Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Compared to Qiao Nan, there was another one and a half year, or, rather, one year before Qiao Zijin would enter college.

  Qiao Zijin had not yet decided on which college to study at. Qiao Dongliang did not have the money to pay for the tuition fees for the first semester of college either.

  Qiao Zijin was in need of the money more so than Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan wanted to know whether her father would use her money to pay Qiao Zijin’s tuition fees under such circumstances.

  Looking at the money in his hand, Qiao Dongliang had some misgivings and some hesitation.

  In the end, Qiao Dongliang took a deep breath and said, “Nan Nan, bring your identity card and come with me to the bank.”

  “Why are we going to the bank? Why do we need the identity card?” Qiao Nan relaxed slightly.

  “Just bring it with you.”

  Qiao Nan returned to her room. She took her identity card and went to the bank with Qiao Dongliang.

  “Hello, I want to open an account for my daughter. I would like to get a passbook and deposit money into the account.”

  “Okay, please give me your identity card and fill out the form.”

  “Thank you.” Qiao Dongliang picked up the pen to write. He paused for a while and handed the pen to Qiao Nan. “Nan Nan, your handwriting is nice. You should fill the form by yourself. With this experience, you can come by yourself next time.”

  “Okay.” Qiao Nan took the pen and filled the form without the need to look at the examples. “Dad, I am done.”

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  “Put it in.”

  The bank was very efficient. In less than a quarter of an hour, Qiao Nan had deposited the money.

  Upon leaving the bank and reaching home, Qiao Dongliang handed the passbook to Qiao Nan. “Nan Nan, you are an adult now. Hence, you have to learn to manage your own money. This is what you have earned. In the future, deposit all the money you earn into this account and you can use them when you go to college two years later. Remember, you should not leave this passbook in anyone’s hands. You have to keep it yourself so that nobody will take it from you. Do you understand? There is one more thing you have to remember. Now that you have grown up, you should have your own privacy. You do not have to tell me or your mom how much money you have earned. You can save the money and use it when needed. Don’t be hard on yourself. You must keep this money well, do you understand?”

  “Dad, I understood.” Qiao Nan clutched the passbook tightly in her hands. It grew warm in her hands. She totally understood Qiao Dongliang’s words.

  Looking at the passbook in her hands, Qiao Nan was grateful for having such a father on one hand, while on the other hand, she was saddened by the unconditional love parents had for their children.

  The reason why her father asked her to save the money in her own account and not to give the passbook to anyone, including himself, was that her father was not confident that he would stand firm when it came to his children. He was afraid that he might be muddleheaded and say hurtful words or do things that would hurt her one day.

  As parents, when one of their daughters was successful while the other was not doing well, they would naturally hope that the two of them would help each other.

  Her mother would not harbor such thoughts, but her father would.

  “Nan Nan, you have to remember. You have grown up, and there are a lot of things that you have to handle by yourself. Don’t ask your mom or me for opinions. I believe you can make the right decisions.” Qiao Dongliang had mixed feelings.

  The younger daughter was very capable. Even though she was still studying, she knew to work to save money for her college tuition fees. He was very proud of her.

  On the contrary, the elder daughter would be enrolling in college very soon, but she only knew to spend money. She was not concerned about saving money for her tuition fees at all.

  Qiao Dongliang was worried that as he hoped for his daughters to be successful, there would be a day where he would spend the money the younger daughter had earned on the elder daughter.

  No, never!

  Knowing that he might not be able to stop himself from doing that, Qiao Dongliang refused to have anything to do with the money. He would rather pretend that he did not know of its existence.

  Qiao Nan sighed and put on a relaxed smile. “Dad, you can rest assured. I will remember your words and take care of myself.”

  It was good enough that her father would do so much for her. She did not have the right to request her father to stop doting on Qiao Zijin or stop treating the latter as his daughter.

  She had no idea how Qiao Zijin would turn out to be in this life. Would she disappoint her father like what she did in her previous life? Or would she further disappoint him in this life?

  “Dad, we have to go to the Zhu family’s residence tomorrow. Uncle Zhu invites us over for dinner.” Qiao Nan put the passbook away. She had finally lifted a load off her mind.

  “I won’t be going.” Qiao Dongliang shook his head. He knew that the Zhu family meant to invite Qiao Nan only, and he was just an extra.

  “Let’s go. Back when we lived in the quad, the Zhu family’s residence is not too far away from us. But now, it’s a long distance from our house. If we finish dinner late into the night, I will be afraid to come back by myself.” Qiao Nan insisted that Qiao Dongliang went with her.

  Qiao Dongliang frowned and thought about it before he agreed. “Okay, let’s go together tomorrow.”

  “Dad, we have reached the Zhu family’s residence.” Last night, it snowed heavily in Ping Cheng. Qiao Nan and Qiao Dongliang had a difficult time getting to the Zhu family’s residence. Qiao Dongliang rode on a bicycle and slowly made his way to the Zhu family’s residence.

  The ground was covered with snow that it was almost impossible to ride a bicycle. Even though the cleaners had shoveled the snow and Qiao Dongliang followed the tracks left by other cyclists, there was a very thin layer of ice on the ground, making it very slippery.

  The journey to the Zhu family’s residence was pretty far. On top of that, they skidded along the way because of the ice. Qiao Dongliang cycled very slowly for fear that Qiao Nan would fall and hurt herself. By the time he reached the destination, his face was red and his hair was wet with perspiration.

  “Dad, are you okay? Dry yourself with this handkerchief.” Qiao Nan had not imagined that the journey would be so tiring for her father.

  “I’m fine.” Qiao Dongliang habitually took Qiao Nan’s handkerchief from her and wiped the beads of perspiration off his forehead before returning the semi-wet handkerchief to Qiao Nan. “Go back and wash it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Uncle Qiao, Qiao Nan and you have finally arrived. Look who we have with us.” The person who opened the door for Qiao Dongliang was not the Zhu family’s servant. It was none other than the person that Qiao Nan hated very much: Wang Yang.

  Wang Yang had a bright smile on his clean face. One would easily mistake Wang Yang to be a well-behaved child.

  “Oh?” Qiao Dongliang was stunned momentarily. He looked at Qiao Nan doubtfully. Who was this child? Was he from the Zhu family as well?

  “Dad, he is Wang Yang, the son of Auntie Zhu.” Qiao Nan used the same form of address as Zhu Baoguo.

  “Oh, hi.” Qiao Dongliang’s demeanor changed. Though Qiao Nan did not go into details, and it was just speculation with no real evidence, Qiao Dongliang had heard from her about the things that Wang Yang had done.

  Therefore, once he knew who Wang Yang was, Qiao Dongliang immediately labeled Wang Yang as a child who was dishonest, scheming, and ill-behaved.

  Wang Yang turned grim at Qiao Dongliang’s expression. Regardless, he sneered and said, “Uncle Qiao, Qiao Nan, there is a surprise for both of you.”