In Gude County, Xiang Prefecture, Liu Laoshi returned home in low spirits.
As he was closing the door, Liu Shi's shrill voice rang out from inside. "Coming home this late-whose whore were you visiting? Or did you go see that wretched mother of yours?"
Liu Laoshi clutched the door bolt in his right hand so tightly that his fingers nearly twisted out of shape. Only after five full breaths did he slowly release it, turn around, glance at his wife, and walk slowly toward the west room.
"Why don't you dare say anything now?" Liu Shi folded her arms across her chest and looked scornfully at her husband.
Liu Laoshi's face darkened, and he ignored his wife.
An unaccountable fury flared in Liu Shi's heart. "Stop right there! What do you take me for? Do you still have the two copper coins I gave you today? Take them out and let me see!"
Liu Laoshi stopped at the west room's doorway and said helplessly, "I bought buns."
"Whose buns? What filling?"
"Zhang Bun Shop's, of course. It's not like you don't know I like their buns," Liu Laoshi said impatiently.
"Ha! What a colossal joke. I went to the market today specifically to ask, and you never bought any stuffed buns. You bought four big steamed buns! Quite an appetite you have, eating four buns at noon without so much as a side dish. Did you grab a handful of grass by the roadside to eat with them?"
A flush suddenly spread across Liu Laoshi's face. He whipped around and demanded, "You even went out to spy on me?"
Liu Shi sneered. "I just noticed you looked like you'd lost your soul today, asking this and that before you left, and you only relaxed when you heard I wasn't going