A Good Country Wife
Chapter 266 - 259 A Wonderful Person_1

Chapter 266: Chapter 259 A Wonderful Person_1

"Erhu, sister-in-law, don’t you suspect that it was us..." Mrs. Liu was just too honest and couldn’t keep things to herself. Even though Lin Yue had already said so, she felt extremely uncomfortable not asking about it. Although it was Mrs. Liu who asked, Wu Qiang and his wife listened carefully, feeling slightly different than Zhao Dahuo and his wife. After all, Zhao Dahuo and Erhu were blood brothers, while their relation was a bit more distant, which gave them a bit more concern.

"Sister-in-law, what are you talking about? If Erhu and I didn’t trust you, why would we have entrusted these matters to you in the first place? Don’t say such things. You are the people that Erhu trusts and is closest to, and your character is beyond reproach. To put it unpleasantly, if you had such intentions, you wouldn’t have waited until now. Erhu and I both believe you would never do such a thing."

"Erhu, sister-in-law, I don’t even know what to say with how much you trust us. We definitely won’t let you down." Mrs. Liu was very touched and quickly shared her feelings. Wu Qiang and his wife felt the same way. The way Erhu and his wife acted today made them feel that working for the couple was worthwhile, and they would be even more dedicated in their work from now on.

"So, how are we going to resolve this issue? We have to find out who this backstabber is. I won’t let it go lightly," Wu Qiang thought practically and was very angry. Zhao Erhu and his wife had always treated the hired help quite well, and yet there was someone so ungrateful, doing such things— they couldn’t be let off easily.

"For now, we don’t have any other solution. We don’t have any evidence, and unless that person reveals himself, we simply don’t know who it could be. However, I think that after this incident, Master Wei will have had a taste of success and will try the same tactic with our family again. If Zhao Lingxiang or someone from the Wei Residence comes to our village, we should keep a closer watch. Maybe we will discover something," Lin Yue proposed this wait-and-see strategy after some thought.

Everyone nodded at what they heard, thinking that Lin Yue’s method was feasible since there were no other options.

As for Zhao Xing, he wasn’t at ease with just letting his mother view the girl from Shanglin Village, fearing that her tastes would differ. His mother valued whether the girl was virtuous and fertile above all else. So, he had inquired the girl’s address from Matchmaker Wang himself, planning to sneak a peek and see if she was as good as Matchmaker Wang claimed.

Upon reaching Shanglin Village and sneakily finding the location, he peeked into the courtyard of the girl’s home and indeed saw a comely girl hanging clothes. Zhao Xing subconsciously thought she was the girl Matchmaker Wang had mentioned. Although she wasn’t quite as pretty as Erhu’s wife, which was a bit disappointing, he was overall satisfied. She had a slim, well-proportioned figure, and her demeanor while hanging clothes suggested a gentle nature. Shanglin Village really did produce good girls.

Zhao Xing decided he would have his mother finalize this marriage as soon as he returned home. At his age, it was time to start a family. Sometimes, as he passed by his elder brothers’ rooms and saw them teasing and flirting with their wives, he felt his blood heat up, longing to quickly marry a wife to take care of him. There hadn’t been a suitable match for a while, but now that he had found one that seemed appropriate, he should hurry to marry her and bring her home.

Wei Family’s matriarch looked at her third son with surprise, feeling that something was quite amiss. Considering her son’s particularity, it was astonishing for him to be urging her to quickly settle the marriage arrangement. She hadn’t even found a suitable match yet. "Xing’er, you can’t be joking. You haven’t even seen the young lady yet, and don’t know what her character and personality are like. It isn’t quite proper to be so hasty in deciding this."

Zhao Xing wanted to assure his mother that the girl was decent, but he couldn’t mention his private visit to Shanglin Village. "Then please be attentive, Mother. I’m already of such an age. When Brother was my age, he already had children. I too wish to marry soon and have a child of my own. If you find the young lady acceptable, please finalize the arrangement quickly—the sooner, the better."

"All right then, Mother will take care of it. You just wait patiently for the wedding," the matriarch said, interpreting Zhao Xing’s unusual eagerness as a sign that her son, now older and wiser, wanted to marry soon and have a son. She was unaware that this was actually based on a misunderstanding.

Using the bean sprouting technique that Zhao Lingxiang brought back, the patriarch of the Wei Family indeed found success. These low-cost sprouts were not only sold in Xin’an City but also marketed to several nearby towns. With no competition from the Zhao Family there, they fetched much higher prices than in Xin’an City, turning a substantial profit. Riding high from this triumph, he often visited Zhao Lingxiang’s quarters, for she was the one who had made a significant contribution to this success. In light of his good mood and business prosperity, he generously rewarded Zhao Lingxiang with numerous gifts.

"My lord, I see you glowing with health and full of vitality, looking even younger than before. It’s an auspicious omen of great fortune," Zhao Lingxiang said as she massaged the old master’s shoulders, buttering him up with flattery that might sound trite and lacking subtlety. However, given the old master’s recent good spirits and successful ventures, he found her words to be truly pleasing.

"This clever little mouth of yours sure knows how to speak. I’ll accept your auspicious words. Your contribution to my recent business success has not gone unnoticed. I’ve just spoken to the mistress, and I’ve increased your monthly allowance by threefold, giving you twenty taels each month. The mistress herself only gets thirty taels per month, so you are now considered one of the top beneficiaries in our household," the old master declared, of course not counting his favored concubine, Madam Zhou.

Although Madam Zhou’s official monthly allowance was only fifteen taels, the old master supplemented her with much more, exceeding even what the mistress received. Furthermore, she was never left wanting for fine things. The mistress’s financial boldness did not come from her monthly allowance but rather from her hefty dowry. The income from the family estates alone was at least a hundred taels each month, not to mention other properties—a status determined by her birth that others could only envy.

Now that Zhao Lingxiang had gained such considerable benefits from this situation, she had no intention of returning to her previous status. Without waiting for the old master’s orders, she began visiting Zhao Xinglin’s home more diligently, although Zhao Xinglin’s wife always kept her at arm’s length. This did not cool Zhao Lingxiang’s enthusiasm at all; she shamelessly persisted, apparently having set aside any scrap of self-respect for the sake of the old master’s favors.

Nevertheless, while Zhao Lingxiang was actively engaging with Zhao Xinglin’s household, she had not forgotten about Zhao Erhu from Lin Village. A single bean sprouting technique had netted her so many benefits, and if she could obtain a few more such practices, the old master would surely treat her even better. Perhaps she might even be elevated to the status of a concubine.

With that mindset, Zhao Lingxiang returned to the Zhao Family Village once again and upon arriving at the old Zhao residence, she had someone fetch Chunxi from Zhao Jingui’s home. Although she had no fondness for Chunxi, she let it slide considering the benefits she had gained through her, and moreover, to get her hands on the recipe from Zhao Erhu’s family, she had to start with this woman.

Because she was particularly attentive, as soon as Zhao Lingxiang was back in Zhao Family Village, Zhao Erhu received the news. The informant was none other than Zhao Cheng’s wife, Li Xiaomei. Li Xiaomei had always found the Wei Family and Zhao Cheng, who lacked brotherly affection, displeasing to the eye and often looked for reasons to be unhappy with them. Besides, her relationship with Mrs. Liu and Lin Yue had improved, often visiting Zhao Erhu’s place and accepting many ’bribes’ from Lin Yue.

Lin Yue felt that among those in the old Zhao house, Zhao Cheng’s family was somewhat decent in conscience and deliberately drew in Li Xiaomei to conveniently learn the news from the old Zhao residence. Therefore, she would always treat Li Xiaomei’s family well with food and drink, occasionally giving small favors, such as providing Li Xiaomei with pieces of fine cotton cloth to take home for their family’s clothes or promising a job for their family when the old Zhao house was divided.

Of course, Lin Yue also saw that although Zhao Cheng was not very nimble with his work, he did not engage in deceit or shirking, and although Li Xiaomei was recognized as a lazy person in the old Zhao house, she worked hard when she occasionally came to help Lin Yue, probably because she felt she owed Lin Yue for her kindness. Regardless, these two still knew some gratitude. Li Xiaomei came to deliver a message to Lin Yue this time with Zhao Cheng’s knowledge, yet he said nothing, which showed his stance. The increasingly biased actions of the Wei Family could thin even the bonds between mother and son.

After hearing the news from Li Xiaomei, Lin Yue immediately put the pieces together, nearly grasping the truth. Indeed, besides them, there was another person who knew the method to sprout beans, and that was Chunxi. Although she had never taught Chunxi, their relationship had been good at the time, without any deliberate secrecy. Chunxi had also seen the bean sprouting process and, given her cunning mind, she had likely quietly memorized it.

"So it was her. This woman really knows how to stir trouble. We ignored her, yet she managed to connect with Zhao Lingxiang. She’s capable, alright. Perhaps Zhao Lingxiang came back to find Chunxi because she tasted some sweetness already. Let’s see what else she can bring out this time," Lin Yue said with a hint of a cold smile on her face. Chunxi was indeed a woman not to be underestimated.

After gaining taels of silver from Zhao Lingxiang, Chunxi thought it best not to return home, where sooner or later she would likely be beaten to death. With five taels of silver in hand, she planned to hide somewhere first, then find a way to gather more silver and leave the place. However, she hadn’t expected that Zhao Jingui would come looking for her under the instigation of the You Family, and so halfway there, Chunxi was intercepted by Zhao Jingui and dragged back home.

"You shameless, promiscuous woman, your audacity grows by the day! Still daring to run away, where did you plan to go? Someone like Zhao Erhu with such a beautiful wife wouldn’t glance at you. Have you gone looking for another man elsewhere? You disgraceful, worthless trash! If you have no shame, at least spare Xiaoquan from being stained. If people know he has such a shameless mother, he won’t even be able to show his face in public. I will beat you to death when we get home," Zhao Jingui cursed as he dragged the unwilling Chunxi back, his words laced with anger, while Chunxi cried in fear.

Upon hearing the commotion outside, the You Family matriarch stepped out of the room and saw Zhao Jingui pulling Chunxi in, her face displaying a mocking smile. This woman really couldn’t stay put; even after being dealt with by her, she still tried to run away. She truly was something. She hadn’t planned to totally destroy Chunxi—after all, she had taken her place as the rightful wife—but after dealing with Chunxi, she realized how treacherous, cunning, and hateful she was. If not for her own methods, she would have already been harmed by Chunxi. Thus, she couldn’t tolerate such a troublemaker.

"Well, Chunxi, where are you off to now?" Wei Family blew on her freshly applied nail polish. "Even though you’re only a concubine now, you’re still my brother’s woman. Wearing the green hat for your own man is something you simply can’t do." She disliked getting physical with Chunxi, feeling it lowered her own class. She always preferred to stir up trouble from the sidelines, inciting Zhao Jingui to deal with Chunxi. Then, there would be another bout of painful cries and screams.

The Wei Family thought Mother-in-law Zhao Sunshi was quite the character. She never interfered in such matters. As long as it didn’t affect her grandson Zhao Xiaoquan, even if the sky fell, she wouldn’t come to take a look. Probably, she had seen through Chunxi’s true nature.

"Please, don’t hit me. I won’t dare to do it again. Spare me!" Chunxi curled up, begging for mercy incessantly. Wei Family watched the commotion with interest, while Zhao Jingui wielded a large wooden stick, striking Chunxi repeatedly. Chunxi, in pain and fury, wished she could kill someone, but she had no power to fight back. If she dared to talk back or raise her hand against Zhao Jingui, she feared she might truly be beaten to death. She could only clamp her hands tightly around the five taels of silver that had come from Zhao Lingxiang, to prevent it from falling out. This was the only bit of wealth she had managed to earn, and she couldn’t let anyone take it away.

After that day, Chunxi was brutally beaten by Zhao Jingui, and it took her two whole days lying in bed before she could get up. No sooner had she somewhat recovered than Wei Family ordered her to work in the yard, splitting wood and boiling water. After finishing one task, there was another waiting; her suffering was beyond words. It seemed that except for sleeping at night, there was not one moment of rest, and even the animals in the pen led more comfortable lives than she did.

"Chunxi, someone has come from the old Zhao residence. It’s some woman who says she’s a Mistress Zhao, and she wants you to go there. Hurry up and don’t delay their matters," Wei Family called Chunxi, who was washing clothes, to come out.

"Mistress Zhao? Does she want me to go now?" Chunxi asked, startled. She didn’t expect Zhao Lingxiang to look for her again. Had there been a problem with the prescription from before, or was it something else? However, even if there had been an issue, she would definitely not return those five taels of silver.

"What are you dawdling for? Go quickly, don’t drag your feet and cause others trouble." Wei Family was uncharacteristically accommodating, but certainly not because she had a change of heart and wanted to cut Chunxi some slack. It was because she had accepted the silver Xiaocui had given her, which naturally made her more amiable. However, exactly how this Mistress Zhao and Chunxi knew each other, and what she wanted with Chunxi, was something Wei had to be wary of, to avoid being plotted against behind her back.

"Oh, okay." With a shout from Wei Family, Lin Yue immediately got to her feet and left, following Xiaocui, who was waiting outside, to the old Zhao residence.

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