A Good Country Wife

Zhao Erhu at this time had no idea that his wife had once again bribed Zhao Cheng and his wife with a few steamed buns. Rather, he was quite troubled by some distant relatives who had suddenly surfaced, asking for favors. Although these people were his relatives, they had never helped him by even the slightest bit when he was down on his luck—not kicking him when he was down was already a mercy. Now that his family had come into wealth, however, they were all showing up, trying to cozy up to him in the hopes of getting work at his house.

He couldn’t simply rebuff them with a hard stance, for they were still his relatives, after all. If he were too harsh, no one would care about his past hardships; instead, they would simply say that he’s become rich and now looked down on his own kin. His reputation, although not something to be overly concerned about, still mattered to an extent. It could not be entirely disregarded—after all, he could not let those who harbored ill-intentions tarnish his name, which would certainly have an impact on his children’s future marriage prospects.

"Since we’re all relatives, you’d ordinarily come to me for help, and I shouldn’t refuse you," said Zhao Erhu, his face showing signs of distress. "The truth is, our family was indeed short of a couple of workers just until yesterday, when I’ve already agreed to take on my fourth brother and his wife. Therefore, I simply can’t make the same promise to you. Business is tough these days. While it may look like we are making money, think about the relationships we have to maintain, the seeds we have to buy, and the workers we have to pay—everything costs money. We’ve already hired quite a few long-term workers, and if we take on any more, I’m afraid we won’t be able to afford the wages. I, Zhao Erhu, might not know about grand principles, but I do know that I cannot fail to pay the wages when they are due."

Sure enough, as Zhao Erhu mentioned that he might not even be able to pay wages, the smiles on the faces of some became a bit stiff, and they no longer insisted on working for Zhao Erhu. They didn’t come knocking for the sake of doing free labor! Then there were those who did not quite believe Zhao Erhu ’s words; with such a large business employing many workers, how could it be possible to not afford paying wages? But fearing that what Zhao Erhu said was indeed true, they hesitated. Seeing their reactions, Zhao Erhu knew quite well in his heart and wasn’t very disappointed. After all, these people had no real connection to him; they were just drawn by self-interest.

Recently, the weather had been consistently poor. It was overcast in the morning, and by afternoon, a torrential rain had begun to fall. Fortunately, they had anticipated this and erected a large tent; otherwise, so many people would have had nowhere to shelter from the rain.

Lin Yue was originally among those taking refuge under the tent, but as more and more people arrived, she grew uncomfortable in such crowded spaces with poor air quality. Additionally, the gossiping busybodies held her in conversation without end, which annoyed her. Consequently, she decided to escape to the secluded, uninhabited back house, which was once the residence of Zhao Erhu’s grandfather. The building had been neglected for many years and fallen into disrepair, rarely visited by anyone. Lin Yue had been there before with Zhao Erhu and thus chose it as her refuge from the rain.

"Phew, finally some peace and quiet. These busybodies talk way too much. Luckily, I found this spot to hide," Lin Yue sighed with relief and walked inside. The house was dilapidated, with many leaks in the roof. The inner room appeared to be in slightly better condition. However, as she moved further inside, Lin Yue heard noises that made her instinctively tread lightly.

"Honey, touching you there feels so good."