Qiao Dongliang kept thinking about what kind of present to prepare for his three grandchildren. He could not possibly show up in the capital empty-handed, right?
Qiao Dongliang thought about how he had no other income apart from his pension of two thousand yuan every month and the two thousand yuan monthly allowance from Qiao Nan. Products for babies were expensive. Moreover, he was going to become a grandpa to three children at once! He had to prepare even more things. At this time, Qiao Zijin happened to knock on his door. “Dad, are you around?”
After receiving no answer from within the room for a long time, Qiao Zijin bit on her lip but forced a smile out. “Dad, it’s Zijin. Are you there?”
Qiao Zijin had knocked on his door twice, so Qiao Dongliang had definitely heard her. However, Qiao Dongliang was now numb toward his daughter, Zijin. One had to be blessed to have the good fortune of having good children and he only felt that he was to be blamed as a father. He was indeed Qiao Zijin’s father, but Qiao Zijin herself was already a mother. She had to have her own plans for her own life. Why should he have to interfere in her life?
Qiao Dongliang stood up and opened the door. “What’s the matter?”
“Dad, we haven’t had a chat in a long time. Are you free?” Qiao Zijin was upset that Qiao Dongliang had gotten into the habit of locking his door at home. There were only three people at home and they did not even go out much.
As such, it was painfully obvious whom Qiao Dongliang was trying to protect himself from. Of course, there was no way Qiao Zijin could be happy about it since she was one of them.
“Come in.” Qiao Dongliang stepped inside to allow Qiao Zijin in. After Ding Jiayi had moved out, Qiao Dongliang occupied the room alone. Qiao Zijin had thought that Qiao Dongliang’s room would definitely be dirty and messy without a woman to clean up after him.
Before entering the room, Qiao Zijin had mentally prepared herself so that she wouldn’t express her disgust. If she were to do so, the conversation would end before it even started.
She was surprised to see that not only was Qiao Dongliang’s room not messy and dirty, but it was even a little cleaner than her own. Qiao Zijin felt a little more at ease at the sight. “Dad, it’s been such a long time. Are you still upset at Mom? You’ve lived with Mom for such a long time, so you should understand her temper. She cares most about you. Do you know how hurt she is that you always fight with her? No matter what, Mom married you and gave birth to two daughters for you.”
Her mom could not live without a man.
In the past, her mom often told her that her dad was useless and could not even support the family, much less give her a luxurious and comfortable lifestyle. She had gotten used to hearing about how Qiao Dongliang had never contributed much to the family and how the family had only managed to get to where they were because of Ding Jiayi.
Now, the couple had not yet gotten a divorce, but Ding Jiayi already seemed so listless just because Qiao Dongliang had mentioned it. She did not even have the energy to care about her daughter anymore. Qiao Zijin could not help but be upset at how her mother was such a letdown.
Had she not said that her father was useless and that her entire family depended on her mom? If that was the case, there was no need to be afraid of her dad throwing a tantrum. Her mom should stand up for herself and fight her dad until the end. That way, her dad would understand that he would not be able to survive without her.
But in reality?
The one who could not survive was not her dad but her mom.
Without her husband, her mom did not even want to care for her own daughter. She acted as though she was a widow with no other family and simply took care of her own meals.
Given such a situation, Qiao Zijin could not hold on anymore. Qiao Zijin had already tried convincing Ding Jiayi to no avail. She had even spent a thousand yuan on trying to convince her mom. People had always said that every successful man had a woman. The reverse was probably true as well.
Ding Jiayi had only thrown a tantrum at Qiao Zijin because she had wanted Qiao Zijin to give her a hundred thousand yuan to appease Qiao Dongliang so that Qiao Dongliang would no longer be angry at her.
This hundred thousand yuan…
Qiao Zijin did not want to withdraw such a huge sum of money yet. Anyway, her mom’s ultimate goal was not to get that hundred thousand but to reconcile with her dad. Since that was the case, she simply had to persuade her father to stop throwing a tantrum at her mother. That way, the couple would get back together as they had been before and her dad would listen to her mom once again. Her mom would then make the decisions in the family and all her dad had to do was to listen well.
Once their lives returned to normal, Qiao Zijin believed that her mom’s mood would improve and she would no longer remain angry at her. Her mom might even try her best to squeeze some benefits out of Qiao Nan to improve her life.
After thinking it through, Qiao Zijin decided to bypass Ding Jiayi to coax Qiao Dongliang into admitting his mistake to Ding Jiayi.
Qiao Dongliang took a sip of water and smiled. “Doesn’t it sound rather familiar, Zijin?”
“I…” Qiao Zijin paused. It did indeed sound familiar, but this was her first time saying it, so where had she heard it?
“You don’t remember?” Qiao Dongliang thought that it was normal for Qiao Zijin not to remember. After all, she had not been the one being counseled at that time. Qiao Dongliang looked at Qiao Zijin. “I used these words on Nan Nan in the past to persuade her not to be angry at your mom for favoring you over her. It seems that you were listening to what I said at that time.”
Yes, Ding Jiayi had the best background out of all the women who had been willing to marry him at that time. Ding Jiayi had not looked down on him and had even given him two daughters. Otherwise, he would never have let Ding Jiayi have her way all these years, causing their family to fall into such a state.
Was it not because of these words that the Qiao family no longer seemed like a family?
Qiao Zijin had the urge to slap herself. Of all things, why had she used Qiao Dongliang’s words against himself? No matter what nonsense she made up, it would be better than using the words Qiao Dongliang used to persuade Qiao Nan, at the very least.
Before things returned to normal and Ding Jiayi had Qiao Dongliang firmly in her grasp, Qiao Zijin had to change her mindset.
