“…” Qiao Nan rubbed her lips lightly. “Then?”
“What then?” San Bao rolled her eyes. “Mom, there’s no then. Ling Ling doesn’t like her father. She knows that the country now allows a second child in the family. Her father’s real intention is to make Auntie Xu pregnant again after they are remarried so that he could see if she could give birth to a son.”
By then, he would have both his son and his wife. The money his wife earned would be back in his pockets again. Ling Ling’s father was really… San Bao expressed that she understood Xu Ling Ling’s feelings well. She would rather be fatherless than have a father like him.
“Ling Ling is worried that Auntie Xu would agree. She kept hearing that father of hers persuade Auntie Xu that he wanted to give Ling Ling a complete family. He said that Ling Ling is different from other children because she doesn’t have a father. Auntie Xu cares about her daughter the most in this lifetime. Ling Ling is worried that her father would use her to play the kinship card and Auntie Xu wouldn’t be able to withstand it.”
How shameless. He still wanted to make Auntie Xu give birth at her age when she was at a higher risk level, and he even dared to say it was for Ling Ling’s good. San Bao was willing to interfere in this matter after she heard Ling Ling talk about this situation. She was immediately angered and thus patted her chest and said that she would help Ling Ling get this matter done.
Qiao Nan touched San Bao’s face. “Haven’t you already said so? Your Auntie Xu cares about Ling Ling the most. Regardless of whether she chose to remarry or not, your Auntie Xu would definitely seek Ling Ling’s opinion before deciding. Ling Ling is not a fool. Haven’t you said that Ling Ling has a clear mind? As for the rest, you children don’t have to worry about it.”
Qiao Nan didn’t expect Fang Shiyou to have such a side. Even if he could hide his thoughts from Ling Ling, Ling Ling might not be willing to accept him as a father now. Furthermore, Ling Ling already knew what Fang Shiyou was up to. Upon thinking of Xu Shengnan’s age, Qiao Nan expressed that Fang Shiyou was really daring to have thought of this.
Senior Xu was already at this age. Anyone with common sense would know how dangerous it was for her to be pregnant now. For his own son, Fang Shiyou didn’t even care about Senior Xu’s life and death.
San Bao heaved a sigh of relief. “If that’s really the case, I don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll tell Ling Ling this now so that she’ll feel more at ease.” That was true as well. If Auntie Xu were to get married, how would she not have told Ling Ling?
If Ling Ling was against it, it wouldn’t be easy for her father to remarry her mother.
After calming San Bao down, Qiao Nan personally sent her three children to university. All of them had scored well in their college entrance examinations. Da Bao was the first in the science stream while San Bao was the first in the humanities stream. Er Bao, who was second in the science stream, stomped his feet. He felt that San Bao had deliberately chosen to be in the humanities stream in the first place so as to avoid Da Bao, a strong opponent.
Great. Now, out of the three of them, he had become the one and only ‘second child’.
Although Da Bao scored well in the college entrance examinations, he had enrolled in PLA National Defense University, which was the university Shi Qing and Zhu Baoguo had studied in back then. Not only did Da Bao enroll in this university, but Er Bao did so as well.
Knowing that the men of the Zhai family were passionate about being soldiers, Qiao Nan hoped that her children could live according to their own wishes. As such, she didn’t stop them. The only thing that made Qiao Nan’s heart skip a beat was that San Bao nearly enrolled in PLA National Defense University as well.
Da Bao was determined to follow the old path of the Zhai family’s men and take the army route. Er Bao, who had extraordinary balancing skills, was prepared to develop himself in the air force. Out of the land, sea, and air forces, the triplets had already occupied two routes. Back then, Er Bao joked that San Bao should have just developed herself in the navy.
That way, all three forces would be complete.
Qiao Nan didn’t care about her two sons. After all, if they really became soldiers in the future, it would be rare for them to spend time together with their family. Furthermore, they had to carry out so many dangerous missions. Qiao Nan wanted to keep her only daughter by her side.
Upon thinking of how much San Bao loved to look pretty, Qiao Nan told her directly. “I don’t think that army uniform is nice. Haven’t you remembered how many skirts and dresses you have bought since you were young? If you really become a soldier, you would basically say goodbye to these skirts and dresses in the future.”
San Bao hesitated for a while. She always thought that the army uniform was nice and looked especially majestic. Furthermore, Da Bao and Er Bao had chosen this route. If she didn’t, it would look like she wasn’t sociable. However, what her mother said was a very realistic issue as well.
Although San Bao was usually anxious and stubborn, she was still a girl after all. After growing up, she would be more caring compared to a son. San Bao knew that Qiao Nan couldn’t bear for the three of them to leave her. She was especially afraid that her daughter could not endure hardship and thus wanted to keep her by her side.
There wasn’t a choice. Who asked her to be the youngest in the family? Since they were young, Da Bao and Er Bao had taken care of her. Now that she was a grown-up, it was time to repay her brothers’ kindness.
After San Bao applied for Peking University, which was where Qiao Nan studied formerly, most people in the Zhai family heaved a sigh of relief. Er Bao even started to treat San Bao like she was a small ancestor. He understood that San Bao had sacrificed herself to fulfill his and Da Bao’s wishes.
“Mom, I’ll go in with Er Bao. You can just send San Bao off.” Once Da Bao was of age, he obtained a driving license. This driving license was still new to him.
Qiao Nan was wealthy. Even if she was stingy, she couldn’t be stingy toward her three children. Since Da Bao had now obtained a driving license, Qiao Nan bought him a scooter. It wasn’t particularly expensive but was cost-effective and practical.
When they knew that the ‘stingy’ Qiao Nan had bought Da Bao such a car, Fang Fang, who often flaunted her wealth, said that she was willing to sponsor Da Bao and give him some money to buy a better car. Fang Fang wasn’t the only one who said that. Even Zhai Hua joined in the fun.
In the end, Da Bao rejected them. As a university student, it was already rare for him to own a car of his own. It was pointless to buy too eye-catching a car. After all, he went to school to study. The car his mother bought for him was the most suitable.
However, Da Bao had a deeper understanding of these elders’ wealth. They had children as well but didn’t think of buying a car for their son. Instead, they felt heartache for him and felt that his mother was too stingy. Da Bao couldn’t help but feel aggrieved for his two younger brothers, Xiao Bao and Gao Feng.
If he didn’t remember wrongly, Gao Feng wanted a higher quality camera for his tenth birthday.
