CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 19: EAT AND YOU’LL LOSE YOUR WIFE

Before entering the house, Song Tingfan paused for a moment, gathering his emotions. He feared his sister-in-law would think he was useless.

A burden to the family.

Lin Qiao, returning from fetching water outside, saw him standing motionless at the door and wondered, "Uncle, why aren’t you going in?"

Song Tingfan instinctively turned his head, saw her carrying water, and quickly went over to help, obediently calling out, "Sister-in-law."

In the past, when he called "sister-in-law," his eyes would curve into a smile, but not today. Lin Qiao examined him closely, "Uncle, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you?"

Song Tingfan shook his head and lied, "Sister-in-law, it’s nothing."

No child is born knowing how to lie; at this moment, the villain’s eyes wavered as he lied.

Lin Qiao’s first reaction was that the village children had bullied him. Some troublesome kids often called him an orphan, "Uncle, who bullied you? Don’t be afraid; sister-in-law will stand up for you."

As she spoke, she pulled him into the courtyard, then asked Song Tingfan to put down the things. Seeing that he still refused to speak, she put on a stern elder’s demeanor, "Uncle, are you going to tell me or not? If you don’t, sister-in-law won’t care about you anymore."

Song Tingfan became anxious at the thought of being ignored, yet he still hesitated to speak.

He felt so useless.

Even the prey he caught was taken by someone else.

He only wanted to contribute a bit to the family, but it never seemed to work out.

After a while, he hung his head, tugging at his clothes, and finally said, "Sister-in-law, the prey was taken by someone, I don’t know who."

Originally, he expected to be reprimanded by his sister-in-law, but instead, he felt a gentle pat on his head.

"Uncle, it’s okay, just catch more next time,"

Lin Qiao comforted him softly. Losing the prey was part of the plot; in the dream, the villain lost his catch and was beaten by his real self and locked up for a day.

To be honest, she thought the real self must have had something wrong in the head; after all, the villain just lost some prey.

She added, "The one with bad intentions isn’t you, Uncle, but the person who took the prey, so don’t be upset."

"The prey will surely come back eventually."

Song Tingfan stared at her blankly, feeling a warmth in his heart, but he was still a bit sad and asked quietly, "Sister-in-law, am I useless?"

He looked at her anxiously.

Lin Qiao smiled and patted his head, "How could Uncle be useless? You can fetch water, light a fire, and hunt."

In this, she was truly complimenting him; the villain was indeed very capable.

Surprised by his sister-in-law’s praise, Song Tingfan’s eyes, which had been filled with despair, brightened, "Really?"

"Really, why would sister-in-law lie to you?" Lin Qiao pointed at the mud clumps on the courtyard wall and continued, "Uncle, what you did is sprouting."

"The ones I did haven’t sprouted."

"Uncle, you’re much more capable than sister-in-law."

Song Tingfan glanced in the direction she pointed, vaguely seeing small green sprouts, tiny leaves swaying gently.

He seemed less sad now, scratching his head, "Sister-in-law is more capable than me, the food sister-in-law cooks is delicious."

Cousin said he’d gained some weight.

Lin Qiao blinked, "Then eat more, Uncle."

...

The two worked in the field all afternoon, finishing planting the seedlings just as the sky darkened.

As they walked to the door, Lin Qiao glanced at the Wang Family next door, where firelight shone brightly, and voices were clearly audible, creating a lively atmosphere.

A group of people was entering the Wang Family’s door with things adorned with the character for joy.

She turned and asked Song Tingfan, "Uncle, is there a joyous event at the Wang Family?"

"Hmm, Sister Cui’er is getting married." Song Tingfan nodded.

Two days ago, the Wang Family delivered wedding cakes to each household, except for the Song Family. Probably because they thought the Song Family couldn’t afford to reciprocate the gift.

Lin Qiao made a simple sound of agreement and asked no more.

The noise next door continued until late at night, quieted for a couple of hours, and then started up again.

Before the hour of 5 to 7 a.m. had passed, Lin Qiao got up, yawning several times. Upon leaving the house, she saw Song Tingfan coming in with buckets of water, the large jar half-filled.

The family had two jars, one in the kitchen and one in the courtyard, used for washing vegetables and laundry.

Song Tingfan wiped the sweat from his forehead, slightly out of breath, "Sister-in-law."

Lin Qiao nodded, "Uncle, if you’re tired, take a break. No rush, we’ll fetch more after breakfast, together."

"Not tired." Song Tingfan quickly shook his head.

Just then, drums sounded from next door, "Boom, boom, boom."

"Fellow villagers, the feast is starting now."

On the morning of the wedding day, a banquet is held.

Lin Qiao thought for a moment and decided to attend the Wang Family’s banquet. She would be living in this village in the future and would inevitably need to interact with others.

Having some social connections would make things easier.

"Uncle, let’s go to the Wang Family’s feast."

Song Tingfan obediently nodded, asking no questions.

As the Song sister-in-law duo approached the Wang Family’s banquet table, they attracted a lot of attention, with a mix of expressions on people’s faces.

The Wang Family members also saw them, thinking they came to freeload a meal, feeling a bit uneasy. But on such a joyful day, it wasn’t suitable to say anything.

To their surprise, Widow Song approached the gift table and took out ten copper coins for a gift. Ten wasn’t too little or too much; usually, gifts were like this.

People were somewhat surprised.

Handling the gift registration was Wang Family’s Little Four, who paused for a moment as Lin Qiao graciously smiled, "Uncle Wang, we’d like to register a gift, um, under my uncle’s name, Song Tingfan."

Wang Yuan, realizing awkwardly, then picked up a pen to write Song Tingfan’s name, noting ten cents beside it.

Though unsure of the Song Family’s intentions, as the gesture was friendly, they couldn’t continue to hold onto any reservations, warmly inviting, "Sister-in-law Tingfan, Tingfan, find a seat and eat to your fill, no need to be polite."

"Okay, Uncle Wang, busy yourself, no need to mind us." Lin Qiao led Song Tingfan to the nearest available seat, ignoring others’ gazes.

Cui’er’s mother, Mrs. Wang Ning, noticed and felt a bit embarrassed since they hadn’t sent wedding cakes to the Song Family.

Old Mrs. Wang pulled her aside, "Eldest daughter-in-law, later on, give the wedding cakes to the Song Family."

"Okay," Mrs. Wang Ning nodded.

Lin Qiao and her uncle hadn’t been sitting long when the Lin Family members arrived; Li Guifen paused upon seeing them. After registering their gift, they took a seat.

There wasn’t enough room at one table, so Mrs. Lin Wu and Mrs. Lin Xu took their children to another table, probably to avoid sitting with Lin Qiao.

Suddenly, something was stuffed into Lin Qiao’s hand; she glanced down, then looked at Li Guifen, who said in a low voice, "Go register the gift."

Not registering the gift for the feast would lead to village gossip for ten days or half a month.

Lin Qiao smiled, returning the money, "I already did."

Li Guifen paused, then breathed a sigh of relief, unable to stop looking at her daughter, feeling she’d changed a lot recently.

More sensible now.

The Wang Family’s banquet was quite the sight, with five dishes of meat and five vegetarian ones. Lin Qiao picked up a piece of pork knuckle for Song Tingfan, "Uncle, eat more."

Li Guifen saw this and quickly voiced her disapproval, "Daughter, why give the pig knuckle to Tingfan?" She then reached over to move the pig knuckle into Lin Han’s bowl.

Her inexplicable action left Lin Qiao puzzled, "Why?"

The pig knuckle was the best part.

"Eating it will jinx the bride," Li Guifen explained with her superstitious belief.

Lin Qiao: "..."

If eating a pig knuckle truly jinxed a bride, she would offer herself as a substitute.