CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 50: HE DOESN’T WANT HIS SISTER-IN-LAW TO MARRY

Lin Qiao shook her head, "No."

She paused for a moment and explained in detail, "The village chief issued two and a half taels of silver, it’s enough."

"Tingfan still needs money for his studies, and your grandfather needs medicine. It’s not enough."

"It’s enough. I can earn some money by doing embroidery..."

Before Lin Qiao finished speaking, Li Guifen interrupted her, "You came out of my belly, I know exactly how much you can earn, don’t try to be strong."

Feeling a sense of "disdain," Lin Qiao: "..."

After all, she was an actress with an annual income of a million.

This acting would have paid thousands by previous standards.

Alright, this damn script pays nothing and is life-threatening.

...

Under the vegetables was a pound of meat and a cloth bag, which surprisingly contained one tael of silver.

Lin Qiao felt somewhat complicated, but after a while, she tucked the silver into her chest.

Return it when the time is right.

Afraid that the meat would spoil, she put it in the water jar to chill, and to prevent mice from stealing it, she covered it with a wooden lid.

The main room wasn’t fully tidied even by noon, so Lin Qiao stopped cleaning and went to the kitchen to cook.

Before cooking, she first lit a small stove to boil medicine for Song Rong, and gradually, the unpleasant smell of herbal medicine filled the entire kitchen.

Song Qin looked at Lin Qiao several times, fearing that she would mind the strong smell of the medicine, but she didn’t. She occasionally flipped the herbs with chopsticks.

Seeing that the medicine was almost ready, she picked it up and poured it into a bowl, but accidentally touched the edge of the pot when setting it down, releasing her hand immediately and swinging it twice.

A boy rushed in from outside the door, anxious, "Sister-in-law, are you alright?"

Originally, Lin Qiao would have been fine after swinging her hand twice, but since the antagonist suddenly returned, she certainly wouldn’t miss such a chance for him to "feel distressed."

Her tears came as she willed, her eyes glistening with moisture, a look of obvious pain, but she said, "Little Uncle, I’m fine."

The little soft-heart got fooled; he lowered his head and blew on her hand several times, then opened the salt jar and applied some salt on her fingers.

He grumbled, "Sister-in-law, be careful."

"Okay, I’ll be careful next time," Lin Qiao nodded.

Luckily, with salt applied, the scalded finger wasn’t too bad, though a blister formed after a while, it wasn’t serious.

Lin Qiao glanced at her finger a few times, thinking how swift retribution for deception could be.

"Qiao’er, come, let me pierce it for you," Song Qin brought a needle, piercing the blister would help it heal faster.

Lin Qiao: "..."

Song Qin came closer and said, "Pierce it and it will heal faster."

The needle was a bit blunt, making Lin Qiao cry with pain, and this time she wasn’t acting, it genuinely hurt.

"Sister-in-law... Grandma, gently, sister-in-law is in pain," Song Tingfan was anxious and at a loss.

Song Qin blew gently, "The water came out, it’s fine now."

Her fingers were all red, and Lin Qiao silently cursed herself through her tears for this retribution.

After a while, her hand indeed stopped hurting.

Outside the house, the wild chickens started clucking again, and she said, "Little Uncle, these wild chickens can’t be fed; they’ve lost weight these past few days. Should we sell them or slaughter them?"

Song Tingfan’s gaze moved from her fingers to the courtyard outside, "Sister-in-law, you decide."

"Alright then, let’s slaughter it to make a stew for Grandpa to regain strength." Lin Qiao poured water into the pot while speaking, "Little Uncle, can you slaughter it? If not, I can ask Uncle Wang next door for help."

"Sister-in-law, I can, just slit the throat and let it bleed, it’s simple."

The young man nodded earnestly, and Lin Qiao instinctively touched her own neck.

"Then go ahead, Little Uncle."

Her tone was light, leading Song Tingfan to think she didn’t believe him, so he pressed his lips together and picked up a kitchen knife to catch the chicken.

Despite his usual shyness, he was remarkably swift in slaughtering the chicken, probably owing to his skills as a hunter.

The young man looked up, a bit shy, "Sister-in-law, the chicken has been slaughtered."

"Well done, Little Uncle," Lin Qiao praised him while patting him on the back.

After being praised by his sister-in-law again, Song Tingfan grinned, "I’ll get some hot water to pluck the feathers."

Song Rong, who hadn’t moved much for a long time, stood next to him teaching Song Tingfan how to pluck feathers quickly. Song Tingfan was smart and eager to learn, grasping it instantly.

Once he finished plucking the feathers, Song Tingfan instinctively wanted to see Lin Qiao but found her bent over sorting dried vegetables from a basket. He felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

His sister-in-law didn’t watch him slaughter the chicken.

Lin Qiao was unaware of the young man’s complex yet simple thoughts; she smiled at Song Qin, "Grandma, do you know how to make pickles?"

Song Qin, having grown up in a farming family, naturally knew how to make pickles, "Yes, I can make it. Do you want to make pickles, Qiao’er?"

"I want to learn."

"Then Grandma will teach you, it’s good to learn. It’ll be better for you and Niu Niu living on your own someday."

"Grandma, you got it wrong, it’s not the two of us, it’s the four of us." Lin Qiao paused with a smile, looking at Song Tingfan, half-jokingly adding, "In a few years, there’ll be even more."

Song Qin and Song Rong both looked at Song Tingfan, who blushed with embarrassment.

He he he... he didn’t want to pay attention to his sister-in-law anymore.

"In a few years, yes."

Song Qin looked at Lin Qiao with affection, her pretty face blooming like a flower, being widowed was too much misery. She hesitated before saying, "Qiao’er, if you meet someone suitable..."

Before she could finish, the boy suddenly interrupted her, "Grandma, help me get some water."

Song Tingfan kept his head down, avoiding their reactions, knowing what Grandma meant, but he didn’t want... he didn’t want his sister-in-law to remarry.

He could support his sister-in-law, support her for a lifetime.

At this time, the young man simply wanted to keep his sister-in-law.

Lin Qiao didn’t clearly hear what Song Qin said, nor did she care, responding, "I’ll go get it."

As she scooped a few ladles of water in the kitchen, she heard Song An’s voice, "Dad, Mom."

She hurried out carrying the water, seeing Song An’s family of four arriving, yet noticing Mrs. Song’s expression of reluctance.

She set the water basin beside Song Tingfan.

Mrs. Song glanced at the wild chicken, "Oh, caught a wild chicken? No wonder you haven’t been to our door these days, feeling cooped up eating well, huh."

"All for naught that your big brother stood by you, I said it before, little rascals have no conscience."

Song Tingfan flushed with anger, but out of respect for his big brother, he didn’t talk back.

"Aunt, you’re an elder, I shouldn’t contradict you, but you can’t berate Little Uncle."

Lin Qiao weakly stood up for Song Tingfan and explained softly, "Grandpa isn’t well, so we’re just making a chicken stew. Little Uncle was just saying we’d bring a bowl over for Big Uncle."

"Aunt, it’s unreasonable to scold someone without understanding the situation, don’t you think..."

Song An gave Mrs. Song a look, signaling her to be more restrained. Mrs. Song "hmphed" and glared at Lin Qiao, "Pretending to be something, like you’re anyone good."

Lin Qiao: "..."

She may not be a good person, but she could act.

She lowered her head, her eyes reddening, seemingly upset by the elder’s scolding.

Song An, unable to watch further, rebuked Mrs. Song harshly, "If you don’t want to stay, go home."

Normally, Mrs. Song wouldn’t come to Song’s second family, but upon hearing from villagers that Song Tingfan and his sister-in-law had taken the old couple back to live with them, and hearing that Song Rong was ill, she thought her husband, being soft-hearted, would want to bring them back home.

She disagreed, remembering that when the family divided, they received much less than the third family.

She "hmphed" but fell silent.

Song An, seeing his own father looking so thin, a big man with red-rimmed eyes, felt pain, "Dad, what’s happened to you?"