Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 115 - 110: Passing Up the Chance to Raise Affection
Lin Qiao wanted to get up, but she was held so tightly that after struggling a few times she gave up, simply kicked off her shoes, and awkwardly lay on his other side.
As soon as the two slightly relaxed, the young boy tightened his grip again, holding her firmly in his arms.
Lin Qiao’s lips bumped against his neck, causing her some pain, and she tried hard to move aside, but soon a big hand pressed down on her head.
She: "..."
She couldn’t get away, so she simply closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Maybe because Song Tingfan cried, her sleep was restless too, filled with some nightmares, but she didn’t remember what they were.
When she woke up again, it was nearly dark, and Song Qin had come in to check for the third time. Seeing she was awake, she said, "Qiao’er, the Zhang Family is having dinner."
Lin Qiao tried to move, but she was still held tightly. She shook her head and explained, "Grandma, you and Grandpa go eat, my little uncle won’t let go of me."
"Drunk again?"
Song Qin came over to help her, but Song Tingfan only held on tighter, murmuring, "Mom, I won’t let you go."
Instantly Song Qin was stunned for a moment, her eyes reddened a bit, "Alas."
"We won’t go for dinner at the Zhang Family, let’s just make some dumpling soup at home."
Niu Niu loved the dumpling soup his mother made the most.
"Okay." Lin Qiao didn’t know how to comfort them, only hoping that over time they would forget.
Song Qin left the room, closed the wooden door, and seeing Song Rong’s face, she couldn’t stop her tears from falling, softly choking, "Niu Niu misses his mother."
Song Rong also felt sad in his heart. He reached out and patted her shoulder, comforting her, "Don’t cry, when Niu Niu sees you cry it will make him feel worse."
Song Qin nodded and quickly wiped her eyes.
The sky gradually darkened, inside the room 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
Song Tingfan felt someone in his arms, his whole body stiffened for a moment, then he wanted to push away but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he drew it back.
This scent is sister-in-law’s.
Only sister-in-law smells so nice.
Realizing how close he was to his sister-in-law, his heart beat faster, seemingly about to leap out of his throat.
Soon, he hurriedly got up and fled from the room, finally heading to the outhouse.
Lin Qiao was woken up, her consciousness returning only to see a black figure running out; it must be Song Tingfan waking up.
She yawned, put on her shoes in the dark, and went out, moving more quietly. Originally, Song Qin was planning to wait for Song Tingfan to wake up and eat, not expecting him to sleep until almost midnight.
Both of the elderly had grown too tired to withstand the sleepiness after nightfall, Lin Qiao let them go back to their room to sleep first. Once Song Tingfan was up, she would make dumpling soup for him.
Entering the kitchen, she lit the fire, quickly got the stove going, poured water and washed the pot, then prepared the soup ingredients.
The dough was already kneaded, just needed to be pinched off into the pot.
As the water in the pot started to boil, hearing approaching footsteps, she turned her head to see; the boy’s cheeks were flushed, probably from sleeping too long.
"Little uncle, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Song Tingfan sat down at the mouth of the stove, fire-tending, quietly saying, "No."
Lin Qiao sighed in relief, then sternly said, "Little uncle, you mustn’t drink alcohol again, it’s bad for your health."
Regarding him crying, she didn’t plan to mention it. This child kept it bottled inside, not wanting others to know.
Alas, it’s not strange he turned dark; he had few desires, but the little warmth he sought always eluded him.
She was only heartbroken for Song Tingfan, unaware she had given up a chance to improve her standing.
Sleeping from the afternoon until now must have delayed a lot of work. Song Tingfan obediently admitted his mistake, "Sister-in-law, I was wrong." He glanced at Lin Qiao as he spoke, quickly retracting his gaze.
In the firelight, his face grew redder and redder.
"Mm, you mustn’t drink again." Lin Qiao felt as though she were a nagging mother, worrying about this one day and that the next.
Truly treating the antagonist like a "son."
The two bowls of dumpling soup were ready, Lin Qiao handed one over to Song Tingfan, "Let me know if it’s not enough, I’ll make more."
Song Tingfan took the bowl, glanced at her, then moved over, making space on half the bench for her, "Sister-in-law, sit and warm yourself."
Lin Qiao nodded, drank a ladle of water then picked up the bowl and sat beside him, took a glance at him, his eyes were a bit swollen.
She ate a few bites of dumpling soup, casually asked, "Little uncle, do you think sister-in-law is good to you?"
Having heard him cry those words earlier, it seemed the original person cast too much shadow on him, even now he might feel she was good, but the shadow remained, perhaps even unknown to him.
Thinking of this, she felt somewhat defeated and couldn’t help but resent the original person, wondering why she was so harsh on a child.
Leaving a mess for herself to clean up, was she getting paid for it?
Bothersome.
"Yes." Song Tingfan nodded without hesitation.
Sister-in-law is the best.
As expected, just as Lin Qiao thought, he didn’t even know there was such a deep shadow within him. She picked up a chopstick of dumpling soup for him, smiling, "Little uncle is good too, eat more, it’ll warm you up."
Song Tingfan nodded, and then said nothing more.
The fire in the kitchen went out, the door opened and closed again.
The next day, the snow began to fall again, and the snow that hadn’t melted piled up high, the snow on the house needed to be cleared, otherwise, it would collapse.
Song Tingfan climbed up a ladder, sat at the middle of the roof, used a shovel to clear a path, kicked his foot, and a large chunk of snow crashed down, scaring Lai Cai and Jinbao so much they ran away.
Soon the snow on the other side came crashing down too.
Lin Qiao borrowed a shovel from next door, shoveling back and forth outside with Song Rong and them, after Song Tingfan came down he joined in too.
Shoveling snow for over half an hour, everyone’s hands were red and frozen stiff, only after warming at the stove did they regain feeling.
Perhaps when using the basket, a bamboo sliver accidentally pierced Lin Qiao’s hand, she noticed a red spot on the side of her index finger, a tiny bamboo fiber faintly visible.
"Sister-in-law, did something prick your hand?"
Song Tingfan looked closely, seeing the fine bamboo fiber, he quickly got up to find a needle and carefully removed it for her, probably afraid of hurting her, working very delicately, but soon he got it out.
Lin Qiao raised her hand, sucked on it twice, then spat and just as she was about to speak, Lai Cai and Jinbao started barking.
She looked over, it was actually Song Ming and Song Liu, instinctively frowning, were they still not giving up?
Song Tingfan saw them, instinctively wary and tense, Song Rong and Song Qin also wore unpleasant expressions.
"Dead dogs, if you don’t scram, I’ll beat you to death," Song Liu kicked the two dogs; Lai Cai and Jinbao were young and afraid of people, getting kicked they "yelled" and ran to Lin Qiao, yapping.
Lin Qiao pursed her lips, "Third uncle, third aunt, is something the matter?"
Song Liu didn’t show her any good face, "What, can’t we come if it’s nothing? Don’t say we came; even if we stayed, you need to accommodate us."
Song Qin couldn’t help but scold, "Liu Yu, this is your second brother and sister-in-law’s place, what’s it to you!"
"Mom, I’m speaking the truth, with second brother and sister-in-law gone, as elders, we need to care for the younger ones." Song Liu made a sound of disdain, rolled her eyes.
Lin Qiao realized their scheme, they wanted to claim their rights as elders to take advantage.
