Lin Zaozao cleared her throat and grasped Zhao Yingmei's hand in Ruo Qiu's puzzled gaze.
"System, are you there?"
"Speak, host."
"System, can you help me see if Zhao Yingmei's inability to have children is due to her own issues?"
"That's right, she has congenital infertility and naturally cannot bear children."
"In that case, system, can this pain transference ability of mine help treat Zhao Yingmei's infertility?"
"It can. This is a minor issue. You only need to transfer her pain fifty times to cure her infertility."
"Alright, thank you system for clearing this up for me."
After thanking the system, Lin Zaozao mysteriously said,
"Zhao Yingmei, I just took your pulse. There is a evil spirit in your body that has been absorbing your fate for offspring."
"An evil spirit! Lin Xiaohua, since you can detect that evil spirit, can you help banish it from my body?"
"Of course I can. However, Zhao Yingmei, I'm no saint. I expect compensation for my services. After all, expelling this evil spirit will diminish my own good fortune."
As she spoke, Lin Zaozao gestured with her fingers, making it clear that she expected payment.
"Lin Xiaohua, as long as you enable me to conceive, I will pay you however much you ask. If that won't do, I can put up my current residence and my old house as your medical fees."
"I know where your current home is, but where is this old house of yours?"
Lin Zaozao released Zhao Yingmei's hand, intending to stand up and look around. But having squatted for so long, her legs had fallen asleep. With a thud, she plopped down on the ground.
"Little darling Ruo Qiu, come help me up."
Seeing Lin Zaozao's ungraceful state sprawled on the ground, Ruo Qiu's lips curved up slightly. He walked over and scooped Lin Zaozao up into his arms.
Ruo Qiu's actions made Zhao Yingmei's eyes pop out. This skinny beanpole of a son-in-law actually had the strength to lift up the plump Lin Xiaohua?
"Zhao Yingmei, how dare you ogle my Ruo Qiu! Do you want me to smother you with my butt?!"
After Ruo Qiu helped steady her on her feet, Lin Zaozao yelled fiercely at Zhao Yingmei.
"Who's ogling him? I was amazed by his strength, that despite being so thin he could lift up a fat woman like you. That's why I looked at him."
"Enough, no more explaining. Your eyeballs were practically glued onto my Ruo Qiu just now.
Damn, Zhao Yingmei. You already have twelve husbands, yet you're still so lustful. Can you handle that much action every night?"
"Whether I can handle it is none of your damn business." Zhao Yingmei retorted with distaste.
"Zhao Yingmei, I'm kindly warning you now as a high immortal. Beware of dying in a man's bed someday."
"Even if I die in a man's bed, what about you?!"
Zhao Yingmei sized up Lin Zaozao disdainfully and said mockingly:
"Lin Xiaohua, from my experience judging men, your five husbands are probably all still virgins!"
Hearing Zhao Yingmei's words, Lin Zaozao glanced back at Ruo Qiu up and down. Could he really still be a virgin?
Perhaps sensing the blatancy of Lin Zaozao's gaze, Ruo Qiu's expression instantly darkened. What was with that look in her eyes? Weren't they on the same side against Zhao Yingmei? How did they get derailed by that old woman's nonsense?
Noticing the resentment in Ruo Qiu's face, Lin Zaozao swiftly composed her features back into solemnity.
She cleared her throat and asked Zhao Yingmei gravely, "By the way, where exactly is your old house? Stand up and point it out to me."
"No need to point. My old house is right next to yours."
"Next to mine?!"
Lin Zaozao glanced back at her house's direction, then asked incredulously, "Zhao Yingmei, the house next to mine really belonged to you before?"
"If it wasn't mine, whose could it have been? That's the ancestral home my elders left me. Impressive right?!"
Zhao Yingmei rubbed her aching cheek, boasting arrogantly that her beautiful face must have swollen from the fat shrew's blows.
"Now now, Zhao Yingmei, don't look at me like that! I hit you because you were too lusty, blatantly flirting with my husbands over and over. So you deserved what you got.
Consider yourself lucky I didn't smother you to death with my butt. That just shows what a merciful goddess I am to have spared an old hag like you."
"Enough nonsense, Lin Zaozao. Now you know the location of my old house. I'm also willing to give that property to you. So can you guarantee that you can capture the evil spirit in my body and enable me to conceive?"
Faced with Zhao Yingmei's eager gaze, Lin Zaozao cleared her throat and declared mysteriously:
"Zhao Yingmei, that evil spirit has been plaguing you for a very long time. Expelling it can't be done overnight."
"How long would it take then, Lin Xiaohua? How much time before I can have a child?"
Seeing the impatience in Zhao Yingmei's eyes, Lin Zaozao's lips couldn't help but twitch. Why was Zhao Yingmei in such a hurry to have kids?
She already had twelve doting husbands, spending her days happily with them. Wasn't that delightful enough? Why insist on having a brat that would turn her household upside down?
Although Lin Zaozao criticized internally, her face remained impassive as she grasped Zhao Yingmei's wrist and declared solemnly:
"Zhao Yingmei, I won't take your property for nothing. If I really enable you to have a child, sell me your old house for market price. Deal?"
"No problem. My old house has been vacant for ages anyway. As long as you let me have a baby, I'd be willing to sell it to you, even give it to you."
"Alright alright, I've heard enough. We'll pick this up tomorrow. Bring the title deed of your old house then so we can sign a contract first.
The contract means that after I banish the evil spirit in you, you'll sell me your house at market price."
Having said her piece, Lin Zaozao shook off Zhao Yingmei's hand and walked off, pulling Ruo Qiu along by the hand back home.
Although she got into a brawl today, it was still a fruitful outing. At the very least, her house purchasing matter was settled. Although that lustful Zhao Yingmei was unpleasant, her property was rather desirable.
More importantly, she intended to live out her days in Luoshui Village. So avoiding enmity with Zhao Yingmei was for the best.
"It shouldn't be Zhao Yingmei's husband's fault that she's thirty-two and childless, right?" Ruo Qiu wondered aloud.
"Of course it's not their fault. Zhao Yingmei herself has infertility issues."
"Then why didn't you just tell her straight out that the problem lies with her, not her husbands?"
Hearing Ruo Qiu's slight urgency, Lin Zaozao glanced back in surprise. Was Ruo Qiu standing up for Zhao Yingmei's husbands?
Perhaps realizing his words came out too hastily, Ruo Qiu asked casually to gloss it over:
"Lin Zaozao, if you end up unable to have children in the future, would you blame your husband?"
"Of course not. Ruo Qiu, I'll tell you this - even if I marry a husband I love in the future and can't have kids, it would be irrelevant to me.
To be more specific, having no children would be even better for me. I wouldn't want a child disturbing my sweet couple time."
"Why is that? Don't all you women deeply desire having children? In Canglan Country, women inherit family businesses anyway. Don't you want a daughter to carry on yours?"
"Pah! Ruo Qiu, I'm so poor now that I can barely afford a pair of pants, let alone any kind of family business for a child to inherit!" Lin Zaozao scoffed.
"Besides, if we don't have kids in the future, Ruo Qiu and I can live a sweet, carefree life together as a couple. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Is that so? Even without children, a husband and wife can still have a wonderful life together?"
"Of course! A child is the crystallization of love between a couple. Only when the parents love each other will the child born to them be happy. If a marriage is solely for the purpose of having kids, then what's the difference between that and pigs that only mate to reproduce?"
Lin Zaozao's words made the smile on Ruo Qiu's face freeze. He turned to look at her, wanting to see signs of dishonesty and unease in her eyes from her lies.
But after staring for a long time, all Ruo Qiu saw in Lin Zaozao's eyes was sincerity.
He had been wrong all this time.
It was him who kept using other people's mistakes to punish himself!
