Who cared whether Ding Jiayi knew about that or not. Anyway, the two hundred yuan was already in her pocket. Ding Jiayi should not even dream about taking that money back since she had already damaged the door, after all. That was a fact.

  All of a sudden, Ding Jiayi felt as though her hip began to hurt even more badly because of what the landlady had just said. “That wretched girl doesn’t stay here anymore? Are you lying to me? I’m not Old Qiao. I’m not so gullible. I don’t believe you. Open the door right now. That wretched girl must be inside.”

  If Qiao Nan was really gone, where would she find Qiao Nan to get her money and kidney?

  “You don’t believe me? Fine. I’ll open the door for you.” Her goal had already been achieved and she had had enough entertainment for the day. It was rare that the landlady had the opportunity to show Ding Jiayi some color. As such, she decided to open the door for Ding Jiayi to satisfy her curiosity. “Look carefully. I’ve already found someone to come and demolish this place. I don’t want anything in this apartment. If there’s anything you want, you can take it home.”

  The landlady’s words made it seem as though Ding Jiayi was a rubbish collector.

  \r \r \r

  “I don’t believe you! I don’t believe you!” Ding Jiayi could not believe that she had gone through all that trouble to smash the door, but it turned out that she had broken into an empty apartment and that Qiao Nan was truly not there at all! Actually, there was nothing much in the small space. Just a glance was sufficient to take everything in. But Ding Jiayi refused to believe what she had just heard and insisted on entering the apartment. Only when she had searched through the apartment did she ask the landlady, “Where did Qiao Nan go? Where did you hide Qiao Nan? I’m warning you that I was the one who gave birth to her. You’re breaking the law by hiding her away! I can sue you for that!”

  “You can sue me if you want, but it’s still too early to say anything about that. Your daughter’s already reaching the age of forty. Do you think she’s four? How can I hide her away? I’m telling you again that all I’ve done is rent a place to her. Now that she’s thought it through for herself, she left so that you people will never be able to find her and she’ll finally be able to live a good life on her own. The door’s already open and I’m not planning on closing it. But I’m warning you that it’s still my business even if I want to demolish the place. If you dare to continue making a din here, I’ll make you pay for each item you damage. If you don’t pay for them, that’s fine too. I’ll report you to the police!”

  With that, the landlady felt as though she had gotten back at Ding Jiayi. Twisting her thick waist, she left joyfully.

  For some unknown reason, Qiao Nan’s old neighbor was standing along the second floor’s corridor. “Don’t bother. Qiao Nan really moved away yesterday. I watched Qiao Nan leave with her luggage at noontime yesterday after she came back. There’s no point throwing a tantrum here. You’re just wasting your energy.”

  Now that there was one more person like himself who had to rely on his own efforts to support himself, the worker felt that this was something to rejoice over.

  Ding Jiayi’s face paled. It was only then that she finally believed what Qiao Dongliang had told her back at the hospital. Initially, she had thought that Qiao Dongliang had been biased toward Qiao Nan. She had thought that Qiao Dongliang was trying to protect Qiao Nan because he felt that it was unfair for Qiao Nan to donate her kidney to Qiao Zijin after her car accident. That was why he had come up with a story of Qiao Nan moving away in front of her and Qiao Zijin, even saying that no one knew where Qiao Nan was or where she had moved to.

  But now, Ding Jiayi came to a sudden realization that Qiao Dongliang had been speaking the truth. That wretched girl, Qiao Nan, was really missing! Humph! She did not believe that Qiao Nan would be able to escape from her grasp. No matter how big Ping Cheng was, Qiao Nan had no boyfriend, good friends, or good colleagues. Based on her lack of interpersonal relationships, there were not many places that Qiao Nan could go to even if she were to stop leasing this apartment.

  Could that wretched girl, Qiao Nan, have returned to the Qiao family’s small courtyard? Was she intending to snatch Zijin’s room from her?

  That would not do. She had to return home to check on the situation. No. She should make a trip down to that wretched girl’s workplace to take a look. If she remembered correctly, that wretched girl still had one month’s worth of salary that she had not claimed. It was just as well that she made a trip down now so that she could claim Qiao Nan’s salary on her behalf. She would settle the rest of the accounts with Qiao Nan later on.

  To Ding Jiayi, money had always been the top priority. Without a second thought, she decided to forgo looking for Qiao Nan for the time being. She would instead take all of Qiao Nan’s salary before deciding on her next step. Ding Jiayi thought that there was no way Qiao Nan could run away. The kidney that Qiao Zijin wanted was still safe and sound.

  Since the kidney was not a problem, the only thing she needed to focus her efforts on was to get more money on hand so as to make a plan for Qiao Zijin’s future life.

  Ding Jiayi had always accurately predicted Qiao Nan’s every action and had Qiao Nan firmly within the grasp of her palms. But this time, Ding Jiayi had made wasted trips at every single location. After busying herself for an entire afternoon, not only had Ding Jiayi not gotten a single cent, but she had even been mocked and ridiculed by others. In the end, they all said the same thing: Qiao Nan had already settled all her wages and had resigned before leaving.

  From now on, Qiao Nan would no longer be their employee. As such, unless Ding Jiayi had any business dealings with them, they would no longer welcome Ding Jiayi to their workplace, and neither would Ding Jiayi be able to enter their premises if she was coming to visit as a family member of an employee only to kick up a fuss about Qiao Nan’s wages.

  Ding Jiayi had searched through several places and had gone to almost everywhere that Qiao Nan frequented or could at least be contacted at. But it was all for naught. Not only had Ding Jiayi not been able to find Qiao Nan, but she had even learned from Qiao Nan’s colleagues and superiors that Qiao Nan had officially resigned the previous day at noontime and had taken with her all of her wages.

  Thus, when Ding Jiayi asked them for money as Qiao Nan’s mom, they could only apologize and express that Qiao Nan was their employee, and they had already given their employee her wages. There was none left for Ding Jiayi.

  After running about for almost a whole day, Ding Jiayi, who had gained nothing, had fatigue written all over her face. Afraid that Zijin would be able to guess that something was amiss if she were to go to the hospital now, Ding Jiayi had no choice but to return to the Qiao family’s small courtyard.

  The moment she returned home and saw Qiao Dongliang, Ding Jiayi broke out in a loud and anguished wail. “Didn’t I tell you early on that that wretched girl has no conscience? She knows that Zijin is waiting for her kidney to save her life, but she ran away secretly! How could that wretched girl be so heartless? Does she really want to see Zijin die? Do you know what’s worse? I made several trips to her workplaces today and she didn’t even tell us about ending her lease or where she’s moving to. She quit all her jobs and even took with her all of her wages. She didn’t even leave a single cent for us. She wants us to starve to death! Zijin still has to undergo surgery. Such a huge sum of money……”

  At the mention of money, Ding Jiayi’s tears dried up and she suddenly remembered the bigger issue at hand. “That’s not right. That driver who knocked her down still owes us a few hundred thousand yuan. Do you think that wretched girl resolved the issue on her own?” That was a much larger sum of money!