1426 Gave Up on Making Things Difficult for Her
Compared to Qiao Nan, who had a glorious life, she could only be the rats in the sewer.
They were biological sisters. How could Qiao Nan be so heartless toward her? She did not do heinous deeds to her or try to take her life. She had a good life, but why could she not help her?
Qiao Zijin could not help but cry as she thought about it. “Mom, why is Qiao Nan so cruel to me? I’m her sister. Why doesn’t she want me to do well in life? She refused to help her family but she was willing to help other people. What did she mean by that? If I do not marry well and other people ask her about it, it will not look good on her as well. I have never seen anyone who is more unfeeling than her. Did she forget that I am her elder sister? If I were her, I would not be so heartless and coldhearted like her. She does not even care that we are one family.”
Qiao Nan only regarded those outsiders as her siblings, but she had no regard for her!
“Mom, you have to help me. You are the only person who can help me now.” She refused to resign to fate. She was unconvinced that she and Qiao Nan were worlds apart and that she could never be compared to her. A woman would marry once in her life. This was an important event for her. She wanted to be a white swan instead of an ugly duckling.
Ding Jiayi waved her hand. “Qiao Nan wouldn’t listen to me when she had yet to marry. Now that she is part of the Zhai family, how will I be able to help you? Zijin, you have to sort out your thoughts. Alright, you can continue to watch television. I am tired. I will go to sleep.”
She knew that Qiao Zijin was going to push everything to her. Ding Jiayi had changed. She was no longer the Ding Jiayi from before. She would no longer do everything for Qiao Zijin. Instead, she would skirt the issue Qiao Zijin raised. Qiao Zijin had to depend on herself.
Qiao Nan was like a dragon in the sky, while she was only a fish in the water. A flying dragon would never listen to an old fish.
Ding Jiayi knew that Qiao Nan would ignore her if she went looking for her. She was no longer young. It was tiring on her to create a din and end up not achieving anything.
Qiao Dongliang seemed to be leading a good life. It took Ding Jiayi very long to understand, but she had decided to learn from Qiao Dongliang. She would wash her hands off Qiao Zijin. It was up to the children to settle their own problems. It was useless for the adults to meddle in their affairs.
With that, Ding Jiayi fled to her room, closed the door, and avoided Qiao Zijin’s unrelenting gaze.
Ding Jiayi had just closed the door when a gla.s.s cup was being smashed to the floor. It made a loud sound as it crashed to the floor.
Ding Jiayi thought for a while before letting go of the door handle. She switched on the electric fan in the room, lay on the bed, and closed her eyes, getting ready to sleep.
She had made her stand. She would not be involved in matters regarding Qiao Nan. There was nothing that she could do.
Qiao Zijin was not a fool. She could sense that Ding Jiayi’s att.i.tude had changed since a long time ago. Moreover, they had a bad quarrel when they came back from the capital the previous time. She would never forget that her father moved out of the house and never came back for months because of what she said.
Since she and her mother never mentioned the incident again, as time pa.s.sed, she tried to deceive herself that the incident never happened at all. Anyway, her mother treated her in the same manner as before.
But when it came to serious issues, Qiao Zijin could tell that there was still a difference. “It is so nice to get married to a good husband.”
Before Qiao Nan was married to Zhai Sheng, her mother would always side with her, disregarding the fact that Qiao Nan was her daughter. Right now, although her mother disliked Qiao Nan, she would no longer make unreasonable requests of Qiao Nan or make things difficult for Qiao Nan in order to help her.
Qiao Zijin knew what Ding Jiayi was up to.
Ding Jiayi was no longer young and she needed her children to take care of her. Now that Qiao Nan married well, it was up to her to decide the amount of money that she would give Ding Jiayi every month. After all, Qiao Nan had the final say over her own money. Ding Jiayi stopped creating trouble for Qiao Nan, hoping that Qiao Nan would give her more money monthly.
If she made trouble for Qiao Nan, not only would it be useless, but it would also affect her relations.h.i.+p with Qiao Nan. Since that was the case, Ding Jiayi decided to give up on going against Qiao Nan. She would behave herself so that Qiao Nan would continue to provide for her.
Money, money, money!
Her mother would do anything for money. She did not have any principles. She did not care about her daughter. Her daughter could not be more important than herself. Her mother had two children, but she did not have their best interests. She did not intend to nurture them to become successful. Instead, her only hope was that her children would give her lots of money when they grew up so that she could lead a good life.
She was too selfish.
Qiao Zijin’s eyes turned red as she thought about her situation. The whites of her eyes turned reddish and bloodshot. In the end, Qiao Zijin returned to her room to make a call to her boyfriend. “Yes, this is the situation. Will you shun me because of this? I will try my best in this regard, but I hope that your family will not have too high expectations of me. You know about my family’s situation. My sister would like to prepare a bigger dowry for me, but I feel that it is inappropriate of me to accept this from her.”
“I was still in school when my sister married Zhai Sheng. I didn’t buy a pretty dress for her, let alone prepare a dowry for her. I will feel bad to accept so many things from her now. After marrying you, I will become part of your family. I won’t be able to return this favor by myself. I don’t want to add to your burden.”
Although she would not have luxurious dowry or a grand wedding like Qiao Nan did, Qiao Zijin had to put it nicely. Her in-laws must not think that Qiao Nan refused to prepare a dowry for her as she had a bad relations.h.i.+p with her. Instead, it was because she refused to accept her kindness.
One would reciprocate the favors that one had.
If she married into the family and she brought dowry with her, her in-laws would have to return the favor to the Zhai family.
Everything that she did was for the sake of her in-laws. Therefore, she must make sure that her in-laws understand that she was sensible and considerate of them.
She no longer had any expectations of her parental family.
If Qiao Zijin wanted to have good days ahead, she must make sure that she had a good relations.h.i.+p with her in-laws. Her parental family did not seem like a family at all. They did not have her best interests.
She had lived with her parents for more than twenty years, but she would have to spend the rest of her life with her in-laws.