She was her mom’s biological child, after all. If her mother were to beg her, she would have no choice but to agree.

  Ding Jiayi had not inherited this positive quality from the Ding family. Ding Jiayi had completely inherited her biological mother’s ruthlessness, but it seemed as though she had not gotten a single bit of that boldness and guts that Mother Ding had had.

  Everyone in the village knew that the Ding family had raised a rebellious daughter. Upon knowing that Ding Jiayi had escaped from her arranged marriage and found herself a soldier as a husband, many villagers had advised the Ding family to forget about it since it was her own biological daughter after all. Would they really disown their daughter after raising her for so many years?

  Besides, it did not seem all that bad having a soldier as a son-in-law. Perhaps, their elder son-in-law could even take care of the Ding family’s son in the future. That way, Mother Ding would still be able to achieve her goal in the end.

  Even after all that persuasion, Mother Ding refused to back down and disowned her daughter, Ding Jiayi. She announced that Ding Jiayi’s life had nothing to do with her from then on. A heartless daughter like Ding Jiayi would only ruin her life in the future.

  Ding Jiayi might look as though she was leading a good life at the moment, but once Ding Jiayi were to be down on luck, it would definitely be her two sons being at a disadvantage and suffering if they were to rely on Ding Jiayi. Without her daughter, she still had to care for her sons and grandson.

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  Mother Ding had thoroughly considered her daughter’s and sons’ marriages. It was her own biological daughter whom she had given birth to, after all. It was impossible for her to make her daughter give up everything for the sake of her sons.

  Although the man that Mother Ding had found was slightly older, he was capable of supporting a family. Besides, it was exactly because that man had been poor in his early days that he had been unable to get married. He had intended on honing his skills and earning enough money before getting married. Mother Ding had found out all about that man’s personality and temper as well.

  She knew her own daughter well and knew that her daughter, Ding Jiayi, only appeared a little smart on the surface but was actually a fool. Not only did she think she was intelligent, but she always did foolish things and had a fiery temper. If she did not find her daughter a man who earned well and had a good temper, her daughter would never lead a good life after marriage.

  If she truly wanted to sell her daughter off to support her sons, Ding Jiayi would have been sold ten times over. Ding Jiayi was not smart, but she did have a decent face—one that was enough to deceive others into believing that she was a witty young lady. It would be easy to sell her daughter off, but Mother Ding had always considered Ding Jiayi’s happiness. That was why she had put her daughter’s marriage off until finding the suitable one.

  Mother Ding had a fair temper, but it was true that she was biased toward her two sons. It had not been easy for her to decide to treat Ding Jiayi fairly and justly this once, hoping that Ding Jiayi would lead a good life after marriage.

  But who would have known that Ding Jiayi would waste all of Mother Ding’s efforts? At the time that Ding Jiayi had gotten married to Qiao Dongliang, it had only been just over a decade since the civil war had ended. Ding Jiayi might not have remembered such a period of history, but everyone in Mother Ding’s generation would never forget it.

  If Ding Jiayi had run away from her family and outed her family in that manner in those days, Mother Ding would have been killed. Besides, Ding Jiayi had coincidentally run into Old Lee. Seeing that Old Lee was a soldier, Mother Ding had nightmares of that period of history and was almost frightened to death.

  Even a year after getting married to Qiao Dongliang and giving birth to Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi had never gone to the Ding family’s house to create any trouble for Mother Ding. Because she had not criticized Mother Ding for arranging her marriage, Mother Ding was finally able to relieve herself of those nightmares. After an entire year’s worth of torture, Mother Ding could not care less about a platoon leader as a son-in-law and hated her daughter, Ding Jiayi, from the bottom of her heart.

  Mothers did not develop enmity with their daughters overnight. In those ten years, even sons dared to report their fathers to the authorities and cut all ties with their parents. Mother Ding had seen plenty of such cases at that time.

  As such, Mother Ding was clear that it was possible for children to be that heartless and to abandon their parents entirely. In fact, these wretched children would pave an entire road from their parents’ blood for themselves if they could.

  After Ding Jiayi got married to Qiao Dongliang through Old Lee, Mother Ding always had such a feeling every time she thought about her daughter, Ding Jiayi. Of course, those mother-daughter relationships were nothing in the face of life and death. There was nothing more important than one’s own life, after all.

  The more stubborn Mother Ding was, the more Ding Jiayi was unable to let the matter go. Knowing that her mother was still alive and that her brothers had become grandfathers, Ding Jiayi was reluctant to take the matter lying down. It seemed as though she was still trying to prove to the Ding family that she had done well and was even waiting for the Ding family to come apologizing to her, begging for her forgiveness.

  The more she cared about it, the more afraid she got. Since the Ding family had not admitted their mistake to her and acknowledged her as part of the family again, she could not afford to get divorced from Qiao Dongliang. Otherwise, she would be a homeless ghost with nowhere to go once she died.

  Qiao Dongliang had no idea that Ding Jiayi had started to think about the Ding family at the mention of a divorce. Ding Jiayi had never once mentioned the Ding family to him. As such, Qiao Dongliang had no understanding of the Ding family at all. There were a few times he had asked Ding Jiayi if they should visit the Ding family since they had gotten married, after all. At the very most, he would accompany Ding Jiayi to apologize to the Ding family. They could not possibly let the Ding family disown Ding Jiayi, right?

  However, every one of Qiao Dongliang’s considerate gestures was refused by Ding Jiayi, who had already made up her mind never to consider herself as part of the Ding family unless they were to apologize to her and admit their mistakes. She had already gotten married. If she had lived in the past, she would already have changed her name from Ding Jiayi to Qiao Jiayi.

  Although Ding Jiayi refused to do so, Qiao Dongliang had gone to visit the Ding family behind her back. Yet, Qiao Dongliang had always been chased out of the Ding family’s house without fail. At that time, Qiao Dongliang had still been a soldier and had not even had much time to spend with Ding Jiayi. As such, there was even less time for him to try his luck with the Ding family.

  Because of Ding Jiayi and the Ding family’s stubbornness, Qiao Dongliang eventually gave up trying to reconcile Ding Jiayi with her family.

  Since Ding Jiayi never made any mention of her family, Qiao Dongliang had almost forgotten about their existence. Now, Qiao Dongliang was more willing to have a conversation with Ding Jiayi.