CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 53: SHE REALLY TREATS THE VILLAIN LIKE HER OWN SON

Lin Qiao hesitated for a moment, with a genuine look of concern, "Then I won’t disturb Aunt’s sleep. I’ll wait for my cousin to bring a bowl back."

Her sincerity made Song Mei like her even more, "Sister-in-law, no need, you eat quickly, it’s getting cold."

Lin Qiao earned back some goodwill, secretly raised her eyebrows, and thought that the grand finale of the "actress" was within reach.

Song Tingfan was the first to notice Lin Qiao didn’t have a bowl. He looked and looked again, then offered her his bowl, "Sister-in-law, you eat." After speaking, he went to the house, fetched a broken bowl from the table, which had a large chip.

"Little Uncle, no, it will cut your mouth, use this."

"I’ll eat from this side, Sister-in-law, you eat."

Seeing him digging into his meal, Lin Qiao let him be. At the same time, she felt an inexplicable heaviness, as if something had been added to her heart.

It seemed she really regarded the antagonist as her "own son."

Ah well, a son is a son, after all, she couldn’t have a son anyway.

No reason not to accept a free son.

The "son" saw her standing without moving her chopsticks much, placed two pieces of chicken in her bowl, and grinned foolishly when their eyes met.

Lin Qiao curved her eyebrows slightly, softly saying, "Little Uncle, eat quickly."

Song An’s family of three stayed for a long while before leaving, by then it was already dark, so they couldn’t lay the straw mat as planned.

They ended up sharing another night with Song Tingfan.

This time, the antagonist didn’t sleep as far away as the day before, though there was still some distance. Lin Qiao covered him with a quilt without saying anything.

She turned her side to face away from him, "Little Uncle, time to sleep."

"Mm." Song Tingfan glanced at her back from the corner of his eye, feeling a sense of peace within.

He... really liked sleeping next to Sister-in-law.

...

When Old Wang came over the next morning, it was already between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m, chatting with Song Rong in the hall. Having someone to talk to seemed to have lifted Song Rong’s spirits considerably.

Lin Qiao went to the fields with Song Qin to pull weeds, the vegetables hadn’t grown much, but the weeds were sprouting wildly.

Song Qin looked at the seedlings, regretfully saying, "These peppers were planted too late, won’t yield much."

Seeing Lin Qiao staring at her confused, she smiled and explained, "Qiao’er, look at the stem, too thin, and it doesn’t have many leaves, won’t bear many flowers."

"Should they be pulled out?" Lin Qiao felt a bit pained, they’d been planted for some time already.

Song Qin shook her head, "No need, already planted, scatter some vegetable seeds beside them, it’s not wasting soil."

"Grandma knows best." Lin Qiao smiled and said.

Song Qin looked at her affectionately, "Grandma has lived a lot longer than you, and your grandpa was great at farming when he was young, the year there was a drought, our millet grew the best."

She always spoke of Song Rong with a smile, Lin Qiao felt a bit envious, and curiously asked, "Grandma, how did you and Grandpa meet?"

"Your grandpa accidentally stepped on my vegetable seedlings; I was so mad I stepped on his." Song Qin couldn’t help laughing.

Lin Qiao laughed out loud, "No wonder Grandma and Grandpa are so close."

"Yes, we are good indeed, I never regretted marrying your Grandpa."

When Song Qin said this, she remembered something, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Qiao’er, do you blame Tingfan’s parents?"

Unexpectedly the topic turned to her, Lin Qiao froze for a moment, then shook her head and softly replied, "Grandma, I don’t blame anyone, sometimes I wonder if it’s because of me... did my husband and them..."

"It’s not that, Qiao’er, don’t think that way, it’s not your fault, it’s their fate." Song Qin disagreed.

Life and death are in the hands of heaven, not something you can jinx; if that were true, Niu Niu and others would’ve been gone long ago.

Seeing her a bit sad, she quickly changed the subject, "Qiao’er, these vegetable seedlings are growing well, they’ll be ready to eat soon."

...

Before sunset, Lin Shan brought a walking stick, and returned twenty cents, but Lin Qiao didn’t take it. Lin Shan thought she was upset over something his wife had said, so he scratched his head awkwardly, "Little Sister, your sister-in-law has a sharp tongue but a soft heart, don’t take it to heart, she’s the one who insisted I give you this money."

Lin Qiao, seeing through his words but not exposing it, followed along, "Second Brother, Sister-in-law is good to me, I know that."

"But I don’t want this money, Second Brother has a family to support."

"Supporting a family doesn’t miss this bit of money, Little Sister, Second Brother won’t take your money." Lin Shan felt sorry for his little sister; sometimes he felt caught in the middle.

He added, "Little Sister, Second Brother just wants you to have a better life."

"Also, don’t blame our parents for not agreeing with you and Zhang Dong, Zhang Dong is no good, his mother is too overbearing."

Once again it was Zhang Dong, Lin Qiao seriously wanted to know what was up with the character and Zhang Dong, she ought to have the right to know about her "lover", right?

However, she had no clue whatsoever.

After thinking it through, she spoke, "Second Brother, those are things of the past, I’ve let it go, now I’ll focus on taking care of Little Uncle."

Seeing her sincere demeanor, Lin Shan felt relieved, "Glad you have."

In the end, the twenty cents made its way back to Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao kept it together with Li Guifen’s money, both needing to be returned.

Afterwards, she took the walking stick to Song Rong’s room, where Song Rong was lying down, and Song Qin was embroidering a square cloth.

She said, "Grandpa, use this from now on."

Both Song Qin and Song Rong were momentarily stunned at the sight of the walking stick in her hand, then Song Qin sighed, "Child, you spent money again."

Song Rong wanted her to return it, "Child, I’m used to my old stick."

"Grandpa, after using it for a few days, you’ll get used to it." Lin Qiao placed it by the bed, picked up the old stick, not wanting the elderly couple to feel guilty, she didn’t say more.

She didn’t realize she should have taken the opportunity to earn some goodwill points.

After she left, Song Qin looked at Song Rong with reddened eyes, choked up and said, "Old man, you must get better."

Song Rong’s eyes also reddened a bit, as he raised a hand to comfort her, "I will get better."

...

That night, a straw mat had been laid, Lin Qiao could finally sleep alone in a room. After washing up and just as she was about to enter the room, Song Tingfan suddenly called out to her, "Sister-in-law."

"Hmm?" Lin Qiao’s slightly damp hair hung behind her, with a few droplets of water on her face.

"Sister-in-law, let’s switch rooms, I want to sleep in mom and dad’s room."

This time the boy didn’t stutter while telling his lie, but Lin Qiao knew it was a lie, the antagonist was quite reluctant about the main room; she hadn’t seen him enter it once these past days.

Sigh, the antagonist had matured to the point of being heart-wrenching.

She patted his head, "Little Uncle, be good, go to sleep."

Seeing he wanted to say something, she coaxed, "Be good, listen."

He hesitated for a moment, then obediently went into the room.

...

Soon, it was Song Tingfan’s day off. He got up very early, just as he put on his backpack, Lin Qiao noticed him and yawned, "Little Uncle, where are you going?"

Song Tingfan knew there was no more money at home. He intended to share some of the burden, he couldn’t let Sister-in-law handle everything alone.

Sister-in-law was already very tired.

He saw her rubbing her temples several times yesterday.

Oh, how he had overthought.

Yesterday, Lin Qiao was drafting, and habitually rubbed her temples while thinking.