Chapter 2230: Refusing

“Mom, are you blaming me for not having the ability to let you wear such nice clothes? Now that Qiao Nan has given you this opportunity, she’s become the apple of your eye?” Just because of these broken rags, her mom had followed in her dad’s footsteps and was now on Qiao Nan’s side, abandoning her!

“No, you’re still my favorite daughter. But I can’t deny that I’ve gotten old, just like how I can’t deny that I put my hopes in the wrong daughter. Perhaps, that wretched girl and I are not fated. Ever since she was young, she’s always listened to me, and I’ve never needed to worry about her. Still, I’ve never liked her. As for you, you’ve always created trouble for me but I’ve always been happy cleaning up your messes. People are really fools at times.”

Had she suddenly taken a liking to Qiao Nan?

No. Because she had had poor judgment when she had been younger, she had made a wrong choice in picking between her daughters. That was exactly why she hated Qiao Nan even more. She couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Qiao Nan had been more self-aware, performed worse, and failed in life because her own biological mother didn’t like her.

In that case, Qiao Zijin’s failures would be compared to Qiao Nan, who would be an even greater failure. That way, Qiao Zijin would look rather promising, at the very least.

Speaking of Qiao Nan, she was truly not considerate at all. Now that Qiao Nan was living a good life, there were many who mocked her for choosing not to dote on such a promising daughter and choosing to dote on a useless one instead.

As such, there was no way she could ever like a daughter like that.

Ding Jiayi knew that even if Qiao Nan became outstanding and married well, she would be upset because it would feel as though Qiao Nan was getting revenge on her by living well. On the other hand, if Qiao Nan were to turn out the way she had expected and be a failure in life, not only would she not pity Qiao Nan, but she would look down on Qiao Nan even more because of that since she had already predicted that Qiao Nan would amount to nothing.

Therefore, the problem lay not in Qiao Nan but in her own heart.

Ding Jiayi had lived freely her whole life and had been stubborn and willful about her daughter, Qiao Nan. She didn’t have many more years to live, so why would she suddenly change her att.i.tude and tone out of the blue and try to suck up to her daughter, Qiao Nan, out of twenty years’ worth of guilt?

She would never do such a thing.

Now that the topic of Qiao Nan had been brought up, Ding Jiayi naturally had to deal with Qiao Zijin. Leaving aside the differences in her daughters’ lives, it was only because her younger daughter was living well that her elder daughter had been envious.

Initially, if Qiao Nan had truly left Ding Jiayi in the lurch, Ding Jiayi would definitely have fallen into a crisis in her old age since she would have neither her daughter by her side nor any money. Then, she would try to cling on to anything she could for a sense of security.

But Qiao Nan was not a person like that.

Qiao Nan had never shortchanged her parents, and she gave whatever was necessary. Of course, if Ding Jiayi and Qiao Dongliang had had a better relations.h.i.+p with Qiao Nan, their lives would have been even better. The problem was that Qiao Nan’s ident.i.ty was different now. Even though Qiao Nan treated them very averagely, Qiao Dongliang’s and Ding Jiayi’s lives were much better than an average old person’s.

Having toiled for her whole life, Ding Jiayi was exhausted too. Now, she no longer needed to work but she was still able to live better than many others. So, why would she not enjoy that? Did it make any sense for her to give up even the last bit of her good fortune?

After comparing her life with others’, Ding Jiayi finally felt a little satisfied and stopped demanding anything. Her elder daughter treated her in this manner, while her younger daughter was like her enemy. If she went any further, there was no way she would be able to continue living.

Qiao Zijin felt miserable. In the past, her mom had always listened to everything she said and never rebuked her. It was only because her mom thought that Qiao Nan had made a name for herself that Qiao Nan would be able to better her mom’s life. That was why her mom no longer cared about her and was now standing on Qiao Nan’s side.

Money was such a useful tool. It could make her mom, who had pampered her for her whole life, do such a thing.

Qiao Zijin forced out a smile. “Mom, don’t do this. Believe it or not, I’ll have money very soon too. Qiao Nan bought you clothes that cost a few thousand yuan. Once I have money, I’ll buy you clothes that cost tens of thousands of yuan! Mom, if you don’t help me now and keep siding with Qiao Nan, I might not even forgive you when you regret your actions once I have money.”

It was not that she was truly worse than Qiao Nan. She had the chance to get rich too. In less than a month’s time, she would have money. She would just have to wait until she returned to the capital.

Qiao Zijin, who stubbornly thought that she would definitely become rich, completely forgot that this entire matter depended on whether Qiao Nan agreed to such terms. Without Qiao Nan’s cooperation and help, Qiao Zijin’s dreams of getting rich would remain as nothing more than a dream.

“Is that so?” Ding Jiayi didn’t fly into a rage. “Alright. If that’s true, I’m happy for you. I’ve always thought of you as my best daughter all these years. If you make a name for yourself, it’ll prove that I didn’t make the wrong choice at that time. As for those clothes that cost tens of thousands of yuan, it’s fine. If you’re not willing to give them to me, you can keep them for yourself. After all, you have more time ahead of you than I do. Of course, I’ll accept them gladly if you want to be filial to me and thank me for raising you all these years once you become rich.”

Ding Jiayi smiled faintly. She was not even rich yet, but she was already threatening not to be filial to her once she got rich. This was the daughter whom she had been doting on all these years. There was nothing Ding Jiayi could do about Qiao Zijin.

No matter what, Ding Jiayi had much more life experience than Qiao Zijin. Although she was infuriated by Qiao Zijin’s words, she did not lash out and say that Qiao Zijin would never get rich or that she had the backbone to refuse Qiao Zijin’s filial piety.

Refusing it?

Why would she refuse it?

Over the past forty years, she had spared no effort and money on her daughter, Qiao Zijin. She had devoted half her life to Qiao Zijin! Even if Qiao Zijin were to buy clothes that cost more than tens of thousands of yuan, she would still be able to wear them with no shame at all.