Early the next day, Song Tingfan placed the three ducklings by the riverbank, fed them so duck food, and squatted there watching them for quite a while.
The ducklings must be fattened up a bit; the fatter they are, the more silver coins they can fetch when sold.
Opposite was the Li Family’s duck group. Mrs. Li ca out to feed her ducks, seeing that he had taken the spot.
Actually, he hadn’t taken it at all; she just couldn’t stand the Song’s second family. Unhappily, she pointed at him and said, "Move down, we need to use this spot."
Song Tingfan looked up at her; the river ditch was not big but not small either, and the two duck pens didn’t affect each other. "You have plenty of space over there."
Mrs. Li had no patience with the Song’s second family, especially that Widow Song, who just annoyed her. Seeing that he wasn’t listening, she angrily said, "Stop with the nonsense, move down quickly, or I’ll tip yours over."
"I won’t move." Song Tingfan looked at her directly, showing no intention of retreating.
Clearly, he hadn’t taken her space; she was bullying people.
Mrs. Li hurriedly ca over from the bridge side, kicking the duck pen several tis, ferociously asking, "Are you going to move?"
The ducklings were frightened, flapping around chaotically. Song Tingfan quickly moved the duck pen downwards and angrily said, "The river ditch doesn’t belong to you."
"If it’s in front of my house, it’s mine!" Mrs. Li looked at him disdainfully and added, "A child without parents."
Hearing this, Song Tingfan’s hands hanging by his sides clenched slightly. He did have parents.
Madam Tingfan said they were watching him from another place.
Mrs. Li wasn’t done cursing and included Lin Qiao in her insults, saying, "Your sister-in-law is worthless too, always flirting around. She’ll end up dead in so man’s bed sooner or later."
The young boy who had been holding back just now seed to have been hit on sothing sensitive. Red with anger, he loudly retorted, "No, my sister-in-law isn’t like that at all."
They always like to gossip. Clearly, his sister-in-law wasn’t like that.
"Isn’t she? You know best. At night, doesn’t your sister-in-law strip naked and sleep in your bed?"
"You’re speaking nonsense!"
Usually, these words were joked about privately, but saying it in front of soone was a bit over the line. The won by the river exchanged glances, but none stepped forward to help.
Hearing the commotion by the river, Lin Qiao hurriedly ca out from the courtyard, seeing Mrs. Li looking mighty and commanding, while Song Tingfan was red-faced with anger, a hint of helplessness in his forbearance.
She unconsciously frowned; she had let the Li Family slide a few tis, and now they were pushing their limits, really thinking they could be bullied?
She walked over the bridge to the Li Family’s duck pen.
She directly opened the gate to the duck pen, and instantly, a group of ducks waddled out shaking their tails.
The feeling of imdiate revenge was refreshing.
At first, Mrs. Li didn’t notice. When she did, the ducks had already escaped. She didn’t have ti to scold Widow Song and hurriedly chased after the ducks in a panic, shouting, "My ducks, soone help catch the ducks, the ducks are running away."
Many won by the river saw it, looking at Lin Qiao in astonishnt. Probably they didn’t expect the usually gentle and easy-going Widow Song to actually have a temper.
She had let the Li Family’s ducks go.
It seed she was very much provoked by the Li Family.
Indeed, it was too much, saying people would sleep naked in the sa bed at night.
But soon Widow Song’s temper subsided. She walked back from the bridgehead, tears welling in her eyes, dropping one after another, "Granny Li is too bullying."
It seed it was only in extre anger that she released the Li Family’s ducks.
Seeing her cry, Song Tingfan was flustered, not knowing how to comfort her, "Sister-in-law, don’t cry, she’s talking nonsense!"
He and his sister-in-law had slept in the sa bed, but they were clothed.
"Oh dear, Madam Tingfan, the Li Family is just like that. Don’t give in to them, or they’ll just bully you more." A woman stood up for them.
This woman was the mother of the child Lin Qiao gave a straw hat to the other day.
Soon others chid in, "Exactly, the river ditch is so wide, it doesn’t belong to them. Why should they make you move?"
With so many people making sense, Lin Qiao felt reassured. She quietly, sowhat fearfully, asked, "Granny Li won’t hit , will she?"
Playing weak is much more effective here than acting tough. After all, herself, or rather the original self, was not likable, being more assertive would make people dislike her more.
"Of course not, she’d be fined silver money."
"That’s right, rest assured, she deserves it. I say, Madam Tingfan, you finally got so backbone."
"If it were , I would’ve let her ducks go too."
As they were talking, the Li Family mbers had chased the ducks downstream and took a while to bring them back. Mrs. Li, furious, intended to let the Song Family’s ducks go too, but found the Song Family’s ducks weren’t in the river anymore.
Neither were the uncle and sister-in-law.
The Song’s second family’s door was already closed.
A sigh got stuck in Mrs. Li’s throat, neither going up nor down, feeling extrely uncomfortable.
Soon, Mrs. Li’s scolding echoed through the village, and many people ca out to watch. Knowing she was scolding the Song’s second family, their first reaction was that Mrs. Li was bullying people again.
Li Guifen, hearing soone scolding her daughter, imdiately got angry, standing at her doorway and started scolding Mrs. Li at a distance with a loud voice, "Still hopping around at your old age, aren’t you afraid of wrenching your old back?"
"People accumulate blessings and longevity, but so reduce lifespan through evil deeds. If they don’t restrain, their ti might co."
"Li Guifen, you rotten dog, your whole family will die miserably."
"No, it’s your family that will, serving just a few green vegetables at every banquet, returning gifts worth only one cent, die with a lack of virtue, old vine, you better go ho and rest, if you choke on a breath, don’t bla !"
The outside quarrel was intense. Lin Qiao expressed sincere admiration for Li Guifen’s combat prowess, secretly raising an eyebrow.
Just as she raised her eyes, she t the young boy’s gaze, "..."
Did he see that?
She was a bit depressed, were the antagonist’s eyes glued to her?
Her worry was entirely unnecessary. The young boy hadn’t seen anything, his mind solely on how to comfort her, apologetically saying, "Sister-in-law, don’t be sad."
"Qiao’er, Niu Niu is right, don’t be sad, it’s not worth it." Song Qin was annoyed with Mrs. Li but didn’t know what to do.
Song Rong sat with a stern face, silent.
Lin Qiao shook her head, "Grandma, I won’t take it to heart. I’m used to it."
With those words, "I’m used to it," Song Tingfan felt a sourness at the tip of his nose, his eyes couldn’t help but turn red.
His sister-in-law had endured so much grievance for his sake.
Why did everyone bully them when they hadn’t done anything?
The young boy’s sense of injustice grew more and more.
When Song Tingfan went out to school, Mrs. Li was still at the door scolding. Upon seeing him, she spat out words like "wild child" and "thing without parents."
He bit his lower lip and walked quickly away.
If Zhou Ping hadn’t said a few words to the Li Family, Mrs. Li would probably have been cursing for a long ti still.
The closed door of the Song’s second family invoked so sympathy and pity from other families in the village.
Lin Qiao’s goal was achieved; the Li Family’s reputation worsened, and in the future, no one would be kind to them.
As for the harsh words, they were nothing to her.
She was fine, but the two elders of the Song Family felt a bit of pent-up anger, one sulkingly working on bamboo crafts, the other on embroidery.
Similar to so behaviors of Song Tingfan’s at certain tis.
Indeed, they were all family.
Reviews
All reviews (0)