But what could he do? This was his employee’s own family matters. If Qiao Nan could not stand up for herself and lift her head up, there was nothing they could do no matter how unhappy they were.

  Her boss had mentioned the issue of ten thousand yuan firstly to express the importance the company placed on loyal employees like Qiao Nan. If the company did not show any sign of concern when a loyal employee got into an accident and was hospitalized, would that not disappoint all employees? Secondly, her boss meant to give Qiao Nan a heads-up so that she would at least have an idea of the existence of this ten thousand yuan. He hated to see Qiao Nan being so foolish, not knowing anything, and even being controlled by Ding Jiayi.

  To put it harshly, the ten thousand yuan was also a favor.

  Ding Jiayi had taken the money in the end. If the favor needed to be returned in the future, Qiao Nan would be the one who had to do so. She would not be able to shirk her responsibility at that time. Her boss did not wish for such a good employee to be mistaken for having poor character and morals just because of her ‘amazing’ mother, Ding Jiayi.

  Qiao Nan took a deep breath as her face flushed red. “I’m so sorry. Who went to visit me the other day? I’ll apologize to him personally.”

  In the face of money, she could care less about her relationship with her daughter, much less a colleague of a daughter whom she did not favor in the first place. For the sake of money, her mom could say the most unpleasant things and do the most ridiculous and ugly things. Even though she had not been present that day, Qiao Nan could completely imagine how badly her colleague must have been treated.

  “Forget it. It’s his rest day today, but I can relay your message to him. It’s not your fault either.” Her boss sighed helplessly. “I understand your plans. You won’t be our factory’s employee in the future, but I still hope that your life will get better. Qiao Nan, you should really love yourself a little more.”

  \r \r \r

  Everyone who knew Qiao Nan told her the same thing over and over again: to treat herself better and to love herself more.

  Sometimes, parents were not the most reliable. If she did not love herself, there would be no one else in this world who would love her.

  Tears welled up in Qiao Nan’s eyes and she sniffled. “I will, for sure! I will definitely love myself more in the future.” Or perhaps, she would even love herself the most!

  “Go on.” Qiao Nan’s boss saw that Qiao Nan had indeed changed from the past and had even taken his advice. If Qiao Nan could really keep to her word and love herself even more in the future, he would definitely be happy for Qiao Nan. “Go on. Remember to live a good life. You’re always welcome to visit us whenever you’re free.”

  “I will. Goodbye.” Qiao Nan gave a deep bow to express her gratitude for her leader. Only after that did she take the three months’ worth of salary and leave. Even though her closest kin had been so coldhearted toward her that she felt as though all the blood in her body had been frozen, just like it had been in her dream, outsiders who had no relation to her were constantly giving her warmth, telling her that winter was not the only season in the year and that brutal cold was not the only temperature that existed.

  Qiao Nan ran around visiting all her contacts that she had made before her accident to bid farewell to them and to settle her work. When all was finally done, it was already eight o’clock in the evening.

  Qiao Nan had already ended her lease for her rented apartment, and Qiao Nan was not the least bit willing to take a step into the Qiao family’s courtyard. Thus, Qiao Nan found a decently clean and inexpensive motel to spend the night.

  Early the next morning, Qiao Nan packed up her light luggage but could not help but feel slightly lost and helpless. There was no need to hesitate about leaving the Qiao family and moving away to start a new life afresh.

  Leaving the Qiao family was a must. But where should she go to start her new life?

  After giving it some thought, Qiao Nan made a decision inwardly. Taking her identity card and household registration with her, she would leave Ping Cheng, a city that had plagued her with a whole myriad of problems, to another city that would allow her to have some peace: Qingshui town.

  Sitting in the car and looking at Ping Cheng that was growing ever smaller in the distance, Qiao Nan smiled in relief. She had finally left her old life behind. Perhaps, she was really not suited for life in Ping Cheng. In both her dream world and reality, she had not led a good life in Ping Cheng. It was only when she left Ping Cheng that she had finally been able to get relief.

  Now that she had finally left Ping Cheng, Qiao Nan felt as though a huge stone had been lifted off her chest. But with her departure, chaos ensued in a certain corner of Ping Cheng.

  In front of Qiao Nan, Qiao Dongliang felt guilty for having his eyes on Qiao Nan’s kidney. He had not been able to be as brazen and shameless as Ding Jiayi, who thought that Qiao Nan’s sacrifices were justified. Qiao Dongliang felt guilty and sorry toward Qiao Nan and could not face her. As such, he tried to avoid any contact with Qiao Nan as much as possible.

  The better Qiao Nan’s health was, the more obvious Qiao Dongliang’s behavior got. Qiao Dongliang had always sent breakfast over to Qiao Nan personally but had always asked the nurse to pass it to Qiao Nan. He himself would leave straightaway after handing the meal over to the nurse. That afternoon, he had personally seen Qiao Nan finish her meal. He had only stayed because he had wanted to chat with Qiao Nan’s doctor about her progress and how well she was recovering.

  As for dinner, Qiao Dongliang had gotten used to asking other people to send Qiao Nan’s meal to the hospital for the nurse to hand it over to Qiao Nan.

  Thankfully, Qiao Dongliang had done this out of guilt. That had given Qiao Nan the chance to settle her past and leave everything behind. The moment Qiao Dongliang left after lunchtime, Qiao Nan quickly finished her discharge procedures and left the hospital as well.

  Quite a few nurses in the hospital knew about Qiao Nan’s departure. Perhaps it was also because of Qiao Nan’s good fortune. Qiao Nan had once told that nurse, who had been extremely concerned about her, that the Qiao family had their sights set on her own kidney for Qiao Zijin’s sake.

  When the person that Qiao Dongliang had entrusted the tasks of delivering Qiao Nan’s dinner arrived, the nurse on duty almost let slip that Qiao Nan had already been discharged and wanted to question why they were still sending lunch boxes over.

  Right at that moment, the kind nurse, who had been taking care of Qiao Nan all along, stopped her colleague just in time. She accepted the lunch box as usual and said that she would pass it to Qiao Nan later. With that, the other party left feeling assured.

  “Why didn’t you let me tell him?” The colleague asked out of confusion after the other party left.

  The kind nurse laughed. “Anyway, he’s already sent the lunch box over. He looked like he’s rushing off for his night shift. If you had told him that Miss Qiao had been discharged, wouldn’t he have to bring this lunch box to his workplace? How inconvenient would that be! At the very most, we can hand this lunch box over to the Qiao family tomorrow when they come. It isn’t very nice to always bother others, after all.”