Ding Jiayi pondered throughout the night. She felt that Qiao Zijin must have her reasons for coming to the hospital but not visiting her and addressing her as her auntie.
The reason why she was in a car accident was that Zijin wanted to sell the house.
She and Old Qiao were still married. The house belonged to the two of them. It was not suitable for her to sell the house by herself.
If Old Qiao learned about it, he would be angry at her again.
If she brought this up, it would seem as if it was Zijin’s fault that she was in a car accident.
If Zijin was to appear right now, how was she going to explain to Old Qiao?
Old Qiao was biased toward that wretched girl. If he heard about this, Zijin would no longer have any place in Old Qiao’s heart.
No matter what, Zijin still cared for her. Zijin was worried that Old Qiao would blame her for the accident. If she was not worried about her, she would not have come to the hospital to check on her injuries.
Ding Jiayi believed that Qiao Dongliang was the reason why Qiao Zijin did not visit her. Being the ‘good’ mother that she was, Ding Jiayi had to think of ways to help Qiao Zijin solve her problem.
In fact, Ding Jiayi meant what she said. Every woman in the world hoped that they would be able to lead a good life. Furthermore, Qiao Dongliang had been good to Ding Jiayi for the past twenty years. He would give her all the money that he earned, leaving nothing much for himself.
In the past two years, Ding Jiayi had heard a lot about other people’s married lives. She realized that Qiao Dongliang had been very good to her. There were not many good husbands like him anymore.
Therefore, Ding Jiayi was sincere in patching up with him.
“Look, Zijin is in her second year, while Qiao Nan will be in her first year of college when school starts. Our two daughters will soon marry in two years’ time. As the elders, it will not be nice for us to keep on quarreling. If our in-laws see this, they will have a wrong impression of our family. Do you want to stand in the way of Zijin’s and Nan Nan’s future happiness?
“You are right. I really should think of Nan Nan’s future.” Nan Nan had a troublesome mother like Ding Jiayi. It would be very difficult for Nan Nan to be with Zhai Sheng in the future.
If he divorced Ding Jiayi, Nan Nan would stay with him and Ding Jiayi would definitely choose to stay with Qiao Zijin. By then, Ding Jiayi would not bring as much trouble to Nan Nan.
“Do you share my sentiments? There you go. I have said that I am not unreasonable. Old Qiao, let’s make up. Zijin and Nan Nan will be going to college. They will not stay in Ping Cheng. As the saying goes, when young couples turn old, they will be each other’s companion. Our situation is the opposite. What’s wrong with us? Let’s stop our quarrel, shall we?”
Ding Jiayi no longer felt like staying angry with Qiao Dongliang.
No matter how angry she was, Qiao Zijin and Qiao Nan were not the ones who took care of her when she was injured and hospitalized.
When dawn broke, Ding Jiayi gazed at Qiao Dongliang, who was dozing off by the side. It dawned on her that the person who would spend the rest of their life with her would not be Qiao Nan or Qiao Zijin. It was Qiao Dongliang.
Qiao Zijin was a good daughter and she would be filial to her.
However, after Qiao Zijin was married, she would have her own family and children. By then, Qiao Zijin would not possibly neglect her husband and children for her sake.
Qiao Zijin might be filial, but Qiao Dongliang was the only person who would stay by her side, leading a simple life with her and taking care of her when she was sick.
It was too much to lose to give up her husband for Qiao Nan, that unfilial wretched girl.
At most, she would keep quiet when Old Qiao was being nice to Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan would no longer be an eyesore to her after she married and left the family. They would not get to see each other often.
In that case, it would not be long before she would no longer have to live with Qiao Nan.
“Stop making trouble?” Qiao Dongliang asked sarcastically. Ding Jiayi thought that Qiao Dongliang was asking for her affirmation. “Yes, I will not make any trouble for her again. I promise you I will really behave myself. Nan Nan is my daughter. I am… I love her deeply. That is why I want to correct her when she is in the wrong. It is just that I have high expectations of her. Didn’t you use to say that spare the rod and spoil the child? Look at how outstanding Nan Nan is now. It proves that we are right to be strict with her.”
“Alright. It takes at least three months for the injuries to the bones and tendons to recover. You should be resting instead of talking. You should lie down on the bed.” Qiao Dongliang wanted Ding Jiayi to rest more lest she made more shameless and outrageous comments.
Ding Jiayi blushed. “Old Qiao, are you concerned for me?”
“I am worried about your injuries. You should rest so that you can recover soon.”
“Old Qiao, you are very kind to me. You can rest assured that I will definitely have a good rest. If Qiao Nan is here, I will not pick on her anymore.” She had just reconciled with Old Qiao. She would not quarrel with Old Qiao because of that wretched girl. She did not want to threaten each other with divorce anymore.
Now that Ding Jiayi decided to behave herself, Qiao Dongliang, who had been suppressing his anger, went to the corridor to take a walk.
He hoped Ding Jiayi would make a speedy recovery so that he could bring up divorce to her.
Qiao Dongliang was very clear that it would be difficult to keep Qiao Nan’s relationship with Zhai Sheng from Miao Jing for long.
Miao Jing rarely chatted with Qiao Dongliang, but during the times when they had a chat, he could tell that Miao Jing did not like Ding Jiayi.
Undoubtedly, Ding Jiayi would be the stumbling block to the relationship between Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng. It would be harder for them to get Miao Jing’s approval.
Qiao Dongliang felt vexed at the thought of that. Although he did not have the habit of smoking, he wished to smoke like what others did to drive his worries away.
Qiao Dongliang smiled bitterly at himself. When the family was in better financial condition, he did not have the habit of smoking. Right now, he did not even have the money to send Nan Nan to college, yet he was thinking of smoking. How ridiculous he was.
Qiao Dongliang could feel the heavy burden on his shoulder. He used to have a tall and upright frame. Although he was only in his early forties, he seemed to be hunching under the immense pressure, looking desolate from the back.
It was the fifth day since the incident that happened during the college entrance examination. Zhai Sheng went to the Shi family’s residence to look for Qiao Nan.
As soon as Shi Qing saw Zhai Sheng, she took an apple and was about to walk away.
Zhai Sheng stopped her. “It’s alright. I will chat with Nan Nan next door.” The Qiao family’s residence was right next to the Shi family’s residence.
Shi Qing, who had already taken a bite of the apple, watched helplessly as Zhai Sheng pulled Qiao Nan away. After a long while, she ranted in anger. “Hey, you are not even giving me a chance to eavesdrop, are you?”
Back at the Qiao family’s residence, Qiao Nan poured water for Zhai Sheng. “Brother Zhai, you have come at the right time. Actually, I always wanted to ask how you managed to be there in the nick of time. I remember you had many soldiers with you as well.”
If Brother Zhai was late by three minutes, she would not be able to enter the examination hall. Xu Tingting would be thrilled.
The journey from the army camp to Ping Cheng High School was quite long. It would take more than an hour’s drive.