“So many years had passed, but she still hasn’t changed her unreasonable and shameless personality. Nan Nan and I seem to owe the men in the Zhai family. We are being bullied by the pair of mother and daughter because of you!”

  To Miao Jing, Qiao Nan was going through what she had suffered decades ago. They had the same predicament.

  Qiu Chenxi had a similar disposition to her mother, Qi Minlan.

  She was unreasonable and she did not feel ashamed at doing those evil deeds.

  “Grandma?” Da Bao knitted his brows. “Hit grandpa, why?” Grandpa was behaving himself and being obedient. Why did grandma bully grandpa?

  “Grandpa, did you misbehave?” Er Bao looked at his grandparents curiously.

  San Bao broke into a smile. She walked to stand next to Zhai Yaohui. Her intention was to hit him on his thigh, but she was still very young. Her gentle touch seemed like a caress to Zhai Yaohui. “Grandma, don’t be angry. Grandpa is mischievous. San Bao will help grandma.” After she taught her grandpa a lesson, her grandma must smile.

  Miao Jing, who was furious, forgot totally about the triplets. She could not help but blush at the sight of the triplets. She made a fool of herself in front of them.

  Zhai Yaohui did not mind it at all. He was laughing heartily. “Don’t worry. Grandpa is being very well-behaved. Grandma is not angry with me. She is not hitting me. It is just that my shirt is dirty and she is brushing off the dust for me.” Zhai Yaohui grabbed Miao Jing’s hands and gave a few pats on his shirt, proving to his grandchildren that he was telling the truth. Zhai Yaohui was usually stern and serious. Everyone would keep a straight face when he was around. He turned his head and put a smile on his face, trying hard to gain Miao Jing’s favor.

  He was the chief when he was outside.

  But he was Miao Miao’s husband at home.

  \r \r \r

  It was not embarrassing to please and cajole his wife.

  Miao Jing could no longer stay angry with Zhai Yaohui, but she refused to admit that Zhai Yaohui’s charms and coaxes were useful on her. She turned her head to the side, not looking at Zhai Yaohui. Instead, she brought the triplets along with her so that she could play with them. “Your mama has a lot of homework to do and she has to do her learning. Da Bao, Er Bao, and San Bao cannot disturb your mama.”

  San Bao was displeased. “After mama finishes her work, she must play with us.”

  “San Bao, be good.” Da Bao, who was the eldest, consoled San Bao. He told her not to be naughty.

  Er Bao drooled as he smiled. “Don’t be angry. I will play with you.”

  With her mother-in-law’s help, Qiao Nan sorted out the complicated relationship in no time. There were some things that Qiao Nan was unwilling to do and she would rather be muddled. But since her enemies were right on her doorstep, they would think that she was a pushover if she did not show them what she was capable of.

  There was one person that had almost slipped out of Qiao Nan’s mind. To her surprise, this person came into sight because of Qiu Chenxi. Deng Wenchang worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a young man that she found particularly annoying.

  With Old Master Zhai’s help, she learned that Shi Peng was supportive of the Zhai family while Qiu Chenxi was leaning toward the Peng family under Old Master Shi’s influence.

  Old Master Shi was trying to please both sides. If the Zhai family was doing well, he would ask his son who supported the Zhai family to help his daughter and granddaughter. If the Peng family was doing well, he would get his daughter to help his son.

  Old Master Shi’s logic was simple but selfish.

  Shi Peng and Qi Minlan were his children. When he was advanced in years, they had to provide for his old age and make sure that he led a good life.

  If his son had the foresight and the Zhai family did better than the Peng family, everything would go as planned. No matter what, his daughter was married. Her surname was Qi instead of Shi. Now that she was divorced, he had been providing for her and her daughter. He did not ask his daughter to return the favor. But if her daughter was in trouble, they could not possibly ask him who was already advanced in years to help them out.

  Of course, it would be just as nice if his granddaughter was superior.

  After her daughter had a divorce, she had nowhere to go with her daughter. He was the one who took them in. In that case, they would treat him like a retired emperor.

  What he wanted was to lead a good life in the future.

  He had two children, and they each supported one family. One of them was bound to be successful. All he needed to do once the winner was decided was to stay with the child who was successful and lead a life of an elderly gentleman in the future.

  Furthermore, by then, the Shi family’s reputation and social position would be higher than before.

  It did not matter whether it was his son or his daughter who helped the Shi family flourish. Both of them were his children. Without him, they would not be here as well. Therefore, he would still be the greatest hero. After he passed away, he would be able to face his ancestors. Old Master Shi did not care whether it was his son or his daughter who succeeded.

  Qiao Nan had heard from Shi Qing years ago about the peculiar situation in the Shi family. Today, she finally saw it for herself, Old Master Shi’s style of dealing with things. Qiao Nan had to admit that she was not the only pitiful child in this world. Qi Minlan was muddled. It was hard to say whether Old Master Shi had done Qi Minlan wrong or the other way round.

  But Shi Peng was unlucky. He had an unreliable father and a worrisome younger sister and niece.

  Apart from the Shi family who was in a mess, Qiao Nan had to pay attention to Deng Wenchang as well. The Deng family used to be neutral. She did not expect that they would be in close contact with the Peng family secretly since the beginning of this year.

  Qiao Nan remembered that when she was doing her internship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last year, Deng Wenchang was prejudiced against her and that made her angry. However, back then, Qiao Nan, who had the mental age of a forty to fifty years old auntie, could not be bothered to take issue with Deng Wenchang, who was like a young kid.

  However, with Peng Yu in the picture, everything was different.

  Deng Wenchang was already at odds with her. From now onward, she decided to be at odds with him as well. Peng Yu wanted to place Deng Wenchang at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although she could not send Deng Wenchang out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, what she could do was to make sure that she performed better than him so that he would have no chance of rising through the ranks.

  Qiao Nan had no idea why Peng Yu highly valued the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but she would disrupt his plans and do all she could to stop Deng Wenchang from doing what he set out to do.

  In that case, the Zhai family would be the one who won in this fight, and the Peng family would not have the last laugh.

  Since it no longer made any difference if she went to school or not, after making up her mind, Qiao Nan decided to go with Elder Lin’s arrangement to continue to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with He Yi’s help.

  There were more men than women in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.