with Zheng Meizhi in a low, humble tone.

"Zhang Changyao, you're not speaking human language. You've betrayed my feelings for you."

Those men were all before you; those bastards all wanted to take advantage of me.

After we got together, I never let anyone else touch my body.

After I met you, you became my only man. If I don't marry you, who else will I marry?

"That woman only slept with you for two days, how can she compare to me?"

Zheng Meizhi ignored Zhang Changyao's words and stubbornly clung to him.

"Zhang Changyao, I saw your aunt at the mill. She helped me grind cornmeal."

"I'll go cook now, how about potato sauce?"

Yang Wuni, as if she hadn't seen Zheng Meizhi, put down the cornmeal and went out to gather firewood.

"Zhang Changyao, did you see that? She doesn't care about you at all."

You mean nothing to her; you're not even as important as cornmeal or potato sauce.

Zheng Meizhi pulled aside the stack of quilts at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed), stretched out a mattress, covered herself with it, and lay down on the kang.

"Zheng Meizhi, what are you trying to do? What kind of unmarried woman stays on someone else's bed and refuses to leave?"

Zhang Changyao was at a loss, unsure whether to pull or not, and just paced back and forth on the ground.

"Zhang Changyao, you help me start the fire, I'll peel the potatoes."

Yang Wuni placed the firewood she had brought in near the stove.

He would sit on the doorstep with a potato basket in his hand and peel the potatoes.

Zhang Changyao was at a loss, so he had no choice but to start a fire and cook.

After the food was prepared, Yang Wuni set the table and picked up three pairs of bowls and chopsticks.

"Zheng Meizhi, time to eat." Yang Wuni's first words to Zheng Meizhi were to call her to eat.

Neither Zhang Changyao nor Zheng Meizhi had anticipated this.

"Mmm!" Zheng Meizhi was also hungry from all the commotion, so she agreed and got up to eat with them.

During the meal, all three kept their heads down and remained silent, with Yang Wuni being especially careful not to eat too much.

She watched as Zheng Meizhi ate three large bowls, and she watched from the side, her mouth watering.

"Zheng Meizhi, that's enough. Wu Ni is naturally hungry; if you keep feeding her like this, what will she eat later?"

Zhang Changyao, watching anxiously from the side, went over and poured the half-bowl of food that Zheng Meizhi hadn't eaten back into the red clay basin.

Then he picked up the red clay basin and handed it to Yang Wuni across from him.

"Zhang Changyao, I'm full today, you can give it to Zheng Meizhi!"

Yang Wuni pushed aside the red clay basin and went down to tidy up the floor outside the house.

"Zhang Changyao, you're not human, you're fickle and greedy."

"I've only slept with her for two days and you're already siding with her, regardless of whether I'm hungry or not."

Zheng Meizhi half-squatted down and snatched the red clay basin from Zhang Changyao's hands.

I used the rice spoon inside to drink the rest of the porridge clean.

"Zheng Meizhi, I didn't expect you to be such a big eater."

It seems I, Zhang Changyao, am destined to live with a woman who has been reincarnated from a starving ghost.

Zhang Changyao sighed, glanced at Zheng Meizhi, and then looked at Yang Wuni outside the house.

"Zhang Changyao, who the hell are you calling a reincarnated starving ghost?"

From the time I was born until now, I've always been the first to eat in my family. My dad can only eat after I've finished.

From now on, our lives should continue as before.

You can only eat my leftovers and tea leaves; you can't eat first.

After finishing her meal, Zheng Meizhi pushed the table aside with a creak.

Leaning back slightly, he crawled into the mattress that had been laid out on the kang (heated brick bed).

Yang Wuni knew that Zheng Meizhi had finished eating when she heard the sound of the table scraping against the kang mat.

She walked in with her head down, not daring to look at Zhang Changyao and Zheng Meizhi.

After cleaning the table and dishes, he squatted on the threshold of the outer room, too afraid to go inside.

"Zhang Changyao, please heat the kang (heated brick bed) up a bit. I can't sleep on a cold kang."

Zheng Meizhi kicked Zhang Changyao, who was glaring at her and didn't know what to do.

"Zheng Meizhi, do you not have hands or feet? Can't you move on your own?"

Why do you always treat Yang Wuni and me like servants?

Zhang Changyao couldn't stand Zheng Meizhi's dismissive attitude towards ordering people around.

He kicked her once, signaling her to get up and do the work herself.

"Zhang Changyao, my father said that marrying a man means having food and clothing."

My task in marrying you is to keep you warm, well-fed, and well-rested.

"The things you're talking about, my father didn't teach me, so I don't know how."

Zheng Meizhi covered her head with a quilt; the coldness of the room, without a heated kang (a traditional heated bed), made her shiver.

"Oh dear! My dear father and great-grandmother, it seems I really have to thank Matchmaker Wang and my father."

If my dad had a hundred dollars, Wang the matchmaker wouldn't have introduced me to Yang Wuni.

"If you really became my wife, Zhang Changyao's living great-grandmother, you'd drive me to my death sooner or later."

Zhang Changyao clasped his hands together and bowed repeatedly in the direction of Wang the matchmaker's house.

"Zhang Changyao, are you possessed? Hurry up and go heat up the kang (heated brick bed)."

"If you make me catch a cold, my dad will come after you tomorrow with a pig-castrating knife to settle the score," Zheng Meizhi urged Zhang Changyao.

"Zhang Changyao, you and Zheng Meizhi can chat inside. I'll go get some firewood to heat the kang (heated brick bed) for you."

Yang Wuni listened for a long time, but Zhang Changyao didn't come out of the room.

I thought those two people were saying this to me.

He then told the two of them in the house that he was going to heat the kang (a traditional heated bed) for them.

"Zhang Changyao, I think this Yang Wuni is quite diligent."

"Why don't you just not send him back? It would be fine for him to stay at home as a maid."

Zheng Meizhi forgot what era it was and forgot that she was a rural woman.

She was spoiled by Zheng Jingren since she was a child, and now she is being served by Yang Wuni.

In her mind, she believed that this was how life should be.

"Zheng Meizhi, get up! Do you think our family is rich?"

You treat people like servants; don't you even know your own character?

Even the young ladies of the old society didn't have your airs; you're truly shameless.

Zhang Changyao lifted the blanket covering Zheng Meizhi, intending to kick her out.

"Zhang Changyao, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to freeze me to death on your kang (heated brick bed)?"

Feel my body; isn't it ice cold?

As the mattress was lifted, Zheng Meizhi sat up.

Grabbing Zhang Changyao's unprepared hand, he stuffed it into his clothes.

Something soft touched Zhang Changyao's five fingers.

His mind went completely blank, and his adrenaline surged to the top of his head.

If it weren't for the hardness of the skull, it might even have popped out of the head.

"I...I'll come in and heat the kang (heated brick bed) in a little while, you...you continue..."

Yang Wuni came in carrying firewood, hurriedly threw it on the ground, and ran out.