A Good Country Wife
Chapter 325 - 319: A Meal That Won’t Kill You_1

Chapter 325: Chapter 319: A Meal That Won’t Kill You_1

Zhao Yunxiang was startled but, upon a closer look, realized there was nothing there. She thought her vision was blurred from exhaustion, yet she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was not right. She wanted to talk to someone, but Lin Genfa was still locked in the room, and she couldn’t see anyone.

Zhao Yunxiang had only planned to lie down for a bit since Lin Genfa was not coming out of the room. She thought she would visit him later that night, beg for his forgiveness, and apologize. Perhaps seeing her guilt so late into the night, Lin Genfa might forgive her. But to her surprise, she fell into a deep sleep, possibly scared from the night before. When she woke up the next day, she felt so heavy she couldn’t get out of bed. Struggling to leave the bed, she collapsed at the bedside, just as Lin Youjin pushed the door open and saw her, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Dad, Grandma, come quickly! Mom fell and can’t get up!" Lin Youjin, with his booming voice, made sure the whole courtyard could hear him.

Hearing his youngest son’s howls, Lin Genfa thought Zhao Yunxiang was playing tricks on him, trying to lure him out with her old tactics—a ruse they had used before. He ignored it until his mother, alarmed upon seeing Zhao Yunxiang collapsed on the floor, pleaded and knocked on the door. Lin Genfa, half-believing and half-doubting, could not withstand his old mother’s pleas and opened the door to step out, finally seeing Zhao Yunxiang slumped beside the bed.

"Zhao Yunxiang, what do you mean by this? You were fine yesterday, and now you’re sick like this? Who do you think will believe you? Acting quite convincingly!" Despite everything, Lin Genfa still didn’t believe Zhao Yunxiang was truly sick. He spoke harshly, truly angry and profoundly disappointed this time. The notion of causing someone’s death was something he could never have imagined before, yet now his daughter-in-law had committed it.

"Genfa, your wife is in this state, how can you still speak like that? What’s the point of Yunxiang faking illness for no reason!" Lin Genfa’s mother, unaware of the full story, felt that Lin Genfa was in the wrong. Even if they were arguing and angry, there was a time and place for everything. Now that Genfa’s wife was so severely ill, it wasn’t the time to argue.

"Mother, you don’t understand, she’s committed a wrongdoing and is trying to use this tactic to get my forgiveness. Don’t be fooled by her. All these years, how could I not have realized that the person sleeping beside me is so malicious in her thoughts? Otherwise, I’m afraid I would have trouble sleeping at night." Lin Genfa spoke out of anger, but there was some truth in his words. He was inherently kind and upright,

"Genfa, don’t say that, I won’t do it anymore, uuuhuuu." Zhao Yunxiang was weak, lacking any strength, just lying there on the ground, and hearing Lin Genfa speak like that felt even worse. Tears streamed down her face, making her look incredibly pitiful.

Lin Genfa’s mother was frantic, "Ah! You curse, look at your wife; she is like this, and you’re still arguing with her. Does this look like an act to you? She might really be seriously ill; we need to get a doctor to look at her. Come on, help her up onto the bed, don’t leave her lying on the ground like this."

Only after his mother mentioned it did Lin Genfa take a closer look. He observed that Zhao Yunxiang indeed appeared significantly haggard, her face even more sallow than usual as she lay there, feeble, seemingly unable to move. It genuinely did not seem feigned. Zhao Yunxiang wasn’t skilled enough in deception; thus, he had always been able to detect her faults. Lin Genfa’s heart skipped a beat, realizing that Zhao Yunxiang had fallen seriously ill overnight. This was retribution—a person who causes harm will eventually face consequences. Even though Zhao Erhu and his wife did not hold a grudge and refrained from sending Zhao Yunxiang to the government, she still couldn’t escape the punishment dealt by the heavens.

Although this was the trail of thought in Lin Genfa’s mind, he still couldn’t let go of Zhao Yunxiang. A day as a couple warrants a hundred days of grace, not to mention the affection they had shared over the years. Apart from the occasional bad temper, Zhao Yunxiang had been meticulous in her care for him, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to managing their household. How could he harden his heart completely to ignore her? Now, he couldn’t even bother being mad at her; he hurriedly lifted her onto the bed, realizing that the village healer would be insufficient for her condition, and quickly fetched a proper doctor from the town.

After immense effort to bring the doctor and spending a good amount of silver coin, the doctor couldn’t provide a clear diagnosis. He had no idea what the illness was, only prescribing a general tonic that might strengthen the body. He suggested that Zhao Yunxiang take it for the interim, promising that, if it didn’t cure the disease, it would at least fortify her without any harm—it wouldn’t kill her.

The physician’s inability to diagnose Zhao Yunxiang would have led Lin Genfa to suspect pretense again—if not for the fact that she truly lay paralyzed, unable to rise or even take care of her daily needs. Now, Lin Genfa became even more convinced that this was divine retribution meant for Zhao Yunxiang. Hence, he stopped seeking doctors’ aid and, save for working the fields, he was constantly by her bedside.

"Genfa, what is truly wrong with me, why am I not recovering? Is this really retribution? I committed just one misdeed, how did it catch the attention of the heavens, burdening you to tend to me after toiling in the fields all day? I might as well be dead than continue to drag you down," Zhao Yunxiang, reflecting on her current plight, had teary eyes filled with desolation. She genuinely didn’t want to continue being a burden to Lin Genfa, but lacked the courage to end her life herself, simply dragging on.

Ever since Zhao Yunxiang became bedridden, Lin Genfa never brought up the incident again, treating it as something of the past, hoping Zhao Yunxiang would return to her former self. Thus, when he heard her speak like this, his face soured. "What nonsense are you spouting? What burden? We’re husband and wife. The day I brought you into our home, I pledged to treat you well. Isn’t it my duty to care for you? If our positions were reversed, you would certainly do the same for me. Am I wrong?" Lin Genfa tried to smile, caressing Zhao Yunxiang’s increasingly gaunt face, his mind flooding with memories of her past kindness.

"What, Chunxi died in prison?!" Lin Yue had just stepped out of the room when she heard this unexpectedly shocking news. When Chunxi was first taken to the government, she had left with harsh words that made Lin Yue worry Chunxi would seek harsher revenge upon release. Now someone was telling her that Chunxi had been killed by another death-row inmate in prison, and official documents had already summoned Zhao Jingui and the You Family to claim the body. This was an unexpected blessing.

That was all that could be said. Lin Yue did not feel a surge of sympathy for someone like Chunxi—who didn’t deserve it, and even though the news was unforeseen, there was no sense of compassion or pity, but rather a feeling of relief. There was no longer the need to worry about Chunxi, an end to that concern. Otherwise, a mad and venomous woman like Chunxi, akin to a lurking poisonous snake, could always unexpectedly strike.