The presence of this daughter of his was a constant reminder of what a failure he had been as a father and how blind and deaf Ding Jiayi had been all along.
Both he and Ding Jiayi had wasted decades of their lives! They were both blind!
Ding Jiayi’s expression was poor. Even if she did feel that way in her heart, there was no way she would admit to it. “You can’t blame Zijin for that. We’re at fault too. Zijin was always better than Qiao Nan. It’s just that the news of Qiao Nan marrying into the Zhai family shocked her. That’s why she went out of line and injured you accidentally. That was only an accident. Zijin didn’t mean to do it. After you were admitted, she was very anxious and afraid, and she felt extremely apologetic toward you too.”
If she were in Zijin’s place, she would behave in the exact same way as Zijin. As parents, they could not possibly expect Zijin to be a saint. Zijin’s reaction was perfectly normal.
“As for money…” Ding Jiayi felt a little tug on her heart. “Don’t think that 1.6 million is a big sum of money that makes Zijin rich. Don’t forget that Zijin doesn’t have a job. This sum of money will only get depleted. She transferred fifty thousand to me today and she handed me ten thousand for my living allowance in the past too. She hasn’t had that money for a long time but she’s already spent sixty thousand. Zijin’s not old, so there’s nothing wrong with being concerned about money. Didn’t Zijin hand that money over in the end?”
The process was unimportant. What mattered was the outcome. Zijin had not abandoned Old Qiao, after all, and had handed over the money she ought to. She did not feel that Zijin had been unfilial or any worse than that wretched girl, Qiao Nan.
“I believe that Zijin would definitely treat us well if she leads a comfortable life herself. Given her situation now, we can’t expect too much of her. Otherwise, how will she lead her own life?”
Qiao Dongliang felt as though his ears were bleeding from just hearing Ding Jiayi trying to protect Qiao Zijin with her excessive explanations. The reason why he had asked Qiao Zijin to leave was to have a private chat with Ding Jiayi about what had happened today. No matter how foolish Ding Jiayi was, she should, at least, have found out how her elder daughter was as a person and how selfish she was, right?
Who would have known that Ding Jiayi had not even remembered what had just happened? In fact, she had forgotten all about it and was even trying to find an excuse for Qiao Zijin, saying that her life was tough. Qiao Zijin’s selfishness was understandable, and as parents, they had to understand and accept that.
Thinking about how harsh Ding Jiayi had been toward Qiao Nan all these years even after all that Qiao Nan had given to her, and how Qiao Nan had only earned the title of ‘wretched girl’ after everything, Qiao Dongliang could only shut his eyes. He truly had no words. No wonder he had only heard his elder daughter’s and Old Ding Jiayi’s voices when he awoke. Nan Nan had not been around.
Nan Nan had already guessed that this would happen and had thus taken her leave. Even though Nan Nan already knew the kind of personalities Old Ding and Zijin had, it would probably still hurt and upset her every time she encountered such a situation. Instead of making herself miserable, it was better to avoid this situation.
“Alright, since you’ve always felt that only Zijin can let you enjoy your life, I’ll let you hold on to that belief. I can’t be bothered to say anything more. Zijin is our child and it’s our fault that we didn’t raise her well. Both you and I are at fault for raising such a daughter, so we have no choice but to live our lives like that.”
As long as he was around, he would still be able to rein Ding Jiayi and Zijin in and stop the mother-daughter pair from kicking up a fuss in front of Nan Nan. When Qiao Zijin mentioned that Zhai Sheng had accompanied Qiao Nan here, Qiao Dongliang had the urge to make a call to Qiao Nan to ask what her relationship with Zhai Sheng was and whether those rumors in the quad were true.
Previously, Qiao Dongliang had not even dared to contact Qiao Nan for fear of exposing her. Since Qiao Nan had already shown up today, Qiao Dongliang could be much more at ease about contacting her.
But today was not a good day to speak to her. Qiao Dongliang tolerated the pain and shut his eyes. “I’m going to sleep. You can do whatever you want.”
Whether or not Ding Jiayi could live a good life in the future would depend on whether she encountered the same situation that he had today. If she did run into the same situation and need to be hospitalized and undergo surgery because of Zijin, Old Ding would finally experience first-hand just how filial her daughter, Zijin, was.
Qiao Nan knew nothing about all these matters. With the Zhai family urging her on, Qiao Nan, who was already forty, had the chance to don a white wedding dress to take wedding photos with Zhai Sheng in the warm sunlight. Unlike youngsters, the couple had not gone abroad to take their wedding photos at famous landmarks but had chosen beaches within the country, such as Sanya.
After all the photos were taken, Qiao Nan was exhausted. She was no longer young and it was only natural that she did not have as much energy as young people. Even though she had gone all the way to the scenic and beautiful Sanya, she no longer had the energy or mood to go on a tour around the city. After returning from Sanya, the first thing that Zhai Sheng did was to bring Qiao Nan to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get their marriage certificate.
It was only as she held that red book did Qiao Nan suddenly realize that she had gotten married to Zhai Sheng for the second time.
“In the future, you’ll be my wife.” Zhai Sheng, who was getting married for the ‘first time’, thought that this red book was rather interesting. He was over the moon at the thought that his relationship with Qiao Nan had been legally acknowledged with this little thing and had conveniently chosen to forget the fact that he had once gotten the same book with Qiu Chenxi. “This thing is too small. It won’t be easy to look for it in the future. I’ll keep it safe.”
He did not even wait for Qiao Nan to agree to his suggestion before grabbing the red book from Qiao Nan’s hand, holding it in the pocket closest to his heart.
Zhai Sheng had done the exact same thing as in her dream.
Qiao Nan’s eyes reddened. She knew that it was truly her good fortune to have been able to marry the same man in both lifetimes. “Yes, from today on, I’m your wife and you’re my husband. I’m finally married.” She was forty and had finally gotten married at the age of forty to the best man in the world!
“Let’s go. Dad, Mom, and Jiajia must be waiting for us at home. We should let them know about this good news.” Zhai Sheng was finally able to put his mind at ease after getting his marriage certificate.
See, he had said earlier that he acted quickly. In fact, this was a huge matter. He had said that he would get married in less than three months. It had not even been three months, but he had already gotten his marriage certificate!
