Aries had already decided to support her father, Mawen, but that didn't mean she was going to let him keep all his bad habits. So, her tone wasn't kind, and her face didn't look pleasant either.
In fact, Aries had never treated Mawen very nicely before, so Mawen didn't feel like there was anything strange about her acting like this now.
Seeing his daughter come home without going to the gambling house, Mawen smiled brightly.
But then he remembered the son-in-law still kneeling on the ground—and that he had just slapped him earlier. Mawen suddenly felt a little guilty and looked embarrassed.
Still, he quickly reminded himself: he was the elder. So what if he hit Sky? Sky wasn't a proper son-in-law anyway.
"Aries, you're back! Are you hungry? You just got better, and you already went out? Come in and lie down, dinner's almost ready!"
Mawen reached out to grab Aries's arm, but she dodged.
This wasn't the first time Mawen had been avoided like this, so he didn't mind. He kept talking, "Come on, Aries, lie down inside. I'll tell Sky to bring the food over."
Then he turned and glared at the kneeling Sky. "Why are you still kneeling? Don't you have eyes? Can't you see Aries is hungry? Go get the food now! If she goes hungry, I'll deal with you!"
Sky had already gotten nervous when Aries kicked the door open and heard her angry tone. He knew she was mad—probably at him.
He wanted to answer when she asked if the food was ready, but Mawen kept talking, and he couldn't cut in.
Now that Mawen told him to bring the food, he quickly got up, didn't even bother brushing the dust off his knees, and rushed to the kitchen.
Aries looked at the flustered Sky running away, and her anger eased a little.
She ignored Mawen and went straight into the main room, sitting down at the worn table. "I'll eat here."
Mawen wanted to tell her to go rest in the room, but seeing her bad mood, he shut up. He was scared she'd leave for town again if she got upset.
Sky brought out breakfast and placed it on the table. It was just thin porridge with wild vegetables—barely any rice grains in sight.
He quietly said, "Father-in-law, wife master, please eat," then turned to leave. Mawen had already told him he was just a servant and not allowed to eat at the table.
Aries glanced at Mawen, understood what was going on, and looked at Sky. "Bring your bowl and eat here."
Her tone didn't sound friendly at all, but Sky's heart warmed when he heard her words.
All his worries from earlier disappeared. Looks like Aries wasn't mad at him after all—and she even let him eat at the table.
Hehe... even though Aries looked a bit fierce, sounded harsh, and didn't seem to have a good temper, she was still kind to him.
Sky thought: That's good enough!
But Mawen clearly wasn't happy. "He's just a servant. How can he eat at the table?"
"Do you think our family is rich or powerful? Stop pretending!" Aries snapped.
Mawen had no comeback. Their family was neither rich nor powerful, so... fine, forget it for now.
When Sky brought his bowl to the table, Aries noticed his porridge was even thinner than hers and Mawen's.
She only said one thing: "Eat."
This family was dirt poor. She needed to think about how to earn money first!
After finishing the watery meal, Aries held out her hand to Mawen. "Give me the money."
Mawen immediately put down his chipped bowl and covered the pouch in his arms. "What money? We don't have any!"
Even though he said that, his voice got louder, and his eyes were full of caution as he looked at Aries.
Every time she asked for money like this, it was to go gamble. He had to be careful.
Aries didn't waste words. She knew she wouldn't get the money by talking nicely, so she just repeated coldly, "Give me the money."
Aries was tall and strong. Her sharp eyebrows and firm features made her look intimidating when she frowned.
Mawen pouted and looked very wronged. He didn't want to, but in the end, he slowly took out the old, faded money pouch from his arms.
He mumbled, "There's barely anything left… we still need to buy rice!"
Even though he took the pouch out, he didn't want to hand it over.
Aries didn't want to listen to him complain. She reached out and grabbed the pouch.
Inside were two silver coins left from the bride price Mawen got for marrying off Aries, plus some copper coins—barely a hundred in total.
Mawen gasped and tried to grab it back, but Aries gave him a cold glare, and he backed down.
He stared at the pouch. "Aries, this is all the money we have left. Don't take it to gamble again."
Aries ignored him, took the two silver coins and some copper change, then threw the pouch back to Mawen.
He took it with sad eyes, still staring at the money in her hand, clearly reluctant—but he didn't dare stop her.
If he made her angry, she might not come home again for days.
Luckily, Mawen didn't know that Aries still owed twenty silver coins outside. If he did, he would never have let her take the little they had left.
Sky watched the way Aries and Mawen acted, and he figured out she was probably going to gamble again—probably not the first time either.
He already knew his wife was a gambler, and had mentally prepared for it. But seeing it with his own eyes still hurt.
It was only the second day after he married in, and Aries had just woken up and was already planning to gamble again. How could he feel okay?
Still, he knew he didn't have a say in this household. So, he just focused on eating and tried not to show his emotions, afraid Aries would notice and get mad again.
Sky thought he was hiding his feelings well, but Aries had already seen through it—she just didn't say anything.
She went back to her room, pulled out the IOU, tucked it in her clothes, and got ready to head out.
As she walked into the yard, she heard footsteps behind her. It was her little husband.
"Wife master!"
Aries stopped, and Sky, who couldn't stop in time, bumped right into her back.
"Ugh!"
Aries was tall and strong, so the bump didn't bother her. But Sky's eyes filled with tears from the pain.
She turned around and saw his red eyes, his hand covering his nose, and the still-swollen cheek on his face. Her irritation faded.
She gently touched his swollen cheek. Sky flinched a little but looked up at her with wide, dazed eyes.
Aries used her energy to softly rub his cheek. When the swelling faded, she pulled her hand back.
"Wait for me to come back."