He really had to give it up to her for being so unaware.
As expected, with Qiao Dongliang’s reminder, Ding Jiayi felt guilty once again and her wandering eyes did not dare to meet Qiao Dongliang’s gaze. “What nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight? That was just an accident that no one expected to happen. It’s common for one to lose their identity card or to oversleep. Who hasn’t lost their belongings or overslept before? Don’t overthink it. It’s only six. If you don’t think it’s too early, then please go ahead to the bus station. I’m just being thoughtful but it seems like it’s not appreciated.”
She could only hope that the heavens would be on her side and that the tickets to the capital would be sold out. In that case, Qiao Dongliang would be making a wasted trip to the bus station no matter how early he reached there.
Since Ding Jiayi no longer stood in his way, Qiao Dongliang naturally left. Thankfully, the bus services had already started for the day. As such, there was no need for Qiao Dongliang to hail a cab. He could simply take the public bus to the bus station.
Seeing Qiao Dongliang board the bus toward the bus station, Ding Jiayi could not care less about whether Qiao Zijin had already awoken. She immediately dialed Qiao Zijin’s number.
Qiao Zijin, who had been awoken by her ringtone, was in a foul mood. Thankfully, she saw that the caller was Ding Jiayi. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have picked up the call. “Mom, it’s so early in the morning. What’s the matter? I’m still sleepy. Hurry and say what you need to say. I want to go back to sleep after this.”
“Zijin, your dad’s headed for the bus station.” Ding Jiayi’s tone was frantic and the contents of the phone call suddenly chased all of Qiao Zijin’s drowsiness away. “My dad got on the bus? How could that be? Didn’t you say that you added sleeping pills into the hot water flask? How did my dad wake up?”
“I don’t know either. This medicine was quite effective on your dad yesterday but it failed today.” That was something out of her control. If Zijin wanted someone to blame, she should find the shop that had sold her this medicine instead. “Zijin, I’m calling you now because I want to check and see if there are any remaining bus tickets to the capital today.”
“Why?” Hadn’t her dad already left?
Although Ding Jiayi was alone at home, she instinctively lowered her voice. “Your dad may have left but I stole his bus ticket and burned it. If the tickets to the capital are sold out, your dad will probably be back within an hour.”
“Mom, you should have said so earlier.” She had almost thought that her dad was headed to the capital for sure. “Mom, I’m going to end this call and check the internet right now. It’s fine if the tickets are not sold out. As long as I’m here, I’ll make sure that they’re sold out.”
It was easy to do so.
At that moment, Qiao Zijin was thankful that Qiao Dongliang did not know how to use the internet to purchase bus tickets, even though he knew how to use WeChat and QQ. If she managed to purchase all of the tickets before her father did, everything would be fine.
Qiao Zijin made her calculations and decided that Qiao Dongliang would probably still be on the public bus and would probably not have noticed that he was missing his bus ticket. With that thought, Qiao Zijin opened the app to purchase bus tickets and made enquiries on the ticket sales for the day. As she looked at the remaining tickets up for sale, Qiao Zijin’s face turned green.
A bus ticket cost about two hundred yuan. The problem was that there were eighteen tickets left for this bus ride! If Qiao Zijin were to purchase all of them, she would have to spend at least three thousand six hundred yuan! Gritting her teeth, Qiao Zijin decided that she had to take the plunge no matter what. She had to get her hands on those eighteen bus tickets. She could not even lose one of them!
Even in the five minutes before the bus departed, Qiao Zijin dared not put her guard down. She constantly refreshed the site for fear that someone would suddenly request a refund and Qiao Dongliang would manage to grab a seat at the very last minute. If that was the case, she would have wasted three thousand six hundred yuan on eighteen tickets.
Only after confirming that half past seven had come and gone and that the bus had departed from the station did Qiao Zijin finally heave a sigh of relief. Then, she made a call to Ding Jiayi.
Before Qiao Zijin could say a word, Ding Jiayi anxiously said, “Zijin, something’s not right. It’s already past half past seven and the bus should have left, but your dad isn’t back yet. Do you think something happened? Didn’t I ask you to check on the remaining tickets? Did you? How’s the situation like?” Hadn’t Zijin said that she would buy all of the remaining tickets?
“Don’t talk about it.” Just the thought of the three thousand six hundred yuan made Zijin feel the pinch. That was enough for her to purchase several tickets from Ping Cheng to the capital! To save two hundred yuan, she had chosen to take the bus instead of flying to the capital. But now, she had wasted three thousand six hundred yuan on tickets that no one would use!
But no matter how much her heart broke for the three thousand six hundred yuan, the result was still good for Qiao Zijin, at the very least. “When I checked the sales online, there were still eighteen tickets left. I bought all of them. I’m calling you now because the bus has already departed. I can assure you that my dad wouldn’t have had the chance to get a ticket before the bus left.”
Thankfully, no one had requested a refund. Otherwise, her expense would have gone over three thousand six hundred yuan. At the thought of that sum, Qiao Zijin’s gaze darkened and her heart dripped with blood. Forget it. No pain, no gain. It was just three thousand six hundred yuan. Once she married Zhai Sheng, she could afford to waste much more than that. Perhaps, she would even be able to spend a few hundred times more than the three thousand yuan she had forked out!
“That’s good.” Ding Jiayi sighed in relief. She had not worked in vain, after all. “You bought all eighteen tickets? How much did you spend?” Ding Jiayi already felt the pinch from Qiao Dongliang spending money on those few tickets. If Qiao Zijin had bought them all, she must have spent several thousand yuan!
Thinking about how several thousand yuan had been thrown into the drain, Ding Jiayi patted her chest heavily. They had given up so much this time but had not even gotten anything in return yet.
In short, that wretched girl was to be blamed for leaving her family in the lurch. Old Qiao was also in the wrong for favoring that wretched girl, not thinking about Zijin at all. Otherwise, those thousands of yuan would still be in the family. How nice that would be. She would be able to get herself a better LED television.
“Don’t talk about money. I don’t want to talk about it. No matter how painful it is, I’ve already spent it. There’s no other choice. Remember to call me when Dad gets home later.”
