A Good Country Wife
Chapter 516 - 510_1

Chapter 516: Chapter 510_1

"This scoundrel has been extremely ruthless with his attack, fortunately, it didn’t harm the insides, but the external injury looks quite serious. If it leaves a scar and mars her appearance, that wouldn’t be good. A woman’s appearance is of utmost importance. We must apply medicine quickly. We are all men here; it’s not appropriate for us to apply medicine on Mrs. Lin. We should find a woman to do so," Doctor Zheng said after taking Lin Yue’s pulse.

Dr. Zheng brought over the prepared ointment, and Liu, the shopkeeper, quickly sent someone to the inner courtyard to call his wife over. It’s not that there weren’t any maids or old women available, but Liu, the shopkeeper, did not trust the servants with this task and felt more at ease with his own wife handling it.

While Liu’s wife applied the medicine on Lin Yue, Liu, the shopkeeper, and Dr. Zheng stepped out to the outer room to discuss the incident that had just taken place.

Liu, the shopkeeper, asked about the cause and the process, but Dr. Zheng had also only encountered the situation halfway through and wasn’t fully aware. However, judging by the character of Mrs. Lin and Li Sanfeng, it must have been Li Sanfeng who instigated the trouble. Moreover, ignoring everything else, a grown man beating a defenseless woman was already despicable enough.

"I think there’s more to this incident than meets the eye. When I confronted Li Sanfeng earlier, I saw several wounds on him inflicted by Mrs. Lin’s dagger, especially a stab wound to his chest. That location, if it were someone else, would probably not have gotten off so lightly. Only someone as thick-skinned and tough as Li Sanfeng could keep hopping around. But we all know who Mrs. Lin is, and she must have been driven to desperation to strike with such severity. Plus, I’ve heard from a servant that two days ago, Li Sanfeng was kicked out of the gambling house penniless. This scoundrel, with his brother being an arrest officer at the Government Office, gets away with everything and God knows what vile intentions he had.

"It’s no use just speculating; let’s wait until Mrs. Lin wakes up and asks her. Only then will we know for sure. After that, we can decide how to deal with Li Sanfeng." They hadn’t brought Li Sanfeng in with them at the time, partly because of the injuries he had sustained. If they had detained him and something had happened to him, it would have complicated matters, especially since they were unclear about the whole story and had only seen him fighting with Mrs. Lin on the street. If they were to take care of Li Sanfeng’s wounds, they weren’t willing to do so. It’d be better to wait until the matter was clarified before settling accounts with Li Sanfeng.

But then Liu, the shopkeeper, and Dr. Zheng thought of another problem. How could Mrs. Lin be alone on the street fighting with someone, with no one accompanying her? Others might not know, but Liu, the shopkeeper, was acutely aware that, due to the recent incidents of women disappearing in Xin’an City, Zhao Erhu worriedly purchased several martial arts-trained servants to ensure Mrs. Lin’s safety. So, where were the people who should have been with Mrs. Lin? And she must have come to Xin’an City by carriage, which was nowhere to be seen. Liu, the shopkeeper, and Dr. Zheng now had layers upon layers of questions in their hearts, waiting for Lin Yue to wake up before they could understand what was really happening.

Musheng brought Dalang and his brothers, as instructed by Lin Yue, to meet at the spice shop, but Lin Yue was nowhere to be found at the city’s northern spice shop. When they asked the shop’s clerks, they also mentioned that Lin Yue hadn’t shown up. Musheng was baffled, unsure of what was happening. Should he now take Dalang and his brothers back home, or should he look for the lady? Logically, the lady should not have returned home first, especially since he was driving the carriage. Suddenly, Musheng remembered the recent disappearances of women in the city; that’s why the master had bought them, skilled in martial arts, to guard the lady’s safety. Musheng began to panic. If something happened to the lady, not to mention whether the master and Haishi would let him off, he wouldn’t forgive himself either—having received great kindness from the master and lady, yet failing to properly carry out the task entrusted to him by the master and Haishi.

At this time, Dalang and his brothers were also becoming anxious about not being able to find Lin Yue. They had heard more news in the city than in the Zhao Family village and knew that many women had disappeared in Xin’an City recently and were never found.

"Big brother, has mother vanished? Could she have been taken by bad people? I want mother, wuwu." Si Lang, still young, was only over six years old, and even though he had been studying with his older brothers, the composed and sensible facade he usually put on disappeared upon hearing Lin Yue was missing; crying and clamoring for his mother.

"Dalang, stop making a fuss, Mother wouldn’t just disappear; she’s waiting for us to find her. Stop crying." Dalang and Erhu, being older, were comparatively more composed and managed to soothe their younger brother before turning to Musheng.

"Uncle Musheng, what did Mother say before? Aside from instructing you to bring us to meet at the spice shop, did she mention anything else? Could she have gone somewhere else? Was it you who escorted Mother to the spice shop earlier?" Though Dalang was young, under the tutelage of his teacher and Lin Yue, he had taken on the airs of a young master, speaking with authority and presence.

"Madam only ordered the servant to fetch the young masters to the spice shop, there were no other instructions. Since it was after delivering New Year’s gifts at Scholar Zhang’s home, I took another street because the carriage could not pass through the alley, and that would require taking a detour. Madam thought it was too time-consuming and as we were already close to the spice shop, she told the servant to go straight to the academy to fetch the young masters. Madam herself got off the carriage at the other end of the alley and walked to the spice shop, but for some reason, the people there said they haven’t seen Madam," Musheng honestly recounted the events to Dalang.

Upon hearing this, both Dalang and Erhu furrowed their brows. Although Musheng was honest and loyal, he was also too naive and inflexible, not cut out for significant responsibilities.

"Uncle Musheng, you’ve been too careless. How could you let Madam disembark from the carriage and leave on her own? The city isn’t safe right now, which is precisely why Father sent you to guard Mother’s safety. How could you allow her to go to the spice shop alone just to save trouble?" Erhu was inside frantic with worry, and his words couldn’t hide his reproach and anger.

Seeing the young master’s reproach, Musheng felt even more ashamed. "My apologies, young master, it’s the servant’s fault. At the time, I thought since we were so close to the spice shop, nothing would go wrong, but who would have anticipated..."

Erhu glared at Musheng, "Uncle Musheng, what am I supposed to say to you!"

"Erhu, let it be. Don’t you know Uncle Musheng’s nature by now? Whatever Mother says, he naturally wouldn’t dare disobey. Right now, what matters is finding someone to help." Although Dalang also felt some blame and annoyance, he was innately generous. Seeing how remorseful and helpless Musheng looked, it was plainly an unintentional mistake, and he didn’t have the heart to blame him further.

Erhu knew Dalang was right; this wasn’t the time to blame Musheng. They needed to find their mother first, hoping nothing bad had happened to her. "Big brother, it’s useless for us to just wait around in the spice shop. Let’s go to Jimin Hall. Mother and Manager Liu are on good terms; maybe she went there. If she really is missing, we’ll have to ask Manager Liu to help us search. We should also leave a message here at the spice shop, so if Mother comes, they can tell her to meet us at Jimin Hall."

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