Qiao Zijin came back to her senses after being smacked by Ding Jiayi thrice. She darted to the side and gave Ding Jiayi a push. “You know very well whether you have said those words or not, and I know that I am not lying.”

  Qiao Zijin had had enough. Ding Jiayi acted differently when she was in public and in private. She made it sound as if she behaved the same no matter where she was, while other people said all the proper things to somebody’s face but did exactly the opposite behind his back.

  “You wanted me to side with you, so you said that Dad is useless and you are the one who provided for me and gave me a chance to study. You stayed with this family and with a useless dad because of me. Now that I have an argument with him, you lectured me, saying that he is my elder and he went through many difficulties to raise me. Mom, don’t you find it ridiculous? Why did you say different things to us?”

  Qiao Zijin could contain her anger when Ding Jiayi behaved unreasonably in the past. But today, she could no longer tolerate it.

  Ding Jiayi was caught off-guard by Qiao Zijin’s push. She twisted her ankle and fell to the floor in pain. “You are such an unfilial daughter. After scolding your dad, are you trying to beat your mom who gave birth to you and raise you?”

  “Enough!” Qiao Dongliang shouted in a deep voice. “Don’t you find it embarrassing? This is the wife and daughter that I have, yet I am such a fool not to have realized it sooner. Hahaha…… It’s no wonder that my family is different from other families. A man would marry a woman for her virtue. If a wife is virtuous, the husband will have less trouble. My parents passed away when I was at a young age and nobody reminded me of this. I have to admit that you are indeed the child of the Ding family. You looked down on your mom, but she could not be compared to you. At the very least, your mom did not create trouble for your dad. At most, they wasted their time on raising a daughter!”

  As for him……

  He had two daughters. One was led astray and could no longer change for the better, while the other was estranged with them and had lost hope in them.

  Qiao Dongliang used to think that he knew exactly what was wrong in his family. It was due to the elder daughter’s personality and hence she refused to listen to them. Otherwise, it should not be so difficult to talk sense into her. She was selfish to the core, and she disregarded her parents and had no feelings for her family.

  \r \r \r

  After everything that had happened, it turned out that it was all due to Ding Jiayi.

  He had never seen or heard of people who used such methods like Ding Jiayi to teach their daughter and to get the daughter to stand on her side. Under Ding Jiayi’s bad influence and teaching, it was no wonder that the elder daughter was ill-natured and despicable.

  “Ding Jiayi, my biggest mistake in this life was to marry a disaster like you!”

  Qiao Dongliang gave a sad cry. He was like the aged wolf that was injured, shedding tears and howling under the full moon.

  Qiao Dongliang gritted his teeth, hunched his back, and walked with heavy but quick footsteps, leaving the hotel.

  “Old Qiao, where are you going?” Ding Jiayi, who was being lectured, still refused to admit that she was in the wrong. If she did not marry Qiao Dongliang, he would still be single today. But seeing the defeated look on his face, she could not help but hurry after him.

  When young couples turned old, they would be each other’s companion.

  Ding Jiayi might speak badly of Qiao Dongliang in front of Qiao Zijin, but she had never thought of leaving Qiao Dongliang to find another man.

  Seeing that Qiao Dongliang was terribly upset, Ding Jiayi was worried that something might happen to him. She might have a guilty conscience, but she could not help but quicken her footsteps and hurry after Qiao Dongliang, leaving her beloved daughter, Qiao Zijin, behind.

  Qiao Zijin, who was left alone, stood in a dark corner. The surroundings turned very quiet and one could hear the sounds of Qiao Zijin grinding her teeth.

  After a long while, Qiao Zijin left the hotel as well.

  Their family of three had ended up in a big quarrel. Now that her parents had left, Qiao Zijin knew that she could not stay by herself for the meal. She was not close with Zhai Hua and she was not on good terms with Qiao Nan. If her parents were around, Qiao Nan and Zhai Hua would still give her due respect on account of the elders.

  Now that her parents had left, it was useless for Qiao Zijin to stay behind by herself.

  Furthermore, Qiao Dongliang had promised that after they returned to Ping Cheng, he would think of ways to find a suitable partner for her.

  Although the conversation ended on a bad note and every one of them was in a terrible mood as if they had been through a thunderstorm, Qiao Zijin believed that since she had agreed to the plan, her father would definitely fulfill his promise to her.

  Qiao Nan came out from the corridor after the Qiao family of three left.

  They were on the fifth floor. Although there were lifts in the hotel, Qiao Nan was not used to using lifts. She would feel dizzy. Besides, it was only five levels high. It would not take long to climb the stairs. It was a form of exercise for her.

  Since Qiao Nan wanted to take the stairs, Zhai Sheng would accompany her as well. As for the three children, their grandparents would take the lift and bring them to the hotel. Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng did not expect that they would overhear this conversation at the stairway landing. Qiao Nan had yet to come back to her senses. She could not believe that this was how Ding Jiayi taught her children.

  Qiao Nan still felt weak-hearted.

  Qiao Nan wanted very much to ask Ding Jiayi whether she bore vengeance toward her husband, and therefore she had to do that to their children. Qiao Nan was a mother. If her other half used similar methods to teach her children, making them be estranged with her, she might be so furious that she would chop him up with a knife.

  “Are you still feeling uncomfortable?” Zhai Sheng got to know his mother-in-law better today. Everyone would be flabbergasted at the way Ding Jiayi taught her children.

  Qiao Nan felt weak and leaned on Zhai Sheng’s arms. “Let me rest for a well. I did not expect that I will be so exhausted after climbing five levels at one go.” She refused to admit that she was in shock due to the conversation that she overheard just now.

  In the previous life, Ding Jiayi must have used the same teaching method on Qiao Zijin. It was no wonder whenever Qiao Zijin came home, she would talk to Ding Jiayi behind closed doors, leaving her and her father outside the room.

  Before she passed away, whenever the family needed money, her parents would ask her for money. After her car accident, Qiao Zijin took her kidney. Given Qiao Zijin’s personality, she must have taken the compensation from the accident as well.

  Without her around, her parents would not have good days ahead of them.

  Ding Jiayi took great pains to raise Qiao Zijin but she was not filial to her. Instead, Ding Jiayi had to wait on her. Qiao Nan did not feel sorry for Ding Jiayi at all. After all, she brought it onto herself.

  1333 Resolving the Problem

  Qiao Nan felt uneasy at heart. Her father had been focused on earning money to support the family but neglected the situation at home. As such, he had allowed Ding Jiayi to hatch such a plot. During his old age, he still had to bear the brunt of Ding Jiayi’s stupidity.

  It turned out that she was not the only pitiful one. From a certain perspective, Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin were crueler and more heartless to her father than her.

  For a moment, Qiao Nan could not hold herself back. She said, “How many years of bad blood did my dad accumulate to marry such a woman?” The source of her family’s biggest tragedy was Ding Jiayi.

  Qiao Nan really could not bring herself to call such a woman ‘mom’.

  Zhai Sheng held onto Qiao Nan and patted her back gently. “Let us take more care of dad in the future.” When Zhai Sheng said the word ‘dad’, he was referring to Qiao Dongliang and not Zhai Yaohui.

  Qiao Dongliang refused to give up on Qiao Zijin, and this was understandable. Most parents loved their children unconditionally and selflessly. Qiao Dongliang’s behavior was not uncommon. However, he had inevitably hurt his other daughter in the process.

  Now that he had realized that Qiao Zijin had no way of turning back due to Ding Jiayi’s teaching, one really felt that he was very pitiful to have persisted until today.

  Certainly, Qiao Dongliang had been negligent in the concern for his children. He did not discover in time that Ding Jiayi was teaching his daughter in such malicious ways. However, Qiao Dongliang’s behavior was, in fact, very common in many Chinese families. Everyone led such lives.

  The only difference was that Qiao Dongliang was very unfortunate to have met a wife like Ding Jiayi. As for the other men, they also led such lives. However, they married a wife who was better than Ding Jiayi. Hence, the lives in these families were peaceful and they felt contented as long as they could make ends meet.

  \r \r \r

  “What is the matter? Nan Nan doesn’t look good. Is she feeling unwell?” When Miao Jing, with the triplets by her side, saw her son and daughter-in-law, she was sharp to notice that Qiao Nan did not look well. “Is it because……”

  Miao Jing had not arrived for a long time but she had already heard many comments about the Qiao family from others. “Nan Nan, your mom’s character…… It’s not the first time. We know about it long ago. There’s nothing surprising. Don’t let this worry you. No one is perfect. Don’t bother too much about those people’s criticisms.”

  Qiao Nan forced a smile. “Mom, don’t worry. I won’t.” How could words of outsiders affect her? After knowing the actual situation of her family, typical matters could not impact her at all. “I might have caught a little cold on the way here. As long as I rest well tonight, I should be fine tomorrow.”

  “Mom, not feeling well? Take medicine, injection!” San Bao walked over, reached out, and held on to Qiao Nan’s fingers with her little hands, showing her concern. At the mention of taking medicine and injection, San Bao’s face, which looked like a little bun, grimaced. “Painful, so bitter.”

  The triplets had been very healthy since they were babies. It was seldom that they felt unwell or had a fever. However, they had to take immunization jabs. When the triplets were teething, they had also thrown fits due to feeling unwell. It was not true that children did not know anything. When the triplets occasionally went to the hospital for immunization jabs, they saw other children throwing tantrums, crying, screaming, and refusing to take injections and medicine. As such, they were well aware that taking injections and medicine were painful matters. However, as long as one did that, one would recover from their illness and pain.

  “San Bao is so sensible. She even knows that one needs to take medicine and jabs when one is unwell.” Touching San Bao’s head, Miao Jing was smiling like a blooming flower. “San Bao, grandma will bring you to auntie, okay?”

  “Auntie, where?” San Bao nodded enthusiastically, looking around for Zhai Hua. Miao Jing waved at San Bao to ask her to come over to her side. She also brought Da Bao and Er Bao, all the three little ones, to Zhai Hua. At this moment, Miao Jing could sense that Qiao Nan did not look well due to psychological and not physiological reasons.

  If Qiao Nan was truly feeling unwell, her son would have sent her to the hospital long ago.

  On the contrary, Zhai Sheng did not look too good either and there was no sight of the Qiao family of three anywhere. Miao Jing pieced the puzzle and roughly understood what was going on.

  Qiao Nan might feel worse if the triplets were by her side. As such, Miao Jing might as well bring them somewhere else and let Zhai Sheng have a chance to console Qiao Nan well.

  However, at this juncture, Qiao Nan did not need anyone to console her. She just wished for some time to quiet down.

  Zhai Sheng understood Qiao Nan. Hence, he hugged Qiao Nan and let her lean in his arms. He silently consoled her and kept her company.

  Facing a person like Ding Jiayi, even a formidable figure such as Zhai Sheng could only sigh and exclaim with pity that it was illegal to kill someone in a lawful society and times as such. In particular, this hateful person whom he could not wait to get rid of was his biological mother-in-law.

  To anyone, this relationship was very torturing.

  It was Zhai Hua’s day of marriage today. Qiao Nan had finally livened up her mood to watch Zhai Hua marry in glory.

  After the bride finished the toasting, Zhai Sheng ‘reported’ the situation to Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing. He also informed Tian Shouyi before making a move first with his wife and children.

  Tian Shouyi had heard about the situation of the Qiao family of three.

  Initially, he was not so warm toward Qiao Nan precisely because of Qiao Nan’s background. Fortunately, there was no problem with Qiao Nan. The problematic one was Qiao Nan’s maternal family. In such a situation, the problem would not be huge as long as Qiao Nan and the Zhai family were not muddleheaded.

  Under the condition that his family’s interests would not be adversely affected, and on the account that the Zhai family had a worrisome in-law family and Qiao Nan was feeling unwell, Tian Shouyi did not take issue that Zhai Sheng and all had to leave earlier.

  His son was married and he had a daughter-in-law now. Soon after, he was also someone who would be carrying grandchildren.

  Facing these changes, Tian Shouyi was in such a good mood that he could not wait to light up firecrackers and celebrate openly. However, there were environmental pollution issues nowadays and the air in the capital was not good. As such, they could only do away with such celebration methods as much as they could.

  As soon as they arrived at the Zhai family’s residence, Qiao Nan washed up and fell asleep soon after.

  The triplets knew that their mother was not feeling well. They were thus very obedient and did not bother Qiao Nan. Under the care of their father, Zhai Sheng, they obediently brushed their teeth, washed their faces and hands, soaked their feet, and crawled onto the beds happily thereafter.

  Especially San Bao, she was overconfident. She lifted the blanket from the side and propped up her chubby legs, wanting to climb up the bed on her own accord. In order to save his chubby daughter’s face, Zhai Sheng reached out his hands and gave his daughter’s flour-like and chubby buttock a push. As such, Miss San Bao could of course climb up the bed, opened the blanket, and wriggle into the little hole created.

  Next, Zhai Sheng saw a little bump appearing under the blanket and crawling toward Qiao Nan. It was only until she reached Qiao Nan that San Bao wriggled out from the blanket, giggling happily.