Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ding Jiayi wiped her tears dry, her voice hoarse.
She really did not expect that taking the three hundred yuan with her gained her nothing but big trouble in the end. Moreover, she was disgraced thoroughly.
“You must also bear in mind that Nan Nan is the daughter of the Qiao family. She bears my surname Qiao, whereas your surname is Ding. If you dare to do anything to Nan Nan or hit her, Nan Nan may not be able to retaliate as you are her elder, but I will give you a taste of your own medicine and make you suffer worse than what you do to her.”
Whenever Ding Jiayi was angry, she would use force on Qiao Nan. Today, she did the same thing right in front of the police. Qiao Dongliang’s face was stern. He had to set the rules straight.
“Did you hear me?!”
“I heard you…” Ding Jiayi answered weakly. She knew that Qiao Dongliang’s words were not empty threats or jokes. He was serious.
“Since you heard it, you should clean up Nan Nan’s room right now. Since you messed it up, you must put it back to how it used to be. If you do not put every single thing back in order, you will not get to have dinner tonight!”
“Oh.” Ding Jiayi, who was trembling in fear, dared not say ‘no’. She dared not go against whatever Qiao Dongliang said. If he wanted her to head east, she would not dare to head west.
“Dad, it was my fault. Since I already knew about it, I should have persuaded Mom. I should not have created troubles with her. It’s just that Nan Nan is young, and she cannot safeguard the money. In fact, I am worried that she will develop a bad habit of splurging because she has so much money with her…”
When Ding Jiayi left, Qiao Zijin had a pitiful and sorrowful look on her face. She softened her tone and sounded as if she was really sorry and remorseful, explaining and making excuses for her behavior.
Qiao Dongliang sighed. “Zijin, it’s better for you to not say anything now. The more you say, the more uncomfortable I am. Zijin, in my heart, you have always been a well-behaved child. I hope you will not ruin the good impression I have of you.”
If Zijin genuinely cared about Nan Nan and was worried that she would develop the bad habit of splurging money, there were other ways to show she cared. She did not need to make use of him to get Nan Nan out of the house and collaborate with Ding Jiayi to steal Nan Nan’s money.
In less than a day, Ding Jiayi had spent a sixth of the three hundred yuan that Nan Nan had. It did not need a genius to figure out that Ding Jiayi must have used the money to buy things for Zijin.
Qiao Dongliang refused to believe that his elder daughter came up with such a plan just for the three hundred yuan—that she collaborated with Ding Jiayi to orchestrate a full-scale drama in front of him. He did not want to believe that the elder daughter was a person who would betray her family for money, disregarding the feelings of her father and her sister.
However, he could not convince himself that the elder daughter was innocent—that Ding Jiayi was the mastermind.
Qiao Dongliang felt thoroughly disappointed at Qiao Zijin. Otherwise, he would not have said those words that put Qiao Zijin in an awkward situation. He would not have compared Qiao Zijin’s results with Qiao Nan’s.
“…” Qiao Zijin had thought of how she was going to insist on her innocence, but her words were trapped in her mouth after what Qiao Dongliang said. She curled the corner of her lips reluctantly. “Dad, Mom has done an injustice to Nan Nan. I will help Mom clean up Nan Nan’s room. Nan Nan, you… you must not be angry with me. I did not do it on purpose.”
With that, Qiao Zijin went to Qiao Nan’s room to clean up without another look at Qiao Nan. This was her way of showing that she had yielded to her.
“…” Qiao Nan pursed her lips. She had to hand it to Qiao Zijin.
Half an hour ago, Qiao Zijin hated her father for blowing up the matter and embarrassing her.
However, in the blink of an eye, Qiao Zijin was like a different person as soon as her mother left the room. Not only did she yield to her father but also sounded apologetic for her mistakes. She acted like she was very sorry toward them both.
Qiao Zijin was only eighteen years old now!
It was no wonder that in the previous life, both her mother and father loved and favored Qiao Zijin. Qiao Zijin seemed to exhibit schizophrenia in front of her parents, displaying two opposite personalities.
To put it simply, when Ding Jiayi was around, Qiao Zijin would act as if she sided with Ding Jiayi and vowed to help her. However, when Ding Jiayi was absent, Qiao Zijin became a good child who knew the ways of the world, having upright and correct worldviews and humbly accepting all criticisms.
The two opposite personalities that Qiao Zijin displayed when she was with her mother and father seemed to suggest that she had been influenced by Ding Jiayi and thus had corrupt worldviews and bad behaviors.
Qiao Nan frowned. In the previous life, she always felt that Qiao Zijin was spoiled by her mother. But in this life, Qiao Nan suddenly thought otherwise.
Indeed, her mother doted on Qiao Zijin. In fact, her mother would listen to what Qiao Zijin said most of the time instead of the other way round.
The best proof was in the previous life, the moment she inadvertently overheard the conversation between her mother and Qiao Zijin. If it was not for Qiao Zijin’s suggestion, her mother would not have thought of using Qiao Nan’s kidney to save Qiao Zijin.
They insisted that Qiao Nan donated her kidney to Qiao Zijin regardless of whether she was willing or not. Come to think of it, Qiao Zijin had been the one who planted the thought in her mother.
If Qiao Zijin had not mentioned it, given her mother’s education level, she would not have known that one could donate kidneys for free as long as it was between relatives. The matching level was also higher than that of nonrelatives.
Qiao Nan was reminded of another case from when she just ‘returned’ a year ago.
Her mother tended to do things in a straightforward manner. She was not one to come up with a careful and well-thought-out plan. Take for example the case of wanting her to work and quit her studies. Her mother did not devise a plan to make her quit her studies. Instead, she sold her junior high school books without any further thought. In doing so, one could seize upon the chinks in her armor easily.
Besides, her mother did not like her, so she prohibited her from having meat and fish dishes at home.
Though her mother pretended to be otherwise in front of her father, her mother did not hide her dislike for her. She sided with Qiao Zijin outright and never intended to hide her favoritism toward Qiao Zijin.
Even when her mother wanted her to quit school, her mother had told her clearly that she had to work.
On that rainy night when someone came into her room while she was asleep, that person not only took away the blanket she used to protect herself from the cold but also opened the window next to her to make her catch a cold and develop a fever. This did not seem to be what her mother would do.
On the contrary, in the previous life, Qiao Zijin had called Chen Jun as her brother-in-law in front of Qiao Nan, but in a short period of three months, Qiao Zijin told her that she was two months pregnant with Chen Jun’s child and wanted her mother to stand up for her.
Did she and her father have the wrong idea all this while?
“Nan Nan, what are you thinking about? Why are you looking at your sister in such a way?” Qiao Dongliang quickly discovered that Qiao Nan was lost in her thoughts. He could tell that Qiao Nan had a strange look in her eyes. “Nan Nan, your sister, she…”
