Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 75 - 70: Niu Niu Clings to His Sister-in-law (Happy New Year, Babies)
Lin Qiao understood her good intentions. She wasn’t that delicate, but having someone care for her felt different, warming her heart a bit.
Previously, when she was acting in underwater scenes, her period happened to come. At that time, she was a minor character, so the director didn’t care about her at all.
She dived again and again, and by the end, when the scene was done, she fainted and later caught a cold for a week.
"Okay, Madam Tingfan, I’ll wash." Song Tingfan cleaned up the dishes and went to the kitchen. After washing the dishes, he began gathering the family’s dirty laundry to wash outside.
Seeing Lin Qiao’s inner clothes among them, he put them all in the basket, his ears turning red with a sense of warmth.
"Sister-in-law, Grandpa, Grandma, I’m going to wash clothes."
"Uncle, leave it, I’ll wash it later..." Before Lin Qiao could finish, Song Tingfan shook his head, "I’ll wash it. It won’t take long."
He paused, "Sister-in-law, you rest." Then he carried the basket and took a mallet and left.
He didn’t go to the usual village spot for washing clothes but walked upstream for fifteen minutes to find a secluded place to wash them.
Being a man, if others saw him washing his sister-in-law’s... it would cause gossip.
On the pure white fabric were a few yellow daisies; he quickly shut his eyes, wet the fabric, applied soap, scrubbed it a while, rinsed it, and finally placed it in the basket.
His face flushed, he let out a sigh of relief, then started washing the other clothes.
Lin Qiao discovered that her inner clothes were taken by Song Tingfan only when she went to the toilet; she felt a bit embarrassed but not for long.
People from the village came to inform them about the fish pond event tomorrow, and each family had to send someone to register their name.
In the Song Family, only Song Tingfan could go into the fish pond, but he had to study. Lin Qiao told the registrar, "Uncle, we really can’t send anyone. Tingfan has to study tomorrow."
"School is closed tomorrow; the village head has already informed Mr. Cheng, and he will probably announce it this afternoon. I’ll just write Tingfan’s name." The uncle grinned as he wrote the character "Fan" on the paper.
Starting the fish pond is a big event for the village, with everyone participating every year, offering sacrifices and praying for a good harvest.
Lin Qiao nodded, remembering something, and went to the kitchen to get a meat pie for him, "Thank you for your hard work, Uncle."
"It’s nothing."
The uncle took her meat pie, took a bite, and it was crispy and fragrant. "Madam Tingfan, your meat pie is really good! See you tomorrow at 5 a.m. by the fish pond. Don’t be late."
This Madam Tingfan is quite savvy.
"Alright." Lin Qiao nodded.
It was almost noon when Song Tingfan hurriedly came back. Seeing he wanted to hang the laundry, Lin Qiao quickly stopped him, "Uncle, hurry and go study."
Song Tingfan was a bit eager to study. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Sister-in-law, don’t hang them; I’ll hang them when I get back."
"Okay, okay, okay." Lin Qiao didn’t dare say more, afraid he might stubbornly insist on staying.
"Sister-in-law, you’re not allowed to hang them." Song Tingfan turned back again before leaving.
"Alright." Lin Qiao was amused and exasperated, and once he was gone, she glanced at Song Qin and whispered, "Grandma, did you tell Uncle?"
"I mentioned it." Song Qin chuckled, adding, "Never thought Niu Niu would be so considerate."
As she spoke, she began hanging the clothes, stopping Lin Qiao when she tried to help, "Qiao’er, don’t hang them; you might catch a cold, and it’ll be troubling, especially when having children..."
She paused and then changed topics, "Qiao’er, take good care of yourself."
"Alright." Lin Qiao understood her concern. Looking at the sky, she added, "I wonder if Uncle was late?"
"No, Niu Niu runs fast." Song Qin chuckled, recounting a story about Song Tingfan, "One year during the New Year festival, your grandpa said whoever reached the village entrance first would get a big red envelope. Niu Niu was the youngest and naturally couldn’t outrun his brothers, but he was clever and took a shortcut, somehow stepping into dog poop. The whole family couldn’t stop laughing."
...
When Song Tingfan returned from school and didn’t see the clothes hanging, he was a bit upset, "Sister-in-law, did you hang the clothes?"
"Grandma hung them; I didn’t." Lin Qiao pinched his cheek and asked, "Were you late today?"
Hearing that it wasn’t her who hung them, Song Tingfan grinned, "Sister-in-law, I wasn’t late."
"Sister-in-law, there’s no school tomorrow; it’s the fish pond event."
"I forgot to tell you, we registered your name." Lin Qiao took his cloth bag and placed it inside the house.
Song Tingfan followed her in, "Sister-in-law, we’ll definitely catch a lot of fish tomorrow. I saw Uncle Zhou and the others using nets before."
Lin Qiao thought she’d help him carry it, but he still followed her in, making her chuckle, "I’ll cook fish for you then, Uncle."
"Sister-in-law, I won’t eat it; sell it for money." Song Tingfan shook his head.
After the fish pond event, everyone in the village would probably sell fish, driving prices down, and they might not sell well.
Lin Qiao shook her head, "Let’s not sell it for now. I’ll prepare some seasonings and dry it. Even if we can’t sell it, it won’t spoil."
Song Tingfan nodded.
Outside the courtyard, Song Qin watched the two inside, saying to Song Rong, "See how attached Niu Niu is to his sister-in-law."
"Qiao’er treats him well." Song Rong glanced over lovingly and agreed.
...
Before 5 a.m. the next day, the village began bustling, eventually gathering at the fish pond.
Once the village head had them lined up, he let the Daoist perform the ritual. The Daoist seemed to be a bargain choice, wielding a wooden sword rather unprofessionally.
Lin Qiao glanced around, seeing the villagers seriously focused, clearly valuing the fish harvest.
After the ritual, "First, bow to heaven, second, bow to earth, third, bow to the Dragon God."
Everyone in the village immediately knelt and kowtowed three times before standing up.
Then it was time to start catching the fish. The village head had some instructions, "When catching fish today, no arguing or fighting. If there’s any issue, save it for tomorrow."
"Discuss first to maintain order. Anyone who breaks this rule won’t get fish for three years in a row, understand?"
"Understood." The villagers answered in unison, and heads of families privately reminded the women at home not to cause trouble.
Catching fish began with draining the water, which wasn’t difficult, just involved pulling out the plug beside the pond wall.
The water flowed into the nearby fields.
Once half drained, a dense mass of fish became visible, along with some shrimp and field snails.
A man lifted the grass basket from the pond, revealing the shrimp inside, "Whoever wants it, come and pick it!"
Shrimp had little meat and used up oil, so most families didn’t want them. But Lin Qiao wanted to eat shrimp, so seeing few people fetching them, she took a bucket and went over.
Song Qin and Song Rong followed her to pick shrimp without much questioning.
Song Tingfan happened to be on that side of the pond and saw his sister-in-law picking shrimp, "Sister-in-law, want shrimp?"
"Yes, to make dumplings later." Lin Qiao gestured for him to mind his own task.
Since the water hadn’t been completely drained, Song Tingfan helped pick the shrimp, "Sister-in-law, want field snails too?"
"Pick them all," Lin Qiao replied.
"Widow Song, come on, I’ll help you pick." Niu Er appeared from somewhere, lending a hand with the shrimp.
