Chapter 567 - 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.