Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Even if her promotion this time had the slightest bit to do with Qiao Zijin.

  But Qiao Nan always knew that if it was not for her preparations by recording that extreme conversation with Qiao Zijin, there was no way she would have been promoted. On the contrary, she would very well have been dragged down from her position, and she would have let her master down.

  It was not Qiao Zijin who had given her this opportunity. It was her own efforts that had turned these bad things into an opportunity for herself. Thus, her promotion really was not because of Qiao Zijin.

  Qiao Zijin should already be thanking the heavens that she decided not to pursue the matter. But what Qiao Nan had never expected was for Qiao Zijin to ‘return’ her favor with such a big ‘present’.

  Qiao Dongliang’s expression warmed. “So that’s how it is.” He should have known. Nan Nan was such a good kid. How could she bear to end Zijin like that? Even if they had no feelings for each other and were just strangers, there was no need to drive her into a corner. “Now, we’ll just have to wait for the outcome of Zijin’s surgery. Nan Nan, how long has Zijin been inside?”

  “Probably just over an hour.” Qiao Nan glanced at her watch.

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  Ding Jiayi moved her lips but did not say anything unpleasant. When Qiao Zijin had begged her for help earlier, Ding Jiayi had refused to help her out of fear that Qiao Nan would stop giving her a living allowance, or that the cost of living would increase. She even advised Qiao Zijin to beg Qiao Nan herself and to stop being at ends with Qiao Nan.

  But who would have expected that both she and Zijin, who had been on the verge of breaking down, had just been thinking too much. Qiao Nan had never intended to throw Qiao Zijin into jail. It was because of their own guilty conscience that they thought that Qiao Zijin had committed a serious mistake and that Qiao Nan would never let Qiao Zijin off.

  After all, Qiao Nan had never been softhearted toward Qiao Zijin before. But they had never expected that it was toward such an important and crucial matter that Qiao Nan suddenly acted out of the norm and displayed some sense of kinship toward Qiao Zijin.

  Ding Jiayi pitied Qiao Zijin. If she had known that this was the case, Zijin would not have had to be pinned under Qiao Nan’s wheel. No matter how one saw it, it was all Qiao Nan’s fault. Who would not be afraid if they were in Qiao Zijin’s place after causing such a huge uproar? Everyone had seen how even the most powerful magazine publishers had been shut down.

  Since Qiao Nan did not intend to take action against them, why did she not say so earlier? If Zijin had not been so afraid, would she have taken such drastic measures and wanted to end her life? For ordinary people like them who lived ordinary lives, going to jail was scarier than death.

  If she was in Zijin’s place, she would do the same. She would much rather die than go to jail. Anyone who went to jail could not be any good. Staying in jail for a day was a hundred, or even a thousand times tougher than a day outside.

  But no matter what, knowing that Qiao Nan was not planning to pursue the matter, Ding Jiayi felt relieved. “You two, don’t think I’m deaf. Don’t talk about Qiao Zijin like that in front of me. It’s true that I got into an accident in the past, but that was purely an accident. Zijin had nothing to do with it. What has Qiao Nan taking the college entrance examination got to do with me? Would I have sacrificed my life just to stop her from taking the college entrance examination?”

  Nothing was more precious than her own life. Giving her life just for Qiao Nan? Over her dead body. Not in a million years!

  Qiao Dongliang laughed. “Wow, you really don’t know anything? Do you really think that it was purely an accident that you were knocked down in front of Nan Nan’s school gate the year she was supposed to take the college entrance examination? When I asked you why you appeared in front of the school gate at that very moment, you didn’t answer me, but I already knew the answer. I thought that you’d already guessed what had happened. I never expected that you’re still in the dark about this matter.”

  Qiao Dongliang did not know whether to laugh or cry.

  Ding Jiayi had raised Qiao Zijin skewed, and Qiao Zijin had never let Ding Jiayi off easy either. More than ten years ago, Ding Jiayi had already gotten retribution for the way she had raised Qiao Zijin.

  At that time, Ding Jiayi was in a much more serious condition than Qiao Zijin was today. If Ding Jiayi had arrived at the hospital just half an hour later, she would not even be sitting here, talking without a clue to him right now.

  “No, that had nothing to do with Zijin. It was just an accident. Zijin is already lying there and you’re still talking about her behind her back! Is Zijin still your daughter? What kind of father are you? If Zijin finds out about this, she’ll be heartbroken!” Ding Jiayi had only a moment’s hesitation and doubt about that matter.

  In the end, Qiao Zijin cajoled her and neither was Ding Jiayi willing to accept such a truth. As such, she intentionally ignored this matter and refused to think about the many impossibilities of that incident. Now that Qiao Dongliang had taken the initiative to bring this matter up, Ding Jiayi was even more adamant to pretend that she knew nothing about it.

  “Dad, forget it.” Qiao Nan returned with bottles of water. She passed one to Qiao Dongliang, took one for herself, and placed one on the bench. Ding Jiayi could take it if she wanted to. “You can’t wake someone who’s deliberately pretending to be asleep.” It was obvious that Ding Jiayi had guessed about the truth of the matter but was in denial. Qiao Zijin was not only cut off from her father but was even vicious enough to do that to her mother.

  Once Ding Jiayi admitted that that was the truth, then her life would indeed be a complete failure.

  Her biological mother hated her and refused to acknowledge her. In the few decades after she first got married, Ding Jiayi had never had any contact with her family. Even after being husband and wife for more than ten years, Qiao Dongliang never forgave her. He even resented her for bringing Qiao Zijin up in such a skewed manner. After their divorce, he was even unwilling to remain in the same city and only wished that they would never meet ever again.

  There was no need to talk about their daughters. Ding Jiayi had never placed her hopes in her.

  Qiao Zijin was different. Qiao Zijin was Ding Jiayi’s whole hope. She was the only light in Ding Jiayi’s world. But in these darkest moments, the next one to jump in front of a car to end her life might just be Ding Jiayi!

  In actuality, this incident was not Qiao Nan’s worst nightmare. If Qiao Nan had not died from a car accident in her previous life, she would probably have been able to handle this incident even more calmly. Disgust. She had to be disgusted. Who wanted to knock anyone down with their car?

  But the words that Qiao Zijin had said before being sent up onto the ambulance left a ‘deep’ impression on Qiao Nan. Seeing Ding Jiayi now, there was just a slight fear and gratefulness in Qiao Nan’s eyes.