Qiao Nan smiled, almost spitting the fruit in her mouth out. “Brother Zhai, you’re overthinking it. There’s no need for me to worry about the Qiao family. Don’t worry. The Qiao family is doing just fine.” Apart from the fact that Qiao Zijin had suddenly decided that she no longer wanted to live and had died under Qiao Nan’s wheel in her dream.

  In this lifetime, Qiao Nan had no plans of learning to drive. While traveling around in the capital, taking the bus was no better than taking the subway. There was no escaping the crowd either way.

  Although she had not been in the wrong, Qiao Nan had no wish of experiencing what she had experienced in her dream ever again.

  “That’s good too. That’ll spare you some worry.” Marriage life suited Zhai Sheng just fine. It was true that one’s life became more harmonious if one were to find the right person to live with. “Oh right, I got a call from Old Chief Zhu the other day. It seems like he’s been hospitalized.”

  Everyone in the Ping Cheng quad knew that Zhu Chengqi had not been in good health. If not for the fact that Zhu Chengqi did not enjoy going to the hospital, Zhu Chengqi would have become a regular at the hospital. As such, Zhu Chengqi must have been in severe pain or suffering from a serious illness for him to have been admitted into the hospital.

  Qiao Nan stiffened. “Do you know how Old Chief Zhu is doing?”

  “Not very well. The doctor says that he has only a few months left to live. That’s why Old Chief Zhu has been transferred from Ping Cheng to the capital for treatment. Unfortunately, the doctors came to the same conclusion.” The state was extremely concerned about an old revolutionary like Zhu Chengqi.

  \r \r \r

  Besides, Zhu Chengqi had sacrificed his whole life for the state. That was why he did not have even one relative by his side in his old age. As such, special attention was paid to Zhu Chengqi.

  “Why didn’t I hear you talk about Old Chief Zhu coming to the capital?” If she had known that Old Chief Zhu was in the capital, she would have paid him a visit a long time ago. “Which hospital is Old Chief Zhu in? Shall we visit him this afternoon?”

  “You’re anxious and worried?” Zhai Sheng patted Qiao Nan’s back, comforting her. “Nan Nan, I don’t know whether to say that you’re intelligent or foolish.” He was happy that Nan Nan trusted him and was willing to act foolishly in front of him. But it was not good to expose oneself in this manner.

  There had been too many suspicions and there would come a day when the couple would have to face them. He had not mentioned them nor asked about them, but that did not mean that they did not exist. If they were to ignore these problems, it would only result in negative feelings between them as time went by. “Nan Nan, I believe that couples should trust each other and not hide anything from each other. Don’t you think so?”

  Qiao Nan’s expression paled slightly as she leaned into Zhai Sheng’s embrace. “Yes, we should, but now is not the time. I got married from the Zhu family, so it’s natural for me to be concerned about Old Zhu.” In her dream, Old Chief Zhu had been her godfather and his fatherly love for her had not been any less than Qiao Dongliang’s for her.

  It had not been easy for Zhu Chengqi to love her as he did as a godfather.

  In her dream, Zhu Chengqi even had a son, Zhu Baoguo. In reality, Zhu Chengqi’s life was indeed pitiful.

  “Do you know why Old Chief Zhu agreed to help us out with that?” Since they had already started on this topic, Zhai Sheng decided to continue discussing this topic in depth. “I’ve been looking into the Zhu family. There’s something wrong with that guy, Wang Yang.”

  Qiao Nan smiled bitterly. Brother Zhai was impressive. He was right. There was a big problem with Wang Yang. “Brother Zhai, if I were to tell you that Old Chief Zhu wanted to acknowledge me as his goddaughter but that was all ruined by someone, would you believe me?”

  “How…… how did you find out?” Since she spoke about it in the past tense, it had obviously not happened. If the Zhu family had spoken about it, there was no way no one in the quad would not know about this. It seemed a little illogical that no one else but Qiao Nan knew about the matter.

  Leaning in Zhai Sheng’s embrace, Qiao Nan recounted the entire series of events to him. “Brother Zhai, do you remember the guy who found me at my rented apartment and kicked on my door?”

  “Chen Jun.” Zhai Sheng had never regarded Chen Jun as a love rival. However, given that he had once harassed Qiao Nan, Zhai Sheng had naturally checked on Chen Jun and knew vaguely about his situation. Of course, Zhai Sheng knew clearly just how Qiao Zijin had managed to get her brother-in-law to become her husband.

  Qiao Nan smirked and said, “That’s him.”

  “What does he have to do with the Zhu family?” Chen Jun could not possibly have any dealings with the Zhu family.

  “He doesn’t have any relationship with Old Chief Zhu, but he does have a relationship with Wang Yang.” Up until now, Qiao Nan had still not understood why Wang Yang thought so highly of her that he had found a man of such high standing like Chen Jun to seduce her in order to ruin her image in front of Old Chief Zhu such that he would never want to acknowledge her as his goddaughter.

  “After Zhu Baoguo left, Old Chief Zhu was heartbroken. Later on, Old Chief Zhu had wanted to get a goddaughter……”

  “And the goddaughter that Old Chief Zhu wanted to acknowledge was you?” Was that the reason? Goddaughter?

  “Yes, Old Chief Zhu had wanted to acknowledge me as his goddaughter. I heard that it’s because I fit the image of the daughter that Old Chief Zhu and his wife had had in mind. It was just that Madam Zhu had passed away after giving birth to their son, Zhu Baoguo. Wang Yang…… He’s not a good person. He’s always been eyeing the Zhu family’s assets. He was afraid that Old Chief Zhu would decide to hand everything he had over to me once I became his goddaughter instead of taking care of his biological nephew. That was why he got Chen Jun to date me……”

  Wang Yang had been spot-on. After she had gotten together with Chen Jun, Old Chief Zhu no longer talked about acknowledging a goddaughter. “Brother Zhai, I must have let Old Chief Zhu down at that time, right?”

  Zhai Sheng had never expected there to be so many things going on behind the scenes of such a simple matter. But Zhai Sheng reminded Qiao Nan. “You’re overthinking it. Even I as a bystander can tell that there’s something wrong with Wang Yang. Even though Old Chief Zhu is the party involved, I believe that he has good judgment and that won’t get past him.”

  “Then?”

  “If Wang Yang had really arranged for Chen Jun’s appearance, he might have been able to fool others, but he definitely could not have fooled Old Chief Zhu. If he really wanted to accept you as his goddaughter, that had already caused you substantial harm!”