As such, it was really disadvantageous to raise a daughter. In such situations, it was like raising a daughter for someone else’s son.

  Anyway, she wouldn’t do this. If she had money and knew how to earn money, she would definitely think of ways to spend all her money on her own family, especially on her parents. After all, these people were her close relatives. They had lived together since she was young. Their relationship couldn’t be compared to ordinary people.

  Instead of wasting a lot of money on an outsider known as ‘husband’, it was better to spend on one’s parents and siblings instead.

  When Ding Jiayi heard these words, she thought they made sense. She gave birth to Qiao Nan and raised her to adulthood. Qiao Nan finally knew how to earn money. However, she was going to use the money earned to provide for outsiders and even be filial toward other elders, pushing her and Qiao Dongliang behind. On what basis should that happen?!

  Rather than letting others enjoy the fruits of her labor, she should hold on tightly to these fruits of labor first. At the very least, before Qiao Nan got married, all the money she had earned should be kept in her own pockets.

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  Qiao Nan knew how to earn money. She could earn two to three hundred thousand yuan a year. In five years, Qiao Nan would be a millionaire. On what basis should Qiao Nan bring along one million yuan to someone else’s house and then give it to her husband and in-laws for them to spend? However, she and Old Qiao wouldn’t be able to enjoy this blessing at all.

  Under Qiao Zijin’s influence, Ding Jiayi became more overbearing and started to demand more from Qiao Nan. Ding Jiayi never felt that she did anything wrong or that she had done something overboard to Qiao Nan.

  All sorts of unreasonable behavior were rationalized by Qiao Zijin’s distorted explanations. Ding Jiayi simply regarded this set of thoughts as a guide for life.

  With Qiao Nan around in the past, how would Ding Jiayi set her sights on Qiao Zijin? However, now that Qiao Nan, the shield, was gone and Ding Jiayi’s thinking had not changed in any way, what issue was there for her to use the set of guidelines she used on Qiao Nan on Qiao Zijin instead?

  Being criticized and accused by Qiao Zijin today, Ding Jiayi felt that she was wronged. “How am I not good to Qiao Nan? Weren’t you the one who told me that rather than letting Qiao Nan spend all the money she has earned on outsiders, it would of course be better for her to express filial piety to me and your dad? You do have quite a bit of money now. Shouldn’t you be filial to me and your dad?”

  Wasn’t it just a mobile phone bill once? It was a few hundred yuan at most. Zijin was quarreling with her over such a small matter and complaining that she, as a mom, was too harsh. If this was considered harsh, then what were her demands of Qiao Nan all these years?

  Ding Jiayi knew it clearly that compared to her demands of Qiao Nan in the past, her words to Qiao Zijin weren’t considered demands. She even had to suffer a lecture from Qiao Zijin on this. Who exactly was the mother and who was the daughter?

  Qiao Zijin naturally couldn’t remember what she had taught Ding Jiayi. After Ding Jiayi’s reminder, Qiao Zijin seemed to have some impression. “Mom, this society is changing day by day. You can’t keep having this old mindset and not make any progress. What’s wrong with your daughter contributing a little to the in-laws when she’s staying at their house? Also, your daughter has grown up and has her own life. You have to make us independent. We have to have an independent personality and financial dependence.”

  She had already done a good job, alright? Nowadays, a lot of people still relied on their parents. She had money in her pockets and didn’t think of spending her parents’ money. Compared to those people who relied on their parents, she was considered a filial daughter. She didn’t have so many demands of her mom. On what basis should she ask so much from her?

  She was Qiao Zijin’s birth mom, after all. Others might not understand what Qiao Zijin meant by financial independence but Ding Jiayi understood it. The so-called financial dependence meant that the money in Qiao Zijin’s pockets was all hers and she shouldn’t interfere in it, let alone take Qiao Zijin’s money. This was what Qiao Zijin meant by financial independence.

  For money, the mother-daughter pair who had always been united started arguing in the police station. The police officers were shocked speechless. They were talking about money the entire time and arguing in front of outsiders. No wonder this auntie’s lover received their call in a cold tone. Not only was he not nervous, but he even said that he would only pick them up an hour later.

  The contents of their conversation were too simple. There wasn’t any substance. Anyone with ears and a brain understood what the mother-daughter pair was arguing over. The mother wanted the daughter to pay the mobile phone bills. The daughter felt that the mother was not financially independent and was always finding all sorts of excuses to spend her daughter’s money.

  Based on this conversation, the people in the bureau felt that both the mother and daughter were not good people to begin with. No wonder they would appear on that kind of news. It looked like those reports in the news were all real. After arguing for a long time, their conversation never left the word ‘money’. To them, money was more important than their lives, let alone kinship.

  Qiao Dongliang naturally didn’t know that Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin were arguing in the police station. The Zhai family held a lunch banquet, not a dinner banquet. As such, it ended at around two in the afternoon. Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing sent the important guests away. Zhai Hua was naturally the one to send away the younger peers.

  Seeing that everyone was almost gone, Qiao Dongliang stood up. “Nan Nan, you’re a child with blessings to follow. What happened in the past was wrong. You can’t go back to the past or change anything. You’re good now. Keep it that way. If I’m not around one day, I can’t manage them. Do things according to your conscience. If it’s something to take care of, don’t push it away. If it’s something you shouldn’t handle, then don’t take care of it. Since ancient times, only parents have raised children and children have provided for their parents. Your sister’s so old now and is even a mother. There’s no reason for you to take care of her or provide her for life. Your sister’s terrible. Don’t pay attention to her in the future.”

  Qiao Nan nodded and addressed him plainly as ‘dad’. To Qiao Nan, these words were too late. Indeed, she couldn’t go back to the years that had passed. It was pointless to be entangled with the past. However, this didn’t mean that Qiao Nan could completely forget the injuries she had suffered in the Qiao family in the past.

  Everything she had suffered couldn’t be easily obliterated by her dad’s insincere words of comfort. After comforting her, could she treat that nothing had happened before or let bygones be bygones?