Chapter 4: Change… Has She Changed?

Chen Shuilian looked at her second son, who was trembling in fear, and tried to put on the most friendly smile. However, this smile didn’t do much, as Zhao Maizhou immediately saw it as a smile hiding a knife.

Even his wife thought the same.

Chen Shuilian shook her head, silently cursing in her heart. “What a useless thing, with this little courage.”

However, there was an unspoken tenderness in the midst of her curse.

She shifted her gaze to her second daughter-in-law, Li Xiaoxing. The second daughter-in-law was no better than the second son; when their eyes met, she immediately put on a flattering smile.

But that smile looked rather comical.

Chen Shuilian: “…”

If you can’t smile, then don’t force it. She was clearly a beautiful girl, so why did she smile like the girl from the next village who looked like a squashed melon?

Oh, right, the girl from the next village who looked the most crooked and ugly.

Just thinking about that girl’s appearance made Chen Shuilian shiver involuntarily.

She quickly shifted her gaze away.

Li Xiaoxing sighed in relief. Luckily, her mother-in-law was in a good mood today and didn’t make things difficult for Maizhou. She almost got into trouble herself, but at least she had the foresight. With her beautiful and gentle smile, her mother-in-law surely wouldn’t get angry.

“…”

Well, as they say, overthinking is a sickness, and misunderstandings are often born from it.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward with everyone silent, but fortunately, Zhao Fengtian arrived with Dr. Feng to rescue them.

“Dr. Feng, look, my mother really woke up!” Zhao Fengtian excitedly pointed at Chen Shuilian.

Dr. Feng also looked surprised. Given the severity of Chen Shuilian’s head injury, based on his years of medical experience, he thought she would either die or be unable to move.

Yet, she looked fine, as if nothing had happened.

Could it be that Chen Shuilian’s life was that tough?

He hurried over and said, “Stretch out your hand, let me take a look.”

Chen Shuilian obediently extended her hand, and Dr. Feng placed his fingers on her pulse. After a moment of focused attention, Dr. Feng was shocked.

This pulse felt completely different from the one he had checked earlier. It was strong and vigorous. With Chen Shuilian’s fiery temper, if she were sent to the mountains to hunt tigers, she could probably do it…

Ahem, that’s a bit too much. Chen Shuilian might be fierce, but she’s still a woman—how could she fight tigers?

Dr. Feng stroked his beard and shook his head, saying, “Nothing’s wrong. Since she’s awake, it means she’s fine. I’ll go back and write a prescription. You can get some medicine from the pharmacy and brew it for her. For safety’s sake, she should drink it for a few more days to consolidate her recovery, just in case there are any further issues.”

“Ah, thank you, Dr. Feng,” Zhao Fengtian quickly expressed his gratitude.

“Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back now,” Dr. Feng gestured to Zhao Fengtian, “Come with me to get the prescription.”

“Okay.” Zhao Fengtian hurriedly followed.

“Wait!” Seeing that the two were about to leave, Chen Shuilian finally spoke, “I feel like my body is fine now. Is it okay if I don’t take the medicine?”

Just thinking about going to the county pharmacy and spending several hundred wen on medicine made her feel pain in her heart.

Her somewhat ferocious expression startled Dr. Feng.

No wonder the King of Hell didn’t dare to take her—looking like this, even the King of Hell would be scared…

Facing this infamous person, Dr. Feng did his best to choose his words carefully, trying to avoid being scolded.

Here’s the translation of the passage:

After all, Chen Shuilian’s unreasonable behavior was well known. She could stir up trouble even when she wasn’t right. If she was in the right, then it was even worse.

Anything that offended her, she would remember for a lifetime.

Whenever she felt upset, she would bring it up and curse at the person, and it wasn’t surprising that no one in the village dared to provoke her.

After all, who would want to be chased and cursed at every day?

Dr. Feng cleared his throat and said, “You don’t have to take the medicine, but since you’ve already had a close encounter with death, I still recommend you take it for a few days. You’re still young, so don’t leave any hidden illness behind. When you get older, it will become uncomfortable.”

In the end, life is hers to live, and especially after this second chance, Chen Shuilian was more protective of her own life.

Thinking about her previous life, when she had been tortured by illness and left alone on a pile of firewood with no one to care for her, she instantly stopped feeling sorry for spending the money.

This money must be spent!

It’s worth it!

She had to take care of herself first, so she could have the strength to teach that ungrateful little brat a lesson and make up for the debts she owed her children.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you. Thank you for your hard work,” Chen Shuilian said, nodding heavily. “Fengtian, come here. I’ll give you some silver. When you get the prescription, go to the county town and get the medicine for me.”

“Okay~” Zhao Fengtian didn’t expect his mother to be so agreeable today. Did something happen outside?

He thought he’d have to take the prescription and come back to persuade her.

What exactly was going on today?

If this were in the past, asking his mother for money would be like asking for her life!

It would be surprising if she didn’t immediately point at Dr. Feng and yell at him to leave.

Today, though, she wasn’t even concerned about money.

Dr. Feng was equally stunned.

Had Chen Shuilian lost her mind?

How had she suddenly changed?

Dr. Feng walked out of the room in a daze, still unable to believe that Chen Shuilian had changed her nature.

He couldn’t help but glance back at the woman on the bed.

The old, worn cotton quilt, the shabby wooden bed, the scene exactly the same as before, but the person on the bed looked so gentle and virtuous.

With the bright sunlight streaming in, everything felt so peaceful.

Wait… gentle and virtuous?

Dr. Feng quickly shook his head. How could he have such a terrifying thought?

It wasn’t that Chen Shuilian had gone mad; it was that his mind was the one that was messed up. This place wasn’t suitable for him to stay. If he stayed too long, he might start to lose his mind too.

Dr. Feng quickened his pace and left Zhao’s courtyard.

Chen Shuilian, somewhat puzzled, glanced at Dr. Feng’s retreating figure. Why did it look like he was fleeing?

Was she really that scary?

Thinking of this, Chen Shuilian couldn’t help but touch her face.

Actually, she wasn’t bad looking. In her youth, she was considered one of the prettiest girls in the village, and many families in the village had desperately sought to marry her.

But it wasn’t her fault that she fell in love with the children’s father, who passed away young.

She got married early, and by the time she was thirty-five, she already had three grown sons.

If she were to be honest, if it weren’t for her “bad reputation,” the widow’s life would’ve been full of trouble.

Ah, there’s always a balance—sacrifice leads to virtue. Who hasn’t come through their naive and immature days?

It wasn’t because of her beauty that she was worried about being taken advantage of; it was because her husband was gone, and as a young woman with good looks, she feared being bullied, so she had gradually developed this sharp and bitter personality.

But forget it, what was the point of thinking about this now?

It was all fate.