Dragging her painfully throbbing leg, Lin Suier struggled for a long time before finally making it back to her courtyard gate.
A dim line of yellow light from the oil lamp in the main hall shone through the crack in the door, and she could vaguely hear her mother-in-law talking to someone.
As she reached out to push the door, it creaked open.
Inside, Madam Zhou was sitting by the Eight Immortals table, mending an old long robe by the light of the oil lamp.
Beside her sat Aunt Zhang from next door, the two chatting idly.
Hearing the door, Madam Zhou looked up—and the needle and thread in her hand dropped onto her lap with a plop.
“Oh, heavens above!”
Her voice was sharp and loud as she sprang to her feet and strode to the doorway, blocking most of the light, casting a shadow over Lin Suier.
Her eyes swept over Lin Suier from head to toe.
“Where on earth have you been? Crawling through someone’s stove or rolling in a mud pit? Look at you! Your hair’s like a chicken nest, your face all smeared with dirt—what happened to your foot? Don’t tell me someone broke it!”
Aunt Zhang craned her neck to look as well, letting out an “Oh my.”
Lin Suier felt dizzy from the barrage of scolding, her fingers gripping the doorframe tightly.
“Mother… I accidentally… slipped down a slope. I twisted my ankle…”
“Twisted it?” Madam Zhou’s voice rose even higher. “Are you made of paper or clay? You can’t even walk a mountain path without falling? Are you a three-year-old child? Where are the wild vegetables? The ones you were supposed to dig? Don’t tell me you lost them all in one fall!”
She bent down, grabbed the basket, and held it under the lamp to inspect it closely, her mouth still running.
“Let me see… oh! Just this little? Who’s this enough for? Not even enough to fill a tooth gap! And you stayed out until dark for this? I thought you’d bring back a whole mountain of greens!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, slamming the basket onto the ground.
“Aunt Zhang, look at this! Tell me if this makes any sense! I send her out to do something useful to help the household, and she comes back like this! Dinner’s not made, the work’s not done, and she’s crippled herself! Isn’t she just trying to make things harder for me?”
With her leg injured, who would fetch water tomorrow?
Who would wash clothes? Feed the chickens?
Who would work the fields?
Aunt Zhang looked awkward under the torrent of complaints, forcing a small smile as she rubbed her hands. “Madam Zhou, calm down… from the looks of it, Suier really did fall badly. That ankle of hers is quite swollen…”
Living next door, she often heard Madam Zhou scolding her daughter-in-law—even through the earthen wall.
And this Chen family wife was gentle by nature; she had never once talked back.
Lin Suier’s face burned—half from shame, half from the cold sweat of pain.
“Mother… I didn’t mean to. The slope was steep, and the moss was slippery…”
“Didn’t mean to? So that makes it fine?” Madam Zhou snapped, her finger nearly poking Lin Suier’s nose.
“I think you’re just being lazy on purpose! Deliberately dawdling until this hour to avoid work! Don’t you know Wenqi exhausts himself studying at night? There’s still no dinner ready! Are you trying to starve your husband—or me, an old woman? What sin did our Chen family commit to bring home such a useless—”
Before she could finish, the curtain to the west room was suddenly lifted with a swish.
Chen Wenqi stepped out, frowning, still holding a book in his hand.
“Mother, what is all this noise outside? I am studying the classics, and this is quite—”
He stopped mid-sentence.
His gaze fell on Lin Suier, standing disheveled at the doorway.
The oil lamp wasn’t very bright, but it was enough for him to see her clearly.
Her hair was loose, her once fair and delicate face smeared with streaks of dirt.
Most striking was her right foot—her ankle swollen like a steamed bun.
Chen Wenqi’s brows knotted tightly.
He stepped forward a few paces, his voice filled with irritation and displeasure.
“This… this is utterly improper! How did you end up in such a state?”
Hearing her husband’s voice, Lin Suier felt like a drowning person grabbing onto driftwood. She lifted her head abruptly, looking at him with pleading eyes.
“Husband… I slipped and fell. My foot hurts terribly…”
Chen Wenqi didn’t respond immediately. His gaze swept over her once more.
Back when he had earned his xiucai degree, many families had come to propose marriage.
Yet he had refused them all.
Why?
Because he had taken a liking to Lin Suier.
Simply because she was beautiful.
Since entering the household, aside from not bearing a son, she had little fault to find.
So he still held some affection for her.
With that thought, Chen Wenqi cleared his throat, his tone softening slightly.
“How could you be so careless? Mountain paths are treacherous. As a woman, you should have been more cautious. Is the injury serious? Are the bones alright?”
The last two sentences finally carried a hint of concern.
But Madam Zhou couldn’t hold back any longer and cut in sharply.
“Ask her? What would a woman know about injuries to bones and sinews! Wenqi, just look—this is all she brought back!”
She kicked the basket on the ground.
“There’s not even a trace of dinner yet! Your wife is becoming more and more useless!”