Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 172 - 167: Lin Qiao Takes a Break from Acting
Lin Qiao: "..."
Jump in the damn river, she clearly fell in by accident.
Besides, the river here is so shallow, it’s hardly enough to drown someone to death.
Other people around weren’t aware of what happened, but when they heard Widow Song jumped into the river, they immediately rushed over to look. The Lin Family’s field wasn’t far away, and Li Guifen and Lin Han were taken aback when they heard, but soon realized what was said. Li Guifen went weak at the knees, "My daughter!"
Lin Han, Lin Shan, and another Lin Han threw down their hoes and ran over. Li Guifen paused for a moment, then quickly followed.
On this side, Song Tingfan was helping Lin Qiao up from the riverbank, when a lot of people had already gathered, advising with good intentions, "Widow Song, what were you thinking? If there’s anything, talk it over."
"Exactly, talk it over."
"Life is hard, but staying alive is better than dying."
"What are they going to do if you die?"
"If you can’t make ends meet, the village will pitch in to give you some silver coin."
Each talking like saints yet often gossiping behind others’ backs, this is the complexity of human nature.
Lin Qiao didn’t bother to explain, knowing they wouldn’t listen. They only want to hear what they wish to see.
She sneezed, "Uncle, let’s go back."
At this moment, Lin Shan and the others ran over. Upon seeing Lin Qiao was still alive, their hearts, which were pounding in their throats, sank back down to their stomachs.
Suddenly, everyone saw Lin Shan raise his hand and slap Lin Qiao with a "snap", which quickly silenced the surroundings.
Lin Qiao was stunned by the slap. She was in a daze for a moment, anger rising within.
How could she not be angry? Out of nowhere, she got slapped.
But looking at the middle-aged man’s reddened eyes, tears gathering at the corners, her anger dissipated instantly.
Song Tingfan also froze for a second, reflexively shielding Lin Qiao, hurriedly explaining, "Uncle Lin, that’s not it, Sister-in-law didn’t jump into the river!"
Li Guifen hurried over and hit Lin Han, choking on her words, "Why did you hit our daughter, she was already..."
"To wake her up! Her parents are still around, and she thinks of dying!" Lin Han wiped the corners of his eyes messily. Although his expression was angry, anyone could see he was concerned about Lin Qiao.
The dripping wet clothes kept making a circle on the ground. Lin Qiao looked down and wrung them out, "I just slipped."
Looking at Sister-in-law’s rapidly swelling face, Song Tingfan’s eyes were filled with heartache, his hands at his sides clenched, "It was the stone that was loose, Sister-in-law didn’t jump into the river." His voice raised noticeably at the end.
He seemed somewhat agitated.
The Lin Family paused, and Lin Han immediately felt guilty, "Daughter, I..."
The burning pain on her face made Lin Qiao frown uncontrollably. Lin Han, this man who doesn’t talk much, probably put all his love for his daughter into that slap.
She did not look at Lin Han but instead scanned the crowd, finally stopping at the woman who yelled she jumped into the river, coldly questioning, "Madam Xu, people have mouths, not to spout nonsense, otherwise they stink like a privy!"
Immediately all their eyes turned to the Xu family’s young daughter-in-law, she confidently argued, "How was I to know you slipped? I just saw you fall into the river and thought you were seeking death, I was just kindly calling for help, don’t blame others unjustly!"
This time Lin Qiao was genuinely angry.
The acting took a pause.
"Just now I was still in my own field picking wild celery, you all saw it, who would seek death while picking wild celery? Besides, the water in this river only reaches the calves, am I crazy, or are you crazy?" She emphasized the last part.
Widow Song’s angry expression rendered everyone silent; among them, Niu Er, who was rolling up his trouser legs, spat out the grass in his mouth and spoke up, "Widow Song has changed, she’s not easy to bully anymore. You gossipers better watch out, or she’ll sic dogs on you to death."
Old Xu’s face didn’t look good, not because of Lin Qiao, but because it wasn’t the first time his daughter-in-law’s sharp tongue had caused an argument.
But outside, he had to maintain his family’s dignity, "Madam Tingfan, apologies, she just speaks too quickly, no ill intent."
Niu Er curled his lips, rolled his eyes, and loudly shouted, "Xu’s young daughter-in-law has been fooling around with someone!!"
"Fooling around!! Fooling around!!"
"Niu Er!! What nonsense are you spouting!!" Old Xu reprimanded!
"Oh, I just speak a bit too quickly, no malice intended." Niu Er shrugged innocently.
Knowing that it was someone else shouting nonsense, Lin Han was furious at this point, "We’re all from the same village, why always bully my daughter! Don’t you have daughters? I’ll leave my word here, if anyone spreads bad things about my daughter again, I’ll dig up your ancestors’ graves!"
The two families were in a stalemate, a well-meaning peacemaker said, "Let’s all just let it go, isn’t it good Madam Tingfan didn’t jump into the river, Xu family’s young daughter-in-law, be careful with your words next time."
"What letting go! Blabbering all day long, afraid people won’t know how bad your mouth stinks!"
Li Guifen, known for her fiery temper in the village, scolded Xu family’s daughter-in-law brutally, and continued, "A slip becomes a jump into the river, are you taking a hoe because you want to dig yourself to death?"
The village is not big, Zhou Ping heard the commotion and came over, and so did Zhou Tiedan.
Zhou Tiedan saw Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan both were wet, instinctively thinking they were bullied, "Shameless! Bullying Tingfan and Sister-in-law Tingfan, Sir said that’s disgraceful!"
Zhou Ping expressed his concern to Song Tingfan and Lin Qiao, "You two should go back and change, be careful not to catch a cold."
After Song Tingfan and Lin Qiao went home, he looked at everyone and said, "Are you trying to drive people to their deaths?"
No one spoke up.
"Can’t we have fewer troubles in a day, the matter with the Sun Family a few days ago isn’t resolved yet, isn’t there always something we can’t get past in a village, has Song’s second family bullied everyone?"
"It’s said to assist in times of need, if you can’t assist don’t kick them when they’re down, the words you say may seem trivial to you, but to others, it’s just like a knife cut."
...
The Song Family was a bit of a distance from the field. The elderly couple of the Song Family was still asleep in the house. Lin Qiao looked at Song Tingfan, whispering, "Uncle, go quickly change and head off to study."
"Sister-in-law, your face is swollen. I’ll fetch some wine to rub on it, you go change your clothes."
Song Tingfan finished speaking and went to the kitchen. When Lin Qiao came out after changing, he let her sit down and then poured some wine into his palm.
Just as he was about to touch Sister-in-law’s face, he hesitated for a moment but soon applied it.
It really was swollen, hurting with just a touch prompting Lin Qiao to let out a "Hiss", "Uncle, it hurts."
Even if Lin Han wanted to ’wake up’ his daughter, he shouldn’t have hit so hard, right?
Song Tingfan’s movements immediately became much gentler, and after rubbing back and forth two or three times, he set the bowl down and went back to his room to change his pants.
"Sister-in-law, I won’t go to study this afternoon, I’ll stay home to take care of you."
"It’s no big deal, go to study, take a few pieces of peach blossom cake with you, and eat some if you get hungry." Lin Qiao said as she got up to pack a few pieces of peach blossom cake for him.
Her face was swollen, yet she was still packing him peach blossom cake, Sister-in-law was too good to him.
Song Tingfan’s eyes reddened like a rabbit’s, he reached out to take it, biting his lip, "Sister-in-law, I won’t let anyone hit you again in the future."
Not even Sister-in-law’s father.
