Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“All right.” Qiao Dongliang’s expression stiffened. He had not expected that Zhou Xing could be so direct and straightforward with her words once she had calmed down. “You… you’re more understanding than your mom. Thankfully, you’ve only lived with Ding Jiayi for three years. The Zhou couple had raised you quite well. I don’t want to discuss this, but all I can say is that I’m just worried that you would follow in your mom’s footsteps if you had been raised by Ding Jiayi from a young age.”
Qiao Dongliang finally understood why Zhou Xing had only returned to Ding Jiayi when the Zhou couple passed away.
It seemed that Qiao Nan must have been involved in Zhou Xing staying in the Zhou family and being raised by the Zhou couple. Ding Jiayi was completely abnormal. In other words, she was not fit to teach a child. Ding Jiayi would only mislead a child.
Zhou Zheng was heartless toward Zijin but was still quite normal in other aspects. If he had not been bewitched by that woman, Zhou Zheng would never have been so vicious toward Zhou Xing. But whatever Zhou Zheng had done could not even compare with whatever Ding Jiayi had done.
“Grandpa, it’s quite late. I’ll go back to school first. Can you go back on your own?” Zhou Xing did not want to go on any further. After her paternal grandparents passed away, her whole world collapsed. She felt as though she was all alone in this vast universe. Her birth father bared his fangs and was planning on swallowing her whole.
At her most helpless and desperate moment, her maternal grandma appeared and pulled her out of the swamp in the Zhou family. Her grandma took care of her, cared for her, and did everything with her in mind. It made her feel some sort of warmth that she had felt only when her grandparents were still alive.
“Sigh… What a sin.” Seeing Zhou Xing suffer such a huge blow caused Qiao Dongliang to feel heartbroken too. Zhou Xing’s lack of expression was the most obvious expression. Children from poor families tended to mature earlier. Zijin had lived too enjoyable a life when she was younger and had never suffered. That was why she was so innocent and was never able to correct herself after being led astray by Ding Jiayi.
But Zhou Xing was different. Zhou Xing was a child who had gone through trials and tribulations.
It was indeed true that life should not always be so smooth-sailing. Only after experiencing both ups and downs and various trials would a child be able to become independent.
Zhou Xing promised Qiao Dongliang that she would not look for Zhai Xin, and neither would she try to scheme against Zhai Xin for the time being, and she did indeed keep to her promise. Typically, Zhou Xing already had a busy schedule keeping up with her dance lessons in school. Even without a boyfriend like Zhai Xin, Zhou Xing was busy all the same and could not take any time out to investigate whatever Qiao Dongliang had told her.
When the May Day holiday finally arrived, Zhou Xing did not tell Ding Jiayi that she was going back to Ping Cheng. Instead, she quietly bought a plane ticket returning to Ping Cheng and secretly went to visit the Qiao family’s house in the quad.
Zhou Xing had lived in the Qiao family’s house with Ding Jiayi for three years, so she knew Ding Jiayi’s routine like the back of her hand. She knew that Ding Jiayi would definitely be out at this time to purchase her groceries. Thus, Zhou Xing knocked on the door of a few neighbors who were more familiar with the Qiao family to find out about that incident from the past.
The people in the quad all knew that Ding Jiayi had brought Qiao Zijin’s daughter home to raise her. At that time, there were already people who wondered whether Zhou Xing would turn into a second Qiao Zijin.
Qiao Nan was the one child that everyone in the quad was proud of and the person that they treated as a role model for their children. But for some reason, Ding Jiayi did not take a fancy to such an outstanding child. Instead, she always tried to create trouble for Qiao Nan, hindering Qiao Nan’s career.
If Zhou Xing were to become the second Qiao Zijin, these neighbors would not be able to step in to help at all. All they could do was to pity Qiao Nan. She was such a good child, but why were the people from her family all so evil?
Thankfully, Zhou Xing had not done anything special in those three years. Thus, those three years passed by peacefully. Zhou Xing knew that her results in her cultural class were above average at the very best and were nowhere near the excellent standard. She would never have much room to develop or a good performance if she were to focus on her cultural class.
But she had been practicing dance since she was a child. In the three years living with Ding Jiayi, Zhou Xing knew what her strengths were and decided to focus all her time on her strengths to hone her strengths even further so as to give herself a good future.
And that was also why Zhou Xing had never had much contact with her neighbors in the quad or even chatted with them before in the three years that she had lived in the Qiao family’s house.
Now that Zhou Xing was visiting them to ask about the time when the Qiao family was still a family of four, the neighbors were taken aback. It was rare that Zhou Xing herself was willing to ask about it, so the neighbors were extremely frank about the matter as well.
After they finished saying what they wanted to say, the neighbors were still afraid that Zhou Xing would not believe them, and they even said, “What Ding Jiayi did was really too extreme, so much so that it embarrassed even the neighbors here in the quad. Your mom… She was led astray by Ding Jiayi. Really, we’re not afraid of you asking around. Everyone who lives here in the quad knows about what happened to the Qiao family. If you still don’t believe us, I can give you an address. After Old Qiao got a divorce from Ding Jiayi, he took Nan Nan and moved to this place. Even though that father and daughter duo tried their best to hide, Ding Jiayi did not let Nan Nan go and would always try to cause trouble for Nan Nan, so everyone who lives around here will have an impression of this.”
“You’re Zijin’s child. Zijin is gone, but when she was younger, she was a really obedient and good kid. We won’t say anything more. You might get upset if we say some more. Ding Jiayi really did your mom wrong. Your mom didn’t meet a good mom. Old Qiao… All he knew was to work. He cared too little about what went on at home. Sigh. Thinking about it now, it’s such a pity that this happened to your mom.”
When she was still alive, Qiao Zijin was no different from Ding Jiayi, and she attracted a lot of hate from their neighbors in the quad. But now that she was no longer around, everyone’s attitude toward a departed person softened. They gradually felt that if it had not been for Ding Jiayi’s misguidance, there was no way such an obedient child could have grown up in this manner.
“All these were your Qiao family’s matters. It’s not appropriate for us outsiders to intervene or talk too much about it. But child, you’re Zijin’s daughter. We really don’t want to see you walk down the same path that your mom did. Your grandma might have had good intentions for your mom, but she really doesn’t know how to be a mom. In the future, it is best if you just come back to visit her occasionally.”
“Th-thank you. I understand,” Zhou Xing replied dryly.
She could tell that there was a lot of vagueness when her neighbors mentioned her mom.
