Of course, Zhai Yaohui was at home. There was no need for a phone call if Zhai Sheng wanted to tell Zhai Yaohui anything. He could simply speak to him face to face. The only one whom Zhai Sheng addressed as ‘dad’ but called over the phone was Qiao Dongliang. “What’s the matter? Are you troubled because of my dad?”

  After all, Qiao Dongliang was Qiao Nan’s biological father. Qiao Nan understood their characters especially well. As such, she was immediately able to guess why Zhai Sheng was frowning after making that call. “Alright. I know the kind of person my dad is. All these years, no matter how foolish I’ve been, I’ve gained a clear understanding of him. Don’t feel bad for me. Even I wanted to hug myself before I married you now that I think about it.”

  Her biological mother didn’t care about her, her biological sister bullied her, and her dad turned a blind eye to all that. How could they hope for family harmony in that case?

  At that time, she had truly been alone. It was pitiful!

  Now, things were different. She had a husband, three adorable children, as well as parents-in-law who supported her. Compared to her past, she was practically living in paradise now. “My dad’s temper is a little different from Qiao Zijin’s. He’s the only one in the family who’s never sacrificed me for their sake. But people are really muddleheaded indeed. People of the same family have similar personalities and temper. When you analyze things further, it seems like my dad isn’t all that different from Qiao Zijin. Since I don’t care about Qiao Zijin or Ding Jiayi, there’s no need to think about my father’s temperament and suffer needlessly.”

  That was how her father had been all his life. There was no way he was going to change.

  In her dream, her dad had gotten a divorce from Ding Jiayi, and Qiao Zijin had committed suicide. As such, there had been peace as the elderly couple lived their own separate lives. In reality, however, the couple was not divorced, and Qiao Zijin was alive and well. Taking all these factors into account, she had better not count on her father changing his temper, whether it was now or twenty years in the future, much less take up the responsibility of the entire family like a man.

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  She hadn’t even had such naive and childish thoughts in her teenage years.

  Zhai Sheng stroked Qiao Nan’s long hair, not in the least bit comforted by her. Although he felt that Qiao Nan was leading a blissful life now after her marriage, it didn’t mean that they could simply ignore the tough life she had led before marriage or forget whatever the Qiao family had done.

  Qiao Nan knew all too well how difficult it was to leave the strange circle that was the Qiao family. She had spent two whole decades in both her dream and in reality to escape it. Knowing that Zhai Sheng pitied her, Qiao Nan felt warm.

  She tugged on Zhai Sheng’s arm and headed toward the playroom. “Your eldest son isn’t even one yet but he’s already trying to abandon his childish toys to challenge puzzles. Don’t you think he’s too ambitious? You can go deal with it.”

  Da Bao’s situation had made Qiao Nan’s head ache so much so that she had finally temporarily escaped to get water for the children.

  The three children had not even celebrated their first birthdays. To put it bluntly, they couldn’t even crawl well. How could they expect to be able to play with puzzles? Their limbs had not even developed fully, much less their eyes and brain!

  Up until now, Qiao Nan had not understood why they had toys like puzzles at home. Where had Da Bao managed to get them from?

  Da Bao was not developed at all, apart from his fiery temper. Even the simplest puzzles were meant for two to three-year-old children. Da Bao didn’t know how to put the puzzle pieces together, and neither could he speak. As such, he simply picked up the pieces and handed them over to his most trusted adult to help him out.

  But Da Bao paid close attention to the orientations and positions of the puzzle pieces. When the adults put them in the wrong orientation, Da Bao would always pout unhappily until it was corrected.

  Even though they knew Da Bao was doing it wrongly, they had to continue playing with him. That was not all. This was not even a ten-piece puzzle, but one with over a hundred pieces!

  Qiao Nan’s lips twitched. If Da Bao maintained his interest in this puzzle, he wouldn’t give up until he finished it. That would mean that their family could save a huge sum of money for at least five years since they wouldn’t need to purchase any toys for Da Bao.

  It took too much effort to play with Da Bao. It was not that Qiao Nan did not have the patience to do so, but that she had two other children. Er Bao and San Bao were just as young and clingy to their mother. Qiao Nan had always split her time between the three of them or played with all three of them at the same time with one game.

  Da Bao would take up all of Qiao Nan’s time with such a puzzle. Leaving aside whether Qiao Nan could take it, Er Bao and San Bao would definitely get upset and fight with Da Bao.

  At such a time, there would be no use in Qiao Nan getting the children’s grandparents. Left with no other choice, Qiao Nan could only ask for Zhai Sheng’s help. She was their mother, but Zhai Sheng was their father. Da Bao didn’t want his grandparents to play with him, but he would probably accept his father’s company, right?

  Da Bao was seated beside his father and he wrinkled his face, expressing his displeasure in needing to play with his father.

  Da Bao twisted his neck and strained to look at his father’s face. The moment he saw his father’s stern and cold expression, he decided not to be picky anymore. If he were to be picky, he might very well get beaten. Once he grew up to be as tall as his father, he would shove his father aside so that his mom could play with him. When that time came, she would definitely not choose his father!

  Miao Jing glanced at the family of five from time to time as she peeled some fruits, letting out a wide smile.

  The auntie cut up the fruits that Miao Jing had just peeled into small cubes. “Chief Zhai seems to be playing well with the children. He’s a good dad.” Three years ago, the auntie would definitely have scolded anyone who was foolish enough to say that Zhai Sheng would be a father who was willing to leave everything aside to play childish games with his children.

  Zhai Sheng didn’t even care for women. How was it possible for him to be a dad in that case?

  In reality, the auntie had not even been afraid of Zhai Yaohui when she had just arrived. But she had always tried her best to avoid Zhai Sheng. As a Chinese, she was still rather conservative.