Chapter 181 - Not A Simple Woman
Madam Zhang who had her sleeves rolled immediately jumped in fright when she saw the dangerous expression on Lin Chen 's face . Among the five brothers Lin Chen 's temper was the easiest to flare and hardest to quell , The last time Lin Chen got mad , he broke their entire family's crockery - his words were simply yet ruthless ' if my family can't eat then you can also forget about eating ! We will starve to death together !'.
Of course Grandma Lin forced Lin Jing and Lin Yan to but new bowls and chopsticks but Madam Zhang haven't forgotten that if Lin Chen was angry , he was the type who wouldn't hesitate to kill himself in the process of killing his enemy !
So , she hurriedly plastered a smile on her face and said " what do you mean , Ah Chen ? Don't listen to that girl's nonsense what snatching things ? We were just here to have some chat and eat lunch with your mother … and of course we asked for some help from your mother since your uncle is hurt .. nothing else "
Madam Zhang had long seen the big fish and fat eels that Lin Chen brought with him , the fishes were so big that they could easily cook soup and porridge with eat - and the fat eels , as long as they were cooked together with a bunch of wild vegetables and spices , they would taste good as well . Just the thought alone was enough to make Madam Zhang and Grandma Lin swallow their saliva .
Thinking about their family's condition , Madam Zhang was both angry and anxious . The last time she was able to eat meat was when Lin Che was still at home - after that even eating meat became a feat in their house . Madam Zhang was greedy and petty , Lin Yunxi and Lin Ze were the same - every time they cooked meat at their house they wanted to eat the most out of it .
So last week when they cooked the left over cured meat from Su Wan and Lin brothers wedding , they only gave a bowl to Grandma Lin and ate the rest without even leaving a single bone for Lin Zhi who have gone out to pick wild vegetables ..
They thought they were being smart , after they cleaned the evidence but Lin Zhi was even smarter than them . The second she returned back home , she smelled the scent of cooked meat , and checked the left over meat that was kept in the kitchen at once .
Because that piece of cured meat was the last of their left over , it didn't take long for Lin Zhi to find out that they have cooked and eaten it , leaving nothing behind . At that time Lin Zhi said nothing but instead she took the wild vegetables in her room and locked herself in - Madam Zhang thought that the matter have passed and her sister in law had to swallow this bitter pill in silence .
But when the night fell and she went to take her family's dinner in the kitchen , did she realised how wrong she was !
Lin Zhi didn't create a scene but she didn't do anything else , the chicks were not fed and their family's pig were groaning in hunger . Even the dishes in which they ate breakfast weren't clean , of course Madam Zhang went to Lin Zhi's room and started hollering curses .
But Lin Zhi wasn't Lin Jing and his brother who cared about her reputation because of her sister in law , she was sold to a rich old man for twenty taels and already lost both her reputation and virtue . After the death of that old man , his official wife kicked out every single concubine of his and Lin Zhi came back - at first Grandma Lin didn't want to take in Lin Zhi but Lin Zhi threatened to tell the entire village that it was because of Lin Che's education that she - his aunt was sold of to a seventy year old man .
Being threatened like that Grandma Lin and Madam Zhang didn't have any other option but to take Lin Zhi back in their house. They connected great importance to Lin Che 's education thus if the matter of them selling Lin Zhi to sponsor Lin Che's education became known then how will Lin Chen become an official with such a huge smudge on his character ?
All in all Lin Zhi was a woman who had seen it all , she have lived with the official wife and was able to get away with her face and body intact . Thus , she wasn't as simple to deal with compared to Lin Jing and his brothers who worried about their reputation . Lin Zhi had nothing to lose , so when Madam Zhang hollered curses at her - Lin Zhi responded with even more vulgar and hard to listen curses , she clearly dropped the ultimatum that if she wasn't given the same food to eat as they were eating then she won't work . She clearly told off Madam Zhang that she was not Zhao Lan who would work everyday and let them eat meat while she ate rice gruel , either they all eat the same thing or neither of them ate anything and since they ate so much meat , her family had more strength so they so go and hunt wild vegetables to eat because she won't cook .
That night no matter how much Madam Zhang cursed or kicked Lin Zhi 's door , the latter didn't open her door and in the end Madam Zhang had to return to her room and sleep on an empty stomach . Madam Zhang was pampered by her father , even though they weren't well to do , her father insisted that everyone ate three meals a day . So , she was used to eat three meals a day , it was bad enough that after marrying Lin Ze , her three were dropped to two meals but what was even more awful that she had to sleep on an empty stomach ! That night , Madam Zhang 's stomach twisted so much that she couldn't sleep .
And after that farce , no one ate meat at home . Grandma Lin was biased towards her elder son and grandson as for her daughter , daughter in law and granddaughter , they were like unwanted weeds in her flourishing fields , she didn't care about them - thus except Lin Ze everyone else ate rice gruel , the former fried vegetables were now boiled without any salt or seasoning . So , it didn't have any taste at all .. and since neither of them had money to buy rice , they were only allowed to have a little of everything . They all got hungry in the middle of the night , their life was completely different from Zhao Lan who could eat meat and fish whenever she wanted because of her hard working sons .