A Good Country Wife
Chapter 232 - 228: Having Doubts_4

Chapter 232: Chapter 228: Having Doubts_4

Lin Yue shot Zhao Erhu a glance. If this man really hadn’t considered it, he wouldn’t have come to ask her. He could’ve just returned, but Lin Genfa wasn’t someone Lin Yue disliked. He was quite sensible and there was no need to make things difficult for Zhao Erhu over this. However, things that needed to be made clear still had to be clarified.

"Brother-in-law is indeed a good man. I don’t object to you inviting him over, and it’s only right for relatives to help each other. Although the work here isn’t exactly light, it’s much better than doing hard labor for others, and the pay is better too," Lin Yue paused before continuing,

"The thing is, you know what kind of person your eldest sister is. If you bring her over, then life really won’t be livable. I used to endure her antics for your sake since she’s your elder sister, but after what happened last time, she went too far. It broke my heart and cut off the familial affection between us. I cannot tolerate her like before. If you can’t let go of the sibling affection, and insist on involving her, then it’s better we settle things now."

"What do you mean settle things? I already said if you don’t agree, I won’t invite brother-in-law. As for eldest sister, that’s even less likely. I just drove her out last time because of you. I think she shouldn’t have the face to come knocking again. Whatever you want is fine, but don’t let me hear this sort of talk again, or I’ll really get angry."

Zhao Erhu frowned. The one thing he couldn’t stand was his wife always trying to set boundaries with him. This was one of the reasons he had been eager to consummate their marriage early. Women are like that. If they haven’t truly committed to a man, their thoughts wander and come up with all sorts of things, especially when his wife was young and impulsive. He could not afford to delay consummating the marriage any longer; otherwise, he might regret it if his ’cooked duck’ flew away.

Zhao Erhu understood his wife’s stance—Lin Genfa could come, but Zhao Yunxiang absolutely couldn’t. So he sent word to Lin Genfa to accept the arrangement but also made it clear to not let Zhao Yunxiang come, or else he wouldn’t be polite about it when the time came.

Zhao Yunxiang was so angry upon hearing Zhao Erhu’s decree that she couldn’t even eat. She complained that now Zhao Erhu had a wife, he didn’t even care about his own elder sister anymore, that he was heartless.

She had thought about going to work with Lin Genfa; he could work the fields while she helped out at home. She had heard that Liu’s wife was currently working at Erhu’s place, getting paid monthly, and that she was treated well, eating and using good things, even gaining a fair amount of weight. No wonder—Erhu’s place never lacked white rice and meat. His spendthrift wife would spare no expense.

If Liu’s wife was fine doing it, why couldn’t she, as the elder sister, do the same? Zhao Yunxiang had a plan, but she didn’t expect Zhao Erhu to lay down such terms. She knew her brother, and given what he had said, if she went over, she definitely wouldn’t be welcomed. Perhaps even her husband might lose his chance at the job. Zhao Erhu was willing to do anything for his precious wife, even ’lose his conscience’!

No matter how indignant and aggrieved Zhao Yunxiang felt, the next day Lin Genfa still left alone for Zhao Family Village. The distance was too great to commute daily between Shanglin Village and Zhao Family Village. Lin Genfa packed a change of clothes, ready to stay in Zhao Family Village and return after the work was done.

Lin Genfa wouldn’t go to the old Zhao Family house, as not many there were well-intentioned, and he also felt awkward about staying at his brother-in-law’s place. His wife had gone too far last time and was driven out by his brother-in-law, so he had no face to show up on their doorstep. Knowing that his brother-in-law had built a shed in the vegetable garden for looking after the crops, he decided to stay there, where he could also help guard the garden at night.

Lin Yue clearly heard Zhao Erhu agree to come work on Lin Genfa’s invitation, but when it was time to serve everyone porridge and pancakes in the morning, Lin Genfa was nowhere to be seen. Lin Yue found this odd and asked Zhao Dahuo, only to learn that Lin Genfa was still toiling in the fields, refusing to come over, saying it was already good enough to work here. He felt ashamed to face her because of the incident involving Zhao Yunxiang last time.

Initially, Lin Yue thought if Lin Genfa listened to Zhao Yunxiang’s incitement and did something improper, she wouldn’t be polite about it. However, it turned out Lin Genfa was quite sensible, even going so far as to avoid her, which was somewhat amusing.

Furthermore, on such a scorching day, Lin Genfa had already traveled a distance to get there and had worked for most of the morning. Now he was still laboring alone in the fields, which made Lin Yue feel uneasy. She quickly called for Zhao Erhu to fetch him personally and also set aside a special portion of food for Lin Genfa.

Zhao Erhu had other matters to attend to, so he entrusted the fieldwork to Zhao Dahuo. It was only after Lin Yue mentioned it did he learn about the situation. After much persuasion, he managed to bring Lin Genfa over, who indeed first apologized to Lin Yue upon his arrival.

Seeing Lin Genfa like this, Lin Yue, who also held some grudges against him because of Zhao Yunxiang’s matter, now let it go, "Brother-in-law, what are you doing? Everyone came over to eat, and you are still working alone in the fields. Let’s not mention that we’re relatives to begin with; should we become estranged over some minor quarrels? Please don’t be like this. I’ve saved some porridge and pancakes for you. Sit down, take your time to eat, and you can go back to work after a good rest, but don’t wear yourself out."

"Ah, okay, thank you, sister-in-law," Lin Genfa said as he took the porridge and pancakes from Lin Yue. Remembering that morning before leaving, Zhao Yunxiang had cursed at Lin Yue, and her words had been particularly nasty. This made him feel even more guilty, so he just bowed his head and ate in silence.

Including Zhao Dahuo, there were a total of twenty-six people called in for the labor. Their family’s barren land, together with the area behind the mountain valley, amounted to more than 130 acres. The difficulty of reclaiming barren land meant they had to work from dawn to dusk for about ten days to finish half of it, and they would need the same amount of time for the remaining half.

Now, it was urgent to plant the sweet potato slips, so Zhao Erhu led Zhao Dahuo and Lin Genfa in planting the slips in the reclaimed land and fertilized them with manure.

This farm fertilizer was carried from people’s privies, and Zhao Erhu’s earlier idea for top-dressing was to charge two coins per load. Each household was to carry their privy’s manure to their fields, and for each load brought, the amount of copper coins would be settled. Since every household had plenty of this commodity, they were eager to exchange it for money. The men worked in the fields, while the women and elderly rushed to sell their manure, fearful of arriving too late and missing the opportunity to sell. For this, Lin Yue openly praised Zhao Erhu’s intelligence, noting his increasingly sharp mind.

That morning, Lin Yue took advantage of a lull to pick a basket of green vegetables from the field, and on her way back, she encountered a strange young scholar. At first, she thought he was just passing by, so she didn’t pay him much mind. However, the young scholar followed her all the way.

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