“The daughter said that when she goes to work, he will wait to go home with her and to take public transport with her. When her boss is harsh toward her, he will join her to complain about him. The mother thought about it and told the daughter that she would rather the daughter find another boyfriend who had a car so that he could drive her to work and fetch her after work. When she complained about her boss, the boyfriend could tell her to quit and he would provide for her.”
“What story is this?! My situation is different from the story that you mentioned. The mother was being too practical.” Shi Qing waved her hands. When in love, one was not after material gains but comfort and company.
“Look, you just refuse to admit that you are foolish. The moral of the story is that at times, actions speak louder than words, but you insist that I am talking about material gains. This is the reality. There is a saying in China: a wife who shared her husband’s hard lot must never be cast aside. But the problem is that a lot of wives who suffered hardships with the husbands were ditched when the husbands made it to success. Alright, my story is not good enough and is not relevant. Regardless, what you have to remember is that words of concern and kindness are not as good as helping you alleviate your situation.”
Qiao Nan knew that the analogy was not very appropriate. Therefore, the story was not as convincing. She would do better next time.
As someone who was reborn, Qiao Nan suddenly turned obstinate and wanted to right her wrong. She took out a piece of paper and started to draw on it.
Qiao Nan rarely drew in front of Shi Qing. Shi Qing sat by her side and watched her as she drew on the paper seriously. “This is a comic. What is the big pit supposed to mean?”
Qiao Nan was silent and continued with her drawing. This was a comic that was meant to be ironic.
There was a huge pit in the picture and someone was standing in the pit. There was another person who was outside, sprawling flat on the ground around the pit. He stretched his hands toward the person in the pit, wanting to pull the person out of the pit.
But what was ironic was that there was a ladder that was placed beside the person who sprawled flat on the ground.
The drawing was much more straightforward. Shi Qing understood it right away. If she could not understand this simple comic, she was not qualified to study at Peking University.
“Shi Qing, let’s look at it this way. When Qiu Chenxi bullied you in the past and Old Master Shi was biased toward her, what did your parents do about it?” Qiao Nan posed another question to Shi Qing. “I am just asking. There is no need to give me an answer. I have worked for the whole day. I am so tired that my bones are breaking. I will go to sleep after a shower. You must not stay up too late.”
The Feng family was too good at keeping up pretenses in front of Shi Qing. Unless Shi Qing suffered setbacks, she would not understand what the Feng family was up to.
Of course, the Feng family was not as vicious to Shi Qing as what was illustrated in the drawing. But there was definitely something off about the Feng family’s concern toward Shi Qing. They were silver-tongued, but they did not follow through with actions.
Shi Qing was such a silly girl. If Qiao Nan did not give her any hints, Shi Qing might be kept in the dark forever.
In the past, Qiao Nan used to think that she must be very unfortunate to have a mother like Ding Jiayi.
She must have committed a lot of evil deeds in her previous life and thus had to repay her debts for having such a mother. But no matter what, she had already repaid her debts.
However, after getting to know Shi Qing, Qiao Nan realized that she was not the most unfortunate person.
Her mother might not be good to her, but she did not hide her dislike of her. It was just that she was not able to sort out her thoughts in the previous life. Her mother made it very clear that she did not like her, yet she was bent on being a filial daughter to her. She thought that there would be a day when her mother would be touched by her actions.
On the other hand, Shi Qing’s relatives acted affectionately to her, but in fact, they might betray Shi Qing anytime and she would still be deceived by them thereafter.
At the very least, Qiao Nan knew who her enemies were.
But for Shi Qing, she did not even know who the real culprit who caused her misery was.
Qiao Nan knew that the biggest reason why her situation was different from Shi Qing was that Ding Jiayi was an ordinary housewife. She did not understand what it was like to manipulate and keep up with pretenses, treating her nicely on one hand while plotting and scheming against her on the other hand.
If Ding Jiayi knew all these schemes, she might have done it to her.
It was better to have relatives who were not as smart.
Qiao Nan did not know that after she left, Shi Qing stared at the comic for a very long time until midnight.
Shi Qing rubbed her teary eyes under the yellow light. She could feel tears on her fingers. “Let’s change the light bulb. The yellow lights are too uncomfortable for me.” Her eyes were in pain from the lights.
The next day, Shi Qing did not ask Qiao Nan to join her to go to the Feng family’s residence. The Feng family’s car arrived after Qiao Nan left the house. “Miss Shi, how come you are by yourself?” The old master had mentioned that there would be two ladies today and he told him to treat the other lady well.
“I am by myself.” Shi Qing did not look too well. She had dark eye circles. It seemed that she did not sleep well yesterday. “Let’s go.”
“Okay.” The chauffeur dared not probe about his master’s family affairs. It was a fact that Shi Qing was the only person around. Since she was pampered by those of the Feng family, the chauffeur had to give her the best treatment as well.
By the time Shi Qing reached the Feng family’s residence, everyone in the family was present. Like yesterday, all of them were in full attendance. Under normal circumstances, there was seldom full attendance of her family members even during Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Shi Qing turned teary-eyed. She sniffed, took a deep breath, and walked inside.
Feng Cheng frowned when she noticed that her daughter was alone by herself like yesterday. Qiao Nan, the young lady, was absent today as well. “Didn’t I tell you to bring the person with you? Where is she?”
“I have said that she is busy. She may not be able to come today.” Shi Qing sat down.
The Feng family was unhappy. “Your friend is too much. She is on good terms with you, yet she has no respect for us and acts as she pleases. At the very least, we are her elders. She is too rude!” Feng Cheng was baffled. Why would the Zhai family approve of Qiao Nan, who was so ill-mannered and ill-disciplined? Qing Qing was so much better than her.
Shi Qing sized up Feng Cheng. “As I have said, she is busy. She asked me to tell all of you that she is busy. Therefore, she is unable to make it.”
Did it mean that one must go whenever their elders invited them?
To Shi Qing, the elders in the Feng family were not Qiao Nan’s relatives in any sense.
If other people ordered Qiao Nan around just because they were her elders, it would be better if Qiao Nan did not marry Zhai Sheng. She would have a lot of elders to entertain when she married Zhai Sheng. “Mom, why do I feel that all of you are behaving strangely? Why do all of you insist that Qiao Nan comes to the Feng family’s residence? Besides, if Dad knows what you said just now, he will be unhappy. According to what you said, does it mean that I have to visit Qiao Nan’s house whenever her mom asks me to? Otherwise, I would be deemed as impolite?”
