Now that the two soldiers stopped her from entering the house, Ding Jiayi felt anger rising within her. She resorted to kicking up a fuss to get Qiao Nan to come out of the house.
“Even so, you are not allowed entry.”
Ding Jiayi, who was denied entry, saw red. She paced around in circles, not knowing what to do. She stomped her feet and made a move to dash into the house.
The two soldiers saw what she was doing. They stretched out their hands to stop her from entering.
There was no way that the old lady could bypass them to enter the house. If they could not even stop an old lady from entering the house, Regiment Commander Zhai would definitely kick them out of the army. The woman must be out of her mind.
“You…” Ding Jiayi’s eyes turned red. She ground her teeth and turned to walk in the direction toward her house. She seemed to have given up.
Ding Jiayi might have it all planned out, but Qiao Nan chose to ignore her. After creating a commotion, Ding Jiayi felt that her throat had turned hoarse from the shouts. Despite all this, Ding Jiayi did not even manage to see Qiao Nan, let alone for her to agree to her requests.
Ding Jiayi was not the only one who was faced with setbacks, the Chen family, who went with Qiao Dongliang to the Shi family’s residence, did not fare any better. In fact, they were in an even more awkward situation than her.
Feng Cheng spent the Lunar New Year with her husband and daughter. She had yet to return to the capital and still stayed with them in Ping Cheng.
Feng Cheng was just an ordinary woman. Previously, she had been staying in the capital, but she did not have any commitments there. Now that she came to Ping Cheng, she had no intention of leaving. She had to stop outsiders from deceiving her husband and her daughter.
Feng Cheng was very unhappy that Shi Qing refused to listen to her and was very close to Qiao Nan.
Feng Cheng knew that her parents’ family thought highly of her daughter. Therefore, she decided to stay in Ping Cheng this year and work on her relationship with her husband and daughter.
She believed that she was more important to her daughter than an outsider and that her daughter would listen to her words.
Feng Cheng sneered when she knew that Qiao Nan’s father came looking for them. “I am sorry, but I don’t know you. Shi Peng has gone to work. He is not at home.”
Feng Cheng did not make any harsh comments, but she was not very polite to the guests.
“That is impossible. Director Shi does not need to go to work today. He should be at home.” Qiao Dongliang had spent several Lunar New Years with the Shi family. He was very clear of Director Shi’s work schedule. “Sister-in-law, I have something to discuss with Director Shi.”
“Something to discuss?” Feng Cheng smiled. “What is it? Tell me about it.”
“…” Qiao Dongliang was not close with Feng Cheng. Besides, he was here to discuss where he should place Qiao Nan’s dowry. Qiao Dongliang was at a loss for words. “Sister-in-law, do we have any misunderstanding?”
From his experience of dealing with people, Qiao Dongliang could tell from Feng Cheng’s indifferent attitude that there must be some misunderstanding.
“How could there be any misunderstanding?” Feng Cheng said coldly. “Is Qiao Nan your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Then, there is no misunderstanding.” A crooked stick would have a crooked shadow. How could he seek help from Shi Peng regarding his own family matters? He was trying to take advantage of them. Qiao Nan behaved in the same way as her father. She would always take advantage of Qing Qing.
Qiao Zijin suppressed her smile. She leaned toward Chen Jun and whispered. “Look, I have already told you that Qiao Nan tends to offend many people with that attitude of hers.”
Until now, she could not understand why the Lee family, the Zhu family, and the Zhai family felt that Qiao Nan was a good lady and doted on her.
Instead, Shi Qing’s mother was a good judge of people. She could tell that Qiao Nan was not a good person. “Because of Qiao Nan, the relationship between my dad and Director Shi may turn sour.”
Chen Jun sneered. “Contain that smile of yours when you are complaining about other people. It is too obvious. Also, you’d better shut up. Whatever you want to say can wait. I will not lose my temper here, but don’t ask for trouble.”
Unlike his parents, Chen Jun understood the situation in the Qiao family very well. He would not be fooled by the current situation or be misled by Qiao Zijin’s words.
“We are busy. I will not invite you in. Goodbye.” Feng Cheng did not know what was going on between the Chen family and the Qiao family. She only acted according to how she felt. She slammed the door on her visitors.
As soon as the door was closed, Shi Peng’s and Shi Qing’s voices could be heard from the house. The five people who stood outside the door were thoroughly embarrassed.
Qiao Dongliang felt like covering his face with his hands and wanted to leave as quickly as possible. “Sister-in-law does not seem to have a good temper. She might be in a bad mood today.”
Father Chen had been through many similar situations. He looked calm and unaffected. “This is very common for women. It seems that Director Shi is busy today. Let’s go back to the quad.”
True enough, it was not that easy to get to know Director Shi.
He heard that Director Shi had a good relationship with the Qiao family, but it did not seem like it at all.
“Uncle Qiao, let’s go back.” Chen Jun changed the topic, putting aside the fact that the Shi family refused to see them. “Auntie must have prepared the dinner. We will be in time for dinner when we go back.”
“That’s right. It is cold nowadays. We should not leave the dishes to turn cold.” Mother Chen was unhappy. They were thwarted at the very beginning. They failed in getting to know Director Shi and were thoroughly embarrassed.
Nevertheless, she was mindful of her husband and son.
Since they seemed to be unaffected and were polite toward Qiao Dongliang, she stifled her anger and pretended to be polite and warm toward Qiao Dongliang. She was almost close to addressing him as ‘in-law’.
Since the Chen family did not make any ugly comments, Qiao Dongliang, who was very embarrassed by what had happened just now, felt slightly better.
He got in Chen Jun’s car and said, “I have only seen Director Shi and Qing Qing around in the past few years. This is my first time seeing his wife. I suppose I will have to make an appointment with Director Shi to discuss Nan Nan’s dowry.”
“I see.” Father Chen nodded. He had heard about the Shi family’s situation.
The business dealings between people in the government were simple. There were about money and women.
In particular, for people like Shi Peng whose wife was not by his side and his daughter was studying in another city, it was easier to ask him a favor by recommending women to a lonely man like him.
Father Chen had tried this method in the past, but all the women that he recommended were rejected by Shi Peng and he even taught them some lessons. He then gave up on this approach.
“Brother Qiao, are you in frequent contact with Director Shi?”
Qiao Zijin, who sat at the back, clenched her fists anxiously. She hoped that her father would be smart and would not say the wrong words in front of the Chen family.
