A Good Country Wife
Chapter 301 - 295 It’s a trap_1

Chapter 301: Chapter 295 It’s a trap_1

The back hill was a place where Dalang and his friends often went to play. It wasn’t a large area, just a rather steep slope, so Lin Yue didn’t ask and ran straight to the back hill. In her hurry, she nearly stumbled over a stone on the ground. Hadn’t she told Dalang and the others not to go out and just play at home? How could they have run off to the back hill again? And she had warned them many times not to play near that steep slope. How could something have happened!

"Sanlang! Sanlang!" Lin Yue ran to the back hill, but it was quiet and she didn’t see anyone. There were hardly any children’s figures on the steep side either. Could they have gone down the slope? Lin Yue hurried over, stuck out her head to look; the slope was over twenty meters high, and looking down like this, she could see the bottom very clearly. There was obviously no one below. Even if something had happened, they wouldn’t have left so quickly.

Could someone have deliberately lured her here? Just as Lin Yue became alert in her heart, she hadn’t yet had the chance to defend herself when suddenly, a pair of hands from behind forcefully pushed her. Lin Yue didn’t have the time to react before she was pushed and tumbled down the slope.

"Ah!" After a bout of world-spinning agony and sharp pain, Lin Yue didn’t know what she had hit, but finally, she came to a stop and lost consciousness.

At that time, Zhao Erhu was driving a horse-drawn carriage, planning to go to the city with Zhao Xing to make some purchases. It was Zhao Xing who had originally taken on the task of buying supplies, but he found using an ox cart to haul the goods back too slow and inconvenient, whereas a horse-drawn carriage was more efficient. Moreover, Lin Yue had instructed them to keep accounts and compare prices when making purchases. Zhao Xing couldn’t skim any money off the top, so he simply handed the job over to Zhao Erhu as well.

"Erhu, you’re here. I’ve been looking for you for a while. Quick, go to the back hill, someone just saw Sanlang fall down the slope, and we don’t know the state he’s in. Your wife has already rushed over; you should hurry up and check too, lest something serious has happened!" A woman who was helping in the kitchen got Lin Yue’s instruction and knew the matter was serious, so she immediately went to look for help. It took her a while to find Zhao Erhu, and as soon as she did, she relayed the situation.

Hearing this, Zhao Erhu was also startled and dropped what he was holding to run towards the back hill. That scamp Sanlang, how had he instructed him when he left the house? How could he have gone to play on the back hill at this time, and even got into trouble? Wasn’t this adding chaos? If nothing happened this time, he had to give him a good beating for being so disobedient.

Although Zhao Erhu was worried, he was in a much better state than Lin Yue and didn’t think it was that serious. Kids are tough and resilient to falls. He himself had tumbled down slopes when he was a child, just getting some scrapes and external injuries that looked scary, but there was nothing else wrong. At that time, his grandfather had already passed away, and nobody paid attention to him. No one even knew about it, and he didn’t even see the village’s folk healer. Later, he turned out just fine.

Zhao Erhu, with his quick pace, got the news and soon arrived at the back hill. However, it was eerily quiet, without a sign of any commotion. Having spent years hunting in the mountains, Zhao Erhu’s alertness was higher than most. He immediately sensed something was amiss. When he reached the top of the steep slope and looked down, there weren’t any shadows of the little scamps. Instead, there was a person lying there, too far to see clearly, but looking at the color of the clothes and the figure, it seemed so much like his wife. And hadn’t Aunt Li said his wife had already arrived at the back hill? What was going on?

The more Zhao Erhu thought, the more things seemed off. He remembered a certain possibility, his heart wrenched, and he rushed down the steep slope in three strides. He feared that it might be as he suspected, that the person lying below was his wife. Although Zhao Erhu didn’t want to admit it in his heart, he understood that this was the most likely possibility.

Zhao Dahuo and his wife, along with Sister Chunhua, had also heard the news by then. They all jumped at hearing about Sanlang’s accident and hurried to the back hill. They saw Zhao Erhu running down the slope, and he didn’t respond to their calls. Seeing his state, they realized something serious must have happened to Sanlang. They all hurriedly followed Zhao Erhu down the slope, ready to help if there really was trouble.

By the time he reached the bottom of the slope, Zhao Erhu saw the familiar face lying on the ground and realized there wasn’t even a sliver of hope left. His complexion turned instantly pale, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to react; he stood stunned as if he had lost his soul.

The pale blue clothes that his little wife was wearing were the very ones he had dressed her in that morning, and the embroidered shoes too—she had said this pair was more comfortable and didn’t rub her feet, choosing to wear these half-worn ones. Probably during the tumble down the slope, one shoe had fallen off, leaving only one on her foot, dirty and smeared with mud, even torn in places, much like her clothes, which looked equally pitiful.

Zhao Dahuo, his wife, and Sister Chunhua arrived a step later to find not Sanlang but Zhao Erhu’s wife, Lin Yue, lying on the ground. They were equally astonished, clueless as to what had happened and how it all came to this.

"What happened to my sister-in-law? How could she have fallen to the bottom of the slope? I just saw her picking vegetables in the kitchen a moment ago; how could she be lying here in the blink of an eye?" Madam Liu said, incredulously.

But Sister Chunhua understood what needed to be done. Seeing Zhao Erhu in such a dazed state, she quickly snapped him out of it, "Erhu, Erhu, don’t just stand there in a daze, quick, see how your wife is, we must hurry to the doctor, we can’t delay any longer."

"Dahuzi, go back first and bring the horse cart to the nearest spot, we’ll need it to go to the city to see the doctor," Sister Chunhua said to Zhao Dahuo before turning to Madam Liu, "Dahu’s wife, you run to Erhu’s house quickly, grab a couple of changes of clothes and anything else she might need and bring them here. Oh, and check if the kids are at home and if everything’s okay?"

Sister Chunhua was well aware of what had transpired, understanding that someone had informed Lin Yue about Sanlang’s accident, and in her haste, Lin Yue had run to the back mountain looking for Sanlang, leading to the subsequent events. Even though it now seemed like a trap, she needed to make sure that the children were all safe and sound before she could be at ease.

"Okay, we’ll go right away!" After hearing what Sister Chunhua had to say, Zhao Dahuo and his wife knew they had to race against time, so they ran back.

Zhao Erhu was jolted by Sister Chunhua’s push and finally came to his senses. He quickly reached to check his little wife’s pulse at her neck, feeling that it was weak but still steady. He heaved a small sigh of relief and gently lifted her from the ground.

"Wife, be good, you have to be okay, your man is taking you to see a doctor, you just can’t give up, hear me?" Zhao Erhu kissed his little wife’s forehead, as if begging Lin Yue for a promise and praying. A man who was usually tough, who bled without tears, now had unmistakable tears in the corners of his eyes, a sight that was heart-wrenchingly sad.