“Didn’t I say that it’s best if you’re willing to get a divorce? It’s fine even if you aren’t willing. It’s nothing more than a certificate. There’s nothing much to it. From today on, we’ll just live our separate lives. When you eat in the future, you don’t have to prepare my portion. Since we’re splitting up, don’t come into my room in the future. I’m going to get the lock changed. Of course, I won’t enter your room either.”

  If not for the fact that he did not have much money and was unwilling to waste his money, Qiao Dongliang would have rented an apartment to live alone. It would be difficult to draw clear lines about certain things while living together.

  But Qiao Dongliang had no choice but to settle for this since he could not rent an apartment outside. But perhaps, he might be less troubled if he could keep his distance from Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin.

  Qiao Dongliang knew that there was something wrong with his elder daughter’s worldviews and ideas but there was nothing he could do since Qiao Zijin herself was reluctant to change. Everyone had feelings, and because he had tried in vain to save his elder daughter time and again, Qiao Dongliang was utterly exhausted.

  His grandson was blessed in his own way while his elder daughter’s greatest blessing was also her greatest sorrow, and that was having such a foolish mother like Ding Jiayi, who brought her astray.

  To Qiao Dongliang, who did not even know how long more he would be able to live, he wanted nothing more than to be able to lead a worry-free life in his remaining years. Had he not done the same two decades earlier? He had not cared about Nan Nan at that time. Now, he was simply returning to the same state by not caring about Zijin.

  \r \r \r

  Qiao Dongliang had already been such a father to Qiao Nan for almost forty years. Now, he was simply being such a father to Qiao Zijin. Was that hard? No, not at all. It was a familiar path to him.

  “Look at the time. It’s time for me to have my meal. You two can do whatever you want.” Qiao Dongliang made good of his words and stuck to what he had said. He had already made preparations for his own dinner. Since today was the day of the court hearing, he knew that he would only be able to hide the matter of Qiao Nan giving the Qiao family an allowance of two thousand yuan up until today.

  The card Qiao Nan had given him was in his possession, and he had never once considered handing it over to Ding Jiayi. He was prepared to prove to Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin just how serious he was this time through his actions.

  It was the end of August, and it was sweltering hot. Qiao Dongliang had not prepared much himself and dared not even use too much rice. He simply took out a portion just sufficient to fill himself. Nothing more, and nothing less. Qiao Dongliang had not measured his portion out well, but at the very least, the amount that he had left behind was insufficient for either Ding Jiayi or Qiao Zijin.

  Since he had already drawn such a clear line by using a separate pot, Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi could no longer afford to believe that Qiao Dongliang was fooling around.

  Seeing that Qiao Dongliang cared only about himself, not caring about the other two people in the house, Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi were stunned and speechless upon looking at the pathetic amount of rice left in the pot. Even though Qiao Zijin was on a ‘diet’, she still ate more than the amount that had been left over.

  Qiao Dongliang’s attitude almost drove Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin crazy. Qiao Zijin could not help but tug at her own hair. “Mom, is my dad crazy? How could he do something like that? He wants to get a divorce from you. Does that also mean that he intends to disown me and wants to sever all ties with me?”

  After being a daughter in the Qiao family for forty-three years, this was the first time Qiao Zijin had ever been deprived of food. This was as hard a blow as Ding Jiayi had received when Qiao Dongliang had brought up the topic of a divorce.

  Ding Jiayi only felt that her life was too torturous. “How would I know what’s going on with your dad? It’s like he’s been bewitched. Your dad would never have been like that in the past. I haven’t even settled the accounts with him for taking more than twenty thousand yuan for himself, and now, he wants to get a divorce and live separate lives?!”

  He had better not bring up the past about when they had had more money again. The past was the past and the present was the present. No matter how much money they had had in the past, they did not have anything left now.

  But that did not mean that Ding Jiayi forgot about the 1.5 million yuan in Qiao Zijin’s pockets. However, she knew that it would be a struggle to force Qiao Zijin to hand over even the slightest bit of that money. She could not even imagine the fuss Qiao Zijin would kick up if she were to ask Qiao Zijin to hand over the entire sum of money. “Zijin, I’ve done so much in my whole life for you. Others may not understand why your dad scolded me just now but you should. Tell me. Didn’t I spend all the money I took from Qiao Nan on you? You can’t leave me in the lurch now that your dad wants to settle these old accounts with me. I’m already so advanced in age. If I were to get a divorce from your dad at this age, I’ll never be able to live it down.”

  Qiao Zijin glanced at Ding Jiayi carefully. “Mom, how do you want me to help you? You know very well that I’m not very capable either. There’s nothing much I can help you with.”

  “You can. Of course, you can.” Judging others by oneself, Ding Jiayi loved money and placed the most importance on it. She had wanted to get even with Qiao Dongliang simply because of the twenty thousand yuan in the first place. She did not think of it as a bad thing that Qiao Dongliang had started to care more about money. At the very least, Qiao Dongliang would no longer stand in her way when she asked Qiao Nan for money in the future.

  At that time, she would no longer need to be afraid of Qiao Nan being disobedient and refusing to hand money over since they stood on the same side.

  Qiao Nan would have to make up for what she had not handed over in the past year, in addition to what she was obliged to give them.

  “I guess your dad has gotten afraid since he nearly had no money for his treatment the previous time he was hospitalized. You’re still young, so you might not understand your dad’s worry. It’s understandable for people our age to want some money for our funeral arrangements. Only then will we feel secure. I won’t say anything more. Why don’t you take out two hundred thousand to appease your dad? Perhaps, with this two hundred thousand, Qiao Nan will no longer be able to deceive your dad in the future. Then, your dad will understand who treats him the most sincerely amongst the two of them.”

  She believed that Old Qiao would no longer want to separate from her with that two hundred thousand yuan.

  “Zijin, don’t be stingy about this. Think about it. You weren’t the one who worked hard to earn that one million yuan in the bank. It was Qiao Nan’s money. So, you won’t be giving your dad your own money. It’s Qiao Nan’s money. If you think about it in that way, you won’t feel so bad about it anymore.”

  The last time Qiao Zijin had withdrawn fifty thousand yuan for Qiao Dongliang’s treatment, she had made a fuss about it and had even dragged Qiao Nan into the picture. Qiao Nan had paid her fair share before Qiao Zijin was finally willing to fork out her share reluctantly after a long delay.