A Good Country Wife
Chapter 567 - 561_1

Chapter 567: Chapter 561_1

Lin Genfa knew that Lin Yue had returned to her parents’ home. Seeing that it was getting late, he worried that she might not have gone back to the Zhao Family Village. Considering the strained relationship between Lin Yue and her own family, Lin Genfa felt uneasy. He entrusted the household matters to his old mother and went to Lin Youfu’s home. If Lin Yue hadn’t returned to the village, he would need to arrange food and lodging for Lin Yue and her servants for the night.

Upon arriving at Lin Youfu’s house, Lin Genfa saw the Zhao Family’s carriage parked at the entrance and knew that Lin Yue hadn’t left. Only now did he learn that her eldest brother was seriously ill. He had been preoccupied with Zhao Yunxiang’s worsening condition and had heard that Lin Qing was sick; however, he had thought it was just a minor cold and hadn’t paid much attention. Now realizing the severity of Lin Qing’s illness, he regretted not visiting sooner. Lin Genfa also had another concern: Zhao Yunxiang’s peculiar and serious illness made many villagers feel it brought bad luck, and for this reason, he had hesitated to visit, not wanting to upset anyone.

"Genfa, what brings you here at this time? Is there something you need?" Lin Zhou’s feelings were already sour because Lin Yue had been providing for Lin Genfa’s family regardless of her own parents. Seeing Lin Genfa now, she did not have a pleasant demeanor. Moreover, like some others in the village, she believed that Lin Genfa’s household was recently plagued with bad luck and was even less inclined to welcome Genfa inside, fearing contamination. She blocked the entrance and didn’t allow anyone in.

Lin Genfa was not blind to the cold reception. However, since Lin Zhou was Lin Yue’s birth mother, he couldn’t afford to be disrespectful, even if the relationship between Lin Yue and her family was strained. Smiling, he said, "Auntie, I’m here for my sister-in-law. I see that it’s getting dark, and I don’t think she will be returning to Zhao Family Village tonight. I wanted to ask how she plans to arrange her evening and whether she needs to stay at our place."

People can be quite peculiar. Before, Zhou had been unwilling to arrange lodging for Lin Yue, but now, seeing Lin Genfa coming to her doorstep, she felt that Genfa was trying to ingratiate himself with Lin Yue and that he had sweet-talked Lin Yue into favoring him. This made Zhou even more dissatisfied, thinking, "No wonder that wretched girl is so biased towards Lin Genfa’s family and won’t give her own parents the time of day." Her face grew uglier as she glared at Lin Genfa.

"Tsk, I’ve never seen such blatant sucking up. My second daughter is my own flesh and blood. With such a large house, why would she stay in your broken courtyard and risk bad luck? It’s only because she’s too naive to be taken in by you, favoring a stranger over her own parents, and I don’t even know how much silver she’s squandered on you. It seems my second daughter is unfilial now; perhaps it’s all because of the slander you and your lot have been spreading about us to her," Zhou spat out with a scowl.

Zhou originally just wanted to send Lin Genfa away quickly, as she had already had an unpleasant exchange with Xixi. Now with Lin Genfa taking people back to his place, that ungrateful girl would surely become more alienated from her, leaving any advantages to Lin Genfa’s family, outsiders. The fact that Zhao Yunxiang was Erhu’s elder sister was disregarded entirely by Zhou.

Women of this age often have sharp tongues, and Zhou, though initially speaking without forethought, began to believe her own accusations more and more, becoming increasingly hostile towards Lin Genfa without caring how vile her words were.

Although Lin Genfa felt indebted to Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue, he couldn’t accept being verbally attacked and slandered by Zhou. Containing his anger, he finally said, "Auntie, you misunderstand. I may not be capable of much, but I don’t stoop to stirring up trouble behind people’s backs. My sister-in-law helps us because she sees it as helping Yunxiang, who is after all Erhu’s elder sister, and she does it out of kinship. As for the relationship between my sister-in-law and your family turning out this way, you are well aware of the reasons, so why blame others?"

Lady Zhou grew increasingly infuriated by Lin Genfa’s self-defense, her anger bubbling as she pointed at him and snapped, "How dare you, Lin Genfa! You say you haven’t stirred trouble, but what’s the meaning of your words, then? What do you know about our family affairs to speak so freely!"

"Auntie, I don’t know about your family’s matters, nor do I want to know. I’m merely here to see my sister-in-law, and I’d bother you to pass on the message," Lin Genfa retorted, losing patience with Lady Zhou’s unreasonable ramblings as he bit back his irritation.

"See who? Why should I pass on any message for you? You want to see my daughter, squandering Silver on your family? No chance! Get lost quickly, and don’t linger at our doorstep. If any bad luck from you rubs off on my Qingqing, watch out, I’ll go right up to your house and give you a piece of my mind."

When Lin Yue heard the commotion outside, she sent Xixi to check what was going on. Xixi saw Lin Genfa and, having experienced Lady Zhou’s rascality and tenacity, knew without a doubt that Lady Zhou was giving Genfa a hard time for wanting to see their mistress. She hurried out.

"Young master, you’ve come to see our mistress, haven’t you?" she asked.

Seeing Xixi, Lin Genfa felt a surge of relief and chose to ignore Lady Zhou’s irrational behavior, "Indeed, Miss Xixi, I assumed it was too late for you to return to Zhao Family Village today, so I came to ask if overnight accommodations and meals for my sister-in-law and your group are well arranged, or if you need a helping hand from me?"

Lady Zhou had always been lazy; despite being bound to take care of her family’s daily affairs, she was utterly unwilling to do anything extra. She was waiting for her son to make something of himself and take her to enjoy the life of an official’s wife, served by young maids. Although she had agreed to help settle Lin Yue and her servants in a room, she felt discontented, initially planning to assign them an empty room to tidy up by themselves. Having been served by the second daughter alone previously, the thought of serving others was unbearable—it might just cut her life short! After all; the second daughter had servants and maids by her side to do everything, so Lady Zhou had no intention of lifting a finger herself.

Moreover, Lady Zhou purposefully delayed conveying this to Lin Yue and her servants. She had thought that even if she kept silent about it, Lin Yue and her servants would have nowhere to go and would eventually have to beg her, giving her the opportunity to hold sway over them. She didn’t expect Lin Genfa to barge in unexpectedly, which complicated matters for her. Sure enough, she heard Xixi say,

"Young master, your timing couldn’t be better. I was just worrying about where my mistress could stay tonight. It’s just that there are five of us with the mistress included; one room surely won’t be enough. I’m afraid your house may not have sufficient space, young master. I was thinking of renting two rooms in the village. It’s just that this is our first time in Shanglin Village, and we’re unfamiliar with the place. We don’t know which families might have spare rooms, so we’ll have to trouble you, young master, to help us rent two rooms. As for the rent, we can negotiate that, as long as our mistress is comfortable."