Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 130 - 125: Sister-in-Law’s Food Has to Taste Better
Seeing her eyes turn red, Lin Xushi knew what she was thinking about and patted her hand gently, comforting her, "It’s okay, it’ll be better after a while."
"Mmm." Mrs. Lin Wu nodded.
Li Guifen carried a wooden basin into the main room and saw her two daughters-in-law making clothes, "Stop that, it’s freezing your hands."
Lin Xushi shook her head, smiling, "Warming by the fire, there’s nothing much to do today, just the right time to make some clothes for Shengzi and the others." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"They’ve already got enough clothes, you should make some for yourselves." Li Guifen was always quite kind to her two daughters-in-law.
Then she continued, "Where did your father go?"
Just a moment ago, she saw him in the courtyard fiddling with his meal tools—a hoe.
Mrs. Lin Wu looked around, indeed not seeing her father-in-law’s figure, "Didn’t see him."
"Father-in-law said earlier he’d go drink with Grandpa Wang," Lin Xu said.
The Wang family lived next door to Song’s second family, and everyone knew who he was going to see.
Li Guifen sighed inwardly. Her husband was a quiet one who missed their daughter but never called out, using such pretexts to visit every year.
Thinking of this, she stood up, "I’ll go call him back..."
Before she finished the word "back," there was a knock on the courtyard door, "Knock, knock, knock."
The three of them turned their heads to look, it was Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan, the uncle and niece.
Li Guifen couldn’t hide her joy, naturally raising her voice a few notches, "Daughter, Tingfan, you’re here!"
Neighbors at a distance heard and were curious, coming out to look, just in time to see Song Tingfan carrying a basket into the Lin family’s door.
"Oh, what’s this, the Lin family’s girl suddenly got some sense this year?"
"They said before she had some mental problem, now it’s better, of course she’d come home now."
"What do you think Tingfan brought on his back, I think I saw meat."
The women’s chatter went on, while Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan were oblivious.
Song Tingfan placed down the basket and said to Li Guifen, "Aunt Lin, this is something sister-in-law bought for you."
Li Guifen didn’t even look, put on a stern face pretending to be displeased, "Why buy things, you’re not outsiders, take it back with you later."
"You all sit by the fire, I’ll get some things for us to nibble on."
After speaking, without waiting for them to say anything, she took a small dustpan and left, soon returning with a full dustpan of dried goods to nibble on.
Lin Qiao grabbed a handful for Song Tingfan, "Eat."
She glanced around the courtyard and asked, "Dad and the others aren’t home?"
"Your brother and the others went out to chop wood to make a bed for Ping’er and An’er, and your dad went out to visit people, I’ll go call him."
Li Guifen stood up, hurried a few steps, then turned and said, "Don’t leave okay, stay for dinner."
Lin Qiao nodded, and Song Tingfan followed suit.
On the way, Li Guifen saw Lin Han and playfully scolded, "Have you seen your daughter?"
"Wasn’t she supposed to come home?" Lin Han asked anxiously.
"Not at all, I didn’t see her," Li Guifen teased with a smile.
Lin Han realized she was joking, quickened his pace with his hands behind his back, Li Guifen caught up and tugged his arm, "Your daughter is here, aren’t you going to buy some meat?"
Lin Han wanted to see if his daughter was home, righteously saying, "I’m going home to change my shoes."
"What shoes to change, hurry and buy, so I can make dinner." Li Guifen urged him toward the other direction.
"You’re such a nuisance, I’ll change my shoes before buying."
"Why, can’t you buy meat without changing shoes? Hurry, buy it late, and there’ll be no meat left, then your daughter won’t eat dinner at home."
Hearing this, Lin Han quickly went to buy meat and soon returned, "Give me some silver coins, I only have a hundred cents on me."
Li Guifen felt around herself, luckily she had the money bag, didn’t count it, and gave it all to him, "Hurry up, be careful walking."
"Got it, go back and keep our daughter company." Lin Han left without turning back, as if chased by a ghost.
...
A quarter of an hour later, in the Lin family’s main room.
Lin Qiao was chatting with Mrs. Lin Wu and Lin Xushi, heard footsteps, subconsciously turned to look, Lin Han walked in with a few jins of meat, she called out, "Dad."
Lin Han responded, "You’re here? I just bought some meat, let’s have dinner together."
He put the meat in the kitchen, then entered the main room, subconsciously looking at his daughter again.
Lin Qiao naturally noticed, "Dad, where did you go, talking?"
"Just wandering around." Lin Han glanced at the small dustpan, then said, "Have some rice crispy cakes, your mom made them before New Year’s."
"I am eating."
Lin Qiao nodded, at that moment, Song Tingfan peeled a melon seed and handed it to her.
She shook her head, "Little Uncle, don’t peel for me, eat yourself."
"Alright." But Song Tingfan still gave it to her.
Lin Han grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, slowly peeled them with his hands, and after a while, handed them to Song Tingfan, "Tingfan, eat up, have more."
Song Tingfan, not being stupid, knew Uncle Song wanted to give them to his sister-in-law, obediently handed them to Lin Qiao, who had "compromised" and reached out to take them, eating them.
Lin Han couldn’t help but smile.
For a moment, the atmosphere was quite warm.
"Big Han, Big Han..."
"What is it?"
"Come and light the fire, would you, sitting there like a lord?"
"Coming, coming!"
Lin Han put down the dried sunflower seeds, grudgingly went into the kitchen, sat by the stove door to light the fire, saying, "Usually don’t want me to light the fire, today insisting on it, how odd."
"You think I don’t want to talk to our daughter? Both of us making dinner will be quicker." Li Guifen glared at him with displeasure.
Lin Han glanced at the sky outside, puzzled, "It’s only 3:00 PM, why cook so early?"
"I’m frying some crispy meat, shouldn’t that be done early! Come on, just light the fire without the chatter." Li Guifen picked up a spatula and waved it at him, signaling that if he spoke a few more words, he’d get a whack from it.
Li Guifen’s fried meat ended up filling two small dustpans, Lin Qiao was full just eating the crispy meat, couldn’t really eat much rice, yet Li Guifen kept picking food for her.
With Li Guifen’s good intentions, she couldn’t refuse.
Feeling helpless, she turned to Song Tingfan beside her for help, whispering, "Little Uncle, help me eat a bit, I can’t finish this."
Song Tingfan looked at her, nodded, and pushed his bowl over, Lin Qiao joyfully divided more than half to him.
She blinked, "Thank you, Little Uncle."
Song Tingfan shyly shook his head, picked up the bowl and ate two big mouthfuls.
Sister-in-law’s rice had to be more delicious.
Really.
He wasn’t lying.
...
After the New Year, even Lin Qiao could feel that she had gained weight, her jacket was getting a bit tight, so she limited herself to one bowl of rice per meal, not eating more.
The continuous heavy snow finally stopped, and several days later, there wasn’t a trace of snow on the ground.
People were more active in the village, starting to get to work.
The school was opening in a few days, and with some free time, Song Tingfan planned to take his bow and arrow into the mountains to see if he could hunt anything.
Lin Qiao had been at home for several days, her whole body sore, "Little Uncle, I’ll go up the mountain with you, okay?"
