Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  She had not even made the call yet, but Ding Jiayi already had an ominous feeling that the method wouldn’t work and that Qiao Nan wouldn’t bother about her. It was no longer the first time this was happening. Or should she say that Qiao Nan had never listened to her in the past two years at all?

  “Why don’t you call her? You know what to tell Qiao Nan, right? Mom, I’m sure you have a way of getting Qiao Nan to agree. Mom. Mom…” Even though her clothes were not branded, they weren’t cheap either. She would be proud to wear such clothes during the new year period.

  Ding Jiayi felt dizzy from Qiao Zijin’s words. “Fine, I’ll make the call but I can’t make any promises. I’ll just try my luck.”

  Having been forced by Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi had no choice but to make a call to Qiao Nan. “Hello, I’m Qiao Nan’s mom. I’m looking for Qiao Nan.”

  The moment the Zhai family’s auntie heard that it was Ding Jiayi looking for Qiao Nan, she was a little reluctant to hand the phone over to Qiao Nan. The auntie had never heard Qiao Nan mention her mother. More importantly, childbirth was such an important event but Ding Jiayi hadn’t even appeared nor turned up to take care of her daughter. It was painfully obvious that this mother-and-daughter pair didn’t share a close relationship.

  Qiao Nan was still doing her confinement and couldn’t be provoked. What would they do if Qiao Nan got hurt?

  But she had no choice but to ask Qiao Nan whether she wanted to answer the call since the other party was Qiao Nan’s mother, after all.

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  Qiao Nan thought about it for a moment before picking up the call. “Hello, it’s me. What’s the matter?”

  “What’s with your tone and attitude? I’m your mother! You’re a mother yourself now. Don’t you know how to address your mom properly?”

  Upon hearing Qiao Nan’s indifferent tone, Ding Jiayi flew into a rage. Which daughter would ever pick up her mother’s phone call with such a tone? Even a stranger would speak more politely! Did that mean that she couldn’t even compare to a stranger in her eyes?

  “Is anything wrong?” It was not the first time that Qiao Nan had refused to address Ding Jiayi as her mom. If there was anything wrong that she could deal with, she would. Otherwise, she would hang up the phone in case she were to disturb the three children.

  Ding Jiayi spat at Qiao Nan inwardly, scolding Qiao Nan for disregarding her poor family and her own biological mother after getting married to Zhai Sheng. “Let me ask you. Did you not buy enough new year gifts, or did you forget to send something?”

  “No.” Qiao Nan had not understood Ding Jiayi’s words at first, but within a moment, she came to a realization. What she was saying was that Qiao Zijin’s clothes were not among the new year gifts. What a joke! She had bought clothes for her parents, not voluntarily but out of obligation. After all, they were her parents.

  But who was Qiao Zijin? They were of the same generation. Even when Qiao Zijin had been living a comfortable life, she had never even sent her a brand new set of underwear, let alone pieces of clothing. Even more ridiculously, Qiao Zijin would only send her socks that she had worn to the point of breaking with an arrogant attitude as if she was doing something good.

  Why should she buy Qiao Zijin new year clothes? Did she owe it to Qiao Zijin?

  Ding Jiayi slammed the table. Thinking that Qiao Nan wouldn’t be able to hear it, she quickly added. “Nonsense! What about your sister’s new clothes? How could you forget about your sister? You have only one elder sister! Have you gone dumb from having kids? How could you forget about your only sister? Alright, I won’t take issue with it but you can’t leave out what you should buy. Besides, you’re at fault here. Remember to buy something better to coax your sister. It’s your fault, to say the least. Don’t make everyone angry at you because of this.”

  “…” Fine. Qiao Nan would admit she was at the wrong. She was still doing her confinement and could let the auntie tell Ding Jiayi that she had been sleepy and had fallen asleep. How could she have answered the call in that case? Qiao Zijin’s lips curled up into a sinister smile. “I’m sorry. Nope. I’m not coaxing her. You guys can get angry as long as it pleases you. You can choose to disown me too. Happy New Year. Goodbye.”

  With that, Qiao Nan hung up the phone.

  She owed the Qiao family? How ridiculous!

  “…” Hearing the beeps from the other end of the call, Ding Jiayi blinked blankly. Actually, she had already expected this outcome but both Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi had had that little bit of hope that Qiao Nan would one day transform back into that obedient and ‘good’ daughter and sister she had been in the past.

  But this phone call proved to Ding Jiayi that Qiao Nan had no intention of doing so at the moment.

  Ding Jiayi was angry. Left with no other choice, she ended the call.

  “Mom, what did she say? She’s agreed, right? Did she say when she would send the clothes over? You know, I’m an adult now and I won’t wear those cheap clothes bought from just anywhere. Also, I just received a text that my high school friend is organizing a get-together. I’m planning to wear the clothes she sends.”

  Qiao Zijin was especially excited seeing that Ding Jiayi was walking over. Initially, she had wanted to stay by Ding Jiayi’s side throughout the call so that she would be able to jump in in case Ding Jiayi forgot anything. But the moment Ding Jiayi took out her phone, Qiao Zijin’s phone had rung. The moment she saw that it was her old classmate, Qiao Zijin could only abandon Ding Jiayi to speak with her friend.

  Coincidentally, once Qiao Zijin put down the phone, Ding Jiayi’s phone call had also ended.

  The thought of meeting her high school friends excited Qiao Zijin. At that time, she had bought her way into high school, and as such, many of her classmates looked down on her. Now that so many years had passed, she wanted to prove to them that it didn’t matter whether she had bought her way into the school at that time. After all, she was still living a comfortable life all the same.

  Qiao Zijin had already decided to make Qiao Nan buy her a set of clothes that would not only not embarrass her in front of her classmates but would also be eye-catching. At the very most, she would put in a good word for Qiao Nan when helping settle the matter with Wang Yang. That way, Wang Yang would be more willing to give Qiao Nan a bigger share.

  As long as she succeeded, Qiao Nan would, at least, get a million yuan. A couple of thousands for a makeover wouldn’t be too much to ask for, right?

  “…” Qiao Nan had refused but Qiao Zijin had even upped her request. Ding Jiayi couldn’t understand whether Qiao Zijin had faith in herself or whether she had faith in her mother. Why did she think that this call would undoubtedly be a success? “Don’t even think about it…… That wretched girl hung up on me before I even finished speaking.”