But now, Zhai Hua was sure that her dad could not get any more normal.
When Wei De had bullied her, her dad had stood up for her and had never let others take advantage of her. Compared to Qiao Nan’s dad, her dad could not get any better. Zhai Hua could not help but think that she would never be able to live if her dad was anything like Qiao Nan’s.
Talking about her mom, she might have been slightly cowardly in front of Qi Minlan in her youth and her life had revolved around her dad, barely caring about her or Zhai Sheng. When she was younger, Zhai Hua had always seen other kids get picked up by their parents. She, on the other hand, always went home alone or with Zhai Sheng. She had always been upset about that and had been envious of other children, even resenting her parents for that.
Old Master Zhai had not been in great health and it was inconvenient for him to pick the children up. Besides, Zhai Hua wanted her parents to pick her up, not her grandpa.
Every time there was a parent-teacher conference in school, her classmates’ parents would show up without fail while her parents’ seats were always empty. Was she even her parents’ biological child? Had they simply picked her up? She could not possibly be their biological child!
Although she had been angry and upset at that time, Zhai Hua knew that she was loved now that she had seen how Qiao Nan had been treated. Qiao Nan was probably the one who had been picked up by her parents.
After her divorce, Zhai Hua realized that her life was only getting better and that Qiao Nan had had a huge role to play in that. Zhai Hua had immense sympathy for Qiao Nan, who was about to become her sister-in-law. “Don’t worry. I do sort of understand. You should know that no one dares to continue with their antics in front of the Zhai family. Even if you marry into our family, you are you, and the Qiao family is the Qiao family. We can’t mix things up just because you’ve married into our family.”
The Qiao family could not really be treated as in-laws, especially Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin. Since Qiao Nan herself did not acknowledge them, there was no need for the Zhai family to do so either.
Qiao Nan smiled bitterly. “Then, I’ll have to rely on you in the future.”
Looking at Zhai Hua, the person whom Qiao Nan was truly thinking about was Tian Dong. When Jiajia had been hospitalized, she had finally been able to meet Tian Dong in this lifetime. Since he had been able to calm Sister Zhai Hua down, the two of them must have shared quite a good relationship while they had been younger.
“Sister Zhai Hua, when Jiajia was hospitalized, did you meet someone by the name of Tian? He said he was going to attend my wedding to Brother Zhai. Is he really coming?”
Zhai Hua raised her eyebrow. “Dongzi seems quite interested even though you’re already getting married to Zhai Sheng. I’ve always felt that Zhai Sheng’s a petty guy. I won’t misunderstand you, but you’d better take care of yourself in case Zhai Sheng overhears this.”
“It’s purely out of curiosity.” Qiao Nan laughed awkwardly. “Although I haven’t known you for very long, it’s my first time hearing you guys talk about an outsider. I guess you must have quite a good relationship with him. I was just wondering if I should get to know the family’s situation a little better. That was why I asked that question. Otherwise, it would be quite embarrassing for me if I don’t even know whom I’m meeting in the future.”
After hearing that explanation, Zhai Hua agreed. “Alright, I’ll tell you. How should I put this? Our family is neither on good nor bad terms with the Tian family. When Tian Dong was younger, probably before he turned six, we played and grew up together. After that, the Tian family moved abroad with Dongzi and they’ve never returned since then. We haven’t kept in touch all these years, so you don’t have to feel too burdened about Dongzi. Even though we haven’t kept in contact, Dongzi has a very good temper. He probably won’t go overboard in his treatment toward you.”
Zhai Hua herself had not noticed, but Qiao Nan realized that even though they had not kept in contact with each other in more than ten years, Zhai Hua still had a good impression of her old playmate, Tian Dong. In fact, he put Zhai Hua at ease.
The more Zhai Hua behaved in this manner, the more miserable Qiao Nan felt. Before meeting her, Brother Zhai had already been married to Qiu Chenxi. Could she really hope that Tian Dong, who was almost in his fifties, was still unmarried without a family or children?
People were often this way. Dreams were one thing, but one’s feelings could not be controlled by logic. Qiao Nan could not help but think about hypothetical situations.
It was only when Tian Dong announced that he had to return without attending Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng’s wedding, and had gone to the Zhai family’s house to deliver his gifts in advance did Qiao Nan finally give up.
“Why don’t you stay for a few more days? My wedding is happening on the following day.” Zhai Sheng did not mind the wedding gifts that Tian Dong had presented and simply handed them over to Qiao Nan. “Why are you in such a rush to leave?”
“I don’t have a choice.” Tian Dong smiled faintly. “I won’t be able to attend your wedding, so I can only give you my congratulations in advance. Uncle and auntie aren’t young anymore. You guys had better have children as soon as possible to bring some joy into their lives.”
Zhai Sheng shook his head. “I never imagined hearing such a thing from you. You even sounded quite fluent. Do you use that to counsel others very often, or do others often counsel you?” Zhai Sheng was trying to find out about Tian Dong’s situation.
Tian Dong smiled without answering his question. “Alright, I’m flying off tonight.”
“Do you want me to send you off?” He was in a hurry indeed if his flight was that very night. “Is something going on in your family?”
“Yes, my eight-year-old son is sick. Because of his illness, his temper isn’t very good, so I have to go back to spend some time with him.” Tian Dong shared a close relationship with his son. Knowing that his father was busy with his business, his son must have been really ill to have thrown a temper. His son had been so ill that he had been hospitalized.
Tian Dong cared very deeply about his son.
Knowing that his son had been hospitalized, Tian Dong naturally wanted to return to his son’s side immediately to cheer him up.
Qiao Nan’s heart shattered. “Your son is already eight?” He was almost half of Jiajia’s age… Qiao Nan looked at Zhai Hua regretfully, thinking that Zhai Hua probably had something to do with how Tian Dong’s son was only half Jiajia’s age.
At this time, Qiao Nan could not help but feel that it was Tian Dong’s and her own bad luck with the Zhai family’s children. Because they had not met the Zhai family’s children at the right time, their lives seemed to have been a mess.
