Here's the translation adjusted to American reading habits:
After a while, the little girl came running back, her face filled with worry. As she ran, she cried out, "Big Brother, Big Brother, there's not much porridge left! Not much left! Oh—Wuwu—" She had tripped and fallen into a small pit, landing face-first in the dirt, but quickly got up. She didn't even bother brushing the dirt off, continuing to cry while shouting, "Wuwu, not much left—Wuwu—no more!" It was hard to tell whether she was crying from the pain or from fear of missing out on the porridge.
"Big Brother, what should we do?" A woman, around thirty years old, with a modest but pleasant appearance, sat on a nearby straw mat. She set down the sewing she was working on and gently massaged the little girl's hurt hand, then carefully turned to the young man lying on the mat and asked.
"Hah~" The young man slowly opened his eyes when he heard her, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He stretched and, with a swift motion, did a sit-up before standing up. Crack, crack His joints popped as he moved, clearly someone who had been trained.
"Er Lang, grab the tools and go with Big Brother to get the rice!" After finishing his stretches, the young man pulled off his old, smelly jacket, revealing a lean but muscular body covered in long scars that added a certain fierceness to his appearance.
"Eh~ Already got it ready!" A boy, about twelve or thirteen years old, eagerly responded, holding up a large gourd ladle to show he had been waiting.
"That useless ladle won't do, take that one!" The young man glanced at the ladle, annoyed. He pointed to a small wooden barrel on the straw mat, which would probably hold more than the ladle.
After scolding the boy, the young man looked around, bent down, and picked up something. It was a small blue brick that had been used as a pillow. He weighed it in his hand before confidently walking over to the porridge cart.
The boy, unsure of what to say, followed behind. The woman knew that the boy had been afraid of his "big brother" for as long as she could remember. It wasn't surprising—she herself was also a little afraid of this so-called son of hers.
Why did she say so?
The young man wasn't her biological son. She had once been the concubine of a small landowner in the countryside, and this young man, Wan Qingping, was the landowner's legitimate son. But fate had been unkind to him. When he was nine, his father lost all their wealth gambling, and soon after, the debt collectors started coming every day. Eventually, his father took his own life by drowning, leaving behind three children and two women.
At that point, the family was broke, and everything of value was taken by the creditors. Unable to bear the poverty, Wan Qingping's mother abandoned him, running off with a traveling merchant. That left only the concubine, the young boy, a newborn girl, and Wan Qingping himself.
Thankfully, some of the landowner's old friends still helped out, offering what little they could to keep the family from starving. Before the landowner's downfall, there had been some savings, and Wan Qingping had spent a few years in school, from age six to nine. After that, a kind family friend took him in as an attendant for their child.
He spent six years with this family, continuing his studies, but his talent for reading was limited, and he wasn't particularly interested in it. What he really enjoyed was learning martial arts from the household's guards, and over the years, he became skilled enough that at age fifteen, he could hold his own against two young men.
At fifteen, inspired by stories of the martial world, Wan Qingping didn't want to spend his life as a servant. Despite his basic martial skills, he left the family and started working as a bouncer at the only brothel in town. There, he trained even harder, but also picked up bad habits. He became familiar with all kinds of shady characters and learned how to cheat, extort, and hustle for money. Most of his ill-gotten gains went into buying training materials, since he knew that without martial skills, survival would be difficult.
Over the years, his martial skills improved. His former teacher was no longer a match for him, and while he wasn't yet unbeatable, he could handle four or five strong men at once.
The brothel was a rough place, and while Wan Qingping learned a lot of martial arts, he also learned many bad habits. He started using foul language, made connections with local troublemakers, and engaged in petty crime, like breaking into houses, stealing, and extorting businesses. He earned a reputation as a local menace.
But despite his rough life, he was the one holding his family together. He brought home meat from dogs he killed, and the money he made from shady dealings went to buying rice to feed them. Even though people saw him as a villain, the woman knew he was the backbone of the family—he was the older brother to two young children and, in the absence of a father, had become their protector.
The first time Wan Qingping had brought home dog meat, the woman had scolded him, but he silenced her with one sentence: "In this world, people like us don't get to live comfortably. Only with a hardened heart can we survive. Otherwise, how could we be eating dog meat?"
A few days ago, there was a terrible storm that lasted for three days. The banks of the Chishui River broke, flooding many fields. Several towns and cities were destroyed, including Wan Qingping's. Thousands of refugees scattered, and with no other choice, Wan Qingping brought the woman and her two children to Chishui City, hoping to find refuge.
The boy followed his big brother to the back of the long line, but Wan Qingping didn't stop. He walked straight up to the porridge cart, leaned over to look at the large pot, and muttered to himself, "That girl, Manman, dares to deceive me. They've only served half the porridge, and it's not even good. The deeper it goes, the thicker it gets, and it fills you up more!"
He stepped back and looked around, then his eyes lit up when he saw a graceful figure in the distance. "What a nice figure! She could rival the top courtesans at the brothel. Legs straight and tight, and she's still a virgin!"
This translation keeps the tone and context intact, while using phrasing and expressions more familiar to an American audience.