A Good Country Wife

After dealing with Zhao Cheng, Lin Yue turned to look at the Qian family member, seeing this woman who somehow still showed no hint of guilt to this very moment. Lin Yue massaged her temples, thinking to herself that to tolerate such an ignorant, foolish, and meddling woman required immense self-cultivation. She regulated her breathing before she spoke with a cold face.

"I should address you as my cousin-in-law. Strictly speaking, you are not a servant of my household, but merely staying here on account of our kinship. Naturally, I am not in a position to discipline you." When Lin Yue spoke these words, she saw a smug look flash across the face of Mrs. Qian, clearly a bit too pleased with herself, probably having thought the same before. That’s why she had thrown her weight around in their home, bossing the servants around.

"That is true, I certainly cannot be compared to those servants, and besides, Erhu and my husband have a very good relationship. I’m sure he must have instructed you before leaving to take good care of our family. If you go against Erhu’s wishes, he will be unhappy when he returns. If you act in a way that displeases your own husband on account of our family, it won’t be good. After all, Erhu’s business is growing ever larger now, his status and stature are not what they used to be, and he’s quite handsome to boot. If he divorces you and remarries a beautiful wife, you’ll be the one cast aside. If it really comes to that, don’t say I didn’t warn you!"

Lin Yue didn’t even know what to say. "Is that so? I’ve only come to realize now just how important a figure you truly are."

Zhao Anyu glared at Mrs. Qian with a dark face, so angry that his forehead throbbed. He wanted to stop Mrs. Qian from making an embarrassment of herself and was about to speak, but Mrs. Qian quickly blurted out another string of words, completely ignoring his warning glare.

"It’s not too late for you to realize this now. Just be a bit more polite to me in the future. When Erhu comes back, I’ll put in a good word for you. As for what happened just now, you can’t blame me. I was only trying to be helpful by speaking up for Zhao Cheng, but unfortunately, good intentions led to a bad outcome. Besides, as you said yourself, Nurse Xu stopped things in time, and there wasn’t any actual loss, so there’s no need to make a big deal out of it."

Mrs. Qian believed she was making perfect sense. She wasn’t ignoring Zhao Anyu or unaware of his warning look; she simply thought that when she went back, she would be blamed by her husband and mother-in-law anyway, so it was better to clear her name in advance. That way, they would know it wasn’t her fault, and they would have no reason to blame her.

Mrs. Qian thought she was being clever, but with her actions, she just made matters worse. The increasingly displeased expressions on Zhao Anyu and his mother’s faces, along with the odd and disdainful looks from the surrounding servants, made that clear.