Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  From that incident in the hospital, Qiao Nan had figured out what Qiao Zijin was after. But she had not blown the matter up. If for nothing else, it was simply because Qiao Zijin’s plan was simply too disgusting. It felt vulgar to even talk about it.

  Qiao Nan couldn’t even treat Qiao Zijin like an ordinary stranger, much less a family member. Qiao Nan felt that Qiao Zijin had probably accumulated hatred toward her over several lifetimes. Qiao Zijin had even gone to the extent of snatching her boyfriend away! Chen Jun had been nothing, but now, she was even after Zhai Sheng!

  In reality, what angered Qiao Nan the most and what she was unable to accept was how Qiao Zijin revealed that she had even thought of getting Qiao Nan to marry Chen Jun when she thought that Qiao Nan was dying. She had thought that she was sacrificing herself for the sake of Qiao Nan’s happiness. After all, Chen Jun still had attractive conditions even though he had become Qiao Nan’s brother-in-law.

  Coincidentally, Chen Jun had taken the initiative to request for reconciliation just last year. Thinking about how Chen Jun and Qiao Zijin had such good telepathy, Qiao Nan very much wanted to ask both of them: Why did you bother getting a divorce? Look at how well you match each other! It would be best for the both of you to get remarried to each other, lest you harm others.

  Qiao Nan had not even told Zhai Sheng about this to save him some anger. Chen Jun and Qiao Zijin were downright disgusting. They had never done anything humane in their lives.

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  Qiao Nan had been prepared to keep this secret from Zhai Sheng, but she felt as though she had to tell someone about it. She had no other choice. This person was sandwiched between her and Qiao Zijin. He yearned to be a good father, yet he could never harden his heart. Qiao Nan couldn’t sever ties with him, but caring about him meant aggrieving herself too.

  Qiao Nan had already thought it through. She wouldn’t mention this matter to Qiao Dongliang while he was still in the capital. While she was still alive and well in front of her dad, he would still remember that she was his daughter and that Qiao Zijin was not his only daughter.

  The problem was that Qiao Zijin and Qiao Dongliang had returned to Ping Cheng for the new year, and there was still Ding Jiayi in the equation. To prevent Qiao Dongliang from meeting Qiao Zijin too often and forgetting about his other daughter, she would let Qiao Dongliang know about this matter once he arrived back in Ping Cheng and called her to let her know.

  Time passed and Qiao Dongliang felt as though he had reached Ping Cheng in the blink of an eye. Qiao Zijin had never been picky about the speed of planes. Thinking about how she had left full of confidence but was now returning like that, Qiao Zijin felt a little reluctant.

  But that didn’t matter. She was back now, but that didn’t mean that she would never return to the capital. The next time she visited the capital would be her turn to strike rich. “Dad, the plane may have been fast but I want to reach home as soon as possible. Shall we flag a cab? It’ll probably cost just one to two hundred yuan.”

  Thinking about how she had spent three thousand six hundred yuan on trying to prevent Qiao Dongliang from visiting the capital, she felt that she was already helping her dad save some money by only getting him to fork out the measly cab fare.

  Qiao Dongliang was now a grandfather. In the past, his salary always went to supporting his wife and children. Now, he felt that he had to penny-pinch so that he could splurge on his grandchildren. Flagging a cab meant spending two hundred yuan at once. There was no way Qiao Dongliang could bear to do that. “Are you going to pay for it? Am I paying for it? Or are we going dutch?” Qiao Dongliang felt that Qiao Zijin would never be so filial to come up with the entire sum.

  In the past, Qiao Dongliang had never understood what ‘going dutch’ meant. But he now did.

  “Dad, you’re too stingy. We’re a family. I’m your daughter. You can just pay for it first. Why do we have to go dutch? Won’t you have to rely on me to take care of you in the future?” Qiao Zijin couldn’t understand why her dad was making a fuss over just two hundred yuan. Once she became a millionaire, she would definitely get herself a Porsche.

  Qiao Dongliang no longer wanted to talk about who would take care of him in his old age. “Either you’re paying or we’re going dutch, we can flag a cab. If you disagree with either of these options, I’ll go get myself a bus ticket. You can get your own so that you can take your pick of how you want to get home.”

  He had no hopes of Qiao Zijin forking out the entire sum, but there was no reason for him to do so either. Initially, Qiao Dongliang had intended to pay for both bus tickets. But seeing that Qiao Zijin had objections to that plan, Qiao Dongliang had lost the desire to even pay for her bus ticket. He would save some money!

  “Dad…” Qiao Zijin had never expected that she would have to pay for her own bus ticket just because she had asked Qiao Dongliang to pay for the cab fare. This was really… She felt like dying!

  But Qiao Dongliang had already made his decision and he was not going to go back on his word. Qiao Dongliang felt that it was only because he had not put his foot down as a father and educated Qiao Zijin well while she was younger that she had gone astray. He had not realized that when she had been younger. Now that she was older and there was the chance to educate her, it was only right to try to rectify this bad habit of thinking that the whole world revolved around her.

  It was another problem whether that bad habit could really be rectified.

  Qiao Dongliang could no longer be bothered with Qiao Zijin and left to purchase his own ticket. Qiao Zijin was all grown up, anyway. She hadn’t even lost her way in the capital. Now that they were back in Ping Cheng, there was no reason for Qiao Dongliang to worry that Qiao Zijin would get lost in her own hometown. He was going to take the bus back. Qiao Zijin could take her own pick.

  “Dad, Dad…” Qiao Zijin had no other choice but to catch up with him. Having someone by her side would beat going back alone. Qiao Zijin could not help but regret her words. If she had known that her father would throw such a tantrum, she would have agreed to split the fare with her dad. Anyway, she had not even needed to pay for her plane ticket back. That had already been a win. She would have saved herself a lot of trouble by spending just a hundred yuan to flag a cab.

  That way, she would only have spent a hundred yuan returning to Ping Cheng from the capital.

  After Qiao Zijin changed her mind, she immediately tried to stop Qiao Dongliang. “Dad, let’s get a cab home. If we take the bus, we’ll still have to change to the public bus to get home afterward. You don’t have any luggage, but I do. Our house is quite a distance from the bus stop too. I won’t be able to walk that far with my luggage. I’ll split the cab fare equally with you.”

  After that conversation with Wang Yang, Qiao Zijin had started spending without much thought…… She knew that she would have five million in her pocket the next time she visited the capital.