Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 220 - 215: The Villain Only Has Her, the Old Supporting Cannon Fodder, in His Eyes
"I saw a wild pheasant and went after it."
Song Tingfan looked at his dusty, disheveled appearance, and his depression dissipated as he said, "Let’s go down the mountain."
"You didn’t get me any bird eggs!" Zhou Tiedan chased after him.
"No, I didn’t."
"How could you not? You just don’t want to get them for me!"
"Yes, I don’t want to get them."
On hearing this, Zhou Tiedan’s mouth twisted with anger, saying, "Song Tingfan, you’re such a jerk, I’m not playing with you anymore." Having said his piece, he stormed off.
But soon he ran back and taunted, "You’ll be single for your whole life!"
"I won’t," Song Tingfan replied, pressing his lips together.
"You will, you will, you just will!" Zhou Tiedan shouted a few times and angrily went down the mountain.
As soon as he got home, he started wailing to his mother, "Mom, Tingfan bullied me, he wouldn’t get me bird eggs."
Zhou Tiedan’s mother, who was busy preparing rice for cooking, gave him a glare, "You’re such a big boy and still crying? If he won’t get them, get them yourself. Do you think Tingfan is as carefree as you? Doesn’t have to work?"
"I can’t climb up there," Zhou Tiedan pouted.
"Serves you right for not being able, who told you to eat so much every day."
"I don’t eat as much as sister-in-law! At most I eat three bowls of rice, she eats four!"
Zhou Qiuzhi, who was tending the fire, heard this and barked fiercely, "Zhou Tiedan, are you looking to get spanked? Spouting nonsense about your sister-in-law."
"I’m not making it up; she even fights with me for food. If I don’t give her any, she threatens me saying she’ll have you beat me." Zhou Tiedan retorted with a stiff neck, his face full of grievances.
Zhou Qiuzhi dragged him out of the kitchen, and soon there was a wailing sound akin to ghosts crying and wolves howling.
Zhou Tiedan had been hanging from a tree for more than an hour and got beaten when he got home, you could say it was a rather "tragic" day for him.
Meanwhile, at Song’s second family
The pheasant that Song Tingfan caught, Lin Qiao directly cooked it for dinner.
After dinner, Song Qin asked Song Tingfan to come into the room; Lin Qiao knew what it was about.
She stayed with Mrs. Fan making clothes in the main room; Mrs. Fan was also good at embroidery, neither excellent nor shabby.
In the room
After closing the door, Song Qin let Song Tingfan sit on the stool, hesitant to speak directly, so she first asked about something else, "How has Niu Niu been lately?"
Seeing her close the door and ask questions, Song Tingfan instinctively thought she was worried his sister-in-law wasn’t treating him well, so he quickly nodded and said, "Good, sister-in-law treats me very well."
Song Qin smiled, then glanced at the old man beside her, signaling him to help ask, but Song Rong didn’t know how to ask these things and stayed silent.
Song Qin had to ask herself casually, "Has Niu Niu taken a liking to any girls from around? Ahem, your grandpa and I can help propose marriage."
Without thinking, Song Tingfan shook his head, "No."
"Huh? None?" Song Qin was a bit disappointed.
She wasn’t disappointed for long, though, soon turning to shock.
Song Tingfan tightly cupped his hands, his heartbeat quickening a little, but he still spoke his mind, "Grandma, Grandpa, I want to marry sister-in-law."
He thought about it; he should tell his grandparents first in case they disagreed.
Though he knew they wouldn’t disagree.
Upon hearing this, Song Qin and Song Rong were both stunned; Song Qin thought she had misheard and asked, "Who did you say you wanted to marry?"
Seeing their shocked eyes, Song Tingfan nervously picked at his fingers and softly repeated, "I want to marry sister-in-law."
The young man’s eyes were very sincere as he said this.
For a moment, Song Qin and Song Rong didn’t know what to say. They weren’t opposed, just caught off guard by the sudden proposal.
How could he want to marry his sister-in-law?
Fearing that people outside might hear, Song Qin lowered her voice and asked, "Have you talked to your sister-in-law about it? How does she feel?"
"No, I haven’t," Song Tingfan didn’t dare tell Lin Qiao; his sister-in-law thought he was too young, and he wanted to wait until he was older to tell her.
Song Qin and Song Rong exchanged a glance, Song Rong asked, "Did your brother tell you this?"
Song Tingfan was the only heir of the second family, and the old couple didn’t expect much from him, just hoping he’d be happy.
"Big brother did say I should marry sister-in-law, he said our family owes her."
Song Tingfan paused, then added, "But I’m not doing it because of big brother; it’s because sister-in-law treats me well, better than my parents."
He wasn’t saying his parents treated him poorly, but rather how good his sister-in-law was to him.
Sometimes so good he felt she wasn’t really just his sister-in-law.
Lin Qiao’s kindness to them was well observed by Song Qin and Song Rong; they knew it full well. After a long silence, Song Qin spoke, "If you could marry Qiao’er, that would be wonderful. There are nasty rumors about your sister-in-law, and it’s hard for her to marry into an honest family."
"It’s for our sake that she is like this, so we keep telling you not to forget her kindness."
"I know," Song Tingfan had seen all that his sister-in-law did.
While selling goods, some men always stared obscenely at her; she couldn’t show her anger and had to smile while selling to them.
At such times, he always wanted to suggest not selling anymore, but he couldn’t support the whole family alone.
They would go hungry.
He didn’t know how long it was, but it was nearly dark outside when Lin Qiao realized Song Tingfan had come out. She was curious if Song Qin had brought up anything.
She hadn’t the slightest suspicion it was about her.
No one in her position would think it was about themselves.
When Song Tingfan went to the kitchen to heat water for washing, she quietly asked Song Qin, "Grandma, which girl’s family is it?"
Song Qin glanced at her, unable to lie, she quickly shifted her gaze and replied, "No... no one."
Lin Qiao simply replied "Oh"; she figured no one. She was always with the antagonist and never saw him look at any girl resembling the protagonist.
Ahem, she only saw this old girl’s cannon fodder (vicious) supporting role.
...
Early the next morning, Lin Qiao asked Lin Han for help finding someone to repair the house. Lin Han left after breakfast to find someone for her.
By 7 to 9 a.m., someone was there to inspect the courtyard, and after looking inside and out, they determined it would cost ten taels of silver. Lin Han frowned, "That’s too expensive, ten taels of silver could build a new one."
"Could you build such a big courtyard anew? Big fellow, you see for yourself, Song’s second family has a large courtyard; adding two more rooms early would make ten taels a bargain." Brick mason Ning Dagui scanned the yard and added, "When Tingfan’s father built it back then, it cost dozens of taels of silver, all with good materials; otherwise, replacing beams and such would cost even more."
Lin Han understood and tried to bargain, "Dagui, a bit less please, ten taels are really too much, eight taels, and I’ll treat you to drinks and food."
"No, no, at most half a tael less," Ning Dagui relented slightly.
After half a day of negotiations, they settled on nine taels of silver; Lin Qiao paid five taels upfront and the remaining four taels upon completion.
In the afternoon, as the sun was about to set, Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan headed to town, with Song Qin reluctant to part with them, insisting on seeing them off to the mule cart.
On the way, Song Qin secretly slipped two taels of silver to Song Tingfan. He didn’t want to accept and whispered, "Grandma, I don’t want it."
Song Qin patted his hand, simultaneously glancing at Lin Qiao, making it clear that she meant for him to buy her some treats.
