Ding Jiayi answered indifferently.
In the past, when Qiao Dongliang wasn’t standing on her side, once Qiao Zijin became angry with her, Ding Jiayi would feel panicked. Now, it was different. Ding Jiayi could feel that Qiao Dongliang’s attitude toward her was better now. Her daughter… It didn’t matter if she had one or not. As long as she guarded her husband, why would Ding Jiayi be afraid of her daughter getting angry?
“…” Qiao Zijin became angrier. However, if Ding Jiayi wanted to accommodate Qiao Dongliang, Qiao Zijin couldn’t say that what she did was wrong. “However, I don’t like it and I can’t eat it. Forget it. Why am I being so calculative? It’s right as well. You’re taking care of Dad. Why don’t you do this? Next time, prepare two flavors of food in the future: spicy and non-spicy. We can all pick what we like to eat.”
Her request wasn’t overboard, right? No matter how much her dad liked to eat spicy food, her mom wouldn’t make all the dishes spicy, right? “Oh, right. Both of you are old now. Nowadays, people have very good nutrition. Eating more vegetables is good for your health. As such, you can make the vegetables spicy but not for the rest. If you make the rest spicy and my dad likes it, he might not be able to control his intake. If he eats too much, he might get high blood pressure, diabetes, or something. I heard that old people nowadays are particularly prone to the three highs.”
Ding Jiayi failed terribly. She thought that Qiao Zijin was going to talk to her about something else. It turned out that she actually wanted to mention this. “Don’t worry. Your dad’s physical examination report every year is quite normal. He wouldn’t have the three highs. Since vegetables are good for health, I’ll buy less meat. As long as we eat less meat, your dad’s body will be healthy.”
To put it bluntly, meat dishes shouldn’t be spicy so that Zijin could eat them. “Zijin, for meat dishes, you have to control your intake as well. It is said that people have a slower metabolism when they reach middle age. Women who are older have to eat lesser oil, meat, and sweets as they would be fattening. Also, Zijin, you have been divorced for more than two years. Are you considering finding another man? What kind do you want? If you really want to find one, you should start finding one now. The longer you delay, the worse they are.”
A high-quality man like Zhai Sheng who was married twice or thrice might come by with luck but not with finding.
Ding Jiayi was thinking it didn’t matter what kind of temper Qiao Zijin had. When Qiao Zijin remarried, she would be someone else’s daughter-in-law and no longer a daughter from their Qiao family. Qiao Zijin’s new in-laws from her second marriage would be the ones to worry about Qiao Zijin’s performance and attitude.
Qiao Zijin’s face changed. “Mom, I’m not in a hurry to get married. Could it be that you dislike me staying in the house for too long or having too many meals at home?” Married? She didn’t want to get married. When the ten million yuan was in her hands, she would reconsider if she should find a man. After all, at that time, the ten million yuan would be premarital property. Even if she were to get divorced in the future, she didn’t need to split it with her man. Qiao Zijin was very clear of this in her heart.
Ding Jiayi’s face stiffened. “Sure. This is your matter, after all. You can decide what’s best for you. If you don’t want to, I’ll reject the person.”
A lot of people in the quad knew that Qiao Zijin was divorced. Those who loved to be matchmakers naturally had information on men who were also single and divorced. As such, someone asked Ding Jiayi to ask Qiao Zijin if she was interested in finding another man since she was still so young and couldn’t possibly remain single for life. Coincidentally, she had a man with good conditions.
Of course, this ‘good’ was relative. This man’s conditions couldn’t compare to Qiao Zijin’s ex-husband, let alone Zhai Sheng. However, this man had good financial conditions. He had a big house that was nearly two hundred square meters and had quite a lot of savings at home. Most importantly, he had a daughter. He didn’t have the intention to recruit a son-in-law. He hoped that after getting married, his wife would give birth to a son for him. By then, everything in the family would be passed down to this son.
Qiao Zijin gave birth to a son before. Naturally, this marriage fell on Qiao Zijin’s head.
When the matchmaker was making introductions, she also asked if Qiao Zijin abided by the ‘rules’ more after she was divorced and if she was still so ‘playful’ and only headed home after midnight. The other party wanted to marry a wife back to give birth to a son and lead a life.
If Qiao Zijin, who was divorced once, was still doing the same things as before, then no one could bear it. Furthermore, if not for Qiao Zijin having given birth to a child and having Qiao Nan, a sister who married well, the other party might not have been willing to look at Qiao Zijin in the first place.
After hearing this man’s conditions, Ding Jiayi felt that he was worth a look. Ding Jiayi knew clearly what kind of temper her daughter had and what kind of person she was. A man like that was pretty good.
Although Ding Jiayi felt that he was good, it was more important to see what Qiao Zijin thought. At this time, Qiao Zijin refused without even thinking. Ding Jiayi couldn’t be bothered to be the bad person and persuade Qiao Zijin. “Do you need me to keep a lookout for you in the future? Or will you handle this on your own?”
In the face of Qiao Zijin, a daughter with a lot of thoughts, Ding Jiayi knew that even if Qiao Zijin wanted to get married in the future, she might not be willing for her mom to make any form of contribution.
Who would complain that they had little things to do? If she could be lazy, why did she have to work so hard?
“No need. I’ll handle my matters on my own.” How good a man would her mom introduce? She wasn’t in a hurry to get married. When she was rich, she could do without marriage and lead a great life alone. If there was someone else by her side, it meant that there was another person spending her money. She wasn’t going to be a fool and find a man who would spend her money.
“Alright,” Ding Jiayi replied very simply. “I’ll go and get busy. Go and play your computer games.” Qiao Zijin was back. Even if they were about to celebrate the new year and there were a lot of things to be done at home, Ding Jiayi never expected to count on her elder daughter, Qiao Zijin, to help with anything so that she could relax. It was better for her to rely on herself for household chores.
Ding Jiayi’s nonchalant look and lack of persuasion did not make Qiao Zijin feel more relaxed. Instead, she felt angrier. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. If her mom interfered too much, she was unhappy. However, she hated it more when her mom was nonchalant.
This new year was terrible.
Qiao Zijin led a miserable new year. Ding Jiayi prepared meals according to Qiao Dongliang’s preferences. This caused Qiao Zijin to either not have enough food to eat or grow red and swollen ‘pimples’ if she ate them reluctantly. The forty-three-year-old Qiao Zijin felt depressed.
