A Good Country Wife
Chapter 248 - 238: Maternal Home’s Brother_1

Chapter 248: Chapter 238: Maternal Home’s Brother_1

"You, how dare you show up here. Are you looking for a beating?" Be it man or woman, everyone has moments of impetuosity, like when facing a love rival.

Lin Qing already harbored ill feelings towards the man who took his younger sister away, especially since Zhao Erhu was a widower with a reputation for losing wives and already had four children. Seeing Zhao Erhu’s crude demeanor, Lin Qing was even more resolved to take his sister back, all the more because Jiang Wenshu had assured him that he would not despise his sister and would welcome her into his family through marriage.

"You must be Zhao Erhu, right? I am Lin Yue’s brother. I wish to see her," Lin Qing said, looking down on Zhao Erhu with the pride of a scholar.

So it was his brother-in-law. He thought... Zhao Erhu found Lin Qing’s attitude somewhat displeasing, but no matter what, this was his wife’s brother. Although Zhao Erhu had originally signed a contract with Lin Yue’s family indicating that Lin Yue was to sever ties with the Lin Family and there would be no further contact between the two families, Zhao Erhu couldn’t just turn away her own brother when he showed up at the door. He had no choice but to welcome him in politely.

Moreover, Zhao Erhu rarely heard his little wife mention her family, and he didn’t know what her stance was towards them. Her parents had been heartless enough to sell her; she should harbor resentment, right? But after all, those were her parents. Even if she felt resentful, she probably couldn’t let go of that biological kinship. He hadn’t intended to let her into his heart when he did what he did, but once a person develops feelings, everything changes. What he cared about most now was how his little wife felt.

"Xiaoyue!" As soon as Lin Qing entered the courtyard, he saw Lin Yue hanging laundry and called out in surprise. Since childhood, he had shared the closest bond with this sister. He hadn’t expected that going away to study would mean returning to find his sister sold off without even a notice from their parents. He hadn’t been informed by his parents, but after great effort, he had found out where she was and came looking for her.

"Who are you?" Lin Yue was hanging the laundry, and when she looked up, she saw a scholar calling her by her nickname. It wasn’t the man who had followed her last time, and though this man seemed familiar, she didn’t remember where she had seen him. Could this be a residual memory from the body’s original owner?

"Yueyue, don’t you recognize me?" Lin Qing had imagined many scenarios for their reunion, but he had never expected that his sister wouldn’t recognize him. Shocked and heartbroken, he wondered what had happened to her that she couldn’t recognize him.

Thinking of this, Lin Qing felt an additional layer of resentment toward his own parents. If they hadn’t sold his sister while he was away studying, how could things have turned out like this? Besides, it wasn’t as if the household was struggling to get by that they had to sell his sister. It was just to gather enough money for his tuition to Songshan Academy. Hadn’t he said he would find a way himself? Moreover, even if he wished to study, there were other academies; it didn’t have to be Songshan Academy. Faced with his sister’s bewildered look, Lin Qing felt even more guilty and self-reproachful.

Seeing the incredulous look on Lin Qing’s face and his silence, Lin Yue apologized, "I’m sorry, I fell ill before, nearly lost my life, and when I woke up, I could no longer remember what happened in the past. You look like you knew me from before; could you tell me who you are?"

Lin Yue said this with a good feeling about the person before her, as something about him gave her a sense of intimacy.

"Yueyue, my sister, I am Lin Qing, your brother, don’t you recognize me anymore? What on earth happened to you to become like this?" Lin Qing said, turning his gaze to Zhao Erhu with full fury and condemnation, as if he had already determined that it was because of Zhao Erhu, that this man must have abused his sister; otherwise, why would she have fallen ill to the point that she nearly lost her life.

"Brother? My real brother?" Lin Yue raised her eyebrows, as it was the first time she had met the original host’s family from her mother’s side.

"Of course, you are my own sister, how could I possibly mistake that." Lin Qing thought Lin Yue didn’t believe him.

"Oh, did you come here for something?" Hearing that the man in front of her was her brother, Lin Yue’s expression grew indifferent. Although she didn’t know how the previous family had treated the original host, considering the host’s frail body, long-term malnutrition, and what Zhao Erhu had told her about how she was sold by her family, she could glean some understanding.

If before she could have excused her worthless parents’ behavior as them being so poor that they had no food to eat, which led to selling her, now seeing her own brother Lin Qing, observing his vitality and his attire did not look like someone from a family too poor to eat. Moreover, in those days, only those with some surplus at home could afford to study; they might not be rich, but at the very least, they could afford the high cost of the academy fees—how could they resort to selling their daughter?

"Nothing much, I just came to see you and to know if you are doing well?" Lin Qing had a thousand words in his heart to say, but facing his sister who looked at him with such strange eyes, he could only say this.

"I am doing very well now, you can go. The day they sold me for fifteen taels of silver, they already signed the deed. From then on, I belong only to the Zhao Family, I have nothing to do with the Lin Family anymore, nor do I have so-called family from my mother’s side, so you don’t need to come to find me anymore." Lin Yue was not the original host; although she did not harbor resentment in her heart towards their act, she also no longer wished to have any relationship with such family members.

"Xiaoyue, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. If not for the academic fees I needed to pay, father and mother would not have... When I returned home and learned of the news, it was already too late, and they refused to tell me where you had been married off to. It was only recently that I found out you married such a husband who has outlived two wives, and then I found my way here."

Seeing Lin Qing like this, Lin Yue actually felt anxious for this sister of hers. The original host wasn’t so unfortunate; despite how bad her family might be, she still had a brother who cared for her. However, the original host was gone now, and the current Lin Yue did not want to have too much entanglement with the past, so she had to decline this sibling affection.

"So what now? Even if what you say is true, what’s the point of discussing it after what has already happened? Just go, and don’t come looking for me again. I’m living a quite good life now."

"Sister, I know you must still be angry with me, and that’s why you’re saying such things out of spite. How could anyone have a good life with a widower who has outlasted two wives and has four children? I can’t bear to watch you live like this. Moreover, don’t you remember Jiang Wenshu, your betrothed? He’s still waiting for you. He told me he doesn’t care that you’ve been married; as long as you return, he will still marry you according to your agreement."