She hoped that Qiao Zijin remembered that her mother had not eaten anything that night and was starving. That was why she had bought a good meal to coax her.
As long as Qiao Zijin apologized to her and tried to appease her, she would not take issue with whatever happened earlier in the living room. She would continue pampering Zijin as she had done in the past.
Unfortunately, the delivery man had left for more than ten minutes, yet she was still left in her small room, waiting for Qiao Zijin to knock on the door. Then, ten minutes later, Ding Jiayi heard Qiao Zijin’s door open again, followed by something being thrown on the floor.
In that instant, Ding Jiayi understood everything. Qiao Zijin had spent twenty minutes finishing the meal she had bought and had thrown the empty boxes out. Qiao Zijin had not even remembered about her own mother.
Perhaps it was due to her hunger that Ding Jiayi had not gotten any sleep that night. Her eyes remained open the entire night as thoughts ran through her mind. The next day, Ding Jiayi had not calmed down as Qiao Zijin had anticipated. Instead, the atmosphere in the Qiao family became rather strange.
“Ouch…” Qiao Nan, who was far away in the capital, had accidentally cut the back of her hand on a page of a book. Because it was a new book that had thin pages, a cut appeared on Qiao Nan’s hand.
“Be careful.” Seeing the blood on Qiao Nan’s hand, Miao Jing immediately instructed the auntie to bring some medication over for Qiao Nan.
Qiao Nan shook her head. “There’s no need for that. It’s such a small cut. I won’t even need a plaster for that.” Qiao Nan had never been so pampered in her entire life.
“Nan Nan, have you been feeling unwell lately?” Miao Jing still insisted on giving some simple first-aid to Qiao Nan. “I think that you haven’t been looking too well lately. Besides, you look like you’ve lost weight. Have you weighed yourself?”
“I think so too.” It was not just Miao Jing. Even the family’s auntie joined in. “Nan Nan, don’t learn from those young ladies by going on a diet. You’re not fat at all. In fact, you can afford to gain some weight. It’s not healthy for you to be on a diet.” When her own daughter had wanted to go on a diet, she had immediately slapped her daughter on the back until her daughter no longer dared to make mention of diet anymore.
Qiao Nan laughed. “What diet?” Just as the auntie said, she was not fat to begin with. In fact, she was quite a lot slimmer than she was in her dream. “But have I really lost weight?” Qiao Nan had not even noticed a decrease in her weight.
It was normal for other families to have a weighing scale at home. Miao Jing was already advanced in age, and even in her younger days, she had never obsessed over her weight. At her age now, she was even less so concerned about it. Even with another woman in the house, that woman seemed to share the same personality as Miao Jing and Zhai Hua, who never cared about changes in their weights.
Qiao Nan had never weighed herself and was not one to obsess over her appearance in a mirror. As such, Qiao Nan truly had no idea whether she had lost any weight but she could feel it. “That can’t be true. I don’t think I’ve lost any weight. My pants feel the same as before.”
Qiao Nan was too embarrassed to mention that her pants felt fitting at her waist but it seemed as though they had gotten tighter below her waist. As such, Qiao Nan had reason to suspect that she had actually gained weight now that her mother-in-law and the auntie were talking about how she had lost weight.
“Have you been in an air-conditioned environment for too long? I saw on the television that there’s such a thing as an air-conditioning disease. It’s freezing cold indoors but sweltering hot outside. Nan Nan, I’ll cook some nourishing soup for you.” It was hard work to be a student. She had to be nourished.
Miao Jing agreed. “Yes, you should be nourished. Auntie, get a good old hen and remember to get an old one, not a young one. It’s more nourishing.”
“Alright, I’ll get it tomorrow. I’ll get a countryside free-range hen.” Free-range chickens were raised on better feed.
Seeing everyone being so concerned about her, Qiao Nan touched her own face. “Does my complexion really look that bad?” There was no way she could have gotten that air-conditioning disease. Every time she entered the classroom, she would not only choose a seat away from the air-conditioning, but she would even put on a thick sweater and wear pants instead of a skirt.
Qiao Nan paid quite a lot of attention to that.
“Yes, you’ve gotten paler. Haven’t you noticed?” Miao Jing took Qiao Nan’s hand into her own and her brows furrowed into a frown. “Your hand seems even warmer than mine. Have you really gotten the air-conditioning disease without your own knowledge?”
Miao Jing’s anxiety affected Qiao Nan as well and Qiao Nan was helpless. “I… I don’t know.”
The weather had been brutally hot these days because of the warm temperatures of September. She did feel that it was warm, but it was only normal for one to feel that way. “I haven’t felt unwell these days except for feeling a little faint.”
But given the sweltering weather, was it not normal for one to feel faint and suffocated at times?
“Mom, don’t worry about me. Really. I’m in the pink of health. I spend quite a lot of time in school but I spend quite a lot of time at home too. Look at me. I eat well and I even take naps in the afternoon. There can’t be anything wrong with my body.”
“If you’re healthy, why would you feel faint?” Miao Jing disagreed. “Why don’t we visit the hospital?” Then, they would see if they could treat her air-conditioning disease.
Visiting the hospital? That was too excessive.
“Don’t, Mom. It’s normal for that to happen in summer. I don’t think I’m sick. It’s probably just due to the heat, or because I haven’t fully woken up from my nap.” Such a symptom was common in summer.
Thinking about the previous year’s June, it had been sweltering as well and she had even been running around to borrow money for Qiao Zijin’s treatment. She had not felt faint then. Now, she had gotten married to Brother Zhai and was living a good life. She was being pampered, yet she often felt as though she could never get enough sleep.
As she stood by the side listening to the conversation between the two of them, the auntie’s eyes glimmered in joy. “Nan Nan, excuse me for asking, but have you finished those sanitary napkins that I bought for you in June? Do you have any preferences? Shall I get more for you?”
The auntie was the clearest about how many sanitary napkins she had bought.
