“Let’s go, Dad. We shouldn’t let Nan Nan wait.” God knew how long she had been waiting at the door with the basket of fruits.
Qiao Zijin had already thought it through. There was no way she would be allowed into the hospital alone, but Qiao Dongliang could. She didn’t believe that she would be stopped if she entered alongside her dad. “Dad, let’s hurry!” Qiao Zijin was thankful that she had caught her father at the door on the very first day she had come up with such a plan and that she had not needed to wait several days before running into him.
Qiao Dongliang’s expression was bitter. “If you’re here to see Nan Nan, why don’t you go in?”
“I was about to go in but I saw you!” The father-daughter pair seemed to be playing a game with each other. Qiao Zijin knew what Qiao Dongliang meant and put on an act for him. So what if Qiao Dongliang knew that she had waited for him to visit Qiao Nan together? No one could stop her from doing that, and her father would never abandon her to visit Qiao Nan alone.
Even if her dad really abandoned her, it wouldn’t matter to her. Would her dad really ditch her at the door? If she was that useless, it was better not to scheme against Zhai Sheng.
With his arm in Qiao Zijin’s, Qiao Dongliang could not even distance himself from her. As soon as he took a step, Qiao Zijin would follow suit. Qiao Zijin had never been so sticky to Qiao Dongliang, even in her childhood. Unfortunately, this was not a heart-warming scene. Contrarily, this intimate action served only to widen the distance between them.
“Nan Nan, I’m here to see you.” The moment the door to the ward opened, Qiao Zijin announced loudly as though she was afraid that her presence was unnoticeable. Qiao Zijin sized up Zhai Sheng and bowed slightly to squeeze into the room through the small space in the door. “Nan Nan, look. I’ve brought your favorite fruits. I rushed to the capital just to see you. Are you surprised? You’re my younger sister, and now that you’re giving birth, how could I not be here for you? You were the one taking care of me when I gave birth to Feng Feng. There are times I can’t help but wonder if I would have been able to give birth to Feng Feng safely if not for you. No wonder Feng Feng is so close to you. You’re important to us.”
Anyone who heard Qiao Zijin’s words would have misunderstood that Qiao Zijin and Qiao Nan had a close relationship. When the elder sister gave birth, the younger sister had taken care of her. Now that the younger sister was pregnant, the elder sister had traveled thousands of miles to take care of her younger sister. What a loving pair of sisters!
Qiao Nan blinked but remained silent, allowing Qiao Zijin to continue with her monologue.
It was only when Qiao Zijin brought the freshly-cut watermelon to her door that the silence was broken. “Nan Nan, this is your favorite watermelon. You loved it when you were younger, but unfortunately, our family wasn’t very well-to-do and only bought one watermelon at a time. I couldn’t resist buying it because of how much you like it.”
“…”
“…”
Apart from Zhai Sheng who did not know about Qiao Nan’s childhood, Qiao Dongliang and both his daughters were clear about how Qiao Nan had spent her childhood.
Eating watermelon?
When had Qiao Nan ever gotten a chance to do that? Putting aside the question of whether she liked it, Qiao Nan had not even had many chances to taste a watermelon.
Qiao Zijin’s shameless words made it seem as though Qiao Nan liked eating watermelons when she was younger and that Qiao Zijin had saved them for Qiao Nan instead of eating the watermelons herself for Qiao Nan’s sake. Qiao Dongliang wanted to cover his face. He couldn’t believe that Qiao Zijin dared to say such a shameless thing!
“I’m sorry…” Qiao Nan refused, not wanting to make any mention of her childhood in front of Zhai Sheng. There was no point in doing so. Qiao Zijin loved to act but she had no intention to play along.
Before Qiao Nan could reject, Zhai Sheng reached out and pushed away the watermelon in Qiao Zijin’s hands. “I’m sorry. Nan Nan is already eight months pregnant. She can’t eat something as cooling as watermelon. I guess you don’t know that since you haven’t had any pregnant women in the family recently.”
Zhai Sheng completely ignored the fact that Qiao Zijin had once given birth, generously forgiving her reckless and ignorant behavior.
There was no need to say too much. If Qiao Zijin really cared about her younger sister, Qiao Nan, she would have found out all about what pregnant women could and couldn’t eat, even if she had no experience with pregnancy. What if her reckless actions brought about dire consequences?
No matter how nicely she had spoken earlier, reality was truly a tight slap in her face.
“…” Qiao Zijin’s expression stiffened. Could pregnant women not eat watermelon? Feng Feng was almost all grown up and her pregnancy had been quite some time ago. Qiao Zijin had absolutely no impression of what she could and couldn’t eat while she had been pregnant. Besides, there had always been someone taking care of her. They had done the job of considering what she could eat. All she had needed to do was to open her mouth to eat.
How would Qiao Zijin have known that her ‘care’ toward Qiao Nan would have turned into such a disaster? “Nan Nan, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to let you see it and not eat it. But I gave birth to Feng Feng years ago. I’m sure you’ve heard that women go dumb for three years after giving birth. My memory has deteriorated quite a lot ever since I gave birth to Feng Feng. Alright, the children’s and your health are the most important now. Don’t eat it if you can’t. If you want to eat it, I’ll buy some more once you give birth.”
“…” Qiao Dongliang admired Qiao Zijin for the way she had salvaged the situation. “Since Nan Nan can’t eat it, you should have some. You can bring the rest home.”
There was a wide smile on Qiao Zijin’s face. “Dad, Nan Nan can’t eat it. If we leave it here, the smell will tempt Nan Nan. Why don’t you have a slice? Zhai Sheng, don’t be shy. We’re all a family. Do you want to eat it together?” As she said that, Qiao Zijin took the effort to take a few slices out, wanting to hand it over to Zhai Sheng personally.
Qiao Zijin could not help but think that she would definitely come into contact with Zhai Sheng’s hand when handing him this slice of watermelon. Yes, her hands were different from Qiao Nan’s. Qiao Nan had worked hard and her skin was probably rough and coarse. On the other hand, she had never worked much ever since she was young. After marrying Chen Jun, she had religiously visited the beauty salon to maintain her complexion with facials, massages, and all that.
