“You wanted me to side with you, so you said that Dad is useless and you are the one who provided for me and gave me a chance to study. You stayed with this family and with a useless dad because of me. Now that I have an argument with him, you lectured me, saying that he is my elder and he went through many difficulties to raise me. Mom, don’t you find it ridiculous? Why did you say different things to us?”
Qiao Zijin could contain her anger when Ding Jiayi behaved unreasonably in the past. But today, she could no longer tolerate it.
Ding Jiayi was caught off-guard by Qiao Zijin’s push. She twisted her ankle and fell to the floor in pain. “You are such an unfilial daughter. After scolding your dad, are you trying to beat your mom who gave birth to you and raise you?”
“Enough!” Qiao Dongliang shouted in a deep voice. “Don’t you find it embarrassing? This is the wife and daughter that I have, yet I am such a fool not to have realized it sooner. Hahaha… It’s no wonder that my family is different from other families. A man would marry a woman for her virtue. If a wife is virtuous, the husband will have less trouble. My parents passed away when I was at a young age and nobody reminded me of this. I have to admit that you are indeed the child of the Ding family. You looked down on your mom, but she could not be compared to you. At the very least, your mom did not create trouble for your dad. At most, they wasted their time on raising a daughter!”
As for him…
He had two daughters. One was led astray and could no longer change for the better, while the other was estranged with them and had lost hope in them.
Qiao Dongliang used to think that he knew exactly what was wrong in his family. It was due to the elder daughter’s personality and hence she refused to listen to them. Otherwise, it should not be so difficult to talk sense into her. She was selfish to the core, and she disregarded her parents and had no feelings for her family.
After everything that had happened, it turned out that it was all due to Ding Jiayi.
He had never seen or heard of people who used such methods like Ding Jiayi to teach their daughter and to get the daughter to stand on her side. Under Ding Jiayi’s bad influence and teaching, it was no wonder that the elder daughter was ill-natured and despicable.
“Ding Jiayi, my biggest mistake in this life was to marry a disaster like you!”
Qiao Dongliang gave a sad cry. He was like the aged wolf that was injured, shedding tears and howling under the full moon.
Qiao Dongliang gritted his teeth, hunched his back, and walked with heavy but quick footsteps, leaving the hotel.
“Old Qiao, where are you going?” Ding Jiayi, who was being lectured, still refused to admit that she was in the wrong. If she did not marry Qiao Dongliang, he would still be single today. But seeing the defeated look on his face, she could not help but hurry after him.
When young couples turned old, they would be each other’s companion.
Ding Jiayi might speak badly of Qiao Dongliang in front of Qiao Zijin, but she had never thought of leaving Qiao Dongliang to find another man.
Seeing that Qiao Dongliang was terribly upset, Ding Jiayi was worried that something might happen to him. She might have a guilty conscience, but she could not help but quicken her footsteps and hurry after Qiao Dongliang, leaving her beloved daughter, Qiao Zijin, behind.
Qiao Zijin, who was left alone, stood in a dark corner. The surroundings turned very quiet and one could hear the sounds of Qiao Zijin grinding her teeth.
After a long while, Qiao Zijin left the hotel as well.
Their family of three had ended up in a big quarrel. Now that her parents had left, Qiao Zijin knew that she could not stay by herself for the meal. She was not close with Zhai Hua and she was not on good terms with Qiao Nan. If her parents were around, Qiao Nan and Zhai Hua would still give her due respect on account of the elders.
Now that her parents had left, it was useless for Qiao Zijin to stay behind by herself.
Furthermore, Qiao Dongliang had promised that after they returned to Ping Cheng, he would think of ways to find a suitable partner for her.
Although the conversation ended on a bad note and every one of them was in a terrible mood as if they had been through a thunderstorm, Qiao Zijin believed that since she had agreed to the plan, her father would definitely fulfill his promise to her.
Qiao Nan came out from the corridor after the Qiao family of three left.
They were on the fifth floor. Although there were lifts in the hotel, Qiao Nan was not used to using lifts. She would feel dizzy. Besides, it was only five levels high. It would not take long to climb the stairs. It was a form of exercise for her.
Since Qiao Nan wanted to take the stairs, Zhai Sheng would accompany her as well. As for the three children, their grandparents would take the lift and bring them to the hotel. Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng did not expect that they would overhear this conversation at the stairway landing. Qiao Nan had yet to come back to her senses. She could not believe that this was how Ding Jiayi taught her children.
Qiao Nan still felt weak-hearted.
Qiao Nan wanted very much to ask Ding Jiayi whether she bore vengeance toward her husband, and therefore she had to do that to their children. Qiao Nan was a mother. If her other half used similar methods to teach her children, making them be estranged with her, she might be so furious that she would chop him up with a knife.
“Are you still feeling uncomfortable?” Zhai Sheng got to know his mother-in-law better today. Everyone would be flabbergasted at the way Ding Jiayi taught her children.
Qiao Nan felt weak and leaned on Zhai Sheng’s arms. “Let me rest for a well. I did not expect that I will be so exhausted after climbing five levels at one go.” She refused to admit that she was in shock due to the conversation that she overheard just now.
In the previous life, Ding Jiayi must have used the same teaching method on Qiao Zijin. It was no wonder whenever Qiao Zijin came home, she would talk to Ding Jiayi behind closed doors, leaving her and her father outside the room.
Before she passed away, whenever the family needed money, her parents would ask her for money. After her car accident, Qiao Zijin took her kidney. Given Qiao Zijin’s personality, she must have taken the compensation from the accident as well.
Without her around, her parents would not have good days ahead of them.
Ding Jiayi took great pains to raise Qiao Zijin but she was not filial to her. Instead, Ding Jiayi had to wait on her. Qiao Nan did not feel sorry for Ding Jiayi at all. After all, she brought it onto herself.
