After sending the two old men and the Village Chief off, Chu Nanzhi returned to the kitchen to wash the dishes and then she cleaned the house.
Today's meal had used up all the meat and vegetables she had bought.
She would have to buy some more tomorrow.
She remembered that Lin Jinxiao used to raise some chickens and ducks in the courtyard, but the Host had either sold or killed all of them.
Now, not even a feather was left
After Lin Jinxiao lost his job at the county office last year, he had tried to plant some rice, fruits, vegetables, and so on. However, the Host had uprooted all of them when they were still seedlings.
The Host felt that even if he did not want to improve himself as a scholar, he should not degenerate to become a farmer. She offered to give the fields that Liu Yun had provided as a dowry to her brother-in-law, Liu Shuyang, to repay his gambling debts.
The Host destroyed anything that Lin Jinxiao did. In the end, Lin Jinxiao had despaired and did not try anything else.
Staring at the empty courtyard, Chu Nanzhi also felt despair.
They were really waiting to die.
This family would have starved to death without Liu Yun's help.
But in the future, she would not let Liu Yun worry about this family again.
Right now, her priority was to help Lin Jinxiao recover from his leg injury as soon as possible.
With that thought, she took out all the medicine she had bought.
Being sick in these days was no different from in her era. She watched as her money flowed away.
She had bought so much food for less than a hundred coppers, but this medicine had cost her more than five taels of silver. It was ridiculously expensive.
She found a jar to brew the medicine, then poured the medicine for internal injuries into it. She added some water and added plenty of firewood so the medicine would boil.
When she returned to the hall, the four children had already run to the courtyard to play while Lin Jinxiao went to the inner room to rest.
She was a little tired after a long morning.
She lay on the table and took a nap. Not long after, she was woken up by a strong medicinal fragrance.
She ran into the kitchen and quickly smothered the fire. She took a bowl and poured the medicinal soup into it. When it had cooled down a little, she got ready to bring it to Lin Jinxiao.
As soon as she walked out of the kitchen, she saw Lin Jinxiao leaning on his cane, staring at her. "What are you trying to do?"
Chu Nanzhi saw that he did not look too good and thought that she had embarrassed him in front of his teachers that day. He was sulking, so she put on a friendly and gentle air to please him.
"I bought some medicine for you today. It's freshly prepared. Drink it while it's hot."
As she spoke, she walked over to him with the bowl of medicine and smiled. "Come, drink the medicine."
After all, he had to agree to the divorce in the future.
She must prevent him from hating her again.
To her surprise, Lin Jinxiao's handsome face immediately darkened, and his thick brows furrowed.
"What… what are you doing? I… I won't drink it."
After being married for more than five years, this was the first time he had seen her so attentive.
Li Ce was the one who had brewed the medicine for him a few days ago. After the woman came back with some silver, she chased him into the room without asking about his injury.
He had stopped taking medicine two days ago and she had pretended not to notice. Why would she be so kind today?
The children were not here.
He was a little afraid and clumsily retreated with his walking stick.
"What's wrong with you? I told you to drink the medicine. Why are you hiding? It'll get cold soon."
Chu Nanzhi was puzzled and she carried the medicine and advanced towards him.
"Go away. Don't come near me."
Lin Jinxiao was so frightened that his face was ashen.
No wonder she had been acting so abnormally these past few days. She was probably waiting for an opportunity like today.
This evil woman must have felt that he had not listened to her in the past. She held a grudge against him and even despaired of her own life. That was why she had done away with Priest Ximen first, and now she wanted to kill him with her own hands.
When he was working in the county office, he had heard of evil women who hated their husbands. They pretended to please their husbands so that the latter would let down their guard. In the end, they poisoned their husbands, then committed suicide to die with them.
He could not let this evil woman succeed.
At that moment, the four children were tired of playing and returned to the house. When they saw what was going on, they were so frightened that they immediately ran to Lin Jinxiao and shouted at Chu Nanzhi,
"Don't you dare hurt my father."
Lin Ruijia were so frightened that she started crying. "Boohoo, I want my father. Don't harm him."
Chu Nanzhi finally understood. So this family was worried that she had added poison to the medicine.
She was so angry that she almost vomited blood.
I feel even more wronged than Dou'E.
She angrily took a big gulp and said loudly, "It's not poisoned."
Then, she huffily placed the bowl on the wooden table in the hall and returned to her room.
Outside the room, Lin Ruiwen picked up the bowl of medicine and handed it to Lin Jinxiao. "Father, the bad woman drank it herself. She definitely didn't poison it. Hurry up and drink it."
Lin Ruijia wiped her tears and pouted. "Father, did we wrong her?"
Lin Jinxiao drank the medicine slowly with an incredulous expression.
What was she trying to do?
In the room, Chu Nanzhi was lying on the bed and sulking. She felt that this family had persecution mania.
However, when she thought of the divorce, she gritted her teeth and endured it.
She believed that the days of freedom and prosperity would soon arrive.
After resting in bed for two hours, she was not too hungry. However, thinking that the children were still growing, she got up and went to the kitchen to heat up the chicken soup from lunch and bring it to the dining table.
Then, she took the bowls and chopsticks and prepared to call Lin Jinxiao and the four children to eat.
Unexpectedly, when Lin Ruiwen came out and saw a pot of chicken soup on the table, he was instantly displeased. He said angrily, "I want to eat stir-fried vegetables."
"Fry them yourself then."
Chu Nanzhi was angry when she saw that this brat was very rude and unreasonable. She slammed the bowl on the table and sat down huffily.
When the children saw this, they were so frightened that they immediately started crying loudly.
Lin Ruiwen cried and muttered, "Bad woman."
Lin Jinxiao's face darkened, but he just stood there and did not stop them.
Chu Nanzhi's anger surged as she glared at him and scolded,
"Brother Lin, how much do you think I owe your family? Yes, I admit that I was a little muddle-headed in the past, but is that all my fault? I have no objections if you want to be like your two teachers, but I'm just a woman. Is it wrong for me to want a better life?"
Even as she spoke, she felt that this was not really what she wanted to say.
It seemed that the Host's resentment was too strong.
Lin Jinxiao also felt bad after hearing her words.
It was true that in the past, he had only cared about his way of thinking and had not considered her feelings.
However, the way she vented her anger was too inappropriate.
That was also the main reason why their marriage had reached a dead end.
Chu Nanzhi continued, "I don't care if you let the children treat me like this. I deserve it. But are you going to teach the children to interact with others like this in the future?"
Lin Jinxiao was stunned when he heard that.
In the past, he did not have the time to care about these things. Now that he thought about it, the children had not been properly brought up.
He pulled Lin Ruiwen over and lectured him earnestly, "Lin Ruiwen, you're not to behave like that again."
Then, he glanced at the other children. "You're not allowed to cry either. Eat your dinner properly."
The four children wiped their tears and looked at each other. In the end, they stopped sobbing and obediently picked up their bowls and chopsticks to drink the chicken soup.
After the meal, Chu Nanzhi remembered the injury on the Lin Ruijia's arm and got some medicine to treat her injuries. Lin Ruijia was no longer so resistant towards her. When she heard that Chu Nanzhi wanted to apply medicine for her, she obediently allowed the bad woman to put some medicine on her arm.
Lin Ruiwen and Lin Ruixi were jealous when they saw that the bad woman was only applying medicine for Lin Ruijia. However, they did not dare to say it out loud in front of the bad woman. When the bad woman returned to her room, they secretly took the medicine and ran to the inner room to ask Lin Jinxiao apply it for them.