It must be said that while Wang An had a smile on his face as he looked at the room full of people, he was actually not very happy inside.
Aside from his own relatives, who simply made him feel annoyed, Wang An was truly fed up with—and even disgusted by—some of the villagers in the room.
The main issue was that a few of them were incredibly uncouth; they were either smoking long-stemmed pipes or rolling crude hand-rolled cigarettes, leaving the entire living room shrouded in a haze of smoke.
Of course, most men in the countryside smoked, and Wang Dazhu and Wang An both smoked as well, so Wang An could tolerate that much.
The problem was that these few people didn't just smoke one after another; they completely ignored the tin cans Wang Dazhu had provided to serve as ashtrays.
Instead, they flicked their ash wherever they pleased and tossed their cigarette butts haphazardly, leaving the living room floor littered with charcoal-black ash and yellowish stubs.
But the most infuriating part—the part that was absolutely unacceptable—was the spitting.
There were always a few people with zero manners who, after a bout of "cough, cough, cough, cough," would follow up by spitting a glob of thick, yellowish phlegm onto the floor. Some of that yellowish slime would even mix with the ash and cigarette butts on the ground.
One had to remember that Wang An's house had underfloor heating, meaning the floors were very warm, so that phlegm would dry up quickly.
The end result was that the phlegm would either leave a scorched yellow stain or glue the ash and cigarette butts firmly to the floor tiles.
God damn it!!!
This was the definition of disgusting—disgusting to the extreme!!!
And so, after greeting everyone with a smile, Wang An turned the TV volume down to the minimum. Pointing at a freshly spat glob of phlegm and the ones that had already dried, he said with a face full of displeasure
"We're all from the same village and related in some way. If you want to come to my house to watch TV for a bit, that's no problem at all; we welcome you."
Suddenly raising his voice, Wang An added
"But why the fuck are you doing this?"
Scanning the crowd from left to right, Wang An frowned, his eyes wide, as he pointed excitedly at the floor.
"Come on, all of you, look down! Why the fuck is the floor covered in thick yellow phlegm? Huh? Who the fuck spat this? I'm genuinely curious—do you spit like this in your own damn houses?"
He paused for a moment, mainly to let everyone digest his words, before continuing with an expression of utter distaste
"That phlegm is just like fucking shit. Isn't it disgusting? Oh, for fuck's sake, some of it has already dried!"
"What's the deal? You treating my living room like a latrine? Is it fucking appropriate to do this? Huh? Is it?"
This barrage of questions, combined with Wang An's wide-eyed, furious expression, immediately made the few people who had been coughing and spitting blush with shame.
They had no choice but to be ashamed; being mocked and criticized by Wang An in front of so many people was something even the most thick-skinned person couldn't withstand.
Once Wang An finished, several villagers, their faces flushed, began to say
"We just came to watch a bit of TV, and look at you, acting all high and mighty. Why are you being so arrogant?"
"Exactly. We all live in the same village; we see each other every day. Why do you have no sense of community?"
"Right! Does your family not ask for help when you have things to do? Just because you got a TV, look at how condescending you've become."
"If you don't want us to watch, just say so. Who are you putting on this act for?"
Without exception, these people were twisting Wang An's meaning, focusing only on the act of watching TV while remaining completely silent about the phlegm covering the floor.
However, when it came to handling things, Wang An's philosophy was either to not do it at all, or if he did, to settle it once and for all and eliminate the problem at its root.
He simply could not tolerate the sight of yellow phlegm all over his house.
Furthermore, while the rural folk of this era might not be aware of it, Wang An knew that phlegm contained bacteria and could transmit lung diseases or other infectious illnesses.
Even common cold germs could be spread to others through phlegm.
Obviously, the people most harmed by this were Wang An and his family.
These visitors could just pat their backsides and leave after watching TV, but Wang An's family had to continue living in the house.
Not only was phlegm incredibly difficult to clean, but the bacteria inside couldn't be killed instantly.
More importantly, the act of cleaning it up was utterly nauseating for the person doing it!
Although phlegm came out of the mouth, it was no exaggeration to say that to others, it was on the same level as shit.
Wang An had anticipated that this sort of thing would happen before he bought the TV, and he had also expected to offend many villagers because of it.
Since he had anticipated it, he was naturally prepared to be disliked.
What he hadn't expected was that the TV was installed in the morning and this happened by the afternoon; it was simply too fast.
But since he had already offended them, he figured he might as well show no mercy and offend them completely.
So, after these people finished speaking, Wang An said with a fake smile
"Do you fuckers not understand human speech? I'm talking about the thick yellow phlegm all over the floor, and you're talking to me about watching TV?"
Pausing, Wang An pointed at the man who had asked, "Does your family not ask for help when you have things to do?" and said bluntly
"Niu Laowai, who the fuck do you think you are? You spend your days with your head tilted sideways, and you think I'd ask *you* for help? Tell me, what the fuck could I possibly use you for? What the fuck can you even do?"
Then, pointing at the phlegm right in front of Niu Laowai's feet, Wang An said in a very serious and forceful tone
"Now, right now, clean up that pile of phlegm in front of you. Once it's clean, if you want to keep watching TV, you can. If not, get the fuck out of here."
The people nearby followed Wang An's finger and looked at the ground by Niu Laowai's feet. Their expressions became incredibly varied, all filled with disgust.
Niu Laowai had spat several globs of phlegm into one spot; it now looked like a large puddle of scorched yellow shit, making anyone who saw it feel quite nauseous.
The few people sitting near Niu Laowai instinctively shifted their feet to the side after seeing the puddle.
Clearly, these people were also very disgusted by phlegm.