A Good Country Wife-Chapter 595 - 589_1

"Looking at me like that, do you not recognize your own husband? Or are you scared and frightened, hmm?" Zhao Erhu asked gently, rubbing his little wife’s head with movements extra soft.

Lin Yue shook her head without speaking, but Zhao Erhu did not regret showing his other side to his little wife. Some things had to be faced sooner or later. The woman before him was his little wife, with whom he was to spend his lifetime. Some things simply couldn’t be kept secret forever. Moreover, Zhao Erhu didn’t want to live a life full of secrets and concealment, at least not at home with his family, where he could relax completely without concern. Besides, his previous reservation was only because he didn’t want his little wife to worry, not because he had done anything wrong.

It was only because Lin Yue saw that look on Zhao Erhu’s face that she was taken aback for a moment. How could she really be scared? Removing Zhao Erhu’s hand that rested on her head, she said, "Scared? How is that possible! Don’t you know what kind of person your wife is? I wasn’t even scared in front of the Emperor, so how could I be scared by you? That would be too pathetic. It’s just that I find you’ve changed a lot. If you had shown this determination before, how could the Wei Family’s mother and son and your aunt dare to bully you? Life would have been much easier."

"I just couldn’t be bothered to argue with them, after all, what kind of man would I be to quarrel with women? So I let them be. I just didn’t expect that by ignoring them, I’d let them get even more out of line. Now I understand the principle behind it, and such things will certainly not happen again."

Zhao Erhu felt a wave of emotion in his heart. If he had understood some things sooner, like his attitude and approach to the Wei Family’s mother and son and those top-grade relatives, perhaps the outcome with his first two wives would’ve been different. Even when it came to the flirtatious Li Family, he couldn’t blame her alone. She was driven to those circumstances. Otherwise, what woman would want such a reputation? But if it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have been able to marry his little wife. So it’s said, with gain there comes loss, and with loss, there is gain. Worldly matters are difficult to define clearly. For him, the gains were definitely greater than the losses. Not to mention the Zhao Family and the Li Family, even if he added several more people, he would not want to exchange them for his little wife. He even wished that from the very beginning, there would have only been his little wife.

Thinking of this, Zhao Erhu’s hand unconsciously found its way to Lin Yue’s head again—a habitual gesture. Lin Yue tolerated it once, but not a second time, "I’ve told you not to keep touching my hair. Why can’t you remember? No wonder I never grow taller. You’ve messed up my hair too. Really annoying!"

Zhao Erhu just looked at Lin Yue and laughed. The fact that his little wife wasn’t afraid of him gave him real comfort and joy. Although he had always considered his little wife’s temperament to be that of a female hero, who would not be frightened by such a trifle, what worried him more was that she would worry for him. He feared she might be fretting at home when he went to sea. But after confirming his little wife’s reaction, any hint of worry in Zhao Erhu’s heart vanished.

"What’s there to fear about mess? I’ll just comb it again for you. When you first came over, you couldn’t even comb the simplest bun, and I was the one who helped you." Saying this, Zhao Erhu let out a few muffled chuckles, as if reminiscing about the past. He missed, after all, how silly and clumsy his little wife was back then. Now she was much smarter and not as obedient and pliable as before.

Lin Yue was well aware of Zhao Erhu’s strange hobbies, possibly even perverse delight. During that period, Zhao Erhu’s favorite thing was to comb her hair, dress her up, and handle everything himself, as if he was doing something extremely important. And every time he finished, he’d be extremely happy, proudly admiring his own masterpiece. Even now, Zhao Erhu’s habit hadn’t changed, only that with more people in the house, he had to restrain himself in front of the servants. But whenever there was time, he still liked to meddle with her grooming. Sometimes, he would prepare the clothes to wear for the next day the night before, instructing her to wear them the following morning.

"That’s enough about your skills. Back then, there was no one to serve, so I just had to make do with you. But now that we have Nurse Xu and Xixi, and other servant girls to attend to me, I don’t need you anymore."

"Tsk tsk, wife, you’re burning the bridge after crossing the river, discarding the old for the new."

"You’re using the phrase wrong!" Lin Yue glared at Zhao Erhu, "Stop messing with my hair, and let’s talk about serious matters. That matter with the fruit merchant isn’t settled yet."

After discussing Master Wei’s situation, Lin Yue circled back to the fruit merchant. After all, so many fruit trees, even if they weren’t honey orange trees, the deal was still doable with other types of fruit trees, but some price adjustments would be necessary. She also intended to teach the fruit merchant a lesson, to let him know that their family wasn’t one to be deceived.

"Right, did you go see the fruit trees the merchant sent to Xin’an City? Do you recognize what kind of trees they are? Are they of any use?" Lin Yue asked in this way, with the thought of making a windfall. After all, Dazhou was a backward ancient country, and some species that the common people had not heard of or did not know how to use were unrecognized. She heard that those seedlings looked very similar to honey orange trees and only somebody experienced in farming could distinguish them, which gave her the idea.

Perhaps they weren’t honey orange trees but possibly other fruit trees like pomelos, oranges, or lemons—which, when young, looked quite similar. An unrecognized person naturally couldn’t tell them apart, but they were indeed fruit trees, no mistake. If that was the case, buying the batch of trees was still worthwhile. After all, her aim was to grow fruit trees, not limited to just honey oranges; having more varieties was even better for perhaps creating new foods.

If they were lemons, it would be even better. The fruit jam production at home had to use another sour juice as a substitute because they couldn’t find lemons. Although it was still popular and everyone enjoyed it, they hadn’t tasted the authentic version, which should be made with lemon juice. And Lin Yue always felt the flavor was missing something compared to what she had eaten before. Thinking of this, Lin Yue was even more eager to know what those trees were and wanted to see them herself. After all, she recognized these kinds of fruit trees and could distinguish them.

"Zhao Erhu, since you know about it, what do you plan to do with the fruit merchant? Have you replied to him yet? I want to see this batch of fruit trees first. Perhaps there’s something I want among them. The family he contacted previously wanted honey orange trees, but he didn’t say his weren’t fruit trees."

Zhao Erhu by now understood Lin Yue well enough, and, given Lin Yue’s clear explanation that there might be fruit trees she wanted among them, they couldn’t miss this opportunity. He had to get them for his little wife.