Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  No matter how valuable Wei Wei was, he was not her dad’s son anyway. What was the point of her dad placing so much importance on Wei Wei? Instead of paying attention to someone else’s son, he might as well treat his own daughter well. Wei Jiajia could not understand her father’s mindset.

  “Nonsense! The one I love most apart from your mom is you! If you don’t believe me, you can ask your mom!” There was no way Wei De would admit to placing more emphasis on Wei Wei. Zhai Hua had more than once complained to him about this matter, and she had complained so much that she saw no point in doing so anymore.

  But in front of their child, Wei De believed that Zhai Hua would be on his side and would help him. Even if it was just to coax their daughter, she would not let her daughter get upset over such a trivial matter during the new year period.

  This time, however, Zhai Hua refused to cooperate with him. “Why are you asking me about this? Jiajia is all grown up and has the ability to judge for herself. Even if she doesn’t understand some things now, she’ll eventually understand whatever I teach her. It’s best for Jiajia to think about all that when she grows older.” Besides, she felt that what Jiajia had said was the truth.

  Agreeing to celebrate the new year with her family was the first step Zhai Hua was taking to correct her mistake of getting together with Wei De. People said that the first step was almost the hardest. With Wei De’s help, Zhai Hua managed to take the first step. That meant that everything else that followed would be a breeze.

  She was not an orphan. Besides her daughter, Jiajia, she had her father, her mother, and her younger brother, Zhai Sheng. How had she managed to live all these years and get herself into such a terrible state? If someone had told her that her life would be in such ruins ten years ago, she would never have believed that person and might very well have beaten that person up.

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  Because her mother had not taken her father’s bait to lie to her, Wei Jiajia was elated at being respected. She held Zhai Hua’s hand and asked, “Mom, how are grandma’s and grandpa’s tempers? Should I take note of anything?”

  Both she and her mom had led rather comfortable lives in the Wei family because of this impressive family that her mom had. As such, she had to form a strong bond with her grandma’s family. She knew that Wei Wei had wanted to tag along to go to Qingshui Town. Her grandma had even wanted her father to bring only Wei Wei, and not her!

  She understood her grandma’s intentions without even using her brain.

  Her mom had said that only she was the Zhai family’s grandchild. Wei Wei had nothing to do with the Zhai family. Why would her grandparents favor a child who had nothing to do with their family instead of her? No matter how brilliant Wei Wei was, the Zhai family would not be so foolish and ignorant as to not know who was an outsider. Besides, Wei Wei had never been an outstanding child.

  Caressing her daughter’s hair, Zhai Hua laughed. “You don’t need to do anything special or watch out for anything. Your grandparents will love you all the same.” Zhai Hua was confident about that.

  “Mom, grandma and grandpa are great!” They were much better than her paternal grandma.

  “Yes,” Zhai Hua answered sourly. Had it not been for her tantrum at that time and Wei De coaxing her, her family should have met with her daughter long ago. In that case, even if Jiajia could not get the favor and love of her paternal grandparents, she would at least bring joy to her maternal grandparents.

  The situation would be unlike how it was now, and the Zhai family was clearly fond of Jiajia. But Jiajia was uneasy because she had never met the Zhai family. “If you like it, you can always go over to stay with your grandma in the future. I’ll send you over. Your grandma loves young ladies like you. When I was younger, I was a tomboy and did not like to wear dresses or put on makeup. I refused to wear any of those pretty clothes that your grandma bought for me. With a little princess like you, your grandma will have a lot of work to do in the future.”

  “Mom, does grandma like you more than my uncle?” With Wei Wei’s presence, Wei Jiajia understood that grandsons were different from granddaughters. Moreover, having been in school for a long time, she knew that this was the case in many of her classmates’ families as well.

  “Yes.” Zhai Hua’s eyes reddened and her voice nearly choked. “It’s not just your grandpa and grandma. Actually, your great-grandpa loved me more than your uncle too.” Even though the men in the Zhai family were not expressive with their words, they were naturally gentler and more caring toward the females in the family. It was just that she had been too young at that time and had simply believed what a certain someone had ‘said’ and thus had never thought about what her family had done for her.

  Upon receiving confirmation from her mother, Wei Jiajia was even more excited to meet her grandma.

  Wei De, who had been listening to the conversation between the mother and daughter, felt bitter in his heart. He had always felt that Zhai Hua shared a special bond with Jiajia and was always excluding him. He felt as though he was no more than a hired chauffeur.

  “We’re here.” Seeing an unfamiliar structure in a familiar environment, Zhai Hua had almost failed to recognize her old home where Old Master Zhai had raised Zhai Sheng and her.

  Wei Jiajia alighted from the car to take a look. “Wow, this place is huge. I guess this must be the courtyard.” How interesting.

  “Yes, the courtyard. Your mom grew up here in the courtyard.” It was only when she got married to Wei De that she bid farewell to the courtyard. Seeing the place where she had gotten sick and tired of as a child, Zhai Hua found herself reminiscing about the good old days.

  Seeing the closed door, Zhai Hua took a few steps forward with her daughter and hesitated for a moment. She was filled with mixed emotions now that she was standing at the door. Zhai Hua could not help but feel timid and feel the urge to leave.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?” Wei Jiajia looked at Zhai Hua in confusion, not understanding why her mom was not knocking on the door or calling her grandma to the door.

  “I……” Zhai Hua wanted to suggest looking for somewhere else to stay in Qingshui Town for the night before returning the next day. But right at that moment, the door opened.

  Of course, it was not that that person was omniscient and had come to open the door specially for Zhai Hua’s family. It was just that Qiao Nan had been so frightened by the whole Zhai family’s strange attitudes that she had goose bumps all over. Even Xiao Zhao was especially hospitable toward her. With nowhere else to go, Qiao Nan had decided to leave with the excuse that she was heading out to buy some things so that she would have a moment to herself.

  What Qiao Nan had not expected was that she would bump into another ‘old acquaintance’ at the door—her sister-in-law, who was also her best friend, Zhai Hua. “Sister Zhai Hua, you’re here?! Why didn’t you make a call before coming? No one knows that you’re here! Hurry on in. I heard that it’s going to snow soon. If you left any later, I guess you wouldn’t even have made it here.”

  “Isn’t…… I…… You……”

  Zhai Hua, who was being pulled into the house by Qiao Nan, was utterly confused. Was this not the Zhai family’s house?