Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 242 - 237: So My Sister-in-law Was Trying to Set Me Up

Chapter 242: Chapter 237: So My Sister-in-law Was Trying to Set Me Up

Song Tingfan thought she couldn’t leave, so he quickly nodded, "I have enough silver coins."

Once she went upstairs, he took the silver coins and went out to the inn where they stayed last time, "One medium room and one lower room, please."

"No lower rooms left, how about two medium rooms, I’ll give you ten cents off." The shopkeeper said with a smile.

A medium room costs ninety cents, fifty more than a lower room.

Song Tingfan hesitated for a moment, counted ninety cents, and gave it to him, "Then I’ll take one medium room and a floor mat."

"Sure, I’ll have it sent to your room later." The shopkeeper agreed amiably.

Once the floor mat was delivered, Song Tingfan locked the door and went out. After walking a few streets, he finally found a place selling fruits.

There were four or five stalls selling fruits.

The stall owner, wiping sweat with a cloth, noticed him looking and eagerly said, "Sir, we have all kinds of fruits here, take your time to look, they are guaranteed to be sweet, or you don’t have to pay."

Song Tingfan nodded, looked around several times but didn’t find the one his sister-in-law ate today, "Do you have red fruits with a brown seed inside?"

"You’re talking about Red Crystal Fruit, aren’t you? Those are expensive, I didn’t dare to stock them. No one sells them here. Do you want a lot? If you want a lot, I can bring some for you today, and you can pick them up tomorrow morning." The stall owner saw how well-dressed he was and thought he surely wasn’t short on silver coins, so he was willing to make a special trip.

Hearing they were expensive, Song Tingfan instinctively touched his money bag but still asked, "How much are they?"

"Thirty cents each, no discounts."

The stall owner signaled three with his fingers, afraid Song might find it too expensive, he explained, "You know Muzi Mountain, don’t you? They come from there, it’s more than ten miles away. It takes over two hours to walk back and forth."

The county people were generally aware of Muzi Mountain’s fruit, but it was too far, and usually, no one wanted to go and buy them.

Even if ordinary people went and bought a small amount, the fruit sellers would still sell at the market price. Discounts were just a few cents difference.

Regular buyers like them could get it a bit cheaper.

Song Tingfan didn’t mind the distance; he thought he could save a few cents. Looking at the sky, it wasn’t past noon yet. If he walked quickly, he should be back by dusk.

"I don’t want any, thank you, uncle."

Watching him leave, the stall owner grumbled under his breath, "Asking but not buying, old head in the clouds."

Then he shouted, "Take a look, take a look, today’s freshly picked fruits, big and sweet, or you don’t have to pay a penny..."

...

Dusk was approaching, the setting sun overlapping with the mountains, tinting half the sky with a red glow.

Ruyi Shop

Not seeing Song Tingfan come for her for a long time, Lin Qiao found it odd. Having nothing else to do, she said, "Lady Yun, I’m leaving now, I’ll come back tomorrow."

"Why don’t you and Tingfan come to my house for dinner?" Lady Yun, tidying up her needlework, warmly invited her.

"No need, I already told Uncle I’d go for wide noodles tonight." Lin Qiao declined tactfully. She wasn’t full at lunch and was already hungry.

She wasn’t comfortable eating around unfamiliar people.

Hearing this, Lady Yun didn’t insist, she smiled and said, "You better have the wide noodles at the county entrance place, large bowl wide noodles. Their dumpling soup is quite good too."

"Alright."

Just as Lin Qiao stepped out of the shop, she saw the young man rushing over. He panted and said, "Sis... sister-in-law."

"Slow down, why are you running?"

Seeing the sweat-dampened hair sticking to his cheeks, Lin Qiao naturally reached out to tuck it behind his ear.

Song Tingfan didn’t say where he had been, he admitted, "I’m late."

Lin Qiao raised her hand and tapped his forehead, "Late is late, I’m not going to be angry, but I might hit you like this, are you scared?"

The boy who got "hit" shook his head repeatedly, earnestly said, "Not scared."

As long as his sister-in-law wasn’t angry, he didn’t mind being tapped however much.

Silly rabbit.

Lin Qiao laughed so hard her stomach hurt, "Want to have wide noodles? Let’s go to the county entrance."

"If sister-in-law eats, I eat." Song Tingfan looked as if whatever she said was right.

After they had dinner, they strolled around for quite a while. Although the night market wasn’t as bustling as during the day, it was still quite crowded.

A cool breeze blew, and the young woman’s loose hair brushed against the boy’s neck, tickling gently.

The boy stiffened for a moment, glanced sidewards, and her profile looked soft under the night light, making his heart skip uncontrollably.

"Uncle, look at those lanterns over there, they’re so big." Lin Qiao turned to him. Against the light, his facial expression couldn’t be seen clearly.

Song Tingfan, caught off guard, felt awkwardly nervous, "They are... very big."

He hadn’t even looked, yet he said they were big, what a brush-off, Lin Qiao: "..."

Assuming the boy wasn’t interested in lanterns, she didn’t continue browsing.

Back at the inn, Lin Qiao didn’t question about only booking one room, it was so familiar she wasn’t even aware of it herself.

Probably assuming nothing would happen.

After sitting all day, Lin Qiao’s waist was a bit sore. She stretched slightly and noticed from the corner of her eye Song Tingfan taking out several of the fruits they ate at noon from a cloth bag, "Uncle, did you go and buy these?"

"Mm."

Song Tingfan rinsed them with water, then handed it to her, expectantly saying, "Sister-in-law, eat."

Lin Qiao reached out and took it, under his gaze, she took a bite. It wasn’t cooled, so it wasn’t as tasty as during the day.

But it was still quite sweet, "It’s sweet."

Hearing this, Song Tingfan grinned foolishly, the fatigue from walking over twenty miles disappeared instantly, happy that his sister-in-law liked it.

He handed the rest to her, joyfully saying, "Sister-in-law, eat more."

"You eat too."

Seeing he didn’t eat, Lin Qiao handed a fruit to his face, watching him not responding; she quickly brought it to his mouth, blinking, "Uncle, it’s at your mouth, not eating would waste it."

Her action left Song Tingfan momentarily dumbfounded. When he realized it, his cheeks felt hot. He took the fruit and stuffed it into his mouth, eating too fast and choking.

Lin Qiao quickly patted his back, waiting for him to recover, "Eat slowly, if you like it, I’ll buy more tomorrow."

At that moment, she remembered something, chuckling, "Uncle, why do you call Zhen’er ’sister’? You can’t call her that in the future."

"Why not?" Song Tingfan asked, puzzled.

Lin Qiao spat out the fruit seed, "What do you think of Zhen’er?"

She had asked this many times, Song Tingfan understood her implication, and his earlier joy vanished, making the fruit in his hand feel not sweet at all.

So she was trying to set him up.

He was inexplicably annoyed, but couldn’t be angry with his sister-in-law, sulkily saying, "Not good."

Not good? Lin Qiao thought Li Zhen was quite nice, so she asked instinctively, "Why?"

"No reason, just not good, I’m going to sleep." Song Tingfan quickly ate the fruit, then laid out the mat and turned his back to her.

His inexplicable moodiness left Lin Qiao at a loss, "..."

What was this about? She was just asking, she wasn’t telling him he must marry Li Zhen.

Teenagers get harder to manage as they grow.

She walked over trying to coax him, "Uncle, are you mad?"