Turning Antagonist to Protagonist: He is Both Soft and Fierce-Chapter 288 - 283: Burning Incense and Receiving the Jade Buddha for Children

Chapter 288: Chapter 283: Burning Incense and Receiving the Jade Buddha for Children

Just tie her up then!

Lin Qiao turned her back on him in frustration. This couldn’t continue. If he always "forced" her to comply, wouldn’t she end up like a fish on a chopping board?

Even though she thought this way, she said, "I won’t regret it. I’m not at ease with you being out there alone."

Since she had lost the power of choice, she might as well take the opportunity to gain some goodwill.

"Pinky swear."

Song Tingfan extended his hand. Lin Qiao, half crying, half laughing, turned to pinky-swear with him. "Pinky swear, if you break it, you’re a puppy."

Their big and small thumbs gently touched.

It’s a dream.

The silent cell was filled with a thick scent of blood. Footsteps echoed from afar, drawing closer, making it hard to breathe.

The person hanging lifelessly on the cross slowly lifted their head—it was a woman whose original appearance couldn’t be discerned, her face crisscrossed with scars.

As she watched the man gradually emerging from the darkness, her lips trembled, clearly terrified to the extreme.

"Ah, ah, ah..."

Her lips opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Shortly, a man in a black robe stood before her, glaring at her pitiable, miserable appearance without a trace of sympathy, instead his eyes were filled with a mad hatred.

In the dim light, his pockmarked profile was faintly visible.

Savage and ferocious.

The woman struggled frantically, instinctively rejecting this "ghost" before her.

The man scoffed slightly, as if mocking or self-mocking. He casually pinched her chin, saying ominously, "Sister-in-law, are you afraid of me?"

The next moment, his grip abruptly tightened and with a "crack," the woman’s jaw dislocated.

"Ah ah... ah..." The woman was mute, only able to scream pitifully, evoking sympathy.

"I won’t let you die. As long as I’m alive, so will you."

The man suddenly grabbed her hair, speaking with an unsettling calmness, "We’ll take our time."

The woman looked in terror, pleading, "Ah ah ah..."

The scene gradually darkened against the man’s sinister laughter, and the image of the woman hanging lifelessly on the cross surfaced again, without a trace of vitality.

"Lin Qiao! Don’t think that dying means I’ll let you go. You can’t imagine! I won’t let you go for the rest of my life."

Staring at the woman on the cross for a while, the man’s emotions suddenly broke down. He kicked over the brazier, sending burning coals tumbling to the ground, burning a hole in his shoe and even scorching his toes.

Yet he felt no pain, violently sweeping the torture tools off the table. A sharp blade cut his palm, bleeding onto the ground.

The burning coals ignited the wooden slats, gradually setting them on fire and producing thick smoke.

The fire intensified, eventually engulfing the entire dungeon.

...

Outside, it was gray and silent.

Inside,

The man suddenly sat up straight, his mind still lingering on the two bodies in the fire.

"What’s wrong?"

A woman’s voice suddenly came from beside him, gradually calming his uneasy heart.

Song Tingfan replied hoarsely, "Nothing."

His voice was noticeably off. Lin Qiao sat up, moving closer and patting his back, "Did you have a nightmare again?"

"Yeah." Song Tingfan didn’t know why this dream had persisted for so long, ever since four years ago.

Why in the dream, he and Lin Qiao appeared like that.

No, it couldn’t be, it definitely couldn’t.

She had no way to deal with his nightmares. The doctor had looked at it, the fortunes had been calculated, but none of it helped.

"We’ll go to the temple and burn incense when the sun rises. Try to sleep a bit more."

"Yeah."

After Song Tingfan lay back down, he pursed his lips, "Can I hold you?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiao was momentarily stunned but quickly agreed with an "mm," realizing that though he seemed mature, he was still like a child.

The next moment, he embraced her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder.

She sighed inwardly, thinking that the shadow in his heart probably wasn’t so easily dispelled. She softly reassured him, "Go to sleep, I’m right here, it’s okay."

It seemed her comfort was effective; soon she could hear his even breathing. Relieved, she gradually drifted back to sleep with her eyes closed.

The usually early-rising Song Tingfan didn’t wake up, and when Lin Qiao awoke, he was still holding her, though his eyes were open.

His intense gaze seemed to want to devour her. She coughed lightly, "Time to get up."

"Alright."

Song Tingfan leaned in to give her forehead a quick kiss before withdrawing his hand and getting up.

Lin Qiao was briefly taken aback but quickly recovered. She glanced at him, then again, "Cough, don’t do that next time."

Song Tingfan didn’t respond, apparently unable to promise.

...

After breakfast, the two went to the temple. In recent years, the temple had doubled in size, adding several Buddha statues, each with a different form of worship.

Lin Qiao, having never been there, followed the crowd to the most popular spot, where a line had already formed before reaching the statue.

Seeing all the couples lined up, Lin Qiao was a bit confused. Why were they all couples?

But remembering that she and Song Tingfan were also a couple, she thought no more of it.

Song Tingfan stood tall, a head above the average person, and his gaze fell on the large Buddha statue cradling a small Buddha, perhaps guessing what it meant.

He glanced down slightly at the oblivious woman beside him, a smile flashing in his eyes.

After a while, it was their turn. Lin Qiao entered, showing respect to the Buddha statue by not looking around. Kneeling on the mat, she pressed her hands together, bowed three times, and then began shaking the tube of fortune sticks, until finally one fell out.

Meanwhile, Song Tingfan had also finished shaking his.

Lin Qiao saw that her stick was labeled with the word "double," and then looked at Song Tingfan’s stick, which also read "double."

Double what?

She was highly skeptical that the temple made money from interpreting these fortune sticks.

Indeed, it cost twenty cents to interpret a stick.

The old monk took their sticks and, with practiced ease, said, "This is a twin fortune stick. You will have a son and a daughter in the future, or two sons, two daughters."

She had clearly wished for safety and peace, so what was the meaning of a twin fortune stick, it seemed like a ruse.

Lin Qiao’s mouth twitched slightly, but with the discipline of a good actor, she refrained from rolling her eyes, "Thank you."

She then paid the money and pulled Song Tingfan away.

The smiling Song Tingfan didn’t call out to stop her, letting her lead him away.

Suddenly, a voice called them, "Tingfan, Song, uh, Tingfan’s wife, you’re here to offer incense too?"

It was Mrs. Wang Zhu and Wang Dafu.

"Yeah." Lin Qiao nodded.

"So, how many kids are you going to have?" Mrs. Wang Zhu asked with a beaming smile.

Instantly, people around turned their attention to them. Lin Qiao, half crying, half laughing, explained, "Tingfan had a nightmare, so we came to burn incense."

Mrs. Wang Zhu clearly didn’t believe it, joking, "Burning incense right at the statue of the Buddhist Patron of Childbirth?"

Lin Qiao was momentarily taken aback, "Are there other Buddhas here?"

"Of course, there are several. You and Tingfan didn’t know?"

Mrs. Wang Zhu glanced at them, her mouth turning up in delight, then added, "How many did the fortune sticks say? Everyone says the temple is very effective in granting wishes."

Just as Lin Qiao was about to brush off the question, Song Tingfan answered, "Two."