“I’m not chatting with you anymore. I have found a part-time job and need to leave for work now. If I don’t work a little harder, I will have nothing to eat next month.”
After finishing her words, Qiao Zijin hung up the phone.
Yes, she could not rely on anyone in this world. To her, the most reliable person was, of course, herself.
If she did not depend on herself, would her mother persist in letting her continue her studies and allowing her to go through diploma studies?
If she did not rely on herself, would Chen Jun agree to become her boyfriend and support her financially for so many years?
She was not considered as relying on herself just because the money did not come out of her own pocket?
Ridiculous!
If she had used her brains a little less, the money would not have been spent on her. She had always been relying on herself. All of her father’s words were nonsense!
Facing the phone that had been hung up, Qiao Dongliang could only take it that Qiao Zijin’s anger had not completely subsided.
He had already made himself clear. Qiao Dongliang felt more at ease now. At the very least, there was no longer any misunderstanding between him and Qiao Zijin.
As time passed, Zijin’s anger would definitely subside. Sooner or later, she would understand her parents’ pain and good intentions.
After that phone call, Qiao Zijin did not make any other calls home. Anyway, Ding Jiayi was not going to give her any more money. She was thus not willing to waste the cost of making calls.
On the other hand, Qiao Dongliang was thinking that Qiao Zijin had to make full use of the time outside lessons to work part-time and earn money. Otherwise, how would she be able to earn enough living expenses?
In addition, he was not certain whether Qiao Zijin’s anger had already subsided. If he were to call her again, the father-daughter pair might get into an argument if Qiao Zijin was still angry. That would not be meaningful then.
Hence, Qiao Dongliang waited and did not make any further moves. He thought that Qiao Zijin would definitely contact Ding Jiayi and him when she was no longer angry.
Qiao Dongliang, who was riding on the bicycle, quietly dismissed Qiao Zijin’s situation in his heart. He then arrived at the jewelry shop.
Qiao Dongliang did not go to a large shop. Instead, he patronized a jewelry shop with a good reputation that had been in business for a long time. He then enquired about the current price of gold. “Old Qiao, your family wants to purchase gold jewelry without an apparent reason?” The boss of the shop looked at Qiao Dongliang curiously.
It was not that he looked down on Qiao Dongliang. He had known previously that Qiao Nan was getting married. He thought that since everyone was long-time friends who knew each other so well, Qiao Dongliang would pick a few pieces of jewelry from his shop for Qiao Nan.
Who would have known that he had not seen Qiao Dongliang coming to his shop to buy jewelry although half a year had passed since Qiao Nan’s marriage? “Old Qiao, don’t tell me that your elder daughter is getting married?”
The Qiao family had two daughters. The elder one was Da Qiao and the younger one Xiao Qiao. Qiao Dongliang and Ding Jiayi were biased toward the elder daughter. They did not treat the younger daughter very well. This gossip did not only circulate within the quad.
Many people who knew Qiao Dongliang heard about this too. The boss of the jewelry shop was one of them.
Qiao Dongliang, embarrassed, smiled. “No, my elder daughter is still studying. There are two more years to go before she graduates. She won’t get married so soon. It’s my younger daughter. She is pregnant with twins now after marriage. I am here to buy something for my maternal grandchildren.”
“Oh, I see. Twins. That’s good fortune. Your younger daughter is very blessed indeed.” The boss of the jewelry shop had a look of surprise and admiration on his face. “Due to the national planning policy, many families only have one child. The government does not even give them a chance to have a second one. Your family’s daughter is having twins. Your son-in-law is very blessed. Right, what kind of jewelry are you looking for? Gold or silver? Necklace, wrist or ankle bracelet?”
Qiao Dongliang glanced at the price of the gold and then carefully examined the carat and the price of the jewelry on display. He then gritted his teeth and bought two small gold bracelets.
The small gold bracelets were tiny and round. They were not outstanding and did not look like kids’ bracelets. It resembled more of those large exaggerated ring earrings typically worn by fashionable ladies.
“These two bracelets cost a total of 3,752 yuan. I will waive the small change of 52 yuan for you. You just have to pay me 3,700 yuan.” The bracelets looked tiny but they were not considered very light when combined. Moreover, the price of gold was not low now. Although the prices of this shop were already considered affordable, it was not cheap to buy the two pieces of jewelry. With this purchase, Qiao Dongliang used up all his past six months’ earnings.
“Thank you.” Qiao Dongliang took over the boxes carefully. In his mind, he started to plan when he could make a trip to the capital to visit his daughter and grandchildren. He would then pass this present to his two little maternal grandchildren.
Qiao Dongliang was unaware that he eventually did not manage to hide the fact of buying these two tiny gold pieces of jewelry from Ding Jiayi. After spending some effort, Ding Jiayi found out the circumstances of the matter very quickly. She was so angry that she did not manage to take any bite of her dinner that night.
Ding Jiayi was feeling unhappy. Of course, she had to make someone unhappy too. She made a phone call to the Zhai family in the capital behind Qiao Dongliang’s back. “Hello, good day. This is the house of the Zhai family.”
“You’re the auntie of the Zhai family?” Ding Jiayi was aware of the existence of this person. Her tone was extremely terrible.
It was not because of other reasons. It was because Ding Jiayi still wished to go to the capital!
She had given birth to Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan grew up drinking her breast milk. Now that Qiao Nan was married and living in the capital, she did not spare any thoughts for her, this biological mother.
On the contrary, the auntie whom she was totally unrelated to was working for and taking a salary from the Zhai family. She had followed the Zhai family to the capital to enjoy life.
Each time she thought of this situation, Ding Jiayi was filled with hatred. She shunned Qiao Nan for being so inflexible and heartless.
If Qiao Nan was really smart, she should discuss with the Zhai family to ‘transfer’ all the money that the Zhai family spent on the auntie to her maternal family. She should be filial to Old Qiao and her. It was only right for her to do that.
If the Zhai family was indeed so wealthy and willing to bring a helper to the capital, why couldn’t they fetch them, these two official in-laws, to the capital too?
All of them were heartless.
With feelings of resentment in her heart, the auntie of the Zhai family became Ding Jiayi’s target of hate and attack. “You’re just a paid housekeeper. What are you? How dare you take your master’s call casually? Someone like you who doesn’t even know the protocols should have been kicked out long ago. It’s a waste of money to hire you.”
Ding Jiayi’s mind swirled. The wretched girl never listened to her. Hence, she would not agree with her to make this auntie leave.
However, if she were to find ways to force this auntie to leave and the auntie wanted to leave on her own accord, the Zhai family would not have a choice then, no?
When that time came, the Zhai family would need someone to take care of the grocery shopping and preparing meals.
She had been handling these chores for more than ten years, even before she got married. They were not difficult at all.
As long as the Zhai family gave her the money that they were supposed to spend on the auntie, she would take care of all the Zhai family’s meals.
Ding Jiayi was only concerned about getting money and looked down on the auntie. She did not consider at all whether it was really so easy to earn money from the boss that she would be working for.
Regardless of how nice the Zhai family was, the chores done by the auntie were definitely not as few as what Ding Jiayi thought. There were many more chores that she had to handle.
