After getting beaten up, Chen Jun had immediately made a phone call to the Qiao family upon returning to Ping Cheng before he had even moved away. Even though Qiao Dongliang had answered the call, Chen Jun did not pay much attention to that. He did not think that Qiao Dongliang would be an exception in the Qiao family and would treat Qiao Nan so well.
Having been the Qiao family’s son-in-law for over a decade, Chen Jun had always known that Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin bullied Qiao Nan openly. On the surface, Qiao Dongliang did not say anything and never participated in it, but he allowed Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin to do as they pleased. It was obvious that they were in cahoots. Qiao Nan was like an outsider who was being bullied badly.
As the breadwinner of the family, Qiao Nan had taken all of the family’s money and left when Qiao Zijin was gravely ill. Chen Jun thought that the Qiao family would hate Qiao Nan for doing so, including Qiao Dongliang. After learning about Qiao Nan’s whereabouts, the Qiao family would definitely rush over and make life difficult for Qiao Nan.
It had been a long while since that call, but he had not heard any news of anything happening to Qiao Nan. Chen Jun could no longer suppress his curiosity. That was why he had made a call to Qiao Zijin, whom he hated the most. “Qiao Nan has always been kind, but since when have the rest of you changed so drastically and become so kind as well? Can you really just let Qiao Nan off and live a peaceful life just like that?”
He did not believe that the Qiao family had come to such a sudden revelation. Unless Qiao Nan passed away, the Qiao family would never let Qiao Nan off.
Chen Jun had just been promoted and transferred to a new location. It was only natural for him to be enthusiastic and busy with many things. Besides, it was the end of the year. After he had finally completed all the work he had on hand, Chen Jun was now free to ‘worry’ about the Qiao family again.
The corner of Qiao Zijin’s lips drooped down. “What do you mean? I don’t understand you. Qiao Nan… She ran away a long time ago. We don’t even know where she is. Chen Jun, why are you spouting such nonsense?” Neither Qiao Zijin nor her mom wished for Qiao Nan to return home, but Qiao Nan had taken away a few hundred thousand yuan! That had to be returned! That was her money! What right did Qiao Nan have to take it away with her?
The longer Qiao Nan stayed away, the lower her chances of recovering that sum of money. Qiao Zijin had previously consulted a lawyer. The money that Qiao Nan had taken with her was Qiao Nan’s alone and had nothing to do with the Qiao family. Legally, the Qiao family had no grounds to demand that sum of money back from Qiao Nan. As long as Qiao Nan was unwilling to give it to them, the Qiao family had no say in how Qiao Nan used the money.
Qiao Nan had already dared to run away with the money, so Qiao Zijin knew that she could not count on Qiao Nan saving the money without spending a single cent. As such, she had to find Qiao Nan as soon as possible to minimize her losses.
Qiao Zijin had just undergone her surgery. If her health had been good, Qiao Zijin would already have gone to the ends of the earth to look for Qiao Nan. Now that Chen Jun was mocking her, Qiao Zijin was infuriated. Yes, in Chen Jun’s eyes, there was not a single Qiao who was good, barring Qiao Nan. Other than Qiao Nan, the entire Qiao family was evil wolves and evil ghosts!
Having been married to Chen Jun for so many years, Qiao Zijin was clearer than anyone just how good of an impression Chen Jun had of Qiao Nan. Every time she was at home and did something that upset the Chen family or Chen Jun, they would always say that Qiao Nan had never behaved in this manner.
Every time she heard that, Qiao Zijin’s hatred for Qiao Nan grew. What had Qiao Nan done that she had met Chen Jun and had even left such a good impression on his family?
In Ding Jiayi’s eyes, Qiao Zijin was naturally better than Qiao Nan in every way. Because she had been used to hearing such things, she had not expected her in-laws to praise Qiao Nan and claim that Qiao Nan was better than her in every way. It was no wonder that she could not accept it.
Qiao Zijin had not gotten into an affair and gotten divorced from Chen Jun because of a moment of folly. It was a decision she had made after long consideration in order to relieve her stress. It was true that her life now after her divorce could not be compared to that before her marriage. But without that environment where she could not match up to Qiao Nan in every way and hearing her mother put Qiao Nan down, Qiao Zijin’s mood was much better.
It was only when she lacked money did Qiao Zijin think well of the Chen family. She had just had the slightest hope that Chen Jun would have realized her importance because of what had happened over the past year and would thus want to reconcile with her. But Chen Jun’s aggressive words that were full of malice immediately caused all of Qiao Zijin’s hope to come crashing down.
“I mean, don’t you guys already know where Qiao Nan is? Are you guys really not going to look for her?” Were they not going to continue demanding money from Qiao Nan and making life difficult for Qiao Nan? Were they really going to let Qiao Nan lead a peaceful life? This was not the Qiao family’s style. He did not believe that Qiao Zijin had changed for the better just because she had been hospitalized.
Qiao Zijin took a few deep breaths. “We don’t even know where Qiao Nan is, all right? Chen Jun, if you really need to throw a tantrum, go find someone else. You’re always talking about Qiao Nan. I know you don’t like me and you’ve always been looking at her even while being married to me. Don’t you know how disgusting that is? Since you like her so much and can’t be apart from her, why don’t you marry her if you’re so capable?”
She did not believe that Chen Jun would be willing to marry an old woman in her forties after getting used to those twenty-year-old young ladies. Since he could not do that, why was he being so shameless and pretending that he had such deep feelings for Qiao Nan in front of her?
Chen Jun refused to broach that topic. He was reluctant to admit to his most hated ex-wife that he wanted to marry Qiao Nan, but she had rejected him. Although these words would definitely provoke Qiao Zijin and embarrass her, it would be humiliating for him as well. “You don’t know? How can you not know? Didn’t I already tell you Qiao Nan’s address?”
“When did you tell us?” Qiao Zijin could no longer suppress her anger. “Don’t spout nonsense! This is the first time I’m receiving a call from you ever since we got divorced. Do you think my mom would have kept it from me if you called?” Her mom had even thought that Chen Jun had called her to get back together with her.
A reconciliation? What a joke! Chen Jun had only Qiao Nan in his heart.
