As a result, Zhai Hua had stubbornly refused to remain in contact with her family from then on. Zhai Yaohui’s career had been on the rise at that time too, and Zhai Sheng had been transferred to the capital at the same time. As such, Zhai Yaohui had decided to bring Miao Jing to the capital so that they would be out of his sight.
It was inevitable for Zhai Hua to get bullied after getting married to Wei De, but he would, at least, be able to lie to himself if he wasn’t able to see it. Zhai Yaohui was clear that Zhai Hua’s temper meant that she would never ask her family for help even if she wasn’t doing well. After all, he had already made his stance clear.
Zhai Yaohui’s tough attitude only worsened the relationship between the father and daughter. It could be said that Zhai Yaohui’s attitude had been a result of the marriage between Wang Yang’s parents.
At the mention of the Wang family, although Li Yayan was only a daughter-in-law who had married into the family, Zhai Yaohui had no good feelings toward her. In fact, he hated her as much as he hated the rest of the family. Zhai Yaohui was not objective at all and already had an innate bias against Li Yayan.
Given the situation that Qiao Nan had described earlier, Zhai Yaohui was sure that his hatred toward Li Yayan was not unfounded. Besides, he was already so advanced in age. What was wrong with being willful?
Miao Jing glanced at Zhai Yaohui reproachfully and she grabbed onto Qiao Nan’s hand. “Don’t listen to your dad. His temper has only gotten worse with age. Maybe it’s because we’ve fed him with too many spicy things that he’s become more short-tempered lately.” This wasn’t about being afraid. Wasn’t it better for her to protect herself by distancing herself from Li Yayan whom she knew was up to no good?
“But I’ll support you regardless of the decision you make.” Of course, Qiao Nan would have her own opinion about what to do. She believed that Qiao Nan would make a wise and informed decision.
Qiao Nan pecked San Bao’s chubby hand. “Dad, Mom, don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to me. Actually, Brother Zhai has already assigned two bodyguards to me. Wang Yang won’t succeed no matter what he tries to do to me. Besides, my interactions with Wang Yang are very limited. Unless I have classes in the afternoon, I never have lunch with Li Yayan. It was the first time I went out shopping with her today. Besides, when I agreed to go shopping with her today, she was trying to get me to share her anger, not knowing that I was trying to test Wang Yang’s and her attitudes.”
The last time, Li Yayan had suddenly brought up the topic of how her friend from Ping Cheng had vacationed in the capital. Afterward, Qiao Nan had given it some thought and realized that Qiao Zijin seemed to have arrived in the capital the previous day.
Qiao Zijin had insisted on coming to the capital to see Qiao Nan take her last breath so that she could take over her husband and children. So, what was Qiao Zijin intending to do this time? Qiao Zijin had already had all sorts of worries about inflation, the rising cost of living, and whether she would have enough for her old age even when she had more than a million yuan while living in Ping Cheng.
Without sufficient benefits that tempted her, there was no way Qiao Zijin would have the guts to rush to the capital, where the cost of living was exorbitant. Could she possibly like the sandstorms in the capital?
No matter how she thought about it, there was only one thing that Qiao Zijin could probably benefit from: the lawsuit over the Zhu family’s inheritance.
“So, that’s the case.” Miao Jing had finally understood the situation. Of course, she had only been able to rest easy after learning that her son had arranged for bodyguards for Qiao Nan. “That’s true. If you have any problems, you can go to Zhai Sheng. If he doesn’t solve them for you, come to me. I’ll get your dad to lecture him.”
This was a chain with links. Zhai Yaohui would definitely deal with Zhai Sheng, while Miao Jing would deal with Zhai Yaohui. In the end, Miao Jing would be influenced by Qiao Nan as well. In that way, Qiao Nan realized that she was the person at the top of the food chain!
Because Qiao Nan had already gotten some idea of what was going on, and Qiao Dongliang had given her a heads-up, there was no way Qiao Zijin could have kept her intentions hidden from Qiao Nan. After her little experiment today, Qiao Nan was sure that Qiao Zijin had indeed come to the capital because of the inheritance. Qiao Zijin had even told her that she would definitely get a sum of money from coming to the capital this time.
But Qiao Zijin had not explained anything else in detail to Qiao Nan. Of course, when Qiao Dongliang had tried to question Ding Jiayi, she had naturally been unable to furnish him with any details either.
Anyway, Li Yayan had been trying to test Qiao Nan on Qiao Zijin. As such, Qiao Nan had given Li Yayan what she wanted during her little shopping trip today so that Li Yayan would at least feel that she had gotten something out of it.
Because of that little ‘harvest’, Li Yayan’s expression was sour as she headed home. Qiao Zijin had already gotten in contact with Qiao Nan. She couldn’t help but wonder if Qiao Zijin had already made some progress regarding the Zhu family’s inheritance.
If Qiao Zijin succeeded, that would naturally be good since that would mean that everything of the Zhu family would belong to Wang Yang. Since it was Wang Yang’s, she would enjoy it too. The problem was that it wouldn’t be easy to arrange matters for her family without the five million yuan. No matter how much Wang Yang got from the Zhu family, it belonged to the Wang family, not the Li family.
She knew very well just how fiery her father-in-law’s temper was. As such, unless her father-in-law was dead, she would never get the five million yuan for her family. But hadn’t they said that Qiao Zijin didn’t have a good relationship with Qiao Nan? It had already been a couple of days and they hadn’t been in contact before this. So, why had Qiao Nan suddenly gotten in contact with Qiao Zijin behind her back?
“Why do you look so down? Have you run into some trouble with Qiao Nan?” Wang Yang sensed that Li Yayan was in a foul mood. “Did Qiao Nan find out about your identity and stop you from getting close to her?” If that was the case, they would have one fewer path to choose from.
“No.” Li Yayan brushed her long hair aside. “I haven’t even mentioned you being my husband. How would she ever know who I am? Qiao Nan’s extremely timid since she married into the Zhai family after going through so much. I’ve been in contact with her for such a long time, but she’s never talked about being the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law. Similarly, she’s never asked me about my husband’s name. Qiao Nan is truly exceptionally careful.” Perhaps, Qiao Nan would be the only one who would remain so cautious even after becoming the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law.
Li Yayan was furious at how Qiao Nan wasn’t revealing anything, but they were in the same boat. In the first three years after getting married to Wang Yang, she had been just as careful. She had never dared to say anything outside about her husband being Wang Yang, for fear of causing him trouble.
