Chapter 2231: Holding Back Tears

For Ding Jiayi, it was rare for the word ‘backbone’ to appear. Ding Jiayi was used to not burning bridges.

It was like in the past when she looked down on Qiao Nan and felt that she wouldn’t be able to become successful in this lifetime. However, even if that was the case, Ding Jiayi never said words like if there was really a day that Qiao Nan became successful, she would definitely not care for Qiao Nan’s filial piety as she still had Qiao Zijin, her successful elder daughter.

Ding Jiayi wouldn’t say and would never say such words that were equivalent to giving her a slap in the face.

“Old Qiao, lunch’s ready. Come out and eat. If you sleep too much in the day, you might not be able to sleep at night.” It seemed that the relations.h.i.+p between Ding Jiayi and Qiao Dongliang had improved. They seemed to be more harmonious with each other.

When Ding Jiayi was alone, she had thought through things carefully.

Initially, this house was the joint property between them, husband and wife. If they were to get a divorce, they should split the house equally. The problem was that the property deed was already in Qiao Nan’s hands. This house no longer had anything to do with her or Qiao Dongliang. If she were to divorce Qiao Dongliang, she wouldn’t even have a place in Ping Cheng, where she had lived for more than forty years.

Not only would she not have a place in Ping Cheng, but she would also not have one in her hometown.

In the Ding family, she was a married daughter. The number of houses the Ding family had had nothing to do with her. If the Ding family knew that she got a divorce from her husband in old age and could get neither money nor the house, not only would the Ding family not help her because of her surname, but they would also see her as a joke.

She definitely couldn’t return to the Ding family or leave Ping Cheng. In short, she couldn’t divorce Qiao Dongliang.

What made Ding Jiayi feel at ease was that Qiao Dongliang no longer mentioned the divorce ever since the last time. As long as they didn’t get a divorce and the name of Qiao Dongliang’s spouse was still her, she wouldn’t need to return to the Ding family out of helplessness and watch them roll their eyes at her. She’d rather die than return to the Ding family.

After thinking about her hatred for and annoyance at the Ding family, Ding Jiayi couldn’t help but maintain peace with Qiao Dongliang. Indeed, Qiao Nan’s triplets were just born. However, Chen Feng was no longer young. To put it bluntly, in a few years’ time, Chen Feng would be old enough to marry someone. Ding Jiayi didn’t want to end up with a divorce after being a great-grandmother.

Thankfully, after Qiao Dongliang returned from the capital, he never brought up the matters about the ident.i.ty card and the train ticket to Ding Jiayi. He didn’t mention them even until now. Ding Jiayi was the one who did wrong. By not mentioning this matter, Qiao Dongliang seemed to be letting her off. As such, Ding Jiayi wouldn’t be so foolish to mention it again.

After knowing that Qiao Dongliang was hungry, Ding Jiayi prepared something for him to eat. She knew that he preferred food with heavy flavors and that he liked spicy food. In the past, Ding Jiayi used to cook according to her and Qiao Zijin’s preference. Both of them didn’t like to eat spicy food. Qiao Zijin liked to eat dry rice as she felt that the rice would become soft and not as chewy if there was too much water added. As such, Ding Jiayi always used less water.

Qiao Zijin was young and liked her rice to be dry and chewy. However, people around Qiao Dongliang and Ding Jiayi’s age preferred their rice to be softer. If more water was added, the rice would be easier to digest and their stomachs wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

Of course, for today’s lunch, there was a little chili in the dishes, and the rice was cooked until it was similar to porridge.

Upon seeing such dishes, Qiao Zijin immediately lost her appet.i.te. “Mom, you know that I can’t eat spicy food. Once I eat spicy food, pimples will grow and I’ll look ugly. You used to not put chili. Why are you doing so now?”

She had maintained her eating habits for more than forty years. Her mom had finished was.h.i.+ng the clothes. Had water entered her brain as well? She could even forget her habit completely. She couldn’t be blamed for being angry at her mom. “Also, is this rice or porridge? It looks like neither. Mom, who are you preparing this meal for?”

Qiao Zijin really wanted to add that even pigs would complain if Ding Jiayi’s meal today was prepared for them.

The meal that Ding Jiayi had prepared with so much difficulty was criticized by Qiao Zijin to be completely worthless using such undisguised remarks. Neither Qiao Dongliang nor Ding Jiayi felt comfortable in their hearts. Furthermore, Qiao Dongliang was the one being taken care of today. He had nothing much to say regarding this meal.

Qiao Dongliang picked up a dish with his chopsticks and placed it in his bowl. “If you find what your mom prepared isn’t nice, go and order takeaways. If you think takeaways aren’t nice or find them too expensive, then buy ingredients home and cook a meal yourself. You can prepare it however you like and don’t have to complain that the food others prepared isn’t nice or to your liking. Of course, if you are more generous with money, you can hire a nanny to specially prepare your meals. Of course, if you just want the nanny to prepare meals, it’s more economical to hire a part-timer.”

Qiao Dongliang thought of several ways for Qiao Zijin to solve her issues with food.

“…” Qiao Zijin said in anger, “Dad, why have you changed? All you talk about is money. Yes, I don’t have money. Does that mean I’m no longer your daughter? Do you have to take this att.i.tude toward me? Mom, you too!”

“It’s not that I don’t treat you as a daughter if you don’t have money. It’s that you don’t think about me or your mom just because we don’t have money. Think about your att.i.tude. At this age, your mom’s still preparing meals for you but all you do is complain. If you’re really filial and have a conscience, a person like you who is forty-two years old now, turning forty-three after the new year, should prepare a meal for me and your mom. Would that cause you any suffering or be deemed as ill-treating you?” She was turning forty-three after the new year, not thirteen.

Upon thinking that Qiao Zijin was going to be forty-three years old soon but he and Ding Jiayi had never eaten a meal that Qiao Zijin had specially prepared for them, Qiao Dongliang felt cold in his heart. Which other daughter was like this? Compared to other sons, Qiao Zijin didn’t pale in comparison to them at all.

“Why are your eyes red? Is it only today that you know what kind of daughter you have raised? Hold back your tears. It’s all your own sin. As such, you should bear the consequences. Hurry up and eat.” Ding Jiayi’s eyes became red when she heard Qiao Dongliang’s words.

She was willing to do everything for Qiao Zijin, her daughter. However, not only did Qiao Zijin not acknowledge her sacrifice and love for her over the years, but she also always picked on her, saying that she, as a mother, was worthless. It was as if her efforts over the past few decades were a joke. Ding Jiayi felt aggrieved.