Even though she had no choice but to be fostered by her uncle, she had never shirked away from chores while staying at her uncle’s house. While living in a large community, the chores that she did were comparable to an average male’s.
Miao Jing would never understand women like Ding Jiayi who relied first on their husbands, then on their daughters, and never relied on their own efforts. She really wanted to teach annoying women like Ding Jiayi a lesson.
Just thinking about it made her blood boil, and she gulped down the glass of water that Zhai Yaohui had poured for her. “Yes, I’ll have to do it. If I don’t do it, I won’t even need to have dinner tonight! I’ll be full from my anger. I might even lose sleep tonight from being so angry.” People like Ding Jiayi were too scary. She was even more vicious than Qiao Zijin.
“Mom, eat some fruits.” Qiao Nan took some cut fruits from the auntie’s hands and passed them to Miao Jing. “These fruits are delicious.” Her mother-in-law had an even greater reaction to the mention of Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi than she herself did.
Having been praised by her father-in-law earlier, Qiao Nan was actually rather embarrassed. It was not that she was not angry, but she had already been furious her entire life. Qiao Nan had always felt that even if she had not been knocked down by a car in her previous lifetime, she would have been driven to her death by anger because of her biological mother.
Since she already had experience being driven to her death by anger, this meant nothing to Qiao Nan today. She had fought greater battles. Thus, this was nothing much to Qiao Nan, and there was really no way that she was going to get agitated over this. She had faced even greater battles and even more shameful things, but she had always prevailed in the end. In the face of these bitter fruits, there was nothing Qiao Nan could do but swallow them reluctantly.
Just like in her previous lifetime, all the money that she had given eventually ended up in Qiao Zijin’s pockets and became Qiao Zijin’s dowry. There was nothing she could do. After taking the money, Ding Jiayi even asked for more living allowances. She had to take on even more part-time jobs just to satisfy Ding Jiayi.
Now, Ding Jiayi held on tightly to every single cent that Qiao Nan gave her, without giving Qiao Zijin anything. After getting divorced from Zhou Zheng, Qiao Zijin was even worse off than in her previous life. She had no status, much less a dowry or a house. Now that her money was no longer going to Qiao Zijin, Qiao Nan was rather happy. Her expectations were not that high after all.
After being coaxed by Qiao Nan, as well as persuaded by Zhai Yaohui, Miao Jing’s anger dissipated and she smiled. “Fine, I’m already such an old person. I don’t need you guys to coax me like you do the three children. I’m not angry. What’s there to be angry over? You guys just have to remember not to let this kind of people take advantage of you. It’s late. Let’s eat. It won’t be good to starve ourselves.”
Now that there was a smile on Miao Jing’s face, the Zhai family felt a sudden relief, and everyone could finally have their meals happily. Miao Jing had suffered a great deal while she was younger, and her health was not much better than Zhai Yaohui’s. Old Lin and Old Master Zhai had ‘left’ on the same night. Since then, the Zhai family had paid more attention to the health of the elderly in their family. Thus, Miao Jing became the family’s focus. Everyone tried to keep Miao Jing in a good mood so that her health would not be affected.
The Zhai family did not want to let the three children know about Qiao Zijin’s situation for the time being. Unfortunately, while the matter had not made news nationally, it was still quite well-known within the capital. After the three children first heard about the situation of Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi, the three children had been rather sensitive about anything related to these two people.
Especially this time, Qiao Zijin had kicked up a big fuss in the capital and had even implicated their most beloved mother. It was almost impossible for the three children to not have heard anything about this matter. Not only had they heard about the whole story, but they had already flown into a rage because of it. They were even more infuriated than Miao Jing. The three children were so furious that they wanted to rush home from school to check for themselves and see if Qiao Nan was doing all right and whether she had been bullied into tears.
The three children wished very much to go home. Unfortunately, they were still studying, and in a boarding school of all places. No matter how upset they were, they had to wait until the weekend break to return home.
But the three children were shocked when they saw Zhai Sheng come to fetch them. “Dad, why are you the one fetching us? Where’s Mom?” Indeed, their mom was distraught. Otherwise, why would their dad come? Usually, their mom was the one who fetched them from school.
“I let your mom take a rest. Why? Are you disappointed that I’m here to pick you guys up?” Zhai Sheng raised his eyebrow as he questioned the children in a disgruntled tone.
Er Bao laughed. “Dad, how can that be? It’s not that we’re unhappy that you’re picking us up. It’s just that we’re used to Mom coming to pick us up. Since we didn’t see Mom today, we were just surprised. We didn’t mean anything else. Don’t accuse us falsely!”
San Bao coquettishly rubbed Zhai Sheng’s arm. “Dad, I’m famished! Let’s hurry home. I miss grandma’s cooking!” And she missed her mom too. She wanted to know whether her mom was doing all right. If her mom was unhappy, she would be her mom’s comforter.
“You three devils.” Zhai Sheng could see clearly the three children’s concern toward Qiao Nan. “Hurry and get in the car. We’ll talk about it when we get home. Your mom is much stronger than you think.” Nan Nan had survived through so many trials and tribulations throughout her life. Besides, Nan Nan would hardly take to heart this trouble created by that loser, Qiao Zijin.
San Bao stuck out her tongue before obediently climbing into the car.
Er Bao and San Bao sat behind, while Da Bao sat in the front passenger seat. “Dad, is Mom all right?” Da Bao did not wish to address that woman as his elder auntie. In his short life, he had never met anyone as malicious as Qiao Zijin. The one who had framed his mother was his own aunt! And the purpose of that was simply so that she would not have to work and let his mother support her unconditionally!
Da Bao seriously did not want to recognize her as his relative based on either emotions or rationality.
“All right.”
“If Mom is doing all right, then why didn’t she come to pick us up?” That was not their mom’s way of doing things.
Zhai Sheng sighed. “It’s not that Nan Nan didn’t want to come and pick you up. It’s just that it’s unsuitable for her to do so for the time being. This matter has blown up within the capital, and many eyes are on her now. If Nan Nan continues to fetch you as usual, you might get photographed and exposed! Then, it will no longer be so easy for you to return to school.”
Nan Nan did not wish for this matter to affect the lives of her children in school.
It was all right for her to just swallow this bitter pill for the time being because she knew that the tides would turn if she would just wait it out. But she was afraid that the three children were still young and immature. If they were to be affected by this matter, their grades might plunge, or they might even be emotionally scarred.
