Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 197 - 192: Tingfan’s Marriage Proposal Considered Yet?
She changed the topic, "She’ll be back in a couple of days, sister-in-law, why are you still buying us clothes?"
Lin Qiao naturally understood and didn’t continue to ask about it. She smiled and said, "What’s the big deal about buying some clothes? When Uncle and Cousin come back, let them try them on. If they’re too big, I’ll have them altered in town."
"Alright." Song Mei nodded.
Not long after Lin Qiao left, Song An and Song Hao came back from hunting. Song Mei brought them some water, and after they rested for a while, she told them about Lin Qiao buying clothes for them.
After looking at the clothes, Song An pursed his lips, "Daughter, later take a rabbit over there."
"Okay."
Song Mei nodded, thinking about her mother, hesitated for a while and said, "Dad, it’s been so long, why don’t you go get Mom back?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
"She knows to come back." Song An didn’t relent, probably not wanting to talk about it, and got up to go inside the house.
Song Mei glanced at Song Hao, worried, and asked, "Brother, what should we do?"
Song Hao was annoyed at his mother for always cursing at Second Uncle’s family and often hitting Tingfan, but after all, she was his mother, "I’ll go get her tomorrow."
"Dad just doesn’t want to fetch her back because he’s afraid that if he gives in once, she’ll do it again. In the future, you must talk to Mom."
"Mom is really something, doesn’t know why she hit Tingfan. Tingfan is only looking out for Dad’s sake, otherwise Mom wouldn’t have been able to hit her. Now, Tingfan doesn’t even dare to come to our house."
Song Mei also had no idea why their mother had such a big opinion against Second Uncle’s family, "I’ll try to persuade Mom a bit."
...
April passed, and May arrived, with the blue sky, the warmth mixed with some noise, the cicadas starting to chirp in the trees, making noise all morning.
Lin Qiao, who was drawing cake designs, was annoyed by the noise. She turned around to look at the peach tree left with only leaves.
She looked for a while but couldn’t see where the cicadas were.
She put down her pen, got up, and tapped the peach tree twice with a stick. The cicada noise stopped, but as soon as she put the stick down, the cicadas started again, "..."
Returning under the peach tree, she carefully looked for the cicadas again, and after a while finally saw a shadow at the top branch. Just as she extended the stick, someone took it away.
Instinctively, she turned her head and bumped right into the chest of a young man. Her nose stung immediately, and she let out a "tsss" sound.
"Sister-in-law, are you okay?" Song Tingfan immediately lowered his head to look at her, full of concern.
Lin Qiao waved her hand, and after a while, she looked at him. Maybe because of the backlight, his features were clear, his nose high, and he seemed to be maturing towards manhood.
"There are cicadas on the tree, Little Uncle, please get rid of them."
"Alright."
Following her gesture, Song Tingfan looked over, immediately spotting the cicada, poked it a few times, and then it flew away.
They both returned to the main room, and Lin Qiao asked, "How’s the preparation for Cousin’s wedding going?"
These days, Song Tingfan had taken leave from the academy to help Song Hao with the wedding, and Song Qin and Song Rong had also gone.
Lin Qiao, being a widow, wasn’t considered auspicious according to the superstitions there, so she didn’t go to help.
She was happy to have some free time.
"The tables and bowls haven’t been borrowed yet, I’ll go borrow them this afternoon."
Song Tingfan took out a handkerchief wrapped around something from his chest and unfolded it to reveal a chicken leg, "Sister-in-law, this is for you to eat."
"Where did it come from?" Lin Qiao asked curiously.
"Uncle gave it to me to eat, I didn’t want it, so I brought it back for you."
Though Song Tingfan wasn’t stuttering as much while lying now, his eyes were still unnatural, and Lin Qiao naturally noticed, feeling a bit touched, "I don’t want it either, you eat it yourself when you’re hungry."
"I’m not hungry." Song Tingfan just really wanted to bring it back for his sister-in-law to eat.
"You’ll be hungry later."
"Even later, I won’t be hungry, not hungry."
Hearing this, Lin Qiao laughed and, winking, spoke the boy’s mind, "Little Uncle, were you saving it for me to eat?"
Being seen through, Song Tingfan bashfully scratched the back of his head, "Yeah."
Lin Qiao took the chicken leg, tore off a piece, and then gave the rest back to him, "Come on, let’s each have half."
Seeing him about to refuse, she said again, "Be good."
Song Tingfan obediently accepted it, and after eating, he sat with her for a while before going out to do things again.
Soon after, Li Guifen came over with some unfinished embroidered shoes.
Lin Qiao was a bit surprised she came at this time because usually, she would be taking Ping’er and An’er to study.
Before she could say anything, Li Guifen gave her a reproachful look, "At home and bored, don’t know to come home."
Obviously, it was Song Tingfan who called her over.
Regarding her own little cotton quilt, Lin Qiao felt some comfort, "It’s alright."
Li Guifen sat down and looked at the things on the table, "What are you drawing these for?"
Apparently, she knew she could draw.
Initially surprised, later on, it didn’t matter anymore. Ever since she was little, the girl liked to draw with a stick on the ground.
"I’ve got some Silver Coin on hand, planning to rent a shop to sell pastries." Lin Qiao didn’t hide it from her; there was nothing to hide anyway. The town was small, whatever you did, the whole village would know in three or five days.
"Sounds good, doing some business can at least sustain life." Li Guifen wasn’t in favor of her daughter showing her face everywhere, but she had no choice since her daughter was still young and had most of her life ahead.
"Do you have enough Silver? If not, I can give you some."
"I have enough already." Lin Qiao nodded.
The Boss of the fabric store had already settled the Silver Coin with the drawings.
The family now had over a hundred taels of silver, plenty more than needed to open a shop.
Thinking of this, she felt a small sense of accomplishment.
"Whatever I ask, you always say you’ve got enough." Li Guifen was a little unhappy.
The daughter doesn’t want anything from her.
Lin Qiao understood her feelings, "Not asking for Silver, but I might need Mom’s help later on."
She wouldn’t be able to handle it all alone, and having someone help would be more reassuring if it was Li Guifen.
At least she could be sure that Li Guifen wouldn’t harbor any ill intentions towards her daughter.
Hearing she could help, Li Guifen smiled broadly, "Just let me know what you need help with, I’m free anyway."
After talking for a while, Li Guifen mentioned Xu Hu, "How come that man with a scar on his face hasn’t been coming around?"
After the brothel incident spread, Xu Hu hadn’t come by. Later, she heard from the fabric store’s Boss that Xu Hu’s parents didn’t agree.
Lin Qiao didn’t take it to heart, "He won’t be coming again."
Upon hearing this, Li Guifen knew it was over, felt a bit disappointed, but didn’t show it in front of her daughter, "Never mind, he wasn’t that good-looking anyway. Next time, I’ll find a handsome one for you."
Seeing her not giving up, Lin Qiao was both laughing and crying, "No need to look, other families wouldn’t agree."
"Why wouldn’t they agree? My daughter is beautiful and capable!" Li Guifen immediately retorted.
Despite this, she understood that what her daughter said was true.
This was all because of Song San’s family, what a bunch of scoundrels!
Afraid her daughter would feel upset, she changed the topic, "Have you checked out Tingfan’s marriage prospects?"
"Not yet, but Granny Fan mentioned it to me. I haven’t talked to Little Uncle about it." Lin Qiao shook her head.
