“when i hear this name, i thought of the pet name ‘little fish’. san bao is quick-tempered and likes to blow bubbles. this name suits her very well.”

  as san bao liked to blow bubbles, given zhai hua’s cultural standards, her first reaction was naturally the name zhai yu (fish) once she heard elder lin mention the name.

  miao jing felt paralyzed. “hua hua, if you are married to dongzi and have children in the future, remember not to participate in the naming of my maternal grandchild. let the in-laws help you name them. if they can’t, let dongzi wreck his brains. you just have to pick the one that you think is the best from the pile of names.”

  if she were to let hua hua take the initiative to name her maternal grandchild, she was afraid that her grandchild’s name would be reduced to flowers, birds, fishes, and worms kind of names.

  “.……” zhai hua knew that she had been looked down upon by her own biological mother.

  she had really misunderstood when she heard san bao’s name. facing her biological mother’s distrustful glances, zhai hua did not have a choice. she could only snort in exasperation and silently accept her mother’s suggestion.

  a name such as little fish could be used as a pet name. but official name? forget it.

  no one objected to the name that elder lin gave san bao. as such, the names of the three babies were decided that day.

  zhai sheng was a hands-on person. from the three babies’ birth until now, he did not seem to have been of any help although he was the father. he had not done anything. as such, today, zhai sheng had something to do. before the end of qiao nan’s classes, he brought the household register of family members to the public security bureau.

  when zhai sheng came out of the place, the household register of family members had three more striking names: zhai yi, zhai xin, and zhai yu.

  henceforth, the zhai family of five had become a family of eight.

  “nan nan, take a look at this.” just as qiao nan sat on the front passenger seat, zhai sheng stuffed a small booklet in her lap.

  \r \r \r

  qiao nan looked at zhai sheng suspiciously and asked zhai sheng what he wanted her to see. zhai sheng smiled but did not reply. qiao nan could only lower her head and pick the item up. “household register of family members? the names of the three babies have been decided!!”

  after knowing that the three children had names now, of course, qiao nan’s first reaction was to feel happy.

  very soon, qiao nan’s smile turned stiff. shouldn’t she be informed when the names had been decided? shouldn’t she also take a look at the names?

  although the names of the three babies should be given by the elders and she would most likely not express any differing views, she was not involved at all in the naming of her three children despite having given birth to them after much difficulty. no matter how qiao nan thought about it, she felt a little regretful.

  “don’t be like that. if the three babies find out about today’s matter when they grow up, they will definitely laugh at you. you will be spending more time with the three babies than me. in the future, i will miss out on much more.” zhai sheng did not hesitate to expose his scars for the sake of coaxing qiao nan.

  as a first-time father, zhai sheng also very much wished that he could spend more time with his children and witness each moment of them growing up.

  unfortunately, he could not do so.

  upon hearing that zhai sheng’s joking tone carried a sense of heaviness and disappointment, qiao nan felt guilty. she quickly opened the household register of family members. “zhai yi, zhai xin, and zhai yu? these three names sound so pleasant. which one came from you?”

  looking at the names of the three babies, qiao nan’s eyes lit up. these three names were excellent. she did not have any comments on them.

  if she were to be the one naming them, she might not be able to come up with something better.

  “da bao’s and er bao’s names were jointly thought of by the old master, dad, and me. san bao’s name was given by elder lin.”

  “master came up with the name? did you decide on this matter or……” qiao nan was very shocked. san bao’s name was given by her master. if the old master and her father-in-law knew about it, would they flare up at brother zhai for taking matters into his own hand?

  as the mother of the three children, qiao nan did not feel angry after learning that her master was the one who named san bao. instead, she felt overjoyed.

  her master was already so old. besides the auntie who took care of him, he did not have anyone else or relatives by his side. qiao nan’s heart ached very much for him.

  she was someone who did not have an affinity with her parents. besides her in-laws, only zhu chengqi, this godfather, and elder lin, this master, treated her best. although she was not related to them by blood, they were very good to her, and their treatment to her far exceeded that of her biological relatives.

  however, qiao nan also had a lot of problems.

  she was only a student and could not earn money. she did not have the opportunity to be filial to elder lin.

  she knew that elder lin was staying alone. qiao nan wanted to bring the three babies to keep elder lin company and liven up the atmosphere at the house of the lin family. however, what was troubling was that she had to study. she did not even have enough time to keep the three children company. how could she have so much time to bring her children to see elder lin?

  it could be said that qiao nan had already tried her best to squeeze out some time. sometimes, she simply revised her studies at the house of the lin family.

  there was only one qiao nan. she could take care of her master, but what about her mother-in-law?

  her mother-in-law was not willing to follow her father-in-law around nowadays because she wanted to take care of her grandchildren.

  her mother-in-law was not afraid of suffering and helped her take care of the children. qiao nan could not possibly let her mother-in-law feel disappointed and lonely due to her filial piety for her master.

  qiao nan had considered many ideas on how to make lin yuankang, this master, happier, especially after the three babies were born.

  the three babies were not only her children. hence, she could not decide on many things alone. zhai sheng was also not by her side. no matter how many plans qiao nan had in mind, she could only put them aside temporarily.

  unexpectedly, zhai sheng took the initiative to give the right of naming san bao to elder lin. this had fulfilled one of qiao nan’s wishes.“will the old master and father-in-law be angry about this?” now that her wish had been fulfilled, qiao nan looked like a smiling kitten that had just stolen a fish.

  she really did not have a choice. elder lin was very old now and different from the typical elders. he liked to have the little ones surround him. elder lin did not have anyone who could keep him company by his side. he was very lonely.

  qiao nan was not afraid of other things. she was just afraid that elder lin would gradually contract some psychological problems due to too much loneliness. psychological illnesses were more terrible than physical illnesses. one would only have the determination to live on if they had hopes and desires in their hearts. if their will to live was reduced, then……

  qiao nan greatly cherished the kinship that she finally had after much difficulty. she hoped that elder lin could live to a hundred years of age and watched the three babies grow up.

  if it was possible, qiao nan wanted to support elder lin financially when he was older but elder lin did not require that. hence, she did not want elder lin to also lose out on experiencing the joy of grandchildren surrounding him.

  elder lin had never talked about this in front of qiao nan or put qiao nan in a difficult position. however, qiao nan was very sensitive. she could feel it even though elder lin did not say anything.

  from time to time, she could sense that elder lin felt that he was old and past his prime age. she often felt fear and trepidation at the thought of this. she wanted to dismiss the feelings of ‘old wood was rotting’ that were subconsciously revealed by elder lin.

  1194 Money That Came From Sudden Riches

  Zhai Sheng looked at Qiao Nan dotingly. “You’re concerned about whether Old Master Zhai and your father-in-law will lose their temper? You should think about how to explain to Chief Zhu when he finds out about this.” Chief Zhu also treated Qiao Nan like his own daughter.

  The family had three babies all at once. Everyone was red with envy and said that Nan Nan had given birth to too many babies.

  However, Zhai Sheng was well aware that these three babies were not enough to share between these old folks. They even had to compete with one another until they broke their heads.

  Qiao Nan relaxed and leaned backward on the seat “I’m not as concerned about godfather. Don’t forget that he still has to be a grandfather in the future. When Zhu Baoguo and Shi Qing are married, their children’s names will definitely be given by him.” Her master was not like her godfather. He no longer had such an opportunity.

  However, her godfather would definitely feel angry about this. When the time came, she would simply bring the three babies over to appease their maternal grandfather.

  After having babies, Qiao Nan was pleasantly surprised to find a new function of her children: fire extinguisher.

  Zhai Sheng smiled. “If the three babies know that you think that way, don’t you think they will blame you in the future?” Nan Nan had thought it out so well. She would leave it to the three babies to resolve every situation and trouble that they encountered. The three babies were only more than two months old and still drinking milk.

  No matter what, the triplets of the Zhai family finally had names.

  In less than a month after the names of the three babies were decided, Lin Yuankang brought three little boxes over to the Zhai family and said that they were gifts for the children.

  Qiao Nan was taken aback when she opened them. “Jade?”

  The jades in the three boxes looked watery and translucent. Qiao Nan was not an expert in this area. Judging from the looks, sizes, and engravings, Qiao Nan knew that the little jade pendants in her hands were very valuable.

  \r \r \r

  Qiao Nan was poor and did not play with such items. However, there would always be one or two people around her who were interested in such things.

  Under their influence, Qiao Nan was very clear that the prices of these items would rise very quickly in a few years. The price would only go crazier in the future.

  If she did not remember it wrongly, she once watched some news about someone gambling on jade in Yunnan.

  One of the tourists accidentally broke open a piece of jade which was worth 280,000 yuan.

  Qiao Nan dared to bet that the quality of the three jade pendants given by her master to the three children looked much better than the one that she saw in the news. “Master, don’t tell me these three pieces of jade are the legendary glass species?”

  “Oh, you can tell? Do you have some knowledge of jade too?” Lin Yuankang’s eyes lit up. He did not expect that his little disciple was a child who knew what good stuff was. “Yes, this is the glass species, and they are top-grade ones.”

  Qiao Nan’s heart trembled. “Glass species?!” These three pieces of items were really too valuable. Ten years later, they needed to use more than a million or tens of million yuan to talk about the prices. “This should not be emerald imperial jade, right?” If it was top-grade glass species emerald imperial jade, and such a huge piece, wasn’t the value going to be in billions?

  Qiao Nan heard from the colleague who was very interested in jade that just a small piece of top-grade glass species emerald imperial jade on a ring was worth tens of millions of yuan.

  The jades in her hands could make a few rings.

  Elder Lin was really quite surprised that his little disciple knew quite a lot about jade. “People nowadays prefer the white jades from Xin Jiang. In comparison, the market for jade is a little poorer. However, I just praised you for having a little knowledge and you have now become color-blind. How can this be emerald imperial jade? The color of emerald imperial jade is much more beautiful than this.”

  Facing his disciple whom he had just deemed ‘color-blind’, Elder Lin took his hat off to her. “Right, how did you know so much about this?” He initially thought that his little disciple most likely would not recognize what these items were when he took them out.

  “I’ve heard someone mention it before.”

  “Who?”

  “Uh…… That person is very interested in jade and finds jade beautiful. Although he is poor, he is willing to do so research. He has talked a lot about it, so I gained a little knowledge. Master, the three babies are still so small. Don’t you think you have gone a little overboard to give them these jades?” The three babies were not even four months old. After having these jade pendants, they would become wealthier than many people.

  They would ‘take over’ even her, their mother. She did not even have a chance to win them.

  Facing the children who were wealthier than her, Qiao Nan felt a little jealous. She was the poorest one in the whole family.

  “.……” Miao Jing did not speak. She agreed with Qiao Nan and felt that Elder Lin had gone a little overboard in giving such items.

  The Zhai family did not lack these little items for the three children. However, the Zhai family would also not casually take out items with such value. She could not quite accept Elder Lin’s generosity toward the children.

  “Don’t worry. To me, these three pieces of jade won’t cost me a bomb. I didn’t spend much on them,” Elder Lin said complacently. “I have a lot of good stuff in my hands and have to put them away properly. I will leave them for San Bao’s dowry when she grows up.” He was the one who named San Bao. In addition, she was the only little girl. Hence, Elder Lin doted very much on San Bao.

  “Master……” Qiao Nan lifted the corners of her lips. “You can’t boast in this way. Right, even though you really have a lot of them, you can’t just give them out in this manner.”

  Those were worth millions and tens of millions. He even gave out three pieces at once. Qiao Nan would feel very guilty of accepting them.

  “They are not for you. Why are you so naggy? The three babies are still so young. I am passing these items to you because you are their mother so that you can temporarily safeguard them on their behalf. You have to give them to the three babies when they grow up. Otherwise, I will definitely not let you off.” Goodness, sometimes, it was quite tiring to have a little disciple who was too honest and unwilling to take advantage of him.

  She was so young, yet so inflexible. This was too troubling.

  Zhai Hua was sitting beside Qiao Nan. She stuffed San Bao into Elder Lin’s arms without any reservation. “Elder Lin, I heard that you gambled on jade when you were in your thirties or forties. The price of the jade even skyrocketed. Don’t tell me this is true?”

  Elder Lin lifted his chin proudly. “Of course it’s true. That piece of jade which price skyrocketed—aren’t you looking at it now?”

  Elder Lin was not someone who liked gambling. At that time, he happened to be on an overseas trip to Yunnan and came into contact with jade gambling. Initially, Elder Lin did not wish to participate as he was not that interested in jades. However, someone dragged him along and insisted that he try it once.

  To put it bluntly, that person wished to become closer to Elder Lin with jade gambling so that he could bribe the latter.

  That man noticed that Elder Lin seemed to have his eyes on a piece of stone. He took a few more glances at it. Without a word, that man bought the stone and gave it to Elder Lin.