Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
No matter what, Qiao Nan was getting married and they had to let the Qiao family know about it, even if they informed only Qiao Dongliang alone.
Miao Jing had already learned from Zhai Hua that Qiao Dongliang had secretly handed the courtyard’s property deed over to Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan herself did not even think that she needed that property. If so, it was even less possible for Miao Jing to be so shortsighted and shallow to get Qiao Nan to fight for ownership of the courtyard.
Fighting for it was one thing, while logic was another. Qiao Dongliang was rational enough to return to Qiao Nan what belonged to her. In comparison, Qiao Dongliang seemed much more reasonable than Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin.
Even though this was Zhai Sheng’s second marriage, the Zhai family was much more concerned about this wedding than they had been with the first. There were certain problems Miao Jing hoped that Qiao Nan could avoid as a bride. If Qiao Nan got upset, her son would definitely get upset as well. Then, their wedding would be ruined. What was the point in that?
Qiao Dongliang had only sustained a fracture and would be able to return home after a week’s stay in the hospital. These seven days were torturous to the Qiao family, not physically but mentally.
Ding Jiayi held her head high and bragged to her neighbors in the quad not to look down on her younger daughter who was already forty and still unmarried. So what if she was still unmarried at forty? The moment she had decided to get married, she had gotten married to such an impressive man. Those poor fools could not even dream of getting close to the Zhai family but her daughter had managed to marry into the family! That was how amazing the Qiao family was!
The moment Ding Jiayi let this word out, her neighbor got into a little bit of a frenzy. Previously, they had only had their own suspicions, but those had just been confirmed. In the entire quad, leaving Qiao Nan aside, even the child with the worst educational qualifications was in college. Their own daughters had only been able to find very average sons-in-law who were part of the working class, earning three to four thousand a month.
How had the Qiao family’s younger daughter, who had not even graduated from high school, become the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law? Could the Zhai family have weird requirements for their daughter-in-law and prefer a lady with lower qualifications?
That could not be. They had heard that during his first marriage, Zhai Sheng had not only married a university graduate, but that lady had also graduated from a top university. That lady came from a good family, had good qualifications, and was even pretty. Compared to Qiao Nan, it seemed that that lady was much more suited for Zhai Sheng.
But that couple had gotten a divorce after only three years of marriage, so how long could this unsuitable marriage last?
The neighbors in the quad had no idea how long Qiao Nan’s marriage to Zhai Sheng would last. What they did know was that the couple was still not married and that it was still too early to discuss divorce. A lady from their northern quad was getting married to the most capable person in the southern quad! That called for a celebration!
The thought of the Zhai family’s position and power moved quite a few people. If someone could speak well of them in front of the Zhai family, their children might very well be promoted in their careers or be treated differently with special privileges.
It was especially so for those families whose children were about to take the civil servant entry examination that had more ideas in mind. They would never be able to directly take advantage of a relationship with the Zhai family. They could not even go to the southern quad in the first place. But now, the situation was different. Qiao Nan was about to get married to Zhai Sheng, and the Qiao family would be the Zhai family’s in-laws.
Even if the Zhai family did not bother about them, they had to give the Qiao family some face, right?
In that way, all these people with ulterior motives dropped by the Qiao family’s house from time to time with all sorts of presents in their hands, hoping to get closer to Ding Jiayi and help her out. “Old Ding, we’ve been neighbors for so many years. You have to help me out with this. Now, it’s easy for girls to be taken advantage of in society. That’s why I asked my daughter to become a civil servant. I’m useless as a mother but you’re not. You watched my daughter grow up. You have to help us out this time.”
Seeing how all these neighbors who had mocked her because of the news coming to suck up to her now, Ding Jiayi was elated. “I’m just an ordinary citizen like you. How capable could I be? I do remember your daughter being rather intelligent while she was younger. I can’t believe how quickly time flies. She’s already going for the civil servant entry examination? I remember that I bumped into her one time, but she didn’t even remember me anymore.”
She did have some impression of that young lady. She had a short temper and was wild as a child. No matter what, she was her elder, but she did not even greet her when she saw her. Moreover, she had snorted at her before walking off.
If she bothered to help this young lady, she would not be Ding Jiayi.
The neighbor was slightly embarrassed because she did believe that her daughter was capable of doing such a thing. The Qiao family’s matter had made the headline the previous year and her daughter had looked down on the Qiao family after learning about it. She especially disliked Ding Jiayi, feeling that Ding Jiayi was not a good mother and had disgraced the entire quad. But she had never imagined that the Qiao family’s useless younger daughter, who had never been able to get married all these years, was about to get married to the most capable person in their quad.
If they had known just how capable the younger daughter of the Qiao family was, she would have gotten her daughter to stay as her playmate. As long as the Qiao family’s younger daughter thought of her own daughter as a younger sister, she would not even need to care about Ding Jiayi today.
Was Ding Jiayi this shameless? Had she really forgotten how she had treated Qiao Nan in the past? It was truly Qiao Nan’s bad luck to have such an ‘impressive’ mother whom she could never get rid of. “This child is going crazy from studying. She spends her entire day studying at home. Do you know just how many books civil servants have to study? And they’re all so thick! Because of the exam, she hasn’t even been out of the house. I wonder if she can even recognize her own mother now.”
“Is that so?” Ding Jiayi laughed, and everyone understood what she meant by that. “Alright, it’s not early anymore. I have to prepare dinner for Old Qiao. Let’s chat again some other time. Your daughter is a university graduate, unlike my younger daughter who couldn’t even graduate from high school. So, you don’t have to worry about your daughter’s future at all. With such educational qualifications, I’m sure she’ll be able to become a civil servant. How hard could it be? See you!”
With that, Ding Jiayi chased her neighbor out.
“Fool!” The neighbor who had just been chased out immediately flew into a rage.
