A Good Country Wife

"Alright," the butcher responded nimbly as he finished cutting the meat, weighed it, and it turned out to be just over five pounds. He simply rounded it down and packed the meat.

Since there was a significant price difference between fatty and lean meat, the butcher, being an honest man, had precisely five pounds of fat without a trace of lean meat. This made Lin Yue feel queasy; she had never liked fatty meat since she was a child. "Brother Erhu, let's get some lean meat instead."

Such a small request Zhao Erhu naturally wouldn't refuse. He asked the butcher to weigh out two pounds of lean meat. He had also wanted to buy a pig's trotter to make a nourishing stew for Lin Yue, but unfortunately, they were sold out. Besides pork, only offal and bones that had been scraped clean without a trace of meat were left.

Recalling how in novels she had read before, offal in ancient times was given away for free because no one wanted it, and it became the secret to the heroine's wealth, Lin Yue's thoughts shifted, and she asked, "Brother, how much for the offal?"

The unsold offal and bones at the meat stall indicated their lack of popularity. With few buyers, they were not free, but they were still edibles, just much cheaper than the pork. "The bones are one coin per pound, and the price of the offal depends on what you buy. If you buy just the lungs, it's three coins per set, while both the liver and heart are two coins each. If you buy them all together, eight coins in total," he explained.

In fact, besides what the butcher mentioned, other parts like the stomach, large intestines, and kidneys were hardly ever purchased. These parts had a strong taste, and altogether they would cost just one more coin, which many people weren't even willing to pay. But for Lin Yue, the price of eight coins for a pound of the entire set of offal was a good deal, especially since she liked to eat them.

Zhao Erhu saw Lin Yue wanted to buy the offal and his brows furrowed. In his opinion, these were not good foods; they were unbeneficial to the body. He thought his wife only wanted to buy them to save money and because they were cheap. How could he let his wife consume such things? "Niuniu, these aren't tasty and are flavorless without fat. We don't eat this. Brother Erhu bought so much meat; I'll make you a meat dish at home," he insisted.

"Brother Erhu, I really like these. Please buy them for me, please? Look, we can get so much for just eight coins," Lin Yue cajoled, thinking Zhao Erhu was worried about wasting silver coins, which only convinced him further that his wife wanted to buy the offal to save money. However, looking into his wife's dark, hopeful eyes, Zhao Erhu found himself unable to resist.

In the end, Zhao Erhu couldn't stick to his principles. He bought all the offal and bones for the price of ten coins. It wasn't because Lin Yue described the offal as particularly tasty—he had eaten it before and knew exactly what it tasted like. But he couldn't refuse his wife's persistence. It wasn't right to throw away food they had paid for; if worst came to worst, his wife could eat the meat, and he'd eat the offal.

Such an enormous fat pig produced a large basket brimming with offal and large bones, which had to be contained in a borrowed basket from the butcher, because there was nothing else to use. Next time Old Man Chen went into the city, he could just bring it back.

Lin Yue went to the general store to buy needles, threads, and various other small items. After a day of shopping, by the time they took the oxcart back to the village in the afternoon, most of the items on the cart belonged to them, almost too many to fit. The village women eyed the abundance Lin Yue had purchased with undeniable envy, especially when they saw the fine cotton fabric, thinking how tough the man must be, yet so tender towards his wife. Which other man would willingly spend money to buy such quality fabric for his wife?

How could Lin Yue not feel that glaring jealousy and envy? She maintained her composure, but inside she was on high alert. One must never underestimate the jealousy of these women. Fortunately, they had camouflaged their goods quite well before loading them onto the oxcart; the grains were tightly wrapped in burlap sacks, concealing their contents.

"Oh, big sister, those burlap sacks must be filled with grain, seem quite heavy. Erhuzi really dotes on his wife, doesn't he? You've only been married a few days and he's eagerly bought so much grain to take home, afraid that you won't have enough to eat," a chubby woman said with a sour tone, her shrill voice unpleasant to the ears.

Zhao Erhu had already informed Lin Yue of the identities of the few women who had ridden the oxcart into the city with them and specifically advised her not to interact with this corpulent woman, fearing that Lin Yue would be at a disadvantage. The woman, known in the village as a shrew, was Li Guihua, the wife of Zhao Er Gou. She was notorious for her sharp tongue and love for gossip, and judging by her words, her intentions were malicious. Any misstep in response from Lin Yue could tarnish her reputation.

"Look at how Aunt Guihua talks, but what does it have to do with me? Our home really ran out of cooking grains, so we came to the market today planning to buy some. Fortunately, we found some cheap grains on sale, inferior white rice for only eight coins per jin, though a bit moist and moldy. But what does it matter? Wash it, dry it, and it's perfectly edible, right? The key point is that the rice is cheap, so Brother Erhu thought it wise to buy more since we might not encounter such a bargain again."

Lin Yue finished speaking with the air of someone who had landed a great deal, causing Li Guihua to scoff. Her earlier envy vanished, thinking the Erhu family lacked sophistication. No wonder they came from a poor place; even if moldy rice cost her eight coins per jin, or even if it was gifted to her, she would not eat it.

Zhao Erhu, having suffered from the village's gossip and slander, knew the hardship these long-haired but short-sighted women could cause. He feared his wife might be too honest and reveal too much, but before he could stop her, Lin Yue had already started speaking. Seeing Lin Yue lie to Li Guihua without showing any sign of embarrassment or breathlessness, Zhao Erhu breathed a sigh of relief and gained new respect for his wife. She might be timid but not naive; even Li Guihua was fooled by her. Otherwise, if people found out they had purchased so much medium quality white rice, it wouldn't be long before several villagers showed up at their doorstep during a famine, looking to take advantage of them.

"Erhu's wife, what's in that big basket? I saw you two at the meat stall earlier, there must be meat inside," said a skinny and tall woman sitting next to Li Guihua, a widow named Zhang, who had a keen interest in Zhao Erhu. Since she herself was a widow, she didn't believe in the superstitious talk about 'husband-killing', and was determined to marry Zhao Erhu. Unfortunately, he did not reciprocal the sentiment. Despite this, Widow Zhang had not given up hope until Zhao Erhu brought Lin Yue into the household, which forced her to face reality. Naturally, she held disdain for Lin Yue, who had stolen 'her' man, and the obvious adoration from Zhao Erhu only added to her heartache and jealousy. Why should this woman be so lucky as to marry the man she wanted? All this should have been hers.