Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 162 - 157: She Is the Villain’s Master Swindler
Lin Qiao was caught between laughter and tears, and finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud, "Sister-in-law hit you, aren’t you upset?"
"Not upset, sister-in-law is doing it for my own good, I know." Song Tingfan said seriously, he knew everything.
The way sister-in-law hits him now is different from before. Now it’s out of care, before...
He remembered something and picked up the box on the table, "Sister-in-law, I’ve finished the box."
"I see, it’s better looking than the previous one." Lin Qiao reached out to take it, praising him according to the usual routine.
From the discovery that sister-in-law kept Zhang Dong’s box until now, Song Tingfan had been troubled, but was genuinely happy, "Really?"
"Why would I lie to you, sister-in-law? The old box didn’t have the lotus flower on it, it wasn’t as nice." Lin Qiao praised the carefully carved lotus flower, yes, complimenting someone should hit the right spot.
He carved the lotus flower for her, so praising the lotus was better than praising anything else.
Sure enough, the villain’s face bloomed with a smile.
However, what the two of them thought didn’t align.
Song Tingfan thought in his heart that sister-in-law liked the box he made more than Zhang Dong’s, unable to hide his joy, "I’ll make more for sister-in-law in the future." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
The silly kid doesn’t realize that just a word of praise makes him believe it entirely.
The "old mother" Lin Qiaoxin felt a bit guilty, so she changed the topic, "Little uncle, you stay home and rest, I’m going to the field. We’ve plowed the field this morning, just need to sow the seeds."
"I’ll go too." Song Tingfan swiftly took off his shoes and changed into old cloth shoes.
He used to always wear old cloth shoes, but sister-in-law said to wear good shoes for studying.
Lin Qiao was concerned about his future happiness; no matter how handsome a man is, if he dresses poorly, no girl will like him.
By the night before delivering the cold dishes, they had prepped the field, planting various vegetables, with potatoes planted the most. Lin Qiao had a plan in mind, to try different dishes for a while, always finding a way to earn some silver coins.
That night, it began to drizzle lightly, and when Lin Qiao got up in the dark, it was still raining. She looked at the sky outside; it should be around 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Cakes take a long time to bake, need to start early.
She lit the fire, grabbed a handful of dry grass to ignite, stuffed it into the stove, and then added some dry twigs that were easy to burn.
Suddenly, footsteps came from outside, getting clearer, a shadow fell over. She turned her head to look, a boy with tousled hair, still a bit sleepy-eyed,
she said softly, "Did I wake you?"
Song Tingfan shook his head, "Sister-in-law, how many eggs should I beat?"
"Fifteen will do."
Lin Qiao looked at his hair, gestured for him to sit down, when he sat, she expertly used her fingers to tidy and tie his hair with a ribbon.
Song Tingfan glanced at her from the corner of his eye, lips slightly lifting. As soon as she finished tying, he got up and fetched a basin to beat the eggs.
After getting the fire going, Lin Qiao started washing the vegetables.
The noise in the kitchen woke Song Qin and Song Rong, and they came to help.
As daylight brightened and the rain stopped outside, Song Tingfan was in the yard, slaughtering chickens. He killed three, Lin Qiao took the innards to fry for breakfast.
They ate breakfast in the kitchen, then continued working. The last batch of cakes was finished just before 9 a.m.
Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan each carried a basket and headed to town. Luckily, they caught the Zhou family donkey cart just as it was about to leave.
By the time they reached the town entrance, it was around 7:45 a.m. The tea stall was run by an uncle today. Lin Qiao asked as she passed by, "Uncle, isn’t your wife here today?"
The uncle shook his head, "She’s preparing meals at home. Are you delivering cold dishes?"
"Yes."
"Give it to me."
The uncle weighed the cold dishes, not a bit less, perhaps even two taels more, paying them with a smile.
Lin Qiao received the extra money, feeling a bit joyful, all the early morning labor was worth it, "Thank you, uncle. We need to set up a stall now, so we’ll go ahead."
Made some extra this morning, since it’s not easy to come to town often.
Having not seen them for days, Uncle Li at the noodle stall greeted them, "Why haven’t you come for several days? Many people were asking when you’d be here!"
"Busy with the fields at home, couldn’t make it to town."
Lin Qiao found a dry spot to set down the baskets, and Song Tingfan joined, then went to set up the table and lay out the goods.
Once everything was set, he took out two new baskets to sell on the side.
The rain earlier left not many people on the street, only a few weighed the cold dishes.
Lin Qiao wasn’t anxious yet, but beside her, Song Tingfan was. He ran to the front to shout, selling cold dishes.
That shout had some effect, bringing several people over, and Lin Qiao got busy. Song Tingfan helped out on the side, perhaps a lesson from last time, counting each cent carefully before giving out the cold dishes.
After this wave of customers, not much was left of the cold dishes, about one or two pounds. Just then, a woman with a basket approached, "Weigh me half a pound."
The woman had a mole on her face, and Song Tingfan recognized her as the one who short-changed them two cents last time. He pursed his lips, "Auntie, you gave two cents less last time."
Afraid others might hear, he spoke quietly.
Lin Qiao watched him, not intervening, letting society teach him a lesson, so he’d be less deceived in the future.
She forgot she was the biggest "deceiver."
The woman, probably used to this, shouted righteously, "Who gave you two cents less? How dare you falsely accuse me, at such a young age not learning well!"
"I didn’t falsely accuse you, you gave silver coins last time, I didn’t count then, but when I did after closing the stall, it was missing two cents." Song Tingfan explained earnestly.
"Just because you didn’t count, I gave less?"
The woman gave him a disgusted look and said, "I’m not buying, not buying. Never dealt with such slanderers." Then she left with her basket.
She walked away, telling others bad things about them as she left, causing quite a few to point fingers at them.
Song Tingfan, having tried to do a good deed, was red-eyed with anger. Clearly, it was the woman who gave less, he couldn’t have been mistaken.
Lin Qiao comfortingly patted him, "Little uncle, watch me work."
She took a few copper coins from her pocket, then shouted to the crowd, "Who lost some silver coins?"
The place quieted immediately, and the woman who’d just left hurriedly ran back, "Mine, I was just here."
Reasoning with people like this was useless. Lin Qiao warmly asked, "Auntie, how much did you drop?"
"A few," the woman hesitated, vaguely giving a number.
"A few? I only have two cents here."
"Then it’s two, I thought it was two less."
Lin Qiao raised an eyebrow, opened her palm, revealing three cents. She looked apologetic, "Auntie, it’s three here, not yours."
The woman paused, "Then I remembered wrong, it’s three."
"Oh, then I’ll give it to you." Lin Qiao extended her hand, then pulled back, suddenly recalling something, "Oh dear, these few cents are mine. A customer left them on the table, look at my memory."
"Auntie, you might need to check other places for those three cents, maybe they’re at another stall?"
