CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 32: TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF

Early the next morning, Lin Qiao was sweeping the yard and saw a dead rat.

At first glance, she was startled, but when she realized what it was, she turned to look at the villain pouring water into the vat, her brows furrowed, "Uncle, did you kill it?"

Song Tingfan was busy fetching water all morning and hadn’t noticed the dead rat. He glanced over, his eyes brightened, and then he scratched his head, "I put rat poison out."

Afraid his sister-in-law might be scared, he quickly went over to pick it up and took it to the toilet.

If Lin Qiao knew what he was thinking, she’d probably mentally retort, "I’m not afraid of the dead rat, I’m afraid of you."

She felt a bit threatened, cough, if the villain poisoned her, she’d be dead as a doornail.

When Song Tingfan returned, she casually asked, "Uncle, is there more rat poison?"

"There’s still a big bag left." Song Tingfan thought she wanted to poison more rats and nodded.

Rats were common in rural areas, and almost every household had some rat poison handy. Rat poison wasn’t expensive; two cents could buy a large bag.

A very large bag.

Lin Qiao: "..."

"Uncle, give me all the rat poison, I’ll lock it up in the box and take it out when needed."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Rat poison is toxic, Uncle, don’t touch it in the future."

Song Tingfan naturally thought his sister-in-law was worried about him, so he obediently nodded and quickly handed her a bag of rat poison.

Lin Qiao took it, feeling relieved, "Uncle, stop fetching water for now, let’s eat."

"Sister-in-law, the vat is almost full, let me finish fetching water, you eat first." Song Tingfan wiped the sweat off his forehead, grinned, and then went back out with the wooden buckets.

The women washing clothes by the river were chattering again about this or that family.

"You should’ve seen Widow Song picking up copper coins at the school yesterday. It was heartbreaking, I nearly cried."

"She has a conscience, bringing out all the silver coins from home for Song Tingfan’s schooling."

"Sigh, she’s only fifteen and already a widow, and still has to raise her uncle. Do you think it’s easy?"

"I say, while she’s young, she should find a man to marry and suffer less."

"You can’t say that. If Tingfan makes something of himself, his sister-in-law will also be fortunate."

"That’s true, needs to see if Tingfan will make something of himself."

Behind them, Song Tingfan listened to every word without missing a beat, his grip tightening on the ropes of the buckets. After awhile, he silently carried two buckets of water home.

At this time, Lin Qiao was in the yard drying things, her hand moving within the big bamboo sieve, apparently trying to spot some tiny debris; she bent over slightly to pick it up.

Her figure was slender compared to most rural women, yet with a bit more plumpness.

She caught a man’s eye at first glance.

She threw away the debris and then noticed Song Tingfan standing at the doorway, puzzled, "Uncle, what are you doing standing there?"

Song Tingfan hurriedly lowered his head and carried the water into the yard, "My eyes feel uncomfortable."

"Dust got in?"

Lin Qiao didn’t think much of it, went into the kitchen to get a damp cloth and handed it to him, then added, "Uncle, earlier the head of the household came, asking you to go hunting with him in the mountains later."

Seeing him nod, she continued, "Later I’ll be going to town, can’t make you lunch, just heat up something at home.

Tomorrow Song Tingfan will start schooling, but there’s no pen and ink.

Since we’re letting him study, we’ll have to grit our teeth and buy these.

At least the square cloth is finished, can exchange for dozens of copper coins.

Sigh, people might say some are as poor as a church mouse, she’s so poor she doesn’t even jingle.

"Sister-in-law, I..." Song Tingfan instinctively wanted to say he’d go with her, but remembering there’s no money left at home, he bit his lip.

He’s afraid that once his sister-in-law goes, she won’t come back.

Although he knows his sister-in-law is nice to him now, he’s still uneasy, afraid his sister-in-law will suddenly disappear.

Lin Qiao seemed to understand his thoughts, smiled reassuringly, "Don’t worry, sister-in-law will be back this afternoon."

As she spoke she reached out her hand, glanced at the sky, and continued, "Sister-in-law will be back before dusk, hook pinky, not lying to you."

Song Tingfan didn’t expect her to do this, froze for a moment, looked at her once, then again, finally cautiously stretched out his hand.

Lin Qiao hooked it, "Pinky swear, hang it, a hundred years won’t change, sister-in-law lying to uncle will be a little dog."

"No, sister-in-law isn’t a little dog."

Song Tingfan quickly shook his head, then obediently said, "No rush, sister-in-law, I’ll wait for you to come home."

Lin Qiao couldn’t help but pat his head, "Alright, let’s eat."

After eating, Lin Qiao was in a hurry so she didn’t wash the dishes, picked up a basket to prepare to go out.

Song Tingfan took a bow and arrow to leave with her, but just before they parted ways, he suddenly called out to Lin Qiao, looking very anxious, "Sister-in-law."

Lin Qiao slightly raised her chin, "What’s up?"

Song Tingfan gripped the bow and arrow tighter, after a moment he timidly and anxiously said, "Sister-in-law, I’ll wait for you to come home."

The villain was still uneasy about her, Lin Qiao thought she’d have to work harder; thinking of this, she gently brushed his nose, like pampering a younger family member, "Okay."

"Uncle, if you’re back early, help sister-in-law sort the fish mint, I want to eat it."

Song Tingfan felt a little less uneasy, he shyly nodded, "I’ll sort a lot for sister-in-law."

"Sister-in-law’s not a pig, just sort out enough to eat."

After soothing him, Lin Qiao headed towards the village entrance, meeting some women from the village along the way.

Apparently yesterday’s incident at the school had some impact, as they enthusiastically called her to join them, gossip along the way was inevitable.

Lin Qiao thought if she wasn’t there, the gossip would be about her.

The group arrived in town by noon, the sun was hot, and the women traveling with her all spent one cent on a cup of tea.

Lin Qiao separated from them and went straight to the fabric store.

There weren’t many people at this time, and the boss was arranging things; seeing her coming, his previous hostility was gone, he took the package she handed over, examined it carefully, and found this time’s work very good.

Whether in embroidery or pattern, it was much better than before.

"Did you embroider this yourself?"

Lin Qiao liked brainstorming, always needed to figure things out before making a move, she nodded, "Does the boss think this works?"

"It’s passable."

This time the boss gave her more, five more copper coins, totaling a hundred and five cents, he added, "If you make it better next time, I’ll pay you ten cents per piece."

"Okay, I’ll make them more refined." Lin Qiao nodded, glanced around the shop, "Boss, do you take design drafts here?"

The boss gave her a sideways glance, "What kind of design drafts?"

"Clothing styles, shoe styles?" Lin Qiao had acted in many period dramas, had worn countless ancient costumes, cough, copying the styles was no problem.

"We do take them, but not just any rubbish." The boss didn’t believe she’d have good drafts.

"I like to fiddle with things, will bring them next time for the boss to see." With this, Lin Qiao felt more confident.

After a quarter-hour, she left the fabric store, went to the book pavilion to buy pen and ink, when suddenly someone touched her butt, she was stunned for a moment.

Probably never thought someone dared to take liberties with her.

"Widow Song, buying something? Let’s browse together." A man with a rogue demeanor appeared beside her, clearly not a decent person.

He’s Liu Wu, a vagrant from town who steals chickens and does petty thefts.

Talk of him makes townsfolk want to spit.