Chapter 1938: No, I Want to Give You a Beating

“What is the meaning of this? Why are you so fierce? Do you want to eat me whole?”

“No, I want to give you a beating.” As long as Ding Jiayi was together with his elder daughter, no good things would happen. There was a high chance that Nan Nan would be the victim and sacrifice of this discussion. “I don’t care if Chen Jun has such thoughts. Nan Nan’s my daughter. I understand her. Even if Chen Jun has divorced Zijin and he is the only man left in this world, Nan Nan won’t get together with him. You don’t have to worry about this. Nan Nan will not s.n.a.t.c.h any of Zijin’s things away. You don’t have to worry.”

When Qiao Dongliang returned, he only heard the latter half of the conversation. He didn’t listen to the former half at all. As such, he had misunderstood that after Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin had found out about Qiao Nan’s whereabouts, they had mistaken Qiao Nan’s relations.h.i.+p with Chen Jun. When he realized that Qiao Nan so-called marrying Chen Jun was purely decided by the mother-daughter pair in order to protect their own interests, Qiao Dongliang was so angry that he nearly went mad.

Ding Jiayi was not willing to take this lying down. From the way Old Qiao was being fierce toward her, it seemed like she was more of an enemy than a wife. He didn’t care about Zijin and only had Qiao Nan in his heart. “Don’t say such words too early. Don’t forget what kind of conditions that wretched girl is in now. She’s already forty-years-old now but doesn’t even have a boyfriend. She should thank G.o.d if someone is willing to marry her. How would she still have the cheek to be picky and despise Chen Jun?”

Upon hearing Ding Jiayi’s words, Qiao Dongliang, whose temper had simmered a little, immediately became furious. Seeing the broom at the side, he picked it up without saying a second word and started hitting Ding Jiayi. “Yes, Nan Nan’s forty-years-old and is an old lady now! You despise her for being embarra.s.sing, huh? Why is it that she’s unmarried at this age and doesn’t have a boyfriend? Others might not know about the sins you have committed, but will you not know?! You still have the cheek to say this!”

Ding Jiayi howled in pain. Qiao Dongliang had never lectured Ding Jiayi in such a manner even when she was young. Now that Ding Jiayi was already the age of a grandmother but was lectured by Qiao Dongliang like she was a granddaughter, the pain was unbearable to her.

Ding Jiayi looked up. As she blocked herself, she ran. “Old Qiao, why did you become crazy? Ouch. It hurts…”

“Dad?” Qiao Zijin was shocked as well. This was the first time she had seen her father so angry. He even laid a hand on her mother. “Dad, what’s wrong with you? Simmer down. Stop hitting. Let’s sit down and have a chat. There isn’t anything that can’t be solved. Mom’s already at this age as well.”

When she heard how Qiao Dongliang’s strokes sounded when he was. .h.i.tting Ding Jiayi, Qiao Zijin shrunk her neck. She stared at the broom intensely and was afraid that it would land on her body if Qiao Dongliang made a wrong hand. Even though she was trying to persuade him with words, Qiao Zijin also found a relatively safe place where she would not be hit so easily by Qiao Dongliang.

As to rus.h.i.+ng forward to hug Ding Jiayi so that she would not be beaten, that was something that would never happen.

Things made of plastic were too soft and not firm enough. After Qiao Dongliang used it for a while, it actually broke. Good thing that it broke as well. Otherwise, he would not have stopped just like that.

Qiao Dongliang threw the broken broom heavily on the ground. He exhaled and said, “I warn you. The two of you’d better not hit any ideas on Nan Nan. It has been more than twenty years. Nan Nan had provided you to complete your university studies and even bought this house. Don’t think that you feel wronged just because you sold the house. If Nan Nan didn’t provide you so much money, where would you have a house to sell in the first place so that you could treat your illness? You, especially, took so much money from Nan Nan but still badmouthed her. I want to see how good a life you will be leading if Nan Nan doesn’t give you money in the future.”

Qiao Zijin was his daughter, after all. Qiao Dongliang couldn’t speak too bluntly. What Qiao Dongliang really wanted to say via the last sentence was that without Qiao Nan’s filial piety, he wanted to see how Ding Jiayi could rely on her beloved daughter, Qiao Zijin, to lead a life better than before.

Although Qiao Dongliang didn’t say this, it didn’t mean Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin didn’t hear the meaning in his words.

Upon seeing Qiao Dongliang walk away angrily, Qiao Zijin’s face turned pale and she walked to Ding Jiayi’s side. “Mom, what did Dad mean by that? Is he looking down on me? Does he think that I’m not as useful as Qiao Nan and that the both of you can only lead a good life with Qiao Nan around?” Her father actually looked down on her this much?

Ding Jiayi was in agony. She sucked in a cold breath of air from time to time. When her movement involved the muscles that were hit by Qiao Dongliang, her eyebrows knitted closely together. “Your dad’s an old fool. The older he gets, the more unclear about things he is. It hasn’t been once or twice. I’m long used to it. What I didn’t expect was that the both of us are already at this age, but he actually…”

Thankfully, her grandson was not around. Otherwise, how embarra.s.sed would she, the grandma, be? However, to be beaten in front of her daughter was not something glorious either. “He’s a fool. Don’t mind him. Anyway, I know you’re good. Don’t mind your dad’s words. When he has suffered in Qiao Nan’s hands, he would naturally know how good you are in the future and regret today’s words.”

Qiao Nan was good?

Regardless of how good Qiao Nan was and how capable she was at making money, she was already gone. Even if they could find her back after she had run away once, there was bound to be a second or third time. At that point, Old Qiao would know how that wretched girl had no conscience.

No, she asked Qiao Nan to remove her name from their household register as they were afraid that she would embarra.s.s her family in the past and be evaluated badly by outsiders. This time, after finding Qiao Nan, she had to include Qiao Nan back in their household register. Not only that, but she had to take all of Qiao Nan’s identification doc.u.ments.

She did want to see how Qiao Nan could run again if she had neither the household register nor any identification doc.u.ments.

“Mom, don’t worry. I don’t mind it that much. No matter what, he’s also my dad. He can treat me badly, but I can’t be unfilial to him.” Qiao Zijin said insincerely, “However, Mom, based on Dad’s att.i.tude, will he agree to put the courtyard under my name and not Qiao Nan’s?”

Qiao Zijin still had the confidence previously. However, after seeing how Qiao Dongliang had beaten Ding Jiayi up, Qiao Zijin no longer had such naive thoughts. The Qiao family had really changed. In the past, her mother would have the final say in the Qiao family and n.o.body could refute her words.

However, as long as her father didn’t agree to it now, whatever nice words her mother said would just be bubbles that could be broken easily.

“…” Upon mentioning the owners.h.i.+p of the courtyard, Ding Jiayi hesitated for a while. Based on her temper, the courtyard would definitely belong to Zijin alone.