Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Qiao Nan was the worst. She was the one who gave birth to Qiao Nan and gave Qiao Nan life. What was wrong with asking Qiao Nan for such an arrangement as a mother? Qiao Nan just had to follow what she said. She was not asking Qiao Nan to die. The path that she had arranged for Qiao Nan was more or less normal, aside from the fact that she did not get to study as much. She had not forced Qiao Nan into a corner. Did Qiao Nan have to resist so aggressively and cause her to get a divorce with Qiao Dongliang?
That’s right. It was the fault of all these people. Every single one of them let her down. She was the one who had been hurt the most. She had not wronged anyone. It was everyone else who had wronged her.
Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Nan knew nothing about Ding Jiayi’s warped ideas. The father and daughter spent three days before finally settling all of Qiao Zijin’s things.
Thinking about Qiao Zijin’s daughter, Qiao Nan’s tone deepened. “Qiao Zijin’s daughter is called Zhou Ying, right? Whether it was Zhou Ying or anyone from the Zhou family, no one turned up this time.”
Her dad had stopped Ding Jiayi and had refused her entry, but her dad had not forgotten to inform the Zhou family. The strange part was that everything had been settled, but in these three days, not a single person from the Zhou family appeared. Not even Qiao Zijin’s biological daughter, Zhou Ying.
Qiao Nan thought that this was rather strange. It was as though something was not quite right.
She could understand Zhou Zheng not wanting to come. After all, it was already quite humane if a man who had been cheated on by his wife did not clap in glee when his wife was knocked down by a car. And so, not coming was understandable. However, even her daughter, Zhou Ying, did not appear to pay her last respects to Qiao Zijin. Wasn’t this a little too much?
Actually, Qiao Dongliang had been thinking about this matter as well. “Should we give a call to the Zhou family and ask about their intentions? It’s true that Zijin did something bad to the Zhou family, but she did nothing wrong to her child, Ying Ying. Now that her mom is gone, the Zhou family doesn’t even want to let Ying Ying pay her last respects? No matter what, I think the Zhou family is being a little ridiculous.”
The thought of Qiao Zijin’s daughter not appearing at her funeral made Qiao Dongliang pity Qiao Zijin. “Nan Nan, just look at the Zhou family’s attitude. Do you think that Zijin did something wrong against Zhou Zheng because of something the Zhou family did to her? Maybe the Zhou family treated Zijin badly. Given Zijin’s bad temper, she could have gotten into a relationship with a man outside just to get revenge on the Zhou family and Zhou Zheng.”
When he first found out that Zhou Zheng had angrily divorced Qiao Zijin because of her affair, Qiao Dongliang was no less infuriated than Zhou Zheng. His face was so flushed with anger that it seemed as though he was the husband who had been cheated on.
But now that she was gone, Qiao Dongliang seemed to have changed his mind. Whatever he said needed to be filtered, and only then could anyone barely listen to what he was saying. “At that time, when I heard that Zijin had done such a thing, I was so angry that I could have been confused. I didn’t even stop to think about Zijin. I should have considered Zijin’s point of view and communicated calmly with her to find out why she had done such a thing. Why would she choose to ruin her life when she was living such a good life? Nan Nan, I think that something else must have caused Zijin’s affair.”
It was probably because he felt that Zijin had died at such a young age and had passed on before himself that Qiao Dongliang was heartbroken and had started to think about what Qiao Zijin had gone through while she was still alive.
Without any basis at all, and based only on his own conjectures, Qiao Dongliang came up with the ‘truth’ of the matter. “Nan Nan, we can’t let the Zhou family malign Zijin like that. Zijin can’t carry this with her even after her death. Maybe the Zhou family is even trying to smear Zijin’s name in front of Ying Ying, and that’s why Ying Ying didn’t appear. I have to get to the bottom of this matter. I have to find out how Zhou Zheng treated Zijin in the past few years and how the Zhou family drove Zijin into a corner so much so that she decided to have an affair…”
“Nan Nan, do you think it’s possible? That Zijin’s affair was actually made up? That they made this up so that Zhou Zheng could get a divorce from Zijin? Maybe Zijin had never done anything wrong toward Zhou Zheng! Maybe she was framed!”
As Qiao Dongliang went on, he became increasingly serious and indignant. How he wished he could drag Zhou Zheng in front of him and interrogate him right then and there and demand Zhou Zheng to prove Qiao Zijin’s innocence.
It was probably a coincidence that Qiao Dongliang had just gotten these suspicions and Qiao Nan received a phone call before she could even say a thing.
The moment Qiao Nan’s phone rang, Qiao Dongliang naturally stopped talking. Qiao Zijin’s innocence was important, and he had to clear the matter and prove his elder daughter’s innocence, but his younger daughter’s official matters were equally important. He could not ask his younger daughter to give up her career just for the sake of his elder daughter.
“Oh, I see. That’s really coincidental that they’ve clashed. But is there really a need to be in such a hurry? It hasn’t even been a few months since Qiao Zijin got divorced from Zhou Zheng, right?” She had just heard that Zhou Zheng had gotten married to his ex-girlfriend. And it was just so coincidental that their wedding had been held over the past two days, clashing with Qiao Zijin’s funeral. But what could Qiao Nan say?
No wonder not a single member of the Zhou family had appeared. It was already polite of them not to clap and rejoice in glee now that their ex-daughter-in-law was dead. She could not possibly expect the Zhou family to put aside their son’s second marriage, forgo his wedding, and come all the way to the capital just to attend the funeral of such a shameless ex-daughter-in-law, right?
Zhou Ying was Qiao Zijin’s daughter. Logically, even if everyone else in the Zhou family did not attend Qiao Zijin’s funeral, Zhou Ying still had to do so. The one who had passed away was Zhou Ying’s biological mother after all.
But Zhou Ying was too young, and it was inconvenient for the Zhou family to attend the funeral. Firstly, it was unlucky for their joyful occasion to clash with mourning. Secondly, the date of Zhou Zheng’s wedding happened to be the date of Qiao Zijin’s funeral. The invitations had already been sent out and there was no way for them to change the date of their wedding. As such, the Zhou family was really unable to find someone to accompany Zhou Ying to the capital.
Her biological mother had died, and Zhou Ying had to attend her funeral. But did that mean she could not attend her biological father’s wedding? It was Qiao Zijin herself who had sent Zhou Ying back to the Zhou family. So what was wrong if Zhou Ying was closer to the Zhou family?
The Zhou family gave a hundred excuses as to why they would not be going, and neither would Zhou Ying.
On the other end of the phone call, the ends of Qiao Nan’s lips curled up. She could not help but reply with a cheeky smile, “I see. Congratulations to you! I hope you enjoy your new marriage!”
If the person who had called today had been Mother Zhou, Mother Zhou would have been the one saying these words. And once Qiao Nan went home, she would immediately shoot at Zhai Sheng.