A Good Country Wife

"Madam Qin, you shut your mouth. If you utter half a word more, I will have Han Qi divorce you immediately! Our family cannot afford to have a daughter-in-law like you who disrespects her in-laws, dishonors her husband, and lacks any upbringing," Madam Han could no longer tolerate it. Even if her son had been dissatisfied with his wife and spoken such words before, she had always calmed the situation. But now, Madam Qin was going too far, causing such trouble even at her daughter’s home—this was surely looking for a fight.

Madam Qin wanted to speak again, but seeing her mother-in-law’s authority, she resentfully shut her mouth. However, her discontent was plain to see on her face for all to observe, and she gave Lin Yue several fierce glares. Lin Yue found this woman utterly baffling—did she think Lin Yue was just some country bumpkin to be bullied? This was truly Lin Yue’s first encounter with such a top-grade annoyance.

Lin Yue lingered in the room for a while longer, but because of Madam Qin’s recent actions, Madam Han and her own mother became more awkward and apologetic. The conversation was no longer as easygoing as before. Lin Yue found it pointless to stay any longer, so she went outside to look for Zhao Erhu and the children.

When Zhao Erhu saw Lin Yue come out of the room so soon, he asked, "What happened? Aren’t you and your cousin-in-law close? You haven’t seen each other for some time and should have plenty to talk about. Why did you come out so quickly? Is your cousin-in-law busy with something?"

"No, it’s not that. It’s my cousin-in-law’s annoying older sister, Madam Qin. You know what she’s like. My cousin-in-law even quarreled with her, and I felt suffocated staying in the room, so I just came out." Mentioning Madam Qin, a look of discomfort appeared on Lin Yue’s face. Zhao Erhu guessed that whatever happened inside must have been quite unpleasant—a fact he was aware of, since Madam Qin always looked down on country folks like them. Madam Qin must have been targeting his wife inside.

Zhao Erhu patted Lin Yue’s head and comforted her, saying, "Don’t bother with her, that woman is just out of her mind. It’s not worth upsetting yourself over her."

"Exactly, a woman like her is not worth my anger. I just didn’t want to be around someone like that. I hadn’t seen my cousin-in-law for so long and really wanted to have a good chat, but then this whole mess happened and spoiled the mood!"

After lunch, Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue took their leave from Zhao Xinglin and his wife. It seemed that Madam Han had already told Zhao Xinglin about the incident that occurred earlier. Zhao Xinglin appeared quite apologetic towards Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue, "Sister-in-law, I’m so sorry, my wife’s older sister is just that kind of person. Please don’t take it to heart."

"It’s nothing, just a few harsh words. I’m not taking it to heart. Brother Xinglin, you shouldn’t be upset over this with your wife either. She didn’t want it to be like this. Dealing with such an older sister must be even harder for her than for us." With those words, Lin Yue could tell that there seemed to be a bit of awkwardness between Zhao Xinglin and Madam Han. Whether it was because of that issue or not, it was no trouble for her to offer an explanation.

"You don’t need to worry, sister-in-law. My wife and I are on good terms. Now that you have put it this way, how could I possibly blame her?" Zhao Xinglin indeed felt a bit angry with his wife at first, but he knew it wasn’t her fault. Since Madam Qin was Madam Han’s relative, hearing Lin Yue put it this way made sense to him, so he replied with a cheerful agreement.