“I do this as well. More dishes, less rice.” As she said this, Ding Jiayi took two big mouthfuls of the pitiful dishes on the plates before taking a small bite of rice.
The dishes on the plates were eaten clean in no time. Only a bit of soup was left.
Qiao Zijin was completely stunned. “Mom, you… Why did you eat all the dishes?”
“Didn’t you tell me to eat more dishes?” Wow. The dishes were delicious. She was full as well.
Qiao Zijin was speechless. She took a deep breath and said, “Mom, you ate all the dishes. Then, what will I eat?” She couldn’t possibly just eat white rice, right? “Mom, did you keep some dishes for me inside?” In the past, her mother used to do so. She would leave the freshest, more expensive, and best parts of the dishes out for her to eat alone.
Ding Jiayi stood up and cleared the table. “No. Didn’t I tell you last month that from now on, the three people in our family will just take care of themselves? Zijin, don’t worry. Between the two daughters, I only treat you as my precious. When Qiao Nan was at home in the past, she did all the household chores. You’re my precious. Of course, I can’t get you to do so. Your only task is to take care of yourself.”
She looked down on her next-door neighbor. After the ugly episode previously, her neighbor’s daughter similarly couldn’t become a civil servant. What was there for her to be proud that her daughter was a university student and that she learned better than Zijin?
However, what she felt upset over was that when Ding Jiayi headed out, she saw not only once that her neighbor’s daughter accompanied her neighbor to buy groceries in the morning. She even heard the mother-daughter pair laughing. The daughter mentioned that she had learned a new dish recently and would cook for her parents when she went back.
At that time, her neighbor disagreed. “I’m at home. For things like cooking, how could I let you, a university student, do it? You still have to find a job. How tough is that? Let Mom take care of all the cooking.”
The daughter disagreed. “Household chores are tough too. You usually take care of me and Dad. It’s tiring. I’m just finding a job now. I haven’t gone to work yet and am free now. Since it’s rare that I’m free, you must try my dishes. You can give yourself a break from cooking as well. After I’ve found a job and go to work, even if you want me to help or try my dishes, I can most probably only do so on the weekends.”
After seeing daughters from other families, Ding Jiayi learned how to differentiate between what was true and what was false.
Ding Jiayi couldn’t help but compare this girl with both her daughters. Her elder daughter, Qiao Zijin, was much sweeter with her words than this girl. She could always coax her well. It was just that Qiao Zijin only had the skills to sweet-talk. Thinking back about her actual behavior, there was nothing.
Qiao Nan… Qiao Nan never said anything. However, as long as Qiao Nan was at home, she would always feel most relaxed. She didn’t even need to buy the dishes. She headed out just to chat with her neighbors. She didn’t need to share anything as well. Qiao Nan seemed to know what she was thinking and would always prepare everything she wanted nicely before she even said anything.
Comparing all three daughters together, Ding Jiayi didn’t know if her daughters were good or her neighbor’s daughter was better. What she could think of was that if Qiao Zijin and Qiao Nan could become a daughter, where this daughter was as sweet with words as Qiao Zijin and as filial and capable as Qiao Nan, then this daughter she gave birth to would be the most perfect daughter in this world.
Ding Jiayi, who only wished for her daughter to be the most perfect daughter, forgot that not only was she not a perfect mother, but she couldn’t even compare to ordinary mothers.
However, after seeing her neighbor’s daughter, she didn’t feel she was worse off than her neighbor. Indeed, the neighbor’s daughter was not bad. However, aside from Qiao Nan being not as sweet with words, in terms of filial piety, her neighbor’s daughter couldn’t compare to Qiao Nan at all. As such, because of Qiao Nan, she had won against her neighbor. They had both given birth to daughters, but her neighbor didn’t have as good a daughter as her.
Ding Jiayi’s feelings toward Qiao Nan had changed. When she thought of Qiao Zijin again, the feelings of comparison were obvious.
She already didn’t expect to have a meal cooked by Qiao Zijin, but who knew that Qiao Zijin was lazy to such an extent? She wasn’t even willing to cook herself a meal and just wholeheartedly waited for Ding Jiayi to cook for her. Ding Jiayi was unhappy.
Where was the promised filial piety?
Ding Jiayi was angry over a takeaway meal. When Qiao Zijin called Ding Jiayi to eat together, Ding Jiayi was initially unwilling and wanted to refuse. However, she thought of how she had raised Qiao Zijin up and supported her in university until she was married.
She was really good to Qiao Zijin, but there’s a huge disparity between Qiao Zijin’s words and actions. Similarly, she didn’t feel the filial piety she had promised earlier. Now that Qiao Zijin just made a phone call to order takeaways, why shouldn’t she eat? On what basis should she not eat?
Qiao Zijin just wanted to feed herself. She was just there to take a few mouthfuls as well. Was it too overboard? It wasn’t. As such, she should eat!
They had only eaten for three days. Before Ding Jiayi’s heart softened, Qiao Zijin couldn’t help but mention about no longer ordering takeaways but eating at home instead. Great. Qiao Zijin had really spent one thousand yuan on takeaways for the past three days for nothing.
Qiao Dongliang shared these matters with Qiao Nan as a joke. Firstly, he hoped that after Qiao Nan knew about these, she would be appeased and become less resentful toward the Qiao family. Secondly, he treated Qiao Nan as his daughter and a daughter of the Qiao family. He hoped that after knowing about the Qiao family’s matters, Qiao Nan would slowly let go of the grudges in her heart and truly regard the Qiao family as a family again.
Qiao Nan could feel Qiao Dongliang’s ‘good intentions’. However, she didn’t want to agree with it. “No pain, no gain. Qiao Zijin is really pampered. As such, someone has to suffer.”
Qiao Zijin was already long used to just using her mouth and Ding Jiayi would bring over all the good things in this world to her. Ding Jiayi was announcing to everyone that not only did she value Qiao Zijin the most but that Qiao Zijin was also the best child in the world.
Now, only practical actions could prove Qiao Zijin’s ‘filial piety’. How would she be able to control her true inner world when she hadn’t adapted to such a change? Of course, compared to just using words in the past, it was already a considerable improvement that Qiao Zijin spent one thousand yuan this time.
