A Good Country Wife-Chapter 23 - Infinite Potential_1

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Infinite Potential_1

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Infinite Potential_1

Lin Yue was incensed and irrational, not even knowing where her aunt-in-law lived. Seizing a shoulder pole, she charged out only to be restrained by Zhao Erhu in a bear hug.

“You bastard, let me go, Zhao Erhu, you coward, useless man, if you won’t go yourself, don’t stop me, I despise you!” Lin Yue struggled and cursed wildly while Zhao Erhu, having no other choice, released her and instructed her to stay at home safely before he strode out the door.

Having achieved her goal, Lin Yue sheepishly smiled at the children, “You know, since I’ve become your mother, I won’t let others bully you ever again. Look, your dad has gone to avenge you.” After speaking, Lin Yue tidied up the kitchen, which had been thoroughly ransacked by her aunt-in-law. She had wanted to boil an egg to rub on Erhu’s face, but all the food had been taken by her aunt-in-law, including the eggs. There was nothing to do but wait for Zhao Erhu to return and reclaim their belongings.

The children, who had always been bullied by their aunt-in-law and had only been able to suffer in silence, didn’t expect their stepmother to protect them like this. After this incident, they felt much closer to Lin Yue, even Erhu, who had always been prejudiced against her, though he still acted awkwardly, was slowly beginning to accept his stepmother in his heart.

Lin Yue checked the room again and found nothing missing, but the door was indeed left ajar, a clear sign someone had been inside. Perhaps the children had entered, or maybe her aunt-in-law, with her insatiable greed, didn’t bother to take the two bolts of fabric lying on top of the chest. Lin Yue realized she needed to secure any valuable items from now on as the family finances were managed by Zhao Erhu, and she didn’t even know where he kept them, so that was one less thing for her to worry about.

Probably because those were rough goods not worth her aunt-in-law’s attention, the yellow soybeans and corn stored in the side room were also untouched. Lin Yue scooped up two ladles of dry soybeans and soaked them in a basin. Seeing the children crouched mysteriously by the stove tinkering, she admonished, “What are you doing hunched over by the stove? You’ll get ash on your clothes and dirty them; go play somewhere else.”

“Third Mother, we’re not playing. Look what we’ve hidden!” Sanlang chirped happily, pointing at the cloth-covered basket Dalang pulled out of the stove, losing all the despondency he had shown when they had come to report their grievances earlier.

“What’s this? Aunt-in-law didn’t take these!” Lin Yue said with some delight, recognizing Sister Chunhua’s gift to nourish her health. She hadn’t eaten much of the eggs, and about a dozen were still left, along with more than two pounds of unused flour.

“Zhuzi from Aunt Lee’s family saw our aunt-in-law heading over and came to warn us. Erhu told us to hide all the good stuff, but she arrived so quickly that we could only hide these,” Dalang said regretfully, handing the basket to Lin Yue. Lin Yue patted Dalang on the shoulder in praise, making him feel somewhat embarrassed.

“To have hidden these is already quite an achievement. I’ll make hand-pulled noodles for dinner,” Lin Yue said with a smile, internally cursing how often her aunt-in-law must have done such things for the children to be so wary. She sometimes wondered how they struggled so much when Zhao Erhu’s hunting earnings were quite good, and they had made a fair amount from selling pelts last time, plus they had fields. Why was life so hard previously, when even with several children they shouldn’t be without enough to eat? Now it made sense with the constant visits from their “aunt-in-law” siphoning off resources, no wonder times had been tough.

“San Niang, I’ve hidden some too, make me something delicious,” Si Lang, clever and quite the foodie, eagerly said upon hearing that there was food available. He scrambled to the corner of the wall, pried apart the jumbled pile of firewood to reveal a basin made of wood filled with pig offal,

Lin Yue’s pig offal was delectable and Si Lang’s favorite. Hence, Si Lang believed that no matter what his aunt took, she absolutely couldn’t take the pig offal. While Er Lang and the others were hiding their stuff, they didn’t pay any mind to Si Lang, and no one noticed that even Si Lang had stashed away some pig offal. To think of this naive child, pig offal was the cheapest of things and even if he hadn’t hidden it, his aunt might not have even cared for it. Yet Lin Yue felt somewhat incredulous that a child barely over four years old could do this, considering the weight of the basin and the fact that it was placed on a chopping board. She found it somewhat difficult to lift, and for the sake of food, Si Lang truly exhibited boundless potential.

With food secured, Lin Yue didn’t need to wait for Zhao Erhu to return with the grains to start cooking. Aside from what the children had hidden, there was more than half a pot of bone broth in the earthenware jar, frozen with a thick layer of white fat on top. Thinking of how much the children had suffered today and how they deserved to be commended for protecting their home, Lin Yue decided to make something delicious as a comfort and reward. She took out most of the remaining flour from the basket, planning to cook noodles with the bone broth in the evening. She also picked out several bamboo shoots, peeled them, cut a piece of smoked pig intestine, and made a dish by stir-frying the smoked pig intestine with winter bamboo shoots.

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After rolling out the dough and cutting it into noodles, with the water in the pot boiling, all that was left was to cook the noodles. Lin Yue thought noodles didn’t taste good if cooked too long, so she reduced the fire in the stove, planning to wait for Zhao Erhu to come back before adding the noodles. However, as time passed, there was still no sign of Zhao Erhu, who had been gone for over half an hour. Lin Yue wondered if anything had happened, given the aunt’s unreasonable nature. Looking toward the courtyard gate from time to time, she became somewhat worried. She had only just learned of the aunt’s notorious deeds from the children’s detailed account and knew how much trouble Zhao Erhu had faced in the past when dealing with her. Now, she somewhat regretted sending Zhao Erhu to confront his aunt.

“San Niang, why isn’t Dad back yet? He wasn’t beaten by aunt again, was he?” Dalang, also worried about his own father, anxiously asked. Apparently, the time Zhao Erhu came back with scars all over his face from Zhao Lan had left a deep impression on Dalang, filling Lin Yue’s heart with anxiety, even though she didn’t believe that Zhao Erhu, a big man with some fighting skills, would lose to his aunt.

Beaten again? What does that mean? “Your dad has been beaten by aunt before?”

“More than once. When aunt took things from our family, Dad would go and demand them back, unwillingly. Aunt wouldn’t return them and even scratched Dad’s face, driving him out,” Dalang explained with discernible anger and resentment in his voice. The child always held great respect and admiration for his capable father and couldn’t tolerate anyone treating his father badly.

“How is that possible? How could your dad, a grown man, not beat aunt?”

“Not true, Dad’s the strongest. But Dad said that aunt is an elder and that we mustn’t lay hands on her,” Dalang replied.

Lin Yue looked at Dalang who completed his statement and saw the dejected expressions of the children which made her feel somewhat helpless. In this era, the concept of ‘filial piety’ was held to very high standards. Even Zhao Erhu, who had been kicked out of the Zhao Family home, was still expected to send money and gifts during festivals and holidays, all because the man was his biological father. Zhao Jingen could mistreat him, but he, as a son, could not defy his father, or else he would be condemned as unfilial and be spurned by others.