The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 90 Restlessness

It wasn’t until Lady Jiang had finished preparing lunch that, by all accounts, Lady Lin and Wang Yongfu should have returned home to eat, but even as the food was almost getting cold, there was still no sign of either of them.

Old Granny Zhang’s face didn’t show it, but she felt smug inside. She hadn’t expected this trick to work so well. Was Eldest Brother Wang’s household too busy to even come back for lunch?

But then she thought another thought, what does it mean for this woman not to eat and to keep her husband from eating as well?

Her face darkened again.

It was Wang Laozhu who finally tapped the table, "Jindou, go to the fields and see why your parents haven’t come back for lunch yet. These past few days, the weeding has been almost finished. There’s no need to work so hard."

Jindou answered and hurried outside. Just as he made it to the courtyard, he ran straight into Lady Lin.

"Mom, you’re back. Where’s Dad?"

Lady Lin’s eyes darted evasively, but she remained composed, "Your dad is still in the fields. There’s a small patch of weeds he hasn’t finished hoeing. He told me to come back first, and he’ll be back after he’s done. Have you all eaten yet?"

Jindou quickly took the hoe from Lady Lin’s hand, "We haven’t eaten yet; we’ve all been waiting for you two. Mom, go wash your hands and eat."

With that, he went inside.

Lady Lin washed her hands at the well with an uneasy mind. freeweɓnøvel~com

All morning, she had dragged her husband out of the house. Wang Yongfu had been reluctant at first, but Lady Lin knew her husband well. As long as he didn’t talk back to his parents or speak ill of his sister-in-law, he would do almost anything she asked. He was a good man who doted on his wife.

So, Lady Lin didn’t say anything else and just wiped her tears, saying life was hard, and that they needed to save some private money for their son’s marriage. After all, they weren’t going to do anything unscrupulous, right?

Besides, what lay in the mountains was ownerless; whoever found it could claim it. Why should they concede it to outsiders?

She had pried the information from her sons the night before; she even had a general direction of where the yams were. How could she possibly give up?

As soon as Wang Yongfu heard Lady Lin mention their son’s marriage, the words of refusal he planned to say were swallowed down.

He knew this had been Lady Lin’s preoccupation for the past two years.

He also knew he was a simple man, and besides working in the fields, he had no other skills. To marry off his son to a good wife and have a respectable wedding without relying on his parents would be difficult. There were too many children in the family, and his parents couldn’t just consider one branch. There were several younger siblings to think about as well.

Moreover, his wife had the children’s best interests at heart.

After much hesitation, he ultimately couldn’t overrule Lady Lin and nodded in agreement.

The fog was thick in the mountains, and worried about insects and snakes, Wang Yongfu was reluctant to have Lady Lin accompany him. Thinking he’d put in more effort and finish digging the yams early, he planned to carry them down the mountain to prevent further issues.

Lady Lin was also mindful that the weeds in the fields weren’t yet cleared. If both of them went, and their parents-in-law discovered the work was incomplete, wouldn’t that give them away?

After some thought, she gave Wang Yongfu a rough idea of where the wild yams were and repeatedly cautioned him about insects and snakes before the couple parted.

Her mind was torn between her husband in the mountains and the wild yams. As she hoed the weeds, she’d often turn to look towards the mountains, calculating that her husband should have found the spot by now.

Then she’d estimate that he should have dug up a basketful by now.

Distracted, she accidentally hoed several crops before snapping back to reality, quickly covering up the evidence of the ruined plants, not daring to let her mind wander again.

She worked hard to finish the day’s tasks. Looking at the sky, the sun was directly overhead; lunch at home would have long been ready by now.

Glancing towards the mountains again, she saw no sign of her husband.

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Could it be there were so many yams that her man still hadn’t finished digging them up?

Lady Lin was concerned, noticing the time was nearly up; she needed to head back to provide a cover.

Hastily gathering her hoe, she deliberately detoured to the base of the mountain, hoping to run into her man.

Instead, she saw a young lad hurrying down the mountain path, running past her with his head down.

She recognized the figure from behind as vaguely familiar, but couldn’t recall his name at the moment, so she could only shout, "Whose child is that? Did you see my man up on the mountain? My man is Wang Family’s Eldest Brother Wang Yongfu—"

The young lad didn’t turn his head, just shook it and continued to run off into the distance.

Lady Lin wanted to ask more, but the lad was quick on his feet, disappearing after rounding a bend in just a few steps.

She could only spitefully spit and look again towards the mountain, still seeing no sign of Wang Yongfu.

Thinking she needed to go back and deceive her in-laws first, Lady Lin, although worried, hurried home.

She had thought everyone would have eaten by now and that she could just be quiet, sneak into the kitchen to grab some food, then secretly slip out the door to meet up with her husband on the mountain, and the matter would be concealed.

Who would have thought that nobody had eaten yet and they were all waiting? How was she supposed to explain this?

If she said Wang Yongfu was still busy in the fields, she’d surely get scolded by her mother-in-law, and if she mentioned Wang Yongfu had gone to the mountain, she’d certainly get lectured by her father-in-law.

Either way, she couldn’t win!

Lady Lin simply steeled her heart and entered the house.

As expected, Old Granny Zhang rolled her eyes and asked, "Why have you come back first? Where’s your man?"

"There was a bit of grass left in the field that wasn’t hoed, the father of my child said it would delay him to come back and eat, so he sent me back first to inform you, saying he would come back once he finished up," Lady Lin replied meekly.

Old Granny Zhang slammed the bowl on the table, "What are you good for? The field work isn’t finished, and you didn’t tell your man to come back first so you could tidy up the rest? You still have the face to come back first? How can you be so heartless, running back home to eat and leaving your man out there in such hot weather? Are you trying to work him to death? What good does it do you if your man wears himself out? You lazy wife—"

Wang Laozhu also frowned, wondering what was wrong with Eldest Brother’s family today, who had gone out so early before dawn to work and still hadn’t returned? That’s not right.

"I went to check the field yesterday, and for that remaining patch, both of you hoeing the weeds, it would only take two hours to finish, so why hasn’t he come back by now?" he said.

Wang Laozhu hadn’t been feeling too well these days and hadn’t been able to do the heavy farm work, which Eldest Brother and Laosi had taken on. When he felt slightly better, he couldn’t help but worry and always went to the field every afternoon, only then could he rest easy.

Therefore, he knew exactly how much work was left in the fields.

Hearing Lady Lin’s words, for just that bit of field, two people dawdling until noon and still not finished, what had they been doing all morning?

Lady Lin stood up, tucked the buns meant for her and Wang Yongfu into her bosom, "I understand my mistake, Mother, I’ll go deliver food to the father of my child now and come back after hoeing the weeds."

With that, she hurried out the door.

Everyone exchanged glances, puzzled by what was going on.

Wang Yongzhu, seeing Lady Lin’s sneaky behavior and how she avoided giving straight answers, knew that Lady Lin and Wang Yongfu must be hiding something from everyone.

Using the intelligence of a former top student, Lady Lin must have coerced her honest eldest brother to go up to the mountain.

Yesterday’s discovery must have tempted Lady Lin, and she probably asked Jindou and the others, who surely wouldn’t keep it from Lady Lin. It seemed that yam field on the mountain was likely to be dug clean.

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