Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Zhai Xin was responsible for coaxing Miao Jing. “As long as you stay happy every day and lead a happy life, I’m sure you’ll live for twenty more years, or maybe even thirty to forty more years! People in ancient times rarely lived to their seventies. But now, you’ll only be considered to have lived a long life if you live to your nineties or even reach a hundred years old!”
“A hundred years old. That would mean that grandma would live a really long life.” Miao Jing chuckled and covered her mouth. A few days earlier, Miao Jing had lost a tooth. If this continued and she lost even more teeth, Miao Jing would not have many real teeth left. Zhai Yaohui said that he would bring Miao Jing to the dentist to see if she could get fitted with a pair of dentures once the holiday was over and after everyone had gone back to work.
Otherwise, how would she eat all these delicious dishes?
“It isn’t that far-fetched of an idea to live a long life nowadays.” Zhai Yaohui picked up some vegetables for Miao Jing. “Don’t talk anymore. Hurry and eat your vegetables. Otherwise, they’ll get cold and won’t taste good anymore. They won’t be good for your health either.”
“All right, don’t take any more food for me. My bowl is already filled to the brim. You know very well just how much I can stomach. Do you think I’ll be able to finish it all if you give me so much food? And to think that you said that you understand me well. Don’t you even remember how much I can eat?” Miao Jing frowned while looking at the huge bowl of food. She was almost seventy years old. Only when she was in her teenage years and after doing a full day’s of hard work could she stomach so much food.
At that time, eating rice was but a far-fetched dream. Now, her days were much better. She could choose to eat only vegetables without any rice, and she could even eat as much as she wanted until she felt bloated.
“Don’t you still have me? I can help finish whatever you can’t.” Zhai Yaohui was not at all worried that he had taken too much food for Miao Jing. Hearing Miao Jing go on, Zhai Yaohui very naturally picked up some food from Miao Jing’s bowl and placed it in his own. “How’s that? Will you be able to finish all that? Otherwise, I’ll take some more.”
Miao Jing was exasperated. “Why didn’t you just place all that food into your own bowl in the first place? What was the point of putting your food into my bowl before picking it up and placing it back in your own bowl? Wouldn’t it be faster if you just put it into your own bowl in the first place?”
Zhai Yaohui tried to coax Miao Jing. “Of course there’s a point in doing so. Am I not helping you now? I didn’t do it intentionally.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
The triplets were already used to their grandpa showing his affection for their grandma from time to time. But they were all still single, after all. It was still all right when they were younger and unclear about what was going on. But now that they were all grown up, it was like a stab to the heart every time they witnessed this. They were celebrating the New Year with a feast. Could they stop with the dog feed? They would much rather eat some human food. If they ate that dog feed, wouldn’t their grandma’s ‘precious effort’ go to waste?
Zhai Xin looked at Zhai Yi speechlessly. You’ve seen it too. With grandpa around, do I still need to coax grandma? Grandpa has coaxed grandma so much that she’s blushing like a teenage girl. I guess there’s no one nowadays who can be like grandpa and take food from their girlfriend’s bowl for himself. That would be too unhygienic.
Zhai Yi looked at Zhai Xin calmly. If grandpa can coax grandma, won’t your task be much easier? Besides, you’re only back for a few days. If grandpa doesn’t coax grandma, how long can grandma be happy for? Talking about cajoling grandma, grandpa is the true main force. You’re just a backup, the middle man between grandpa and grandma.
Zhai Yi was clear about this. A grandson coaxing her was different from her husband coaxing her, after all. To prevent their grandma from getting sick of her husband’s coaxing, her grandson, Zhai Xin, was roped in to help cajole her into a good mood. Only then could their grandpa’s coaxing continue to be effective in the future.
“…” Zhai Xin, who completely understood what Zhai Yi had meant through that gaze, was provoked. Zhai Xin moved toward Qiao Dongliang. He was single and had no girlfriend. His maternal grandpa had been divorced for many years and was single too. Zhai Yi’s behavior was atypical. It was better for him to keep his distance from Zhai Yi. Sitting beside his grandpa gave him a greater sense of security.
Zhai Xin, who had self-declared that he was not in a relationship, had completely forgotten about the existence of Zhou Xing. He knew that Zhou Xing was his cousin and that Zhou Xing had been plotting something right from the start. Zhou Xing had had her eyes on Zhai Yi but had only changed and set her sights on Zhai Xin after her failure with Zhai Yi. How could such a relationship count as a proper romantic relationship?
First love should be innocent and pure. Since it was neither innocent nor pure, Zhai Xin insisted that he had never had a relationship and that his first love had not been ruined by Zhou Xing.
Qiao Dongliang had no idea what Zhai Xin was thinking. He simply thought that his grandson wanted to get closer to him, so he smiled and picked up some food for Zhai Xin, asking him to have his fill. To Qiao Dongliang, there was no other time that made him happier than the New Year. In the Zhai family, the only time the whole family was gathered together was for the New Year.
Otherwise, when others were on their breaks, the whole Zhai family, including his daughter, Qiao Nan, was extremely busy. Even during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the family was not as complete as during the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Having seen the triplets grow up healthy, with Da Bao and Er Bao growing into handsome young men, and San Bao becoming an outstanding and beautiful young lady like her mom, Qiao Dongliang was deeply moved. His life was not entirely filled with failure. At least, his younger daughter, Qiao Nan, was doing very well and had even given him these three grandchildren.
It was just that…
At the thought of the other granddaughter, Zhou Xing, whom he had never met, Qiao Dongliang’s face sunk. If he had not suddenly remembered that it was New Year’s Eve, his expression might not even have brightened. Stealing another glance at Zhai Xin, who was leaning close to him, Qiao Dongliang felt especially sorry toward Zhai Xin.
Had it not been the mess created by the Qiao family that he had not cleaned up, there was no way Zhou Xing would have set her sights on Zhai Xin and gotten him into such a bizarre relationship. Putting Zhou Xing and Zhai Xin together was just like putting Qiao Nan of the past with Qiao Zijin together. As such, Qiao Dongliang decided to stand on Zhai Xin’s side and support him without any hesitation.
Qiao Dongliang had seen Zhai Xin grown up. Up until today, Qiao Dongliang had never once seen Zhou Xing.
Qiao Dongliang stayed in the Zhai family’s house until the fifth day of the new year before he finally returned home alone. Once he reached home, Qiao Dongliang’s expression darkened, and he made his first phone call back to Ping Cheng in ten years.
When Ding Jiayi saw that the caller was from the capital, she was taken aback. “Hello, who are you looking for?”
“Hehehe…” Qiao Dongliang laughed. “I guess your life must be quite fulfilling with your granddaughter that you don’t even remember my phone number. Fine. I don’t wish for you to remember my phone number either. I’m calling just to warn you about one thing. If you let Zhou Xing walk down the same path that Zijin did, Ding Jiayi, I might just become a great-grandpa at my age.”
