Chapter 668 Nothing but an outsider
Su Wan wasn"t surprised upon seeing Hanli sitting in her house, nor was she surprised that she was chatting very peacefully with Lin Jing even more so now that she arrived at the main hall. She wasn"t in a hurry to interrupt the conversation between her husband and Hanli, instead, she walked to where Lin Chen was and sat down next to him, her sudden arrival stunned Lin Chen who was staring at Hanli with a frown, seeing that it was Su Wan who came to sit next to him, Lin Chen"s eyes widened slightly before he smiled. " Wan Wan, you are here? Did you have a good nap?"
" I did," said Su Wan as she took the melon seeds that Lin Chen handed to her and started munching without a care in the world. " Since when she has been chattering?"
Lin Chen"s face flitted with annoyance before he turned to look at Hanli. " She has been here for an hour, and from the looks of it, it doesn"t seem like she is going to leave anytime soon." Then he pointed to the onions that he has chopped before adding, " I had at least a dozen of onions that second brother gave me to chop and I started when she arrived and now I am done chopping them but the woman is still here and you know how slow my chopping speed is?"
Su Wan, of course, knew how slow Lin Chen was when it came to the work in the kitchen, his speed was even slower than Lin Yu who disliked doing anything that had "cooking" attached to it.
" So, she must have been here for an hour or so?" She asked munching on a handful of melon seeds.??e?????o?e?. ???
" How do you know that?" said Lin Chen with his eyes going round as saucers. But then Su Wan shot him a look and he immediately nodded, "Yes, she has been here for an hour and it isn"t eldest brother"s fault, I heard him tell that woman that she needs to go back to the inn but every time he raises the topic she will somehow ignore it and change the direction of the conversation. It has been like that from the minute she came here."
Su Wan knew why Hanli was here for an hour and why she was waiting for so long, trying to change the conversation topic again and again. She stood up from her seat and then wiped her hands on Lin Chen"s shirt before saying, " You don"t need to worry about anything Chen, I will go and save Jing ge now."
" Go and break someone"s b.u.t.t!" cheered Lin Chen causing Su Wan to almost stumble as she turned to look at him and very politely corrected him. "It"s break a leg, Chen not someone"s a.s.s."
"But what if I want to break someone"s a.s.s?" He asked with a confused expression but she could see the laughter in his eyes. Rolling her eyes, she smiled at him, " Then you will have to hand me a wooden club then cheering me on like this."
" I would have done that myself if she wasn"t eldest brother"s friend," said Lin Chen jokingly.
With a soft chuckle, she walked toward Lin Jing and Hanli who were talking about the time they used to go to the forest to hunt little birds and rabbits.
" Jing Ge?" Su Wan came to sidle next to Lin Jing with a smile as she sat next to him and then turned to face Hanli. "I heard you two chatting about the old times and came to listen, do you mind if I listen to a bit too?"
" Of course not," said Lin Jing as he poured warm water into his teacup and pushed it in front of Su Wan. Then his gaze fell on the melon seeds that were sticking to Su Wan"s lips and he sighed with an exasperatingly doting expression. " How many times have I asked you to not eat something like melon seeds in the evening? Now that you have eaten them, you will not feel hungry at night and dinner is going to be ready soon."
Though it sounded like he was scolding her, Lin Jing was very patient with Su Wan, he not only wiped the seeds that were sticking to her lips he also brewed her some green tea so that she will be able to digest the snacks she has eaten before dinner. " Here don"t drink the warm water instead drink this, it will aid with digestion and you will be able to eat dinner properly, but from next time if you want to eat snacks remember to eat them earlier on okay?"
" Okay," said Su Wan as she took the teacup from Lin Jing and started to blow on the green tea.
" Sister Wan Wan, it"s nice meeting you again," after Lin Jing poured her green tea, Su Wan heard the green tea on the other side of the table speak, and even though she would have loved to see the green tea b.i.t.c.h turning green with envy, she also knew it wasn"t that easy because Hanli was not only smiling at her after watching the show of affection between her and Lin Jing but she was also looking at her like as if they fast friends.
If not for Hanli calling her sister Wan Wan, instead of sister-in-law Wan Wan, Su Wan would have thought that the girl was indeed very simple and it was her who was thinking too much.
But after dealing with an "A" grade green tea b.i.t.c.h all her life, Su Wan was able to smell one from far away. Just one sniff and she was almost able to smell the vinegar that was pouring off Hanli"s body what a pity that it was only metaphorical, or else she would have collected some … they have almost used up the vinegar at home.
"It"s nice meeting you again, as well," said Su Wan cordially with an innocent smile as if she couldn"t even understand what Hanli was trying to do here. " Were you able to find a good inn to settle in?"
It was as if Hanli was waiting for this one question as she sighed and regretfully said, " I did but the inn in the town is really expensive sister Wan Wan, just one day"s stay costs three hundred cents and they didn"t even include any meal in it!" She puffed up her cheeks as if she was indeed very unhappy with the amount that the boss of the inn asked her to pay for a few days" stay.
" I mean in three hundred cents I would have been able to do so much more," she sighed with a saddened smile but then shook her head. " But beggars can"t be choosers, I am already in debt to you two, if Jing Ge and Sister Wan Wan haven"t helped me, I would still be begging on the streets, even if it"s a few days comforts, I am contented."
" You don"t look like someone who is content with what they have," thought Su Wan as she looked at Hanli who was still busy lamenting about the increased prices that were touching the sky before she very "understandingly" leaned forward and clasped her hands. " I understand, you must have really suffered in the outside world, it"s always too hard on a woman who is alone and without any backing."
Patting the back of Hanli"s hand, Su Wan turned to look at Lin Jing before saying, " Jing Ge, sister Hanli looks like she has been too tired after travelling for so long, why don"t we take her in and let her have a room to herself? I mean she is your friend"s sister and I know that you wouldn"t be at ease about leaving her alone, since the house is so big, giving a single room to her wouldn"t be that much of trouble will it be?"
Lin Jing heard Su Wan"s words and was a little stunned though he understood where she was coming from, he still shook his head and said, " That won"t be proper, Wan Wan… Hanli is an unmarried lady in the eyes of the outsiders, if she was to stay at our house then people will talk and throw mud at her. I think her staying in the inn should be better."
Su Wan felt Hanli"s hands go taut, and her body stiffening after she finished listening to Lin Jing"s words, a gleeful energy shot through her body but outwardly she was still full of apology as she turned to look at Hanli and said somewhat apologetically, " Oh, then I was a bit too rude by extending my invitation like that to you Miss Hanli, I am sorry about my lack of understanding I hope you don"t mind, I was just too over enthusiastic to help you."
See that? You were trying to make me jealous were you not? But in the eyes of my husband, you"re nothing but an outsider.