Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 97 - 92: He Lied to His Sister-in-Law
A sudden warmth touched his cheek, and Song Tingfan abruptly looked up, the woman’s slightly upturned brows and eyes filled his vision, rendering everything else invisible.
The reprimand that had just slipped out made Lin Qiao’s heart skip a beat. Was her tone too stern? Would it leave any psychological shadow on the villain?
Salvage.
She reached out to touch his bruised area, looking as if she wanted to see how serious the injury was, and asked with a voice filled with obvious concern, "Uncle, does it hurt?"
"It doesn’t hurt. Not at all." Song Tingfan grinned widely, his teeth neat and white.
His sister-in-law was concerned about him.
Finally, Zhou Ping had someone throw the people from the gambling den out of the village and emphasized to the villagers that if they found anyone causing trouble from the gambling den, they should chase them away.
At the Lin Family
Mrs. Lin Xu held Lin Ping while shedding tears. What kind of disaster was this? Sitting at home peacefully, and then the pot fell, hitting someone.
Li Guifen held Lin An, comforting him, her eyes red, holding back tears. The husband wasn’t home, and if she cried, her daughters-in-law and grandchildren would be even more scared.
She looked at Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan, scolding yet deeply worried, "What are you two kids doing here, bringing trouble upon yourselves?"
"This is my maiden family." Lin Qiao explained softly, her voice trembling, seemingly a bit frightened, as if she had just been forcing herself to be calm.
This should be the normal reaction of the original self.
Li Guifen, who was holding back tears just now, couldn’t stop them from falling after hearing this. She knew her daughter had a good heart; it had just been cold over time.
Mrs. Lin Xu didn’t expect her little sister-in-law would risk danger to help them, turning her dissatisfaction into shame.
A shame for herself.
Seeing her mother shedding tears, Lin Ping wiped them for her, his voice hoarse from crying, comforting, "Mom, don’t cry, little aunt is here."
"With little aunt here, the bad guys won’t dare to come."
"Yes, with little aunt here, mom doesn’t have to be afraid."
Mrs. Lin Xu wiped away her tears, turned her head to Song Tingfan, and said, "Tingfan, I’ll get some medicinal wine for you to rub." Saying that, she let go of Lin Ping and hurried to the house.
Soon, she came out holding a bowl of medicinal wine.
Lin Qiao reached out to take it, not wanting to trouble her, "Thank you, sister-in-law, I’ll rub it for uncle."
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law is rubbing it for me." Song Tingfan nodded compliantly.
He looked like a different person compared to the fierce little wolf cub earlier. Lin Qiao glanced at him, quickly looked away, and poured wine to rub on his face.
As her thumb slid across his cheek, Song Tingfan inexplicably flinched, making Lin Qiao think she hurt him. She lightened her touch, jokingly scolding, "Why pretend to be strong in front of sister-in-law, sister-in-law won’t laugh at you."
"If I were like uncle, next time when sister-in-law’s back hurts, I won’t dare to complain either."
Song Tingfan’s almond-shaped eyes flickered up and down, feeling a bit unnatural. He wasn’t hurt, just... just...
He couldn’t explain, just felt that every time sister-in-law touched him, it was different from grandma and grandpa.
When sister-in-law touched him, he felt uncomfortable, yet also seemed very happy...
After a long moment, he shyly rubbed his nose, "Sister-in-law, it hurts." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
He lied again.
See, kids need more guidance, Lin Qiao was very pleased with his response, then leaned in to blow on his cheek, "Sister-in-law will blow on it."
Song Tingfan blushed, but because of the rubbing with wine, his face was already red, so it wasn’t noticeable.
"Little aunt, I want to blow on uncle, too. If you blow, it won’t hurt anymore." Lin Ping ran over.
Lin Qiao couldn’t help but laugh, children are just pure, she bent down to pick him up, "You blow on uncle a few more times."
Lin Ping couldn’t blow well, his saliva splattering all over Song Tingfan’s face, making Lin Qiao burst into laughter. Seeing his sister-in-law laugh, Song Tingfan instinctively followed suit.
Originally, Lin An was still sobbing, but hearing their laughter, he ran over too, wanting to blow on Song Tingfan, "Little uncle, I want to blow too."
This wasn’t the first time he called him that, the family corrected him many times, but it never stuck.
This was also due to some gossipy women in the village, who teased Lin An about Song Tingfan and Lin Qiao, making him call Song Tingfan "little uncle."
Lin An was young and didn’t understand they were mocking Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan.
Li Guifen hastily corrected him, "An’er, it’s uncle."
"Oh, uncle."
Lin An obediently corrected himself, but soon forgot, hugging Song Tingfan’s leg, saying in a childish voice, "Little uncle, I’ll blow on you too."
Lin Qiao didn’t feel angry, instead laughed so hard she couldn’t stand upright, and Song Tingfan was even more nonchalant, dumbfoundedly watching his sister-in-law laugh.
After playing, Song Tingfan considerately helped the Lin family fix the door. To avoid getting his clothes dirty, he took them off, and his gaze inadvertently caught a thread on the shoulder coming loose; he pursed his lips.
Lin Qiao noticed too, reached out to take it, and comforted, "I’ll mend it for you when we get home."
It seemed he knew life at home wasn’t easy, Song Tingfan was particularly fond of his clothes, never wearing new clothes when working, only when studying.
Although studying daily got ink on his hands, none of it ever stained his clothes.
"Okay."
Song Tingfan rolled up his sleeves, bent down and picked up the door. Lin Qiao watched for a while then started talking to Li Guifen, "How much do you owe the gambling den?"
If it wasn’t much, Mrs. Lin Xu would grit her teeth and pay for the children, but it must be a lot.
Thinking about it made her anxious, Li Guifen sighed, "More than twenty taels of silver."
"Your second sister-in-law’s brother is still lying in the pharmacy. If things turn out well, we can pay a few taels of silver and be done; if not... we’d have to repay the gambling den’s money."
She didn’t blame her second daughter-in-law; anyone would be upset that day.
Moreover, the second daughter-in-law probably felt worse than anyone.
More than twenty taels was quite significant; the Lin family could probably come up with it, but there wouldn’t be much left. With winter approaching, without money, the family couldn’t survive.
Lin Qiao comfortingly patted her back, "Mom, I still have more than two taels. I’ll give it to you for urgent use."
If she were Mrs. Lin Xu, she wouldn’t let anyone take a penny.
Well, Mrs. Lin Xu wasn’t acting.
"No need, mom has enough." Li Guifen’s eyes watered again, her daughter’s willingness was enough for her, how could she take her little bit of money?
Their conversation was overheard clearly by Mrs. Lin Xu, who stared in astonishment at her little sister-in-law, as if she had changed into a different person.
...
Worried that Li Guifen and Mrs. Lin Xu would be scared at home, Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan stayed until Lin Han and the others returned.
Lin Han couldn’t hold back his worry even before reaching the doorstep, shouting: "Guifen! Guifen!"
The family’s backbone was back, making Li Guifen feel reassured; she quickly ran out to greet him, "We’re here at home."
Seeing her man’s honest face, she couldn’t help but have red-rimmed eyes, "You’re finally back."
"Are you all alright?" Lin Han asked anxiously.
"We’re fine, Qiao’er and Tingfan came just in time." Li Guifen shook her head.
Lin Han breathed a sigh of relief, then got furious, "Those heartless bastards, I’ll go all out with them."
Following him, Lin Sheng entered swiftly, directly going to Mrs. Lin Xu, worried and checking if she was injured.
Finally came Lin Shan and Mrs. Lin Wu, both anxious and guilty, especially when they saw the bruises on Song Tingfan’s face.
