Furthermore, when he married Ding Jiayi, he did not go through the same procedures as others. They skipped the dowry as well.

  Now that he thought of it, Qiao Dongliang realized that it was not that simple to marry off a daughter. He still had to prepare a dowry.

  Although he would not take the bride price from the Zhai family, he must provide the dowry. After all, his younger daughter would be marrying Zhai Sheng. One could not do without the bride price and dowry.

  For the past three years, Qiao Dongliang had been living a happy and carefree life. Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin were not around to nag at him or create trouble for him. Qiao Nan was very well-behaved. There was no need to worry about her. Instead, she took great care of her father.

  Qiao Dongliang, who was slow to react, realized that he had to prepare a dowry for Qiao Nan. But there was not enough time!

  “Uncle Qiao, what’s wrong? Why are you so pale?” Shi Qing had a fright. She was not too harsh with her words and Uncle Qiao seemed to have accepted the situation. Why did his expression change within a few seconds and he looked as if he had seen a ghost then?

  “Dad, what’s wrong with you?” Qiao Nan heard the commotion and came running out. Her father seemed as if he had been dealt with a big blow. “Dad, if you feel unwell, you should go to the hospital. It is the 21st century. One won’t be unlucky by going to the hospital when the Lunar New Year is around the corner.”

  “That’s right, Uncle Qiao. Tell us if you feel uncomfortable.” Shi Qing and Qiao Nan stood on each side of Qiao Dongliang and helped him take a seat.

  Qiao Dongliang’s face was slightly distorted, his expression looking uglier than crying. “Nan Nan, I just realized that there is only one month left to your wedding, but I have yet to prepare a dowry for you. What should I do?”

  Nan Nan was getting married to a good man. If she was without any dowry on the day of her wedding, it would be too embarrassing for Nan Nan.

  \r \r \r

  As a father, he would never allow her to get married to Zhai Sheng without any dowry and to be laughed at by other people.

  Qiao Nan and Shi Qing were stunned. Shi Qing was about to say something when Qiao Nan rushed to comment. “Dad, you don’t have to worry about the dowry. Brother Zhai told me that there will not be a problem. Dad, you have two daughters. There is no need to worry about me. I won’t ask that you give us the same treatment. When Qiao Zijin gets married in the future, you can give her any amount that you like.”

  Dowry?

  She was finally getting married in her second chance at life. Qiao Nan did not expect her parents to provide a dowry for her.

  She was not Qiao Zijin, who was blessed with good fortune. Unlike what she did for Qiao Zijin in the previous life, Qiao Zijin would not earn money to prepare a dowry for her.

  Qiao Nan had given up hope on Qiao Dongliang. She would not dream of taking the dowry from him.

  Qiao Nan had been mentally prepared for the day when Qiao Dongliang got back together with Ding Jiayi. If she dared to take one hundred yuan worth of dowry from Qiao Dongliang today, when her parents got back together, Ding Jiayi would definitely ask her to provide ten thousand yuan worth of dowry for Qiao Zijin, and she would have a valid reason to ask that of her.

  The family then would have used all their savings in order to prepare a dowry for her. If Qiao Zijin was getting married, and Qiao Nan was doing better than them, she would have to help her family to prepare the dowry for Qiao Zijin. In that case, Qiao Zijin would have a grand marriage and it would look good on the Qiao family.

  Qiao Nan felt weary at the thought of this. She would rather not have any dowry.

  It was far better to be laughed at by others than to owe the Qiao family.

  Therefore, Qiao Nan dared not take any dowry from Qiao Dongliang.

  “I-is this alright?” Qiao Dongliang, who was fretting over how he should raise the money to prepare the dowry for his younger daughter, relaxed at Qiao Nan’s words.

  Shi Qing pulled a long face. She shot sarcastic looks at Qiao Dongliang. Qiao Nan pulled at her shirt, telling her to tone it down. “Don’t worry. Brother Zhai and his family know about our situation. Besides, Brother Zhai brought this up first. I like his suggestion, so I agreed to it.”

  “Are you sure it is Zhai Sheng who suggested it?”

  “Yes. Brother Zhai said that he will be back this Lunar New Year. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him.” Qiao Nan nodded. She was not telling lies. The only difference was that what she had discussed with Brother Zhai was different from what her father had understood.

  Qiao Dongliang smiled. “Zhai Sheng is a good child. After you are married to him, you must lead a good life with him. Do you understand?”

  “You can rest assured. After I marry Brother Zhai, we will discuss with each other whenever there’s a problem. I will put the interests of the Zhai family first and lead a happy and blessed life with Brother Zhai.” Qiao Nan felt ironic at the smile on Qiao Dongliang’s face.

  “Good, that’s good.” Qiao Dongliang was thankful to Zhai Sheng for settling the issue of dowry. He kept nodding and agreeing with Qiao Nan’s words, but he had failed to read between the lines.

  In the future, Qiao Nan would put the Zhai family’s interests first. If Qiao Zijin asked her for help, she could say that she must not affect the Zhai family’s reputation and she would refuse to help her.

  Qiao Zijin was a troublemaker. If she needed help from Qiao Nan, it must be something serious and it would have a negative impact on the Zhai family.

  Shi Qing curled the corners of her lips. She watched as Qiao Dongliang agreed with what Qiao Nan said, not realizing that what he said would have a huge impact in the future.

  It was good that Uncle Qiao was a fool at times. There was no need for Qiao Nan to go through so much suffering.

  “Dad, Shi Qing has just come back. Can I sleep over at her house so that we can have a good chat?” Qiao Nan took advantage of the fact that Qiao Dongliang was in a good mood to request sleeping at Shi Qing’s house.

  “Okay, of course you can. You are very close with Qing Qing. She is the only friend that you have after graduating from high school.” Qiao Dongliang did not realize that the reason why Qiao Nan wanted to stay at the Shi family’s residence was not that she was close to Shi Qing, but rather that Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin had slept in her bed yesterday.

  The two young ladies had always been on good terms, but Qiao Nan would always ask Shi Qing to sleep over at her house. She would never stay the night at Shi Qing’s house.

  Now that she had Qiao Dongliang’s approval and the atmosphere was good, Qiao Nan decided to bring her clothes over to Shi Qing’s house as well.

  The two young ladies lay on the bed that night to have a good chat. “Qiao Nan, is Uncle Qiao foolish or is he pretending?”

  “He is not stupid. He merely takes it for granted that everyone is kind and good-natured. He believes that his children should be as sensible as him.” Qiao Nan snorted.