A Good Country Wife

It was only then that Chunxi realized Zhao Erhu would definitely not care for her; this man only had eyes for Lin Yue. Her heart was truly filled with resentment towards Zhao Erhu’s heartlessness. Yet, she still had her son waiting at home for her, who was now her only son. She was counting on her son to provide for her in her old age, and her mother-in-law was counting on her grandson to carry on the family line. Therefore, Xiaoquan absolutely could not come to harm.

Since relying on Zhao Erhu was out of the question, Chunxi turned her attention back to Lin Yue, her heart burning with even more jealousy and rage. Once a person harbors greed, their thoughts become easily twisted. Or perhaps, the hardships and suffering of these past years had already warped Chunxi’s soul, only now revealing the negative emotions and thoughts that the right catalyst had triggered.

Having seen through Chunxi’s true character, Lin Yue could not muster any sympathy for her. She was no Mother Mary with overflowing compassion, "I follow my husband’s wishes. What Erhu says reflects my thoughts. Besides, I’m not a doctor. How can I assist you? You should hurry to the village and find a doctor yourself."

Although Lin Yue held no sympathy for Chunxi, she did think Little Xiaoquan was pitiable. After all, the child was innocent. It was because of this she offered Chunxi some advice.

"Yueyue, Little Xiaoquan also calls you ’Auntie.’ Please, I beg you to save him. Aren’t you acquainted with Doctor Zheng in the city? Doctor Zheng is skilled in medicine and will surely be able to cure Xiaoquan. Could you please ask him to come?" Chunxi had spent enough time with Lin Yue to be very familiar with her affairs. She brought up Doctor Zheng as if it was only natural that Lin Yue should help her and did not see anything amiss with her request—as if helping her was a given.

Lin Yue was speechless at Chunxi’s way of thinking, and could only scoff in response, "The Zhao family’s affairs... Are you confused about the situation? Who do you think you are to me? Why should I help you? Do I owe you from a past life or something? In the past, I took extra care of you because I saw you were a decent person, and you, as a widow with a son, had a hard life. Out of sympathy, I helped you out, but that was just kindness. I have no obligations towards you. Now you not only lack gratitude but also overstep boundaries, wanting more. You’re too ungrateful. I can’t afford a friend like you, and I look down on someone like you even more. So let’s not have anything more to do with each other henceforth."

In the past, Lin Yue thought that even if Chunxi’s character was unreliable, it wasn’t necessary to be so absolute, as long as she hadn’t done anything too shameful. It would have sufficed to simply interact with her as an ordinary villager. But now it was clear that this person really didn’t care about losing face, so Lin Yue decided it was better to make her stance clear now and spare herself future interactions.

Upon hearing Lin Yue’s words, Chunxi found Lin Yue to be even more detestable. She felt that Lin Yue had given her only trivial things, which were nothing to brag about. For Lin Yue, those things were like a drop in the bucket, easily given, yet she acted as if she were the benevolent one, full of compassion, deliberately putting on a show in front of Brother Erhu. Brother Erhu must have been blinded by Lin Yue, this two-faced, deceitful woman, to not see her worth.