Qiao Dongliang’s smile stiffened. “Sure, I will start to fry some dishes.”
Qiao Dongliang looked desolate and lonely from the back.
Qiao Zijin, who sat by the side, was smiling to herself in her head. Her father deserved to be treated in this way. It was his fault that he sided with Qiao Nan previously as if Qiao Nan was his only daughter while treating her as if she was not his biological daughter.
Her father gave his everything to Qiao Nan, but when she married well in the end, she turned her back on him.
Qiao Zijin felt that it served him right to be so heart-stricken!
Ding Jiayi looked relaxed and she began to engage in a conversation with Qiao Nan. “Since the two of you came all the way from the capital, aren’t you going to stay for a few more days? Do you have to go back to the capital tomorrow? You grew up in Ping Cheng. You must have many friends here. It is the Lunar New Year. It would be nice to gather and have a good chat, catching up with each other. Son-in-law, although your family has moved to the capital, you must not forget about your relatives in Ping Cheng. Since you are back, you should pay them a visit. Otherwise, if they know that you are back with your wife but you did not visit them, they will make nasty remarks about you.”
Since she was Qiao Nan’s mother, when Zhai Sheng and Qiao Nan visited their relatives, they could bring her along with them. She could get to know Zhai Sheng’s relatives then.
If there was a day where the Qiao family encountered trouble and Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng could not render help in time, she could seek help from these relatives.
Qiao Nan massaged her forehead. “I don’t feel well. Brother Zhai, I will lean against you and take a nap.”
“Sure.” Zhai Sheng held Qiao Nan by the shoulder so that she could lean more comfortably against him. The couple had the tacit understanding to ignore Ding Jiayi’s suggestion and chose not to answer her.
Ding Jiayi was a troublemaker. They must steer clear of her.
Qiao Nan closed her eyes, leaning against Zhai Sheng, hinting to Ding Jiayi that she would not cooperate with her. There was nothing that Ding Jiayi could do with her. As for Zhai Sheng, who sat next to Qiao Nan and was wide awake, Ding Jiayi smiled guiltily at him. She dared not engage in a conversation with him.
Ding Jiayi was only capable of losing her temper and taking advantage of Qiao Nan, her daughter. She was very timid in front of outsiders. Even if Zhai Sheng was her son-in-law, she dared not make any requests of him.
The three of them sat quietly in the living room while Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Zijin busied themselves in the kitchen.
The Qiao family was the first family to prepare their meals among all the families in the quad in Ping Cheng.
Qiao Nan took a long nap. She only woke up when Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Zijin came out with the dishes.
Qiao Nan had made known that she was unwell and had no appetite. She even took a nap and refused to talk to Ding Jiayi. Even if Ding Jiayi knew that she must be pretending, she could say nothing about it. If she said the wrong word, they might not have the meal at all.
Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Nan had lived together for a couple of years. He knew Qiao Nan’s eating habits. “Nan Nan, many of the dishes are spicy. Try them and let me know if the taste is still the same as how I used to prepare in the past. Zhai Sheng, I remember you used to have the same food as us when you came to our house. You should be able to take spicy food, right?”
People would usually have a feast during the Lunar New Year.
Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Nan could take spicy food while Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin disliked spicy food.
Qiao Zijin no longer put up a strong front. When they were in the kitchen, she told Qiao Dongliang of her eating preferences so that he would prepare some non-spicy dishes for her and her mother.
Since Qiao Zijin was well-behaved and Ding Jiayi did not stir up any trouble, Qiao Dongliang felt that her request was reasonable. Therefore, he prepared more dishes to cater to their taste. That was why the table was filled with so much food.
Qiao Dongliang used chopsticks to take Qiao Nan’s favorite dishes and put them into a bowl. “Nan Nan, have more of the food. It’s alright if you have less rice. You can have more of the dishes. The dishes are nutritious. Have more of them.”
“Thank you, Dad.” Qiao Nan felt slightly better and comforted at Zhai Sheng’s words. Seeing that Qiao Dongliang had taken a lot of food for her, Qiao Nan finally had some appetite and began to dig in.
Qiao Nan put down her chopsticks when she had taken enough food. “Dad, I am full.”
Since Qiao Nan wanted to wean the triplets off breast milk, there was no need for her to have countless bowls of nutritious, oily, and unbearable tonic soups.
Qiao Nan would take three meals a day as per normal.
Qiao Dongliang was glad that his daughter had eaten her fill. However, he noticed that Qiao Nan only had the non-spicy dishes that he prepared specially for Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin. He was puzzled. “Nan Nan, don’t you like spicy food anymore?”
Qiao Nan shook her head. “The triplets are four months old and I have not weaned them off breast milk completely. I cannot have anything too spicy and savory.”
Besides spicy food, if the food was too salty, Qiao Nan had to rinse the food with water before she ate them.
Otherwise, she might be able to satisfy her palate, but the triplets would have a stomachache when they drank her milk.
“I-is that so?” Qiao Dongliang had zero experience in this. He looked at Ding Jiayi with a puzzled look.
Ding Jiayi nodded. “The kids nowadays are very delicate. The mother has to be very careful. The times have changed. People would pay particular attention to this.” Ding Jiayi had a slight knowledge of this.
However, Ding Jiayi felt particularly displeased that Qiao Nan paid attention to this matter.
She felt that Qiao Nan must be showing off to her when she brought up this topic.
She was strong-headed and kept scolding Qiao Nan because she was not a boy, but a girl. Her mother mocked her and cursed her not to have any sons in her life, saying that she would not have any sons to attend her funeral upon her death.
She did not have any sons, but Qiao Nan was better than her. Not only did she have sons, but she also had two sons in one go.
She had two children, but none of them was a son. Moreover, Old Qiao had to leave the army as they had more than one child.
On the contrary, Qiao Nan had three children. She had more children than her, and she had all of them in a single pregnancy. It did not affect Zhai Sheng’s development in the army.
