Obviously, the Qiao Zijin with such a question in her mind wasn’t conscious of her behavior. When she married Chen Jun and led a much better life than Qiao Nan, hadn’t she similarly used Qiao Nan’s money to buy a house for herself as a dowry?
“Don’t cry. Tell me what happened.” Actually, Ding Jiayi had already fallen asleep. She was awoken by the mobile ringtone. Thus, she was a little confused and wasn’t as clear-headed now. “Let me switch on the lights first. Then, speak slowly.”
“Alright.” Qiao Zijin sniffed. She felt that as long as her mom didn’t ignore her, she wouldn’t be considered as fighting a lonely battle. There was still someone by her side helping her.
After switching on the lights, Ding Jiayi was about to pick up the call again when she realized that Qiao Zijin had already hung up the call. Ding Jiayi was confused. Did that mean the situation of Zijin being bullied didn’t exist and she no longer needed to share anything with her and she could continue sleeping?
Ding Jiayi was sleepy to begin with. Since Qiao Zijin had already hung up the call, she had complete reason to believe that Qiao Zijin’s matter was resolved. Based on Qiao Zijin’s temper, if the matter wasn’t resolved, how would she hang up the call so easily? She would have kicked up a fuss until she couldn’t sleep well.
However, it was as if Qiao Zijin was teasing Ding Jiayi. As Ding Jiayi switched off the lights, removed the coat she put on, and covered herself with the blanket, the mobile rang again. Ding Jiayi reluctantly and angrily put on the jacket she had removed and switched on the lights again. “Zijin, hadn’t you hung up the call? Isn’t everything alright? Why are you calling me again?”
“Mom, it’s a Weixin video call now. I didn’t give you a long-distance call.”
“…” Ding Jiayi sucked in a cold breath of air in winter. “Why did you call me previously then?” Why did she keep changing? Even if Zijin was her daughter and she had raised her up since she was young, she really didn’t understand her temper.
Qiao Zijin was full of grievances. “I haven’t used the phone for a long time. I sent you a Weixin message but your mobile didn’t vibrate and you couldn’t hear anything.” At this time, nothing was more useful than a direct call. The mobile ringtone vibrated loudly. If not for this reason, she wouldn’t have made a long-distance call just now. The fees weren’t cheap, alright?
“…” With such a ‘calculative’ beloved daughter, what else could Ding Jiayi say? “Alright, whatever you say. Tell me then. I’m listening. However, please speak faster. Haven’t you seen what season it is now? It’s winter. I still have to climb out from the blanket to pick up your call.”
Qiao Zijin became unhappy. “Mom, if you’re cold, I’m cold as well. Dad’s asleep and he doesn’t care about me. Thus, I ran out to give you a call. I feel colder, alright?” In the house in the capital, it felt warm as there was a heater. However, after coming out, it felt extremely cold. Qiao Zijin couldn’t wait to cover herself with the blanket while making this call. “Mom, listen to me. You don’t know how overboard Dad and Qiao Nan are. They don’t treat me as relatives but enemies. I can’t live anymore.”
Qiao Zijin repeated her previous conversation with Qiao Dongliang to Ding Jiayi over the phone. “Mom, you don’t know that Qiao Nan is afraid that I’ll take advantage of her. Dad’s also afraid that I’ll take advantage of her. I really don’t understand. We’re a family. Why do they have to treat me this way? Why are they so heartless? Mom, was I born to you and Dad?”
Ding Jiayi yawned. “What’s there to be surprised about? Haven’t our family always been in such a situation? When you were leading a good life in the past, your dad didn’t care much but I did. Since when did I let Qiao Nan take advantage of you? Of course, you wouldn’t have agreed either.”
Ding Jiayi didn’t have any thoughts when she was biased toward Qiao Zijin. However, after Qiao Zijin left her side for a long time, there was one less person egging her on. Ding Jiayi’s words were still as heartless as before. However, they weren’t that biased and unreasonable anymore. Her words were at least an objective phenomenon now.
“Don’t always complain that your dad is bad. Your dad isn’t me. If he has the same temper as me, he would have gotten all the money you have on you to subsidize Qiao Nan. You’re different from Qiao Nan. Unless you’re willing, nobody can dig out the money in your pockets.” Zijin was often willing to fork out money only when she wanted to get more than what she had paid. In the end, there was only one result. Zijin would still be receiving more money.
Ding Jiayi’s words far exceeded Qiao Zijin’s cognition. Her mom didn’t use to say such words. “Mom, why did you become so selfish out of the blue? Mom, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this in the past. You used to treat me well.” In the past, her mom used to think that the whole world should be good to her. She was the most outstanding child in this world.
Now, her mom actually said that what her dad did was normal. At the very most, she and Qiao Nan had just reversed their roles.
“Zijin, Mom might be getting older, but I’m not a fool. During this period of time when you and your dad aren’t around, I’m alone. I have nothing to do and just think about things every day. The more I think, the more open-minded I am about certain things.” Ding Jiayi sighed. Had she really figured things out? Not really.
Even though she already knew that Qiao Nan was more filial and capable than Qiao Zijin and that she was the one who could let her lead a good life, Ding Jiayi just couldn’t get herself to like Qiao Nan. She felt that Qiao Nan was detestable, just like in the past.
Today, Ding Jiayi acknowledged one of the sentences that Qiao Dongliang used to say. What was it? She and Qiao Nan had no fate to be mother and daughter. Or rather, they had the fate but not the relationship. Perhaps she had gotten used to hating her. No matter how she looked at Qiao Nan, she just couldn’t bring herself to like her. Albeit knowing that Qiao Zijin wasn’t as good as Qiao Nan, Ding Jiayi didn’t want to change.
It was still that sentence. Who asked Qiao Nan to have a good conscience? Even if her attitude didn’t change, Qiao Nan wouldn’t completely ignore her. She would still provide for her. If she lacked food, Qiao Nan had to give her money. If she fell ill and had to go to the hospital, Qiao Nan had to give her money as well.
Since Qiao Nan would still give her money and not abandon her regardless of her attitude toward her, why did she have to force herself to do something that she didn’t like at this age? She should just be happy. It wasn’t a crime if she wanted to be happier in her remaining years, right?
