A Good Country Wife
Chapter 531 - 525_1

Chapter 531: Chapter 525_1

Zhao Erhu returned to his room with a dark face, ready to talk about what happened on the road, but upon seeing that both Madam Xu and Xixi were a picture of anxiety and busyness, and Lin Yue lay pale on the bed, occasionally retching into a basin.

"Wife, what’s wrong with you?" Seeing Lin Yue like this, Zhao Erhu couldn’t care about anything else. He hurriedly ran to the bed, embraced her in his arms, but Lin Yue, smelling the alcohol on Zhao Erhu, abruptly pushed him away and began vomiting forcefully again.

Lin Yue was so dizzy from vomiting that she couldn’t reply to his question, so Zhao Erhu had no choice but to turn his gaze to Madam Xu and Xixi on the side. "What’s wrong with the mistress? She was fine this morning. How did she become like this? Has someone been sent to call the doctor?"

"Someone has already been sent to call for the doctor, but the snow on the road has not yet melted, and the roads are hard to navigate, so I’m afraid it won’t be quick. I have already taken the mistress’s pulse; there’s nothing seriously wrong. It’s just her spleen and stomach are out of harmony, probably because she ate something unclean or indigestible at noon."

Hearing Madam Xu’s words reminded Zhao Erhu that his lunch was eaten at Wu Qiang’s house. Because the two families were close, Wu Qiang’s mother had come to invite them over specially. To give Wu Qiang and his wife face, his wife had also gone with him. The taste of the food at Wu Qiang’s house was just average, and having gotten used to the meals at his own house, there was no taste in eating there. He saw that his little wife hadn’t eaten much of anything else but liked the lard-fried glutinous rice cakes and thus had eaten a few pieces more. These cakes were greasy and fiery, and he had even advised her, but the little wife just licked her lips and didn’t continue eating. Now it occurred to him that it was most likely the overindulgence in the glutinous rice cakes that had caused the issue.

Lin Yue had not expected that eating a few glutinous rice cakes would cause such a severe reaction. It wasn’t like she hadn’t eaten them before; eating too many of them usually just led to feeling a bit heaty, and drinking some herbal tea would resolve that. That’s why she indulged and ate a few more pieces. However, Lin Yue did not know that these cakes were made by Wu Qiang’s sister-in-law, who was lazy and did not pay much attention to hygiene while cooking food. There was some uncleanness in the glutinous rice cakes, which would have been fine if one was accustomed to eating them regularly, but Lin Yue’s usual diet was planned and prepared by Wang Dachuan and Madam Xu—it was not only to her taste but also followed principles of health preservation. Eating with such care regularly, it all went bad when she inadvertently consumed the unclean cakes.

At this moment, Zhao Erhu felt somewhat regretful. If he had known earlier, he would not have let his wife go to Wu Qiang’s house for that meal. Seeing how much his little wife was suffering, he felt distressed too. Remembering that his wife couldn’t bear the smell of alcohol on him, he went to the clean room to freshen up and changed his clothes before returning to Lin Yue’s side to take care of her.

After vomiting and rinsing her mouth, Lin Yue drank some hot tea and finally felt a little better. She lay weakly on the bed, completely drained of energy.

"Oh, you silly girl. I told you to eat less of those glutinous rice cakes. Now, do you regret it?" Zhao Erhu sighed as he looked at Lin Yue. Considering that Lin Yue was uncomfortable, he just left it at that, stopping after the remark. As for the matter with Lun Qin, his wife was already suffering enough—naturally, Zhao Erhu would not bring up such a disheartening matter to upset his wife even further. It was better to wait until she had recovered to talk about it.

Lin Yue was also regretting it now. It was all because of her gluttony, which caused her trouble. In the future, she would refrain from carelessly eating food from other people’s homes. Before, she suffered no ill effects after eating the sticky rice cakes from her own home, but this time, the strong reaction she had suggested that the cake might not have been clean. Sometimes, living habits in the countryside weren’t very meticulous.

Later on, Doctor Zheng arrived in a horse-drawn carriage. Seeing that the young Lin lady had encountered another mishap, he felt somewhat helpless. Why was the Lady Lin beset by one misfortune after another? Her wounds had just healed not long ago, and now it was unknown what had afflicted her again. She lay there, pale-faced. He knew how much the Family Head and Zhao Erhu cared for Lady Lin. Li Jiansan, who had injured Lin Yue last time, was taken down by Manager Liu and Zhao Erhu after they found some fault with him before the New Year, and he had already been sent to a remote and bitterly cold place. That was the result because the Family Head and Zhao Erhu didn’t want Li Jiansan to die too easily. However, once sent to that place and with the Family Head’s instructions, even if Li Jiansan suffered greatly, it would be difficult for him to keep his life; it was merely extending his suffering.

Doctor Zheng took Lin Yue’s pulse and found that she was merely suffering from an upset stomach and spleen due to greasy and unclean food. He prescribed two doses of medicine to soothe her stomach and spleen, after which she would be fine.

"I’m troubled to have called upon Doctor Zheng," said the speaker, "Although Nurse Xu has already examined my wife, she is not an expert in this area, so I still need Doctor Zheng to take a look before I can rest assured. It’s just that I feel sorry to have made you come here in such cold weather."

Doctor Zheng waved his hand away, "Given our relationship, Brother Erhu, don’t speak of such formalities. If Lady Lin isn’t feeling well, no matter what, I must come. It’s better now that Lady Lin is safe and sound. It is always good to be cautious when it comes to health."

"The front hall is prepared for Doctor Zheng to have some tea."

However, Lun Qin was kicked to the ground by Zhao Erhu right in the pit of her stomach, which caused her so much pain she gasped for air. What made her panic was not just the pain. The Family Head, in a fit of anger, had gone back to the inner courtyard and would undoubtedly tell his wife about what had just happened. His wife had never liked her and had always been wary of her. If she found out that Lun Qin had tried to seduce the Family Head, she would loathe her even more. Being sold off would be the least of her concerns. Lun Qin, having signed a contract of servitude unto death, had her life in the hands of her owners, and it was not hers to decide. If the mistress, in her anger and hatred, decided to take her life, it wouldn’t be impossible. For some reason, Lun Qin always harbored bad thoughts about Lin Yue. Previously, she didn’t realize it, but now she truly felt the fear.

The old woman guarding the door of the inner courtyard had been bribed by Lun Qin, which is why she made an excuse to leave. She had now returned, and to keep the old woman’s silence, Lun Qin hurriedly stuffed a piece of broken silver into her hand before rushing back to her quarters. Unseen to Lun Qin, although the old woman accepted her silver, she spat disdainfully behind Lun Qin’s back, indicating that she knew Lun Qin’s intentions. The old woman scorned her for her disgraceful state, clearly having gained nothing from her actions. Lun Qin thought she could steal the Family Head from under the mistress’s nose with such little skill, a thought which was far too optimistic! What she didn’t realize was that her greed today had cut off her own path to the future.

Each embroiderer in the embroidery room had a small room of her own. When Lun Qin returned to her room, she bolted the door and hid, not daring to come out for fear of the mistress’s people coming for her. Even though her chest hurt terribly, she didn’t dare to make a sound. She could only rub red oil on it herself, and then lay silently in her bed, crying. She lamented her fate. Both were women, yet the mistress, with her background, led such a good life, cherished and adored by the Family Head. And though she, Lun Qin, was also from a humble family, she never did anything wrong. Simply because her family was implicated, she ended up in this plight. The heavens were utterly unfair.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.