“My dad wants to deal with them, but how should he do that? Warn them? Would that work? Get someone to beat them up? Wouldn’t we be throwing the Zhai family’s reputation down the drain then?”

  Zhai Hua felt bad for Zhai Yaohui on this account. Qi Minlan was old now. If Qiu Chenxi worked, her dad could have retired a long time ago. Unfortunately, Qiu Chenxi had ideas of her own. Whether it was before or after her marriage, she had never wanted to work and had insisted on her family supporting her.

  The men of the Zhai family did not know how to deal with such a woman.

  Miao Jing was reluctant to back down. “We can’t retaliate? All our family can do is suffer?” She could not take it lying down. She did not believe that there would be no solution to this matter.

  “That might not necessarily be the case.” Zhai Hua sat down comfortably, enjoying the water that her daughter had brought her. It was so sweet. It was indeed water that her daughter had given her. “Didn’t my dad already deal with Qiu Qin? Otherwise, he could have retired by now and enjoyed life as an old cadre. That’s all gone now. But I’ve always been a little hesitant about that. Do you think that was punishing Qi Minlan and her daughter, or we were helping them instead?”

  “What do you mean?” Miao Jing frowned in confusion.

  “Mom, you should know that Qiu Qin had an affair behind Qi Minlan’s back while he was younger, right? They even had a son. That son graduated from university and has a stable job now. He’s even gotten married and has a son himself. Qiu Qin no longer goes home and lives with that woman instead, spending time with his grandson. His life can’t get any better.”

  \r \r \r

  Qiu Qin had lost his privileges as an old cadre, but someone might have benefitted from that situation. However, Qiu Qin did know that it was entirely Qi Minlan’s and Qiu Chenxi’s faults that he had been robbed of those privileges. As such, he was even more unwilling to return home to face the mother-daughter pair and chose to spend all his time with his grandson instead.

  “Is that true?” Miao Jing was taken aback. “That’s just as well. I’m sure the loss of those privileges must have some impact on the Qiu family.” Qiu Qin did not have those benefits, and neither did Qiu Chenxi nor Qi Minlan work.

  Thinking about how quickly Qiu Chenxi spent money, Miao Jing was sure that Qi Minlan would be very miserable, let alone Qiu Chenxi, especially since Qiu Qin was not receiving any benefits as an old cadre. She had no money to spend!

  “Dad, Qiu Qin was probably the one who took care of his son’s job, right? I checked on it recently. We can do something.” Whether it was to punish Qiu Chenxi and Qi Minlan, or whether it was because she looked down on that illegitimate child, Zhai Hua felt that they could take some action in this regard.

  The look in Zhai Hua’s eyes told Zhai Yaohui that she had some plans in mind. “Do whatever you want but don’t go too far. Leave them with some room to breathe at the very least. Even if you do something, make sure you target the correct person.”

  “Don’t worry. I know what to do.” She simply felt that Qiu Qin should clear up the relationship between these two women at least. His marriage to Qi Minlan existed in name only. That mistress he was supporting outside was a more authentic wife than Qi Minlan herself, and she lived even more happily.

  Sorry, she could not stand the sight of either of these two old women. She would simply deal with them at the same time. Qiu Qin had been riding on the Zhai family’s laurels to allow that mistress to live such a comfortable life and find his son such a good job. Now, she would simply be retrieving whatever the Zhai family had lent Qiu Qin.

  Qiu Chenxi only knew that Old He shared a decent relationship with Zhai Yaohui. When she learned that Old He intended to introduce his divorced niece to Zhai Sheng, Qiu Chenxi grew to hate Old He. Miao Jing only scolded Old He just now, but Qiu Chenxi had already lambasted Old He one too many times in her heart.

  It was only when she realized that Zhai Sheng had gotten together with Qiao Nan, whom she could not control, did Qiu Chenxi suddenly realize that Old He seemed like a good pawn. That night, Qiu Chenxi, who had been provoked and run into obstacles with Qiao Nan, made several calls to the Zhai family.

  Unfortunately, she could not go any further than ‘Dad’ before the call was cut off by Zhai Yaohui. Following that, the Zhai family simply unplugged the phone. Since she could not get in contact with the Zhai family, Qiu Chenxi could not be sure of how the rest of the Zhai family, apart from Zhai Sheng, felt about Qiao Nan.

  She refused to believe that she would lose to a caretaker like Qiao Nan. No matter how bad she was, was she worse than someone like Qiao Nan? She was a hundred times more outstanding than Qiao Nan! So, how could the Zhai family choose a caretaker over giving her a second chance?

  Since she could not get in touch with the Zhai family, Qiu Chenxi could only settle on starting somewhere else. Because she knew that Old He’s relationship with Zhai Yaohui was no longer as good as it had been, she was slightly nervous. Unlike the Zhai family that had gradually risen through the ranks, the He family had simply grown in number. Seeing his brother in arms rise in position, Old He’s neck almost got too strained from looking up in jealousy.

  Qiu Chenxi might not understand others, but she was clear about how someone like Old He felt. As long as Old He still had some form of contact with the Zhai family, she was confident that her plan would definitely work.

  After reporting the matters to Old He, Qiu Chenxi anxiously awaited the results. She did not believe that Zhai Yaohui would not be moved by Old He’s words that he delivered in that weird tone. Even families with lower social statuses than the Zhai family would not accept a caretaker as a daughter-in-law, much less the Zhai family.

  If the Zhai family were ridiculed, would they still allow Zhai Sheng to be with Qiao Nan?

  “All right. Stop pacing around.” Qi Minlan knew what ‘good deeds’ her daughter had done. There was no use, and everything that Qiu Chenxi had done would yield nothing. But her daughter had already gone too far for saving. Qi Minlan knew that nothing she said mattered.

  “Mom, do you think my father-in-law would have already gone to find Zhai Sheng and bring him back from Qingshui Town, warning that caretaker to stay away from Zhai Sheng? I guess that should be it, right?” Qiu Chenxi got even more excited as she dreamed of this possibility. “Mom, say something.”

  Qi Minlan sighed. “Chenxi, have you forgotten your mother-in-law’s background?”

  “.……” Qiu Chenxi was left in a trance and her face stiffened. Yes, she had almost forgotten. Her ex-mother-in-law had been nothing more than a countryside bumpkin who was a farmer before marrying into the Zhai family. Her situation had been no better than Qiao Nan’s today.

  Knowing that her daughter had realized that, Qi Minlan continued.