She had gone through that experience. But even so, Li Yayan couldn’t empathize with Qiao Nan.
“So, what’s the matter with you?” It was fine as long as Qiao Nan had no idea that Li Yayan was his wife. What if Qiao Nan overthought it and misunderstood that Li Yayan had ill intentions behind getting close to her? Not only was he afraid that Qiao Nan would get angry, but he was also afraid that Qiao Nan would complain about him to Zhai Sheng. Zhai Sheng wasn’t one he could afford to offend.
Li Yayan plopped onto the sofa. “Qiao Zijin seems to have gotten in touch with Qiao Nan.” What she had was time. She could simply wait until her father-in-law passed away and she became the official matriarch of the family. Then, she would have a say over the family’s finances. The problem was that her parents were of the same generation as her father-in-law. If her father-in-law passed away, how long more would her parents be able to live?
That meant that her parents couldn’t afford to wait for that day. She would have to find a way of getting the five million yuan so that her brother could get married and have his own children.
Hearing Li Yayan’s words, Wang Yang understood that his wife was worried over the five million yuan for her family again. “Yayan, you should understand that the five million yuan is a chance I’m giving you. But if you do anything against the Wang family’s interest because of money, you should know that you’ll land up in a much worse state.”
Even though she was his wife and had given birth to his son, he would let nothing go wrong with the Zhu family’s assets. If Li Yayan betrayed his good intentions, it would be easy to deal with her. He would simply listen to his dad and get a divorce from her. Given his background, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a wife who was willing to contribute to the Wang family. At the very least, it would be much easier than finding a man of a similar background to Wang Yang for Li Yayan.
Having received Wang Yang’s warning, Li Yayan dared not think more about that matter. Getting the Zhu family’s assets for Wang Yang was the most important task for now. The five million yuan was simply a bonus. Compared to the Zhu family’s assets, five million yuan was nothing. She couldn’t afford to give up the whole forest for a single tree.
Her family was important, but was it more important than her son’s and her own life?
“Don’t worry. I understand. I’m willing to fight for the five million yuan for my family if I have the chance. Otherwise, Qiao Zijin deserves it if she’s capable. As long as you do well, I know that you won’t mind me giving my brother a little even if Dad’s the one controlling the finances.” She would have to give up the five million yuan.
Only with those words did Wang Yang finally feel assured. “It’s good that you understand. My dad might have a slightly nasty temper, but as long as we succeed in getting the Zhu family’s assets, there’ll definitely be room for discussion regarding your family. We might even be able to give your brother some money to make a down payment.”
“Alright.” There was nothing more she could do. If they could make a down payment for a house, her brother should probably be able to pay for the monthly payments using the allowances she gave her family every month. It would be slower, but at least, her family wouldn’t be burdened paying for the house. Otherwise, her brother would never get the chance to stay in a big apartment given his fiery temper and refusal to work, and neither would he ever get married to have children nor be filial to their parents.
Li Yayan had thought that she stood a higher chance of getting the five million yuan. Who would have known that Qiao Zijin was even more frantic than her about that sum of money? Qiao Zijin knew that she had to convince Qiao Nan before the court date. Once the verdict for the lawsuit was out, the five million yuan would have nothing to do with her whether or not Wang Yang won the case.
If Wang Yang won the lawsuit, Qiao Nan would no longer be in the picture, and neither would she. If Wang Yang were to lose, Qiao Nan would be able to squander the money away. No one would be as foolish to give up their money when they had it in their hands, especially not Qiao Nan.
The only way to persuade Qiao Nan to give up that inheritance was to take advantage of the fact that the Zhu family’s assets were nothing more than a vague figure to Qiao Nan. But ever since she had changed her original phone number, Qiao Nan had never taken the initiative to contact her. Qiao Zijin couldn’t help but wonder if her mom was truly not worried about her after she had blacklisted her mom. Was her mom not going to find Qiao Nan and ask for her help in finding her?
This time, Qiao Zijin was much smarter and decided to rent an apartment for herself. It was uncomfortable living in a basement, and Qiao Zijin wasn’t willing to sacrifice her comfort by staying in such a small place. As such, she endured the pinch and decided to rent a small apartment of approximately a hundred and fifty square feet.
Thankfully, it was only spring, not summer. Otherwise, not only would it be expensive to switch on the air-conditioning, but fans wouldn’t even be helpful either. Qiao Zijin had never endured such hardship ever since she was young. She hadn’t even stayed there for an entire month and yet, Qiao Zijin felt that she was even more pitiful than a cabbage that grew in the ground.
What Qiao Zijin had not expected was that Qiao Nan had lived in such conditions too. Every dog had its day. Now, it was Qiao Zijin’s turn.
Qiao Zijin stared at her phone every day, afraid of missing out on any news from Ding Jiayi. But as the days went by, Qiao Zijin realized that she had been in the capital alone for almost half a month. She couldn’t afford to wait any further.
After much contemplation, Qiao Zijin decided to make a call to Ding Jiayi. “Hello, Mom. It’s me…”
“Zijin? You’re finally contacting me?” Ding Jiayi was over the moon that Qiao Zijin had finally decided to contact her. But very quickly, she thought about Qiao Dongliang’s dislike of Qiao Zijin and she quickly lowered her voice. “Wait a minute.” Ding Jiayi returned to her room and shut the door. “Alright. Have you been well in the capital?”
“…” It was just a phone call, but her mom was acting as though they were committing a crime. This made Qiao Zijin feel uneasy. “Mom, are you hiding from Dad? Mom, I’m not doing well in the capital. I’m sick, hungry, and thirsty. There’s no one to take care of me. Mom, I miss you. Will you come to the capital? Can you send me to the hospital? Once I recover, I won’t stop you from returning to Ping Cheng.”
She would trick her mom to the capital. She could decide on whether her mom would be able to return to Ping Cheng later on.
“What? You’re sick? Did you go to the doctor? Have you taken any medications? How could you starve yourself while you’re sick? If you can’t make your own meals, you should call for takeaway, at the very least!” Upon hearing that Qiao Zijin was seriously ill, Ding Jiayi’s heart broke. “Zijin, listen to me. Hurry and get off the phone.”
