Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Fortunately, as soon as Qiao Nan appeared, she immediately stuffed the ‘token’ into Qiao Zijin’s hands. This made Qiao Zijin feel much more at ease.

  Qiao Zijin and Zhou Zheng were standing at the entrance to receive the guests. Of course, the parents of both parties were also standing and waiting there to usher their respective guests into the banquet hall. The moment Qiao Nan appeared, the Zhou family was elated. No matter how poor the relationship between their daughter-in-law and Qiao Nan was, as long as Qiao Nan was willing to give their daughter-in-law and everyone face, it was already considered a great matter for the Zhou family.

  Regrettably, Mother Zhou simply could not tolerate Qiao Zijin’s behavior. Although it was said that this daughter-in-law of hers had become smarter, her IQ did not seem to have grown much when she was in front of Qiao Nan. She was still as stupid as ever.

  Did a small red packet matter? No matter how huge the red packet was, it could not be compared to the face given to them by the daughter-in-law of the Zhai family when the latter personally attended the wedding banquet!

  Thankfully, Mother Zhou sorted out her thoughts very quickly. At the sight that there was no change in Qiao Nan’s expression despite Qiao Zijin’s behavior, she simply put aside this matter.

  Indeed, they were biological sisters. Qiao Nan knew clearly what kind of person Qiao Zijin was. Precisely due to this, Qiao Nan and Qiao Zijin’s relationship was not close. Her biological sister was getting married, but Qiao Nan did not even return to the Qiao family’s residence to send Qiao Zijin off.

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  If Qiao Nan did not even attend the banquet today, Mother Zhou would have a headache then. Perhaps they had really married the wrong daughter-in-law then. As soon as Qiao Nan appeared, Mother Zhou’s unsettled heart immediately felt at ease. As a result, she received the guests more enthusiastically.

  “Nan Nan, I heard that you have been back for some time. Why didn’t I see you previously? Where did you go these past two days? Have you forgotten uncles and aunties, your old neighbors?” In the past, Qiao Nan invited the neighbors in the quad as guests of the maternal family to her banquet. Qiao Zijin did the same today.

  The difference was that Qiao Nan invited almost everyone except for those who were unethical in their words and had been jealous of Qiao Nan. On the other hand, Qiao Zijin only picked a few neighbors who were usually glib-tongued and were not so sarcastic to her.

  Otherwise, Mother Zhou might not be willing to voluntarily fork out the banquet expense for the bride’s guests if Qiao Zijin, like Qiao Nan, were to invite ninety percent of the neighbors in the northern quad.

  As soon as Qiao Nan sat down, a group of old acquaintances surrounded her very quickly, questioning this and that.

  Facing the affectionate behavior of these old neighbors, Qiao Nan smiled weakly and replied, “I arrived in Ping Cheng very late on the first day. Hence, I did not disturb you all. On the second day, my dad came to visit the three children. Yesterday, three of us adults brought the triplets to the park to have fun. You all should know too. Three-year-old children have so much energy and it’s so crowded during the National Day holiday. I’ve been tied up and exhausted these two days.”

  As to all the questions related to Qiao Zijin, Qiao Nan averted them and did not answer.

  “Dad!” At this moment, Qiao Nan saw Qiao Dongliang coming in. “Dad, wait a while. Where is your seat?” Mother Zhou invited Qiao Nan to sit on the same table with the bride. However, Qiao Nan was unwilling to. Hence, she sat at one of the tables for the bride’s relatives and friends. Qiao Dongliang’s relationship with Qiao Zijin was not as good as before. However, he was still Qiao Zijin’s father. Hence, Qiao Nan did not assume that her father would definitely sit beside her.

  True enough, as expected, Qiao Dongliang looked like his head was aching. “Today is the once-in-a-lifetime event in Zijin’s life. Just take it as me giving her face. After all, she has called me ‘dad’ for more than twenty years.” Although she might not have taken him as her father in her heart.

  “Alright, I won’t leave a seat for you then.” Qiao Nan had long guessed the outcome. She was not bothered by Qiao Dongliang’s reply at all.

  Since Qiao Dongliang sat down, his expression did not look good. He did not seem like a father who was marrying off his daughter. There was neither joy of his daughter reaching adulthood nor reluctance and sadness of marrying his daughter to another family. He wore a stiff and emotionless expression as if he was not very much related to the bride today.

  Some sharp-eyed individuals noticed this, whereas some took it that this bride’s father was more restrained in expressing his feelings and had hidden all his emotions and sadness. There were also such fathers in this world.

  At eleven o’clock, music began to play and plates of dishes were finally being served to the table. The emcee engaged by the Zhou family was quite eloquent. He knew how to liven up the atmosphere well. Very soon, this emcee had drawn the attention of everyone until the newlyweds entered the hall.

  The entire process of the banquet was run-of-the-mill. Although some of the things were considered a novelty in the 2000s, Qiao Nan had seen most of it before. While many peoples’ eyes were fixated on the emcee and newlyweds, Qiao Nan calmly picked up the dishes on the table and put them into her mouth from time to time, portraying the act of ‘eating at the wedding banquet’ vividly.

  However, the emcee’s tone changed suddenly. “Today is a joyous occasion for the newlyweds. Let us listen to the blessings from their closest friends and next-of-kin. Now, let us invite the only biological sister of our bride up to the stage to say a few words of blessing to this pair of newlyweds.”

  Under the thunderous and loud applause, Qiao Nan almost revealed a blank expression.

  Was this segment included at the last minute? Shouldn’t this kind of segment be prearranged and rehearsed, and the congratulatory messages prepared beforehand?

  Father and Mother Zhou looked more puzzled than Qiao Nan, let alone the party concerned. They looked absolutely baffled and doubted if their ears had made a mistake. Why was the bride’s biological sister invited to the stage to say a few words of blessing?

  They were aware that Qiao Nan and Qiao Zijin were not on good terms at all. Besides Qiao Zijin, Qiao Nan had never returned to the Qiao family to visit Qiao Zijin or spoken any words of concern before the latter was married. The pair of sisters did not even interact with each other. Would Qiao Nan have prepared such a congratulatory message for such an occasion? This was obviously a sneak attack, no?! In other words, if Qiao Zijin had arranged this, Qiao Zijin clearly wanted to watch Qiao Nan make a fool of herself.

  Mother Zhou’s face stiffened. Her hands also trembled from anger. She very much wished that she could snatch the microphone from the emcee and said that he had made a mistake earlier.

  Undoubtedly, how would the emcee know that the bride had a biological sister? Obviously, besides Qiao Zijin, no one else could make the emcee say such a thing at this moment. As such, Mother Zhou could not help feeling nervous for Qiao Nan. If there were any hiccups on this matter, the Zhou family would not be able to explain themselves to the Zhai family.

  Fortunately, Qiao Nan’s dressing was presentable and was not embarrassed by Qiao Zijin’s sudden attack. Clack, clack, clack! Looking calm and composed, she stepped onto the stage with her five-centimeter high heels. Suddenly, just with the sound of this pair of high heels, Qiao Nan had not only poised herself but also instinctively captured everyone’s attention.