Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 196 - 191: Sister-in-law Scolding Him for Zhou Tiedan
"You child!" Li Guifen glanced at her with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
Later, at Lin Qiao’s request, she tried on the clothes, which fit perfectly. Li Guifen wiped away tears in secret.
Although it seemed her daughter didn’t care about anything, in reality, she knew everything in her heart.
The Lin Family
Lin Han, who was sitting in the main room making brooms, heard his wife talking to a woman next door. He immediately looked up, and after a while, saw her returning with a pile of things. He got up to help, "Where did you pick up these ragged clothes again? If you’re buying, buy something nice. Get a new outfit for our daughter too, I think hers are a bit worn out."
Country women have a bit of a tendency to be thrifty, and Li Guifen was no exception. She often went to town with other women to buy cheap clothing.
When she heard "ragged clothes," Li Guifen rolled her eyes at him in exasperation and hugged the clothes to her chest, "What ragged clothes? If you don’t want to wear them, forget it."
"I’m just saying, why are you upset? It’s not like the family is short on money. If you’re buying, get something nice. You’ve been with me for half your life, and we didn’t have much money when we got married, but now that we have savings, don’t shortchange yourself," Lin Han quickly consoled her when he saw she was upset.
Li Guifen couldn’t help but smile, but she said, "What money? The grandson still needs education, and the daughter’s house isn’t built yet."
"I’m not old yet; I can still work for another decade or so," Lin Han said with a cheerful smile.
"Alright, stop teasing me. These clothes were bought by our daughter for us, and the elder and second families also have them,"
Li Guifen handed the clothes to Lin Han, watching him grin foolishly, and said, "Our daughter wants you to try it on to see if it’s too small."
Lin Han looked at the clothes in his hands as if they were treasure and quickly gave them back to Li Guifen, "I was just making brooms, I’m filthy. I’ll go wash my hands." He then ran to the cistern by the courtyard to scoop water and washed his hands several times, as if trying to scrub off a layer of skin.
Li Guifen laughed so hard she bent over, not missing the opportunity to tease him, "Weren’t you the one who said they were ragged clothes? What’s the need to wash hands?"
"Even if our daughter gives me ragged clothes, I like them. Heh heh, I’m going to try them on."
Lin Han went back inside to change, and although the clothes were slightly large, he preferred them a bit loose anyway.
Lin Sheng came out after a nap, seeing his father in new clothes, "Mom, this time’s clothes look good, they even make Dad look taller."
"Grandpa, you’re wearing new clothes, I want new ones too." Lin Ping simply liked wearing new clothes.
"Your mom didn’t buy these. She wouldn’t buy such expensive clothes. Your little sister bought them; she got them for all of you," Lin Han said happily, looking at his new outfit.
Li Guifen, playfully pretending to be upset from being ’badmouthed’, rolled her eyes at him, "Then don’t wear the clothes I buy; go out to work naked from now on." Saying that, she handed the clothes to the eldest family’s three members.
The second family probably heard the commotion and came out, so she gave them theirs as well.
Lin Xushi felt a bit embarrassed holding the clothes and hesitated, "Mom, little sister borrowed twenty taels from the boss. Sheng and I discussed it and decided to give her five taels as a gift."
Given that the elder brother had spoken, it was natural for Mrs. Lin Wu not to ignore it. However, Shanzi had already discussed this with her. "Since the elder brother and sister-in-law gave five taels, we’ll give eight taels. Dashan earns a bit more working in town than the elder brother."
"You all keep it. Qiao’er, your father and I will handle it."
Li Guifen paused and added, "I gave it to her, but she wouldn’t take it and returned it."
She just wanted to let her daughters-in-law know that Lin Qiao didn’t consider her natal family as a bottomless pit.
Mrs. Lin Wu and Lin Xushi understood her intentions and both felt a bit embarrassed because they weren’t that nice to their sister-in-law before.
Exchanging a glance, Lin Xushi said, "It’s just a token of our goodwill; we’ll talk to little sister later."
...
Meanwhile, Lin Qiao had no idea that her two sisters-in-law had completely changed their view of her. Currently, she was sending Song Tingfan to school.
Along the way, Zhou Tiedan spotted her and ran over excitedly, "Sister-in-law, you’re back."
After half a month of not seeing him, he seemed to have grown taller. Lin Qiao responded, "Tiedan, you’ve grown taller but also a bit chubbier."
Upon hearing that he had gained weight, Zhou Tiedan wasn’t upset at all and grinned, "Heh heh, I eat three bowls of rice every meal."
Song Tingfan didn’t like Zhou Tiedan talking to his sister-in-law and interjected stiffly, "It’s time for class."
Clueless, Zhou Tiedan looked at the sky, "It’s still early; there’s another quarter of an hour."
He recalled Song Tingfan’s "evil deeds" from a few days ago and seized the moment to complain to Lin Qiao, "Sister-in-law, Song Tingfan is so stingy. I said I missed your pancakes, and he wouldn’t let me want them. He even wanted to beat me up."
Upon hearing about Song Tingfan’s "cruel" side, Lin Qiao glanced at the young boy beside her, curiously asking, "Really?"
"Really, he’s very cruel and especially stingy, he doesn’t even let me have any of your pancakes." Zhou Tiedan sounded a bit aggrieved, then added, "Sister-in-law, you should scold him; that’s not right. The teacher said we should be willing to share."
Lin Qiao couldn’t help but laugh, "Alright, I’ll have a word with him."
A sour feeling bubbled up inside Song Tingfan; would sister-in-law scold him over Zhou Tiedan? Sulkily, he said, "I’m going in."
"Wait, you forgot your water."
Lin Qiao quickly handed him a bamboo tube, reminding, "Don’t gulp the water too fast in the heat."
With his sister-in-law’s concern, Song Tingfan’s sour feeling disappeared instantly, and he smiled, "Okay."
Zhou Tiedan was envious; he didn’t even have water. His sister-in-law made sure he was full before he went to school, and his mother thought the same way.
He wanted to ’snatch’ the sister-in-law from Song Tingfan, thinking and speaking the same, "Sister-in-law, won’t you be my sister-in-law, too? Please?"
Lin Qiao: "..."
She was greatly entertained by Zhou Tiedan.
Song Tingfan glared at him angrily, "No way, she’s my sister-in-law."
"But I want to!" Zhou Tiedan stuck his tongue out and ran off.
Song Tingfan wanted to tackle Zhou Tiedan into the field; he was so annoying!
"Sister-in-law, don’t listen to him."
Looking at the "fluffed-up" brother-in-law, Lin Qiao chuckled, "I’m your sister-in-law, not his. Now, get going."
...
In the afternoon, Lin Qiao delivered clothes to the Song Family. She had prepared an excuse for not buying Mrs. Song clothes but found out Mrs. Song had gone back to her maiden family.
According to Song Mei, she’d been gone for over a dozen days.
Lin Qiao was a bit surprised, considering everyone knew how well Song An treated Mrs. Song, especially now that Song Hao was about to get married.
She tentatively asked, "Why haven’t you brought her back?"
Embarrassed, Song Mei didn’t want to mention her mother screaming curses at their father about them and Song Tingfan at night.
Although her mother quieted down the day she got hit, she started quarreling again at night for unknown reasons, and initially, her father endured it.
But the more excessive she got, in the end, she even started cursing the second uncle and aunt, saying they left all their mess to them after they died.
Everyone knew their father cherished the second uncle and aunt deeply, so of course, he’d be upset when she said that.
After that, their mother went back to her maiden family.
