"No need, no need. I'll have all these clothes washed in the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn," Sun Shi waved her hand and said. Then, glancing up at the sun above, she turned to Yang Ruoqing and said,
"Ruoqing, the sun is out today, and there's still a lot of hot water left in the big pot in the kitchen. How about Mama get you some so you can take a bath?"
At that reminder, Yang Ruoqing raised her arm and gave herself a sniff—her eyebrows immediately furrowed.
Oh my god, she thought, what a stench—almost made me gag!
Sun Shi noticed her reaction and couldn't help but chuckle.
Yang Ruoqing was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected her "discount mother" to look quite pretty when she smiled.
Come to think of it, ever since she transmigrated here, she'd been caught up in one thing after another and hadn't had a proper bath at all!
Sun Shi let the laundry soak in the basin, then went to her room to fetch a large wooden bathtub and carried it into Ruoqing's room.
Yang Ruoqing followed her to the kitchen. The room was dim, and the stove was built against one wall. Two large pots were positioned side-by-side—one inside used for boiling water and cooking rice, the outer one for stir-frying. Between the pots were holes carved into the stone counter, with clay jars of various sizes set into them.
In the corner, a simple wooden cupboard held rows of clay bowls and chopsticks. Beside it stood a large water vat, uncovered, with a hollowed-out gourd ladle floating on the surface.
On the mud-smeared walls on both sides, wooden pegs had been hammered in, from which hung various sizes of bamboo baskets and sieves.
Sun Shi went straight over, lifted the lid off the inner pot, and stuck her hand in to test the water temperature. Then she replaced the lid, moved to the stove's mouth, and tossed in a handful of pine needles.
With a crackling sound, flames sprang to life in the stove. Sun Shi added a few more sticks of firewood, and before long, a curl of white steam rose around the pot.
Together, the two of them carried a full bucket of appropriately warm water into Ruoqing's room and poured it into the prepared wooden tub.
"Ruoqing, are you okay on your own? Don't want Mama to help you scrub your back?" Sun Shi asked with a smile, wiping sweat from her forehead.
Yang Ruoqing's face flushed, and she hurriedly waved her hands.
"No need, Mama. I can manage on my own. You go take care of your things."
"Alright then. I'll be in the yard doing laundry. Just call if you need anything, okay?"
"Got it!"
Once Sun Shi left, Yang Ruoqing closed the doors and windows. In just a few swift motions, she stripped off her clothes—which were now so worn they barely had color—and squatted beside the tub, craning her neck to inspect her reflection in the clear water.
Fat.
Ugly.
Dark-skinned.
Her facial features were squeezed out of shape. She had a double chin, no visible neck, yellow teeth, and hair so tangled it looked like a bird's nest.
Damn!
This look… is Shamate! (Note: "Shamate" refers to a Chinese subculture known for its exaggerated, flashy, often messy style—usually considered tacky or ridiculous.)
Even with the heart of a hardened special agent, she was on the verge of a breakdown. Poor Papa and Mama—what their eyes had to endure!
She reached up and tugged at her hair—completely knotted. No way it could be washed properly here. That would have to wait until she could go to the pond.
Forget it, let's just wash the body for now.
Yang Ruoqing sat down in the tub, but quickly realized a serious problem—there was no soap, no body wash in this era. How was she supposed to bathe?
She glanced around and finally spotted what Sun Shi had prepared for her: a handful of plant ash and a dried loofah.
She was dumbfounded for a moment, then resigned herself. Fine, when in Rome…
The old loofah was as rough as a steel wool pad. As it scraped against her skin, the sound it made reminded her of pigs being scalded and shaved in a slaughterhouse.
Her mouth twitched.
God sure has a sense of humor, she thought bitterly. In her past life, she'd been a certified "goddess"—elegant, powerful, a total femme fatale. And now? This face was downright hard to look at!
After scrubbing furiously—almost as if she'd shaved off two pounds of flesh—she still didn't feel clean. But the water had turned so murky, she could practically stand chopsticks upright in it.
She got up, dried herself, and began putting on the clean, patched clothes she had prepared.
Just as she finished dressing and was about to call her mother over to help pour out the dirty bathwater, Tan Shi stormed into the courtyard from the side gate, wearing an angry scowl.
Tan Shi didn't even glance at Ruoqing as she stomped her little feet straight toward the kitchen. Passing Sun Shi on the way, she spat heavily on the ground.
Sun Shi's heart trembled. She quickly stood up, wiped her hands on her clothes, and when she saw Tan Shi's hand wrapped in white gauze, her lips parted as if to ask, but before she could say anything, Tan Shi had already lifted the curtain and disappeared into the kitchen.
From inside came a chaotic clatter of pots and pans.
In the courtyard, Sun Shi stood frozen, staring at the kitchen in confusion.
Yang Ruoqing walked over to stand beside her, glanced at the kitchen door, and curled her lips into a knowing smile. She whispered,
"Mama looks like Grandma's flipping through everything in there trying to find evidence we sneaked some food."
"What?" Sun Shi gasped in disbelief.
"It's not even mealtime yet, what food could we have snuck?" she said softly, flustered.
"Ruoqing, don't say things like that. What if your grandma hears? That won't be good."
"Mama, you'll see soon enough if I'm wrong," Ruoqing said with a smirk before turning to walk back to her room in the west wing.
Sun Shi glanced after her, and opened her mouth to say something, but in the end said nothing.
She'd married into the Yang family for over a decade now. Though she'd often been scolded harshly by her strict mother-in-law, never once had she been accused of sneaking food.
Why?
Because she had clean hands. Not like Second Sister-in-law. No one said it aloud, but everyone in the family knew.
That's why the responsibility for preparing meals and handling the kitchen had always fallen to her. It was a sign of trust.
With that thought, Sun Shi stood a little straighter. She turned, ready to resume doing the laundry, when Tan Shi suddenly lifted the kitchen curtain again and stood there in the doorway with a dark expression, shouting across the yard.
"A couple of lazy, thieving good-for-nothings! Not a crumb left—cleaned it all out!"
Sun Shi froze mid-step. She looked up, stunned.
"Mama, what are you talking about?"
"You deaf or just stupid?" Tan Shi snapped.
"I was coming back from the village and saw smoke rising from our chimney from far away. And you—lazy, scheming hag—took the chance while I was out to sneak food and still dare to deny it?"
Sun Shi's face turned red with shame, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Mama, I swear… I didn't. I'm not that kind of person…"
(End of Chapter)