Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 183 - 178: Sister-in-law, I Won’t Let Anyone Take You Away

Chapter 183: Chapter 178: Sister-in-law, I Won’t Let Anyone Take You Away

"Sister-in-law."

Song Tingfan didn’t seem as joyful as usual; his nose felt sour, but he held back from showing it in front of her.

Lin Qiao was just about to say something when Lin Han came in; she called out, "Dad."

Seeing her reddened eyes, Lin Han hurriedly lowered his head, "I’ll go home first and come back later." With that, he turned and left.

Li Guifen, who was doing embroidery work with Song Qin in the main hall, was puzzled and quickly followed out, anxiously asking, "What’s going on?"

Lin Han, holding back a sob, said, "We’ll talk at home."

His unusual behavior made Li Guifen’s heart sink, and her face turned a bit pale.

As soon as they returned home, Lin Shan and the others gathered around, and Lin Sheng asked, "How’s Dad?"

Lin Han didn’t respond, walking straight into the room; Li Guifen followed closely behind, closing the door with a "bang."

Her voice trembling, she asked, "Does it have something to do with our daughter?"

"That beast Song Ming! He sold our daughter to a brothel!"

Lin Han was so angry that he slammed the table, then choked up.

"How could he sell her? There’s the Song’s second family and Tingfan!"

Li Guifen looked furious, then hurriedly said, "Tingfan didn’t stamp the contract, so it’s not valid."

"It’s not valid, but we have to repay the Silver to the brothel, or else they’ll still want our daughter to pay the debt. The Song San’s house moved a few days ago, so there’s no way to repay it."

As soon as Lin Han finished speaking, Li Guifen anxiously said, "We will repay it, we will repay it."

"Selling the house and land won’t even cover it, fifty taels of Silver."

Lin Han angrily pounded his thigh, murmuring, "All my fault, all my fault! I pushed my daughter into the fire pit, Song San’s house is worthless!"

Twenty taels of Silver might be pieced together from the house, but fifty taels wouldn’t be possible even if they sold everything, Li Guifen still held a glimmer of hope, "Tingfan is still here, Song Ming wouldn’t sell our daughter, the County Magistrate knows that."

"None of them are good people! That corrupt official took the Silver from the brothel and refuses to stand up for us." Lin Han covered his eyes, choking up.

...

Meanwhile, at the Song’s second family,

Song Qin worriedly asked Song Tingfan, "Niu Niu, is everything okay?"

"It’s fine."

Song Tingfan glanced at the young woman beside him, a flicker of guilt in his eyes, bowed his head, and said, "I’m a bit tired; I’ll go back to my room to sleep for a while." He then went back to his room.

Lin Qiao felt something was wrong, so she took some peach blossom cake to his room, only to find the door unusually closed. She called softly a couple of times, "Uncle?"

There was no response from inside. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Her sixth sense told her something bad had happened.

Standing at the door for a while, she thought of something and tried pushing the window from the outside, only to find it opened.

The young man, who claimed to be tired, was now crouched by the wall, hugging his knees, seemingly helpless and distressed.

Their eyes met, and the young man’s eyes were red, shimmering with tears.

She had seen this once, in a dream, that helplessness when he was sold.

Lin Qiao’s heart inexplicably twitched, and she coaxed, "Be good, open the door for sister-in-law."

After a while, the young man got up and opened the door, Lin Qiao entered with the peach blossom cake, gently closing the door.

"Is there something you’re hiding from me?"

The young man tried to lie to her, softly saying, "No, just felt uncomfortable from being in the carriage too long."

"Look into my eyes and answer." Seeing him avoiding her gaze, Lin Qiao cupped his face, making him look at her.

The young man’s eyes grew more and more red, tears the size of beans falling one after another.

Ordinarily, he was obedient and gentle, but he wasn’t a crybaby. Even when a branch scraped his leg while climbing a mountain, he didn’t make a sound.

He only ever cried for her.

Lin Qiao hugged him like an elder, gently patting his back, "Speak out, we’ll solve it together, don’t be afraid."

After a moment of "stalemate," Song Tingfan finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "Song Ming sold sister-in-law. I didn’t stamp it, so it doesn’t count, but the government wants us to repay fifty taels of Silver to the brothel, otherwise..."

"I went to find them, but they’ve already moved, I don’t know where to."

In fact, Song Ming didn’t just sell Lin Qiao; he sold him too, but the brothel people were afraid of causing trouble, so they didn’t take him, after all, he was a boy.

It turned out that Song Ming’s family was the culprit, no wonder the brothel dared to seize her. If she had been violated that day, even if she had grievances, there would be nowhere to speak of them.

Lin Qiao hadn’t said anything when he added, "Sister-in-law, don’t be afraid, the old hag said I could be worth fifty taels of Silver."

The villain intended to sell himself to redeem her.

Lin Qiao, for the first time, utterly regarded the villain; she thought he was just using her as "comfort," afraid of being left alone in the end.

But now it was clear, his feelings for her were genuine from the bottom of his heart.

The shadow lingering in her heart seemed to have dissipated these past few days; actually, this script wasn’t so bad.

At least the "villain" she raised truly cared for her.

She suddenly chuckled, "How many times can uncle be sold? What if it happens again next time?"

"I’ll find a way to repay."

Currently, they were in a weak position; without finding Song Ming’s family, they had no choice but to repay the Silver; the government wouldn’t back them.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t even talk about repaying Silver.

But she wouldn’t let the brothel off the hook, nor Song Ming’s family.

"But we still can’t repay it."

Song Tingfan lowered his head, not knowing where to gather Silver, suddenly thought of something, "Selling the house could get over ten taels of Silver, I might borrow a bit from Big Uncle."

"Where would we live if we sell? Enough, don’t worry, I have a plan."

Lin Qiao comfortingly patted his back, then picked a piece of peach blossom cake for him, "Just steamed."

Seeing him holding but not eating, she touched the top of his head, "It’s nothing major, the sky hasn’t fallen, and as long as we’re alive, everything else doesn’t matter; don’t think about it, or be sad."

She somewhat understood his helplessness; at his age, he still saw the world as beautiful, and his third uncle’s act of selling her was something he probably couldn’t accept.

Actually, Song Tingfan understood, understood that the third uncle’s family was bad, that not everyone was good.

He bit his lip, "I’ll go hunting."

Hunting could earn some Silver.

If he couldn’t repay, he’d sell himself to Ya Po.

He wouldn’t let the brothel take sister-in-law away.

Lin Qiao understood his thoughts, reached out, and held him, "Sleep for a while, I’ll keep watch over you." Then she gestured for him to get into bed and sleep a bit more.

Song Tingfan shook his head, "Not tired."

"Two big dark circles, and you’re not tired?" Lin Qiao lifted the quilt, forcibly pulling him into bed, then took a seat beside him.

She continued, "Sleep."

The young man tried to fight off sleep but eventually nodded off, though his sleep was uneasy, brows furrowed tightly.

Lin Qiao sighed inwardly, leaned in close, and gently patted his back. The young man opened his eyes for a glance, seeing it was her, quickly closed his eyes, and drifted back to sleep.

Gradually his brows smoothed out.

He slept until evening, the sunset’s red glow filtered through the window, adding a touch of color to the grey quilt.

The young man on the bed opened his eyes, seeing the woman’s soft profile resting beside him, the blue under her eyes unmistakably vivid.

Not only he hadn’t slept well, neither had his sister-in-law.