Zhai Sheng said that they would be heading over at one o’clock in the afternoon and asked Qiao Dongliang if he wanted to head over together.

  Qiao Dongliang refused the offer, saying that he would head there alone. He had already endured it for an entire night. He wouldn’t be able to hold it in for another half a day. Hadn’t he rushed to the capital for the sake of seeing Qiao Nan with his own eyes?

  The moment Qiao Dongliang arrived at the hospital, he asked the nurse for directions to Qiao Nan’s ward.

  Upon hearing Qiao Dongliang’s question, she looked at him with a strange gaze. “What’s your relationship with the patient?” This woman had quite a high status in the hospital and was an important patient. There were rules as to who could visit that pregnant patient.

  More importantly, she had just chased away someone who had not been allowed to visit that patient. That had been a woman, and now, an old man had come. This patient was very popular indeed. Everyone had come to visit her on the same day.

  “Hello, I’m her dad. I’ve come to visit her and her children. Oh right, do you know how my daughter is doing? Did the doctor tell you how she and the children are? When is she giving birth?” Qiao Dongliang spat out a series of questions.

  The nurse gave it some thought. This man was not on the blacklist, so she led Qiao Dongliang over. “I’m sorry. I don’t know the patient’s condition well, but I think she should be fine. As for when she’ll give birth, I can’t say for sure. I guess it’ll be soon since she’s reached her eighth month and she’s carrying triplets.”

  \r \r \r

  “Thank you.” Having been led to the door of the ward, Qiao Dongliang thanked the nurse profusely. “No worries. I’ll take my leave now.” The nurse was courteous, but before she left, she muttered under her breath. “This is her father, and that was her elder sister just now?” Was this for real?

  Qiao Dongliang had not heard the nurse muttering under her breath and he knocked on the door. Someone opened it from the inside. It was his son-in-law. “Zhai Sheng, I’m here to see Nan Nan.”

  “Dad.” Zhai Sheng addressed him and opened the door fully to allow Qiao Dongliang in. “I’ll get you a glass of water.”

  “There’s no hurry. How’s Nan Nan? Is she asleep or is she awake?” Qiao Dongliang moved quietly and spoke in a low voice so as to not disturb Qiao Nan’s rest.

  “Dad.” Qiao Nan called out, letting Qiao Dongliang know that she was awake. “Dad, why did you come?” Qiao Nan had not been surprised at all that Qiao Zijin had come. When Qiao Zijin had been pregnant, the Chen family had gotten her and Ding Jiayi to serve Qiao Zijin all the way until her confinement period was over.

  The problem was that the Chen family had never allowed them to touch the child. After Qiao Zijin’s confinement period, the Qiao family was never allowed any contact with Chen Feng. But the strongest impression Qiao Nan had was how Qiao Zijin had been very alert with her when she had been taking care of Qiao Zijin.

  Why?

  Qiao Zijin was the Chen family’s daughter-in-law and the Qiao family had come to take care of Qiao Zijin. As such, there was no way the Chen family could let the Qiao family fork out money to pay for their daughter-in-law, right? As such, during that period of time, Qiao Zijin was especially worried that they would deduct the money from her bank account, and she would always check her balance to see if it was correct and whether any money was being spent.

  Qiao Zijin had been so guarded against her and now that it was her turn to be taken care of, Qiao Zijin would naturally think that the Zhai family would be even more generous than the Chen family. As long as she was not so petty and did not make Qiao Zijin’s life difficult, Qiao Zijin would probably be able to earn quite a lot of money from this.

  But what Qiao Nan thought was strange was Qiao Zijin’s confidence. Why did Qiao Zijin think that she would agree to Qiao Zijin taking care of her? How ridiculous!

  “How could I not come to visit you when you’ve already been admitted?” Had Nan Nan ever thought about how she would be looked down on by her in-laws if no one from her family visited her in the hospital? It was often said that a married daughter’s pride was in her own family, and Qiao Dongliang wanted to be his daughter’s pride. But he knew that it was not just ordinarily difficult for that to happen.

  “Oh.” Qiao Nan blinked. She wanted to know whether her dad knew about Qiao Zijin being in the capital and that she had arrived even earlier than he had. “Dad, did you come to the capital alone?”

  “Why are you asking this as well?” Qiao Dongliang recalled that his in-laws had asked the same question the previous day. “Of course, I came alone.” Were they unclear about their family’s situation? Apart from him, could Old Ding or Zijin possibly come? If they did, Nan Nan would probably feel uneasy and refuse to see them.

  Qiao Nan looked at her father seriously, realizing that her father was being honest. Qiao Nan could not help but ask, “Then, are my mom and Qiao Zijin both at home?” Did that mean that Qiao Zijin had come to the capital behind her dad’s back and that her dad knew nothing about it? But Ding Jiayi probably knew about it.

  There had probably been an agreement made between Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin. As such, Ding Jiayi should probably have known about Qiao Zijin arriving in the capital before her dad.

  “Your mom is at home but Zijin left the house earlier than me. Your mom said that she went on a trip.” Qiao Dongliang did not know why Qiao Nan was asking him about this but he felt that there was no reason to keep it from her either.

  Qiao Nan sighed. Qiao Nan had not been surprised that Qiao Zijin had rushed to the capital, but her dad was surely going to be surprised. “Dad, is Qiao Zijin on a trip in the capital?”

  Qiao Dongliang’s eyes widened and he fell into a trance. “What do you mean?” Old Ding had not told him about where Zijin had gone, and neither had he bothered to ask. “Do you mean that Zijin is in the capital?” Even Qiao Dongliang thought that it was absurd.

  Qiao Nan’s in-laws lived in the capital and Qiao Zijin had chosen to take a trip to the capital. Was Qiao Zijin really in the capital for a trip, or was she here because of Qiao Nan? Qiao Dongliang was no fool and he understood the situation perfectly. “Your sister… Did she come to look for you? What did she say?”

  No wonder his in-laws and Nan Nan asked him whether he had come alone. What they wanted to know was why he had not brought Zijin along. The problem was that he had not even had an inkling that Zijin had arrived in the capital!

  “She hasn’t come to find me, but my mother-in-law has met her. She said that she wanted to visit me. I’m sure you know that it’s best for me not to meet too many people in my current condition. I’m not extremely close to her, so I’m not prepared to meet her. I’m sure you understand, right?”