She had already said that it was that wretched girl, Qiao Nan, who had created all these problems. She could not bear to see the Qiao family living in peace. This wretched girl had been born to take revenge on their family!
Qiao Dongliang did not know whether to laugh or to cry. “Misunderstand you as a bad person? Have you forgotten how you and Zijin were on the news last year? Do you really think it’s a misunderstanding? Let’s not talk about whether you are a good person. Do you think you have been a good mother to Nan Nan? If you had been good to Nan Nan, she might have been willing to explain your situation to the Zhai family so that they would change their mind about you. In that case, there’s no need for Nan Nan to do anything or even say anything. There’s no way the Zhai family will have a close relationship with you like other in-laws.”
Given this situation, there was no need for Nan Nan to say anything. Her attitude alone was sufficient. Up until now, Old Ding was still unclear about this.
“That wretched girl isn’t educated and she’s quite stupid. Do I need to teach her to say good things about me in front of the Zhai family? She should know to do that without me asking. Our family’s situation and peace are beneficial to her too. Isn’t she afraid that the Zhai family will think badly of her once they find out about our family’s situation?” Ding Jiayi stomped her foot. How she wished she could drag Qiao Nan in front of her and give her a good beating.
Spare the rod, spoil the child. If she did not teach Qiao Nan such a simple principle, Qiao Nan seemed not to know about it at all. Was Qiao Nan really such a fool? Did she need to teach such a simple thing? Did she even need to teach Qiao Nan how to eat?
Qiao Dongliang could not reason with Ding Jiayi and could not understand whether it was Ding Jiayi’s brain that was empty or his that was empty. Why was there always a black hole appearing every time the couple tried to reason with each other? They could never come to an agreement, much less him succeeding in convincing Ding Jiayi.
Qiao Dongliang sighed. “Fine. You can go ahead if you want to. I won’t stop you from embarrassing yourself.” Nan Nan should know Old Ding’s character and should probably not be at home anymore, right? That would not do. Should he make a call to find out first?
Qiao Dongliang quickly whipped out his phone, wanting to explain the situation to Qiao Nan. When he took out his phone, Qiao Dongliang realized that Qiao Nan had already sent him a message half an hour ago. At that time, he had been trying to stop Ding Jiayi from going to the Zhai family’s house. It had probably been too noisy for him to hear the notification sound from his phone.
Upon reading the content of the message, Qiao Dongliang breathed a sigh of relief and did not try to stop Ding Jiayi anymore. There was not a single person left in the Zhai family’s house. It was impossible for Ding Jiayi to enter the southern courtyard, much less create a din at the Zhai family’s house. Even now that Nan Nan had officially become the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law, the Qiao family had still been unable to enter the southern courtyard freely.
This privilege had to be granted by the Zhai family. It was not simply awarded to them because they had become the Zhai family’s in-laws in name.
Ding Jiayi could not wrap her head around this problem and Qiao Dongliang finally agreed to let Ding Jiayi dig her own grave. He did not care if more people found out about their family’s dirty laundry and mocked or ridiculed them any further.
Seeing that Qiao Dongliang no longer tried to stand in her way and was even heading back home, Ding Jiayi hesitated. There was nothing stopping her from proclaiming to the world that the Zhai family was her in-laws and that she was the biological mother of the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law. Besides, she had to give Qiao Nan a good lecture after being thrown into the police station the previous day. Qiao Nan had to understand that she had to be filial to her mother!
“Dad, why did you come back alone? Where’s Mom?” Seeing that Qiao Dongliang had returned alone, Qiao Zijin was surprised. “Has Mom met Nan Nan? Did Mom blow her top? Actually, Nan Nan is the one in the wrong. As long as Nan Nan explains the situation to Mom and apologizes to her, I’m sure Mom will forgive her. We’re a family, after all.”
Of course, there would be a list of conditions for Qiao Nan to fulfill when she admitted her mistake. And a good eighty percent of those conditions benefitted Qiao Zijin directly.
Before confirming that she would be receiving these benefits, Qiao Zijin was extremely concerned about this matter. “Dad, did you leave Mom there along the way?”
That was very likely. Now that Qiao Nan had married a golden son-in-law like Zhai Sheng, her dad had gotten even more biased, completely ignoring her. No wonder it was often said that it was easy to add brilliance to one’s present splendor but difficult to provide help in one’s hour of need.
After getting married to Zhai Sheng, Qiao Nan would never have to worry about money. Her future was unbridled, unlike hers. She was divorced, and neither was her son by her side. Even the money that she had in the bank was not a significant sum. Qiao Nan was already so rich, but her dad had handed the property deed of the courtyard over to her all the same.
Qiao Zijin could not understand how she landed in this state. This time last year, her reputation had been much better than Qiao Nan’s even though she had been divorced. Qiao Nan had earned the ill reputation of being an old lady of forty who could not get married. In less than a year’s time, Qiao Nan had risen up from the ashes to become the chief’s wife, marrying such an impressive man like Zhai Sheng!
Sometimes, Qiao Zijin wondered if she was dreaming or having a nightmare. Otherwise, how could her smooth-sailing life have taken such an expected turn? Not only had she gotten divorced, but she had even gotten severely ill, even needing to sell her one and only asset.
On the contrary, Qiao Nan seemed to have sucked all of her good luck away. Not only had she managed to get married, but she had even gotten married to someone whom she had never dared to even dream about. In the past, her parents had only cared about her. Now, her dad seemed to have had a change of mind and was suddenly being loyal and kind to Qiao Nan, saying that he had to be fair and that the courtyard belonged to Qiao Nan in the first place.
All right. There was not one person in the Qiao family who was being reasonable. If her dad was so reasonable, would the first forty years of Qiao Nan’s life have turned out in this way? Apart from Qiao Nan, who had been easily bullied in the past, no one in the Qiao family was a good person. Why did they try to act like good people?
“Your mom wants to make a fool of herself and I couldn’t stop her. But there’s no reason for me to join in on her nonsense too.” Qiao Dongliang’s expression darkened. “Since you care so much about your mom, why don’t you go join her?” That was what Qiao Dongliang was most depressed about.
He was unsure of what ill intentions Qiao Zijin had but he believed that Qiao Zijin was simply doing what would benefit her the most. Thinking about Ding Jiayi, who had rushed off to the southern courtyard in anger, Qiao Dongliang had a feeling that there was a gun in Qiao Zijin’s hands.
