Chapter 802 If You Want Food, Give Me the Money
Ding Jiayi gave a sheepish smile. In that case, Zijin was no longer around when Old Qiao came. She was not chased away by Old Qiao.
If Old Qiao was aware that Zijin had come, he would not have reacted in this way. “Old Qiao, what time did you arrive?”
“Around half past six.” Yesterday, Qiao Dongliang reached home at five o’clock in the afternoon and immediately hit the bed. He did not wake up to have dinner at all.
It was only until five o’clock this morning that Qiao Dongliang woke up. He felt extremely energized and hungry after sleeping for twelve full hours. He then warmed up the leftover rice and dishes in the fridge and ate them before he made his way to the hospital so that Qiao Nan did not need to prepare food for him when she woke up.
“Half past six?” Zijin left before half past six. So early?
When Zijin left, why didn’t she call her? She did not even know when Zijin left.
All of a sudden, a growling sound could be heard in the ward. The sound of Ding Jiayi’s stomach grumbling was so loud and clear. Unless one was dumb, they would be able to hear it.
Ding Jiayi’s face turned red. She recalled that she only took two bowls of porridge yesterday to tide over the entire day. “Old Qiao, I’m starving. Why don’t you go to the canteen now and buy me a few buns?” Her health would suffer if she were to continue starving.
“Where is the money? Don’t tell me you think that others will give me freebies each time I go to the canteen?”
“…” Ding Jiayi’s expression changed. He was asking her for money. “We’re a married couple. We’re one family. We shouldn’t draw such a clear line. It’s just a few buns, isn’t it?”
“We shouldn’t draw such a clear line with each other. I’ve not spent a single cent of your earnings for the past two years. On the contrary, Nan Nan and I paid for all your hospitalization expenses.” At the thought that the college entrance examination results would be out soon but the family did not have any money, how was Nan Nan going to pay for the tuition fees then? “You dote on your precious Qiao Zijin so much. Did she prepare any nice food for you when she visited you last night? When I left, it’s not too late. It’s impossible that she left only after taking one glance at you, right? You have such a good daughter. How is it possible that she can’t even be compared to Nan Nan? After all, Nan Nan has sent you twenty to thirty bowls of porridge. So, you didn’t even manage to get a bowl of porridge from Qiao Zijin?”
“You…” How did Old Qiao know that Zijin came?
“Hahaha…” Qiao Dongliang sneered continuously. “It’s so obvious. Do you think that my eyesight is poor and can’t see? Qiao Zijin is so generous. She only paid someone two yuan to pass you a slip of paper. When she visited you, she couldn’t even bear to give you a bowl of porridge, let alone fruits or nutritional supplements. This daughter of yours… Ding Jiayi, congratulations. You have raised her up well.”
Yesterday, when that ‘ward mate’ dropped in to visit, Qiao Dongliang already felt that it was strange. They usually did not interact or chat with each other much. Also, despite Ding Jiayi’s unfriendly demeanor, the other party was not angry at all.
Thereafter, the ‘ward mate’ seemed to have tucked something under Ding Jiayi’s pillow. Qiao Dongliang vaguely saw this but he did not think much of it.
It was only when Ding Jiayi insisted that Qiao Dongliang went home to rest did Qiao Dongliang connect the dots and feel strange about this.
When he was leaving the hospital for home, Qiao Dongliang coincidentally met that ‘ward mate’.
Hence, Qiao Dongliang conveniently questioned her in a harsh manner and that ‘ward mate’ confessed everything. “There’s a lady who gave me two yuan and asked me to pass a slip of paper to your wife. Comrade, don’t misunderstand. I definitely didn’t do any bad things. I don’t have any evil intentions toward your family members as well.”
She was just making some quick bucks by taking the two yuan to have a good meal.
“Okay, I know. Thank you.” Qiao Dongliang did not even ask the ‘ward mate’ how the lady that she mentioned looked like. He left the hospital thereafter.
Qiao Zijin was avoiding Qiao Dongliang. Nevertheless, Qiao Dongliang might not be willing to face this daughter that he had completely thought wrongly of.
The more he knew, the more disappointed Qiao Dongliang was at Qiao Zijin.
At this juncture, when he saw that Ding Jiayi did not even manage to get a full meal when she was with Qiao Zijin, he had totally given up his hopes on this daughter.
There is a saying that there is no unfilial child before a sickbed.
Ding Jiayi was not even suffering from a long-term illness and Qiao Zijin was already behaving in this way. This was bitterly disappointing.
Now, he and Ding Jiayi were both young and strong. They not only could earn their own livelihood but also could give Qiao Zijin tuition fees. Qiao Zijin was already so selfish that she was only willing to take without giving
When he and Ding Jiayi were old and could not move or earn any money, would Qiao Zijin feed them and treat them well?
At this moment, Qiao Dongliang was no longer hoping for this.
“No, it’s not. Zijin just didn’t think of it. You’re the one who usually takes care of me, including providing for my three meals. She, she thought that you had already given me food before you left.” Ding Jiayi, who was badly starved for the whole night, was still making excuses for Qiao Zijin.
Qiao Dongliang laughed. “Your daughter is so good, yet she made such a big blunder. Nan Nan and I don’t care enough for you. In that case, you shouldn’t expect Nan Nan and me to take care of you better than Qiao Zijin did. Ding Jiayi, believe me. You have ‘great blessings’ ahead of you and they will all come to you in the future!”
Given that kind of behavior by Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi could still find so many excuses and reasons for Qiao Zijin. He did not want to think about Qiao Zijin anymore. He also took his hat off to Ding Jiayi.
“Old Qiao, I’m still sick. I’m suffering from so many injuries and I’m not well yet. Do you have to say all this to anger me?” Ding Jiayi was vexed and anxious. She refused to admit that Qiao Zijin was unfilial to her. Qiao Zijin neglected all those things as they momentarily slipped her mind.
However, she could not bear to forgo the care given by Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Nan. Regardless of how poor the care from the father-daughter pair was, at the very least, Ding Jiayi got to lie on the bed comfortably for two weeks.
In the past two years when she was living together with Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi had not even enjoyed such treatment for one day.
“Old Qiao, I, I’m really hungry. There’s one yuan here. Help me buy two meat buns back.” Ding Jiayi had no choice but to take out one yuan from the dirty clothes that she had previously worn and passed it to Qiao Dongliang
After taking the money, Qiao Dongliang sneered sarcastically.
Since she was hospitalized, all the expenses were paid by Nan Nan and him. Clearly, Ding Jiayi had twenty yuan in her pocket but she had been hiding and refusing to use them.
She still talked about being one family. In Ding Jiayi’s heart, they were two separate families since long ago.
When Ding Jiayi was hospitalized, she was not hesitant in maximizing the amount of money that she could utilize from Nan Nan and him. However, she secretly stored away her own money and was prepared to leave it for Qiao Zijin!
Qiao Dongliang was the only one taking care of Ding Jiayi. During noon yesterday, when Ding Jiayi was sleeping after her lunch, the dirty clothes that she had worn on the day of the car accident coincidentally fell to the floor. Hence, Qiao Dongliang picked it up conveniently.
It was also because of this that Qiao Dongliang found out that Ding Jiayi actually had twenty yuan hidden in the pocket of her clothes.
