“I can stand to gain if he is the son-in-law of the Zhai family. If he breaks up with Zhai Hua, all my past efforts will go down the drain.” Qiao Zijin stood on the same side as Chen Jun. “Mom, if not, can you have a talk with Qiao Nan?”

  Since Qiao Nan had the ability to persuade Zhai Hua to break up with Wei De, she must have a way for them to reconcile.

  “No, I will not go. I will never give in to the wretched girl!” Ding Jiayi was displeased. She was the mother while Qiao Nan was her daughter.

  Qiao Nan should be the one who asked a favor from her, not the other way round.

  “Mom, just take it that you are helping me.” She would rather her mother ask a favor from Qiao Nan than for her to give in to Qiao Nan.

  Qiao Zijin had strong self-esteem. She could not bring herself to do that. “Mom, please…… Don’t you always hope that I will marry a good man and I will lead a good life in the future? This is an easy task for you. Besides, you are not giving in to her. You are Qiao Nan’s mother. You don’t have to give in to her. Instead, she has to be filial to you. You are the elder, while she is the junior.”

  Ding Jiayi could not say no to Qiao Zijin’s request. “You are right. I am her mom. I raised her up and provided for her. Even though your dad has divorced me, she still has the obligation to provide for me. We have been apart for so long. She may have forgotten that I am her mother, only knowing that Miao Jing is her mother-in-law!”

  Ding Jiayi became emboldened. “You can rest assured that I will look for her in the afternoon and get her to give me an explanation. Unless she can be like Nezha[1] who carved his flesh to return to his mother, she will be indebted to me forever as I am her mother. She has to obey me.”

  “Mom, you are the best. Thank you.” Qiao Zijin hung up the phone happily after getting a satisfactory answer from her mother. She had a sinister smile on her face.

  Qiao Nan wanted to make use of her father to make her break up with Chen Jun so that she would not marry a good man and have her happiness.

  She would make use of her mother to create a din for Qiao Nan, making life difficult for her!

  Qiao Zijin knew very well that her mother had a sharp tongue and she would use harsh and crude words on Qiao Nan.

  \r \r \r

  Qiao Zijin always felt that Qiao Nan seemed to be doing much better and had a mind of her own was because she and her mother provoked Qiao Dongliang and he moved out with Qiao Nan.

  Otherwise, Qiao Nan would still be staying with them and she would be greeted with scolding by her mother every single morning.

  Under such an environment, Qiao Nan would definitely have low self-esteem.

  In short, it was a good idea for her mother to annoy Qiao Nan and upset her.

  Of course, it would be to her delight if her mother was successful in making Qiao Nan agreed to work on making Zhai Hua reconcile with Wei De.

  Qiao Zijin understood what Ding Jiayi meant on the phone when she said that she would look for Qiao Nan in the afternoon.

  Qiao Dongliang would be at work in the afternoon. In other words, Qiao Nan was the only person at home.

  Since there was no one to help Qiao Nan, she had no way to go against Ding Jiayi and she had to obey her.

  Qiao Nan did not know that Qiao Zijin had mistaken her due to the phone call that Qiao Dongliang made. Qiao Zijin thought that it was her idea for Qiao Dongliang to break up her with Chen Jun. As a result, Qiao Zijin wanted to make use of Ding Jiayi to cook up trouble for Qiao Nan.

  Qiao Nan had barely settled Zhai Hua’s and Wei De’s problems yesterday. She was not in a hurry to go to the Zhai family’s residence to check on them. Instead, she stayed at home, feeling reassured.

  Qiao Nan thought to herself. Wei De held the wedding banquet with a woman in the countryside and they had Wei Wei. Zhai Hua had already agreed to break up with Wei De. Unless she was muddleheaded, she would not reconcile with him.

  Furthermore, before she left yesterday, she had made it very clear to Zhai Hua.

  Wei De was bent on playing with words and taking advantage of the loopholes.

  However, everyone in the countryside who had been to their wedding banquet knew about their relationship.

  According to the marriage laws in China, they were considered married.

  If Zhai Hua refused to realize her errors and insisted on being with Wei De, it would mean that Wei De had an affair and Zhai Hua was the third party—the type of woman that she despised the most.

  Zhai Hua used to look down on Qi Minlan and detested her. If she insisted on being with Wei De, she would be like Qi Minlan. She could direct all her negative emotions that she had toward Qi Minlan to herself.

  Qiao Nan was certain that given these facts, there was no way that Wei De could be up to any tricks in front of Zhai Hua.

  Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing could not keep worrying about Zhai Hua. There would be a day when she had to be responsible for her own actions. Qiao Nan felt that she should take a step back for Zhai Hua to sort out her thoughts.

  Right then, Qiao Nan heard a knock on the door. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me!”

  Qiao Nan drooped her lips. She could hardly recognize this voice anymore. Why would her mother be here?

  “Open the door for me right now!” Ding Jiayi had no patience for Qiao Nan. After announcing her arrival, she felt like kicking at the door since no one opened the door for her.

  However, the house did not belong to Qiao Dongliang or Qiao Nan. She was worried that the school would want her to compensate for any damages to the house. Ding Jiayi stopped herself and smacked the door with her hands. “Open the door! Did you hear me? Did your teacher teach you to shut your mother outside?”

  She had not seen Ding Jiayi for years, yet she still had a sharp tongue. Qiao Nan rubbed her forehead. She should have kept quiet in the first place.

  Her mother seemed to have known that she was at home and chose to look for her when her father was not around.

  Qiao Nan had no other choice but to open the door to let Ding Jiayi in.

  As soon as the door was opened, Ding Jiayi strode in as if it was her house. She saw the red apples in the living room as she stepped into the house. It smelled nice. She took one and bit into it without even asking. “Your dad and you seem to be leading a good life while your sister and I have a hard time making ends meet. Bring me a bag. Since both of you have lots to eat, I will bring all the apples with me.”

  The apples looked fresh. If she kept them well, they would still be very fresh when Zijin was back from school. She could save some for her.

  Qiao Nan narrowed her eyes. “We have run out of bags.”

  “I don’t believe it!” Ding Jiayi glared at Qiao Nan like a ferocious tiger. “Now that you are leading a good life, there should be more good food at home. Since I gave birth to you, you should share the good food with me. Old Qiao is your dad, while I am your mom. Take all the good food out now!”

  [1] A mythical character in Chinese folk religion.