Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 77 - 72: Youthful Energy, Indeed

"It’s not the sister-in-law that’s tasty, it’s the dumplings," Lin Qiao couldn’t help but joke casually.

"Sister-in-law is tasty..." Song Tingfan realized his words were off, quickly corrected himself, "The dumplings wrapped by sister-in-law are tasty." After he said that, his face turned beet red.

Song Qin and Song Rong were amused, their old faces full of wrinkles.

After the meal, Lin Qiao heated some water for the two elders to wash up and rest. Watching them enter the room, she returned to the kitchen and said to Song Tingfan, who was tending the fire, "Little Uncle, go to sleep now."

"Sister-in-law, aren’t you going to sleep?" asked the young man by the firelight, his dark pupils reflecting the lovely face of the woman.

Lin Qiao took out the chili peppers and garlic she bought from next door in the afternoon. The garlic was already peeled and she placed them on the chopping board to chop, "I’ll sleep later after marinating the fish, so we can smoke them tomorrow."

"Little Uncle, hurry and go to sleep."

Just as she finished, she thought of something, raised her eyes to look at him and said with a slightly heavy tone, "Little Uncle, you’re not allowed to weave things at night. If I catch you again, I’ll beat you."

The sister-in-law sounded fierce at this moment, but Song Tingfan wasn’t as scared as before, knowing she lashed out because she cared for him, he pursed his lips and smiled, "Sister-in-law, I won’t do it anymore. I’ll take care of it during my time off."

"Sister-in-law, I’ll wait for you to sleep together."

Lin Qiao continued chopping as she replied, "No need, I’ll be done soon, just go to sleep, if you can’t sleep, just close your eyes and think about what the teacher taught."

"Sister-in-law, I’ll help you." Song Tingfan’s stubbornness surfaced again, he got up and looked at the fish in the basin, then said, "Sister-in-law, I’ll split the fish in half; it will marinate better."

Knowing she couldn’t persuade him, Lin Qiao just let him be, "Alright, cut the fish skin a bit."

Song Tingfan cut a fish, "Like this, sister-in-law?"

"Yes, Little Uncle, you’re amazing." Lin Qiao praised him without a second thought.

Song Tingfan felt a bit embarrassed, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and gradually grinned.

They had no idea what time it was when they finished marinating, they only knew they could hear the snores of the two little puppies in the yard.

Lin Qiao shook her hands, "These two dogs have it good." As she spoke, she rubbed her waist, it was a bit sore.

"Sister-in-law, is your waist sore? Let me give you a massage?"

Song Tingfan, fearing she wouldn’t believe he could massage, added, "I used to give Grandpa massages every day for his waist and shoulders."

"Then, Little Uncle, give me a massage." Lin Qiao didn’t think much of it, her waist did feel a bit sore; it started a few days ago. She thought it would get better soon, but it hadn’t.

She guessed she strained her waist carrying water that day.

Song Tingfan extended his hand to massage her waist, it was so soft, different from Grandpa’s, and he suddenly paused.

Lin Qiao felt there was no strength on her waist, curiously asked, "Little Uncle, what’s wrong?"

"N-nothing..." Song Tingfan hurriedly lowered his head, hesitated, then gently started massaging.

His palm gradually felt as hot as fire.

He wasn’t lying; his massage was indeed comfortable. Lin Qiao felt the soreness in her waist had eased considerably, probably due to the warmth of his hands too.

Young people indeed have strong vitality. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

After a bit less than a quarter of an hour, Lin Qiao yawned and said, "Little Uncle, that’s enough, it’s almost done, it doesn’t feel as sore as before."

Song Tingfan withdrew his hand, not daring to look up at her.

His entire face turned bright red.

...

In recent days, many villagers have been going to the town, mostly to sell fish. The fish that originally sold for two cents a pound now went for one cent a pound, but it all sold out.

However, Lin Qiao found it not very meaningful; spending several hours walking every day, even for the household with the most fish, they only made fifty-odd cents.

It would be better to keep it for themselves.

But that’s not something for her to worry about. These past few days she’s been at home smoking fish and drying shrimp. The fish is already dried, but the shrimp isn’t quite dry yet.

It was after 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and she was in the yard using chopsticks to turn the shrimp, about two hundred shrimp, just filling a small basket.

"Knock knock," a knocking sound came.

Lin Qiao looked towards the sound, "Second Sister-in-law from the Li Family."

It was the wife of the second branch of the Li Family from across the river.

The two families rarely interacted usually, but they were somewhat acquainted.

Mrs. Li stood at the door and said with a smile, "Madam Tingfan, come to my house for lunch, our youngest’s full month."

This was the first family in the village to invite them to a banquet; Lin Qiao was surprised inside but showed nothing, smiling and nodding, "Alright."

"Please do come," Mrs. Li didn’t say much more, as she had other families to notify.

After she left, Song Qin, who was making a square cloth in the hall, discontentedly whispered, "That Li Family loves doing this, never interacts usually, but likes to invite the whole village when they have a banquet."

The Li Family across the river, for more than ten years, almost nobody attended their banquets.

Only taking without giving back.

In recent years they’ve started reciprocating, but not by much. When people give ten cents, they only return five.

That’s unreasonable, usually, gifts are reciprocated equally or even more, only unscrupulous families give back less.

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiao said, "I’ll ask Granny Wang later if they’re going. If they don’t, we won’t either."

Actually, gifting from the Song Family is like casting a stone into the sea, unless Song Tingfan gets married or the two elders celebrate a milestone birthday.

If it’s the former, it’s about three to four years away, the latter about seven to eight years.

"Ask them, it’s fine if we go, but don’t give too much, we won’t get it back anyway." Song Qin nodded, then remembered something, "Qiao’er, I’ll go to town with you tomorrow. I want to get some fabric to make clothes for you."

"I almost forgot about it, Granny, I’ll buy it tomorrow, you don’t need to go." Lin Qiao had totally forgotten about the fabric and clothes matter.

Song Qin smiled and shook her head, "Qiao’er, you don’t know materials, some have stuff mixed in them, they’re not durable or warm."

Lin Qiao indeed didn’t know much about fabrics, after a moment, she agreed, "Grandpa can join us too, isn’t there a temple fair in town these days? We can have some fun."

Song Rong’s health had improved a lot, he didn’t tremble much anymore, now he could stand for over an hour.

"Your grandpa won’t go," Song Qin knew she meant well but didn’t want to trouble her; she was already tired enough.

Song Rong nodded in agreement, "I’ll just chat with Grandpa Wang, don’t worry about me."

"Grandpa, Grandma," Lin Qiao looked at them seriously, then blinked her eyes, "I won’t listen."

Song Qin and Song Rong were amused, Song Qin chuckled, "You’re a crafty one!"

After chatting for a while, Lin Qiao got up and went to the Wang Family to inquire. Old Mrs. Wang was in the yard watching over her grandchildren and sighed with discontent after hearing her, "We have to go, when Cui’er got married, they sent two cents, I really don’t want to attend the Li Family."

"Did they invite you too?"

Seeing Lin Qiao nod, she continued, "They’re really money-grubbing, you never received gifts from them, if you ask me, you shouldn’t go."

"But if you don’t go, it’s also bothersome, Mrs. Li has a sharp tongue, if you don’t go, she’ll say all sorts of nonsense."

She lowered her voice, "Last year, the Wei Family didn’t go, Mrs. Li went around saying the Wei Family was poor or whatever, until the Wei Family couldn’t stand it and they fought with brooms."

Lin Qiao subtly raised her eyebrow, this village had all sorts of odd happenings, she thought for a moment and decided they’d attend and give two cents to avoid any rumors.

As for being the village’s "hot topic," she’d rather not be.