Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 151 - 146: Sister-in-law, I’m Sorry

As the sounds in the house gradually stopped, the night grew deeper, and it was unknown how long it had been before the sky turned light. After the sound of roosters crowing and dogs barking, mixed voices were heard, and the village "woke up."

Recently, the weather had been good, making it a great season for sowing. Every household was busy with farming activities, and Lin Qiao’s family was no exception. They got up very early to work in the fields planting vegetables.

Song Rong and Song Qin had been doing farm work all their lives and were very skilled at planting vegetables. The two of them dug pits and scattered ashes, Song Tingfan followed behind, spreading manure, while Lin Qiao had no task at hand. She just pinched the vegetable seedlings, waiting to go back and cook.

After two or three quarters past 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., they finished their work and went home.

Breakfast was simple; they reheated the leftover rice from the previous night to make do.

After eating, Lin Qiao began busying herself with making cakes, and Song Tingfan helped by beating the egg whites. After a while, they added flour and sugar.

About a quarter of an hour later, Lin Qiao added chopped dried dates, mixed it all well, and put it into a steamer, then turned up the heat.

The fragrance gradually filled the kitchen and slowly drifted out.

While steaming the cake, Lin Qiao didn’t remain idle. She started making cold dishes, cooking a variety of dishes, including pig stomach and intestines, which Song Tingfan had cleaned the previous night.

She was busy for an entire hour, and after finishing, she sorted and placed the food in a basket, putting the cake on the top to avoid it getting deformed.

She twisted her neck and looked at the sensible young man washing the pot, "Little Uncle, do you want a piece?"

"I’ve eaten enough." Song Tingfan shook his head. A small piece of cake could sell for five cents, so they needed to keep it for sale.

Hearing this, Lin Qiao didn’t say much. They had eaten quite a bit of it lately, and she guessed they were tired of it, "Little Uncle, we must go now, or we won’t make it by noon."

"Okay." Song Tingfan quickened his pace a bit.

Before long, the two of them each carried a basket to the village entrance to catch a donkey cart. Recently, as Lin Qiao had been selling goods in town, some villagers were a bit envious and wanted to get close to learn how to make cakes.

Once on the donkey cart, many people glanced at their baskets, but they were covered with cloth, so nothing could be seen.

Old Zhou, who was driving the donkey cart at the front, spoke up, "Madam Tingfan, I want two pieces of that egg... oh, cake, save some for me, my grandson is clamoring for me to buy it for him."

"Okay." Lin Qiao, worrying she might forget later, lifted the cloth, wrapped two pieces in paper, and handed them to Old Zhou.

Old Zhou received it with one hand, carefully placed it beside him, and finally covered it with a straw hat, smiling as he said, "I’ll give you the silver coin once we reach the town."

"No rush, I haven’t even paid Grandpa for the ride yet." Lin Qiao replied with a smile.

At this time, a woman tried to take advantage of being from the same village, "Tingfan’s wife, sell it a bit cheaper, we help share some work, and you sell a bit less, it won’t be tiring."

People in the village had quietly tasted the cake made by Widow Song. It was quite a novel thing, soft and sweet.

But it was expensive enough to bite.

Five cents a small piece, gone after two or three bites.

It was clearly an attempt to take advantage while trying to sound dignified, Lin Qiaoxin rolled her eyes internally, but outwardly she appeared a bit troubled, "Auntie, the price of eggs has gone up recently, I... can’t sell it for less."

"Auntie, I’m sorry, it’s not that I won’t sell it to you, I just really can’t sell it for less."

She paused, looking as if she was afraid of offending them, "I’ll take out one piece, and you can all share it." With that, she hurriedly took out a piece and handed it to them.

Showing such generosity, the group felt embarrassed to take her cake, as none of them wanted to be shameless enough to eat without paying.

The husband of the woman who spoke earlier felt a bit embarrassed, scolding his wife, "It’s just a few cents, why argue."

Then he looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Tingfan’s wife, I’ll buy two pieces." With that, he took out a string of copper coins from his pocket, counted out ten cents, and handed it over.

Before Lin Qiao could say anything, Song Tingfan accepted it and put it in the money bag.

Look how clever the villain is.

Lin Qiao feigned a blaming expression, "Little Uncle, how can you take Uncle’s silver coin, give it back to him."

"It’s due, keep it." The man quickly waved his hand.

Old Zhou at the front chuckled, helping to defuse the situation between the uncle and sister-in-law, "When it’s due, it’s due, you two rely on this for a living."

Lin Qiao had no choice but to accept it apologetically and then wrapped up two pieces of cake to hand to the man. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

After that, no one else on the way asked to buy cake again.

Avoiding the hassle of setting up a stall, Lin Qiao rented a small section next to a noodle stall, paying five copper coins a day.

At the end of the month, it’s a hundred and fifty cents, quite expensive, but still within an acceptable range. Plus, with many customers eating noodles at the stall, cold dishes sold well.

Upon arrival at the side of the noodle stall, Song Tingfan took the stored table from the noodle stall and set it up, then spread a layer of cloth over it and displayed the goods one by one.

The uncle at the noodle stall smiled while cooking noodles and greeted them, "Have you arrived today? What cold dishes do you have?"

"There are pig intestines, pig stomach, and greens."

Worrying it might not be clear, Song Tingfan brought the basin over for him to see and said again, "Uncle Li, would you like some?"

Uncle Li smiled, "Since Tingfan has brought me the basin, how can I not? I’ll take half a pound of pig intestines and pig stomach, and half a pound of cold dishes. Just don’t add any spice."

He thought of something, "Let your sister-in-law mix it.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Song Tingfan nodded. He wanted to help reduce his sister-in-law’s burden by learning to mix cold dishes, but the taste wasn’t quite right.

Lin Qiao chuckled at the side, then took a wooden basin and a spoon to start preparing the seasoning. Once Song Tingfan had weighed out the amount, he poured it into the basin.

The aroma caught the attention of the noodle-eating customers, some of whom had tasted the cold dishes before, "Little lady, we want half a pound of pig intestines, add some spice."

"Over here, half a pound of cold dishes."

Once they set up the stall, business picked up quickly, with Lin Qiao focusing on mixing the seasoning, while Song Tingfan helped serve dishes and handled the cash.

It was much more manageable than doing it alone.

Ah, indeed, when a man and a woman work together, the work isn’t tiring.

Before long, the five pounds of cold dishes, three pounds of pig intestines, and three pounds of pig stomach they had brought were all sold out.

The cold dishes were ten cents per pound, the pig intestines fifteen cents, and the pig stomach was relatively more expensive, at thirty cents a pound.

Song Tingfan sat counting the copper coins, checking if there had been any underpayment, counting twice, and found that two cents were missing, causing him immediate panic; he counted them again.

There really were two cents missing.

It must have been when he was busy serving the dishes, that old lady must have left her payment on the table and walked away.

He stood up and looked around, hoping to spot the old lady.

Lin Qiao noticed his actions and asked, "What’s wrong, Little Uncle?"

"Two cents short." Song Tingfan looked guilty and explained, his eyes slightly red, "I was busy serving the dishes, and that old lady left the silver coin on the table and left."

"I forgot to count it." He said, lowering his head as if very self-reproachful.

Lin Qiao had experienced this once before, and she smiled, shaking her head, "It’s okay, just pay attention next time."

Although his sister-in-law didn’t blame him, Song Tingfan remained guilty and self-reproachful. His sister-in-law worked so hard, and now he had cost her two cents.

It was his mistake.

He softly apologized, "I’m sorry, sister-in-law."