Chapter 2244: Being Dragged Down

Her life wouldn’t necessarily get more interesting just because she made new friends.

Was it so easy to make friends?

In her dream, Qiao Nan had once made the effort to make friends. Apart from her roommates from high school, she shared the closest relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+ Qing. When she went to university, she got close to another senior. At that time, Qiao Nan had already thought that she was very blessed and fortunate to have so many true friends.

“Dad, Mom, why are you guys suddenly talking about this? Is someone spreading some groundless rumors again?”

“…” Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing shared a knowing look. Qiao Nan was right. Someone was saying something.

Because Qiao Nan did not like interacting with others, she never interacted much with her neighbors ever since she had moved into the military quad. If not for the Zhai family, Qiao Nan would be no different from a lone wolf.

There was no way the gossip would cease.

In the past, everyone had looked down on Qiao Nan. As such, they simply thought that Qiao Nan knew her place and felt unworthy to have such neighbors. That was why she hardly left the house. It was better that way. It would save everyone’s dignity, and she couldn’t fit it anyway.

But the situation was different now. Many wondered why the Zhai family’s daughter-in-law rarely appeared in the quad or interacted with others. Was it Qiao Nan who refused to interact with others? Or did the Zhai family have some ulterior motive and thus prevented Qiao Nan from doing so?

Apart from the children’s full-month celebration, Qiao Nan almost gave off the wrong impression that she was merely a disposable tool that the Zhai family had found to have children. Now that she had given birth to their children, she would simply become a nanny who took care of them.

The Zhai family was frustrated, especially Zhai Yaohui. After all, they had known each other for a long while. There were so many matters concerning the state, so why didn’t they pay more attention to their development of the country and state? Why had they learned to gossip now that they were older?

Zhai Yaohui had not asked Qiao Nan to make friends to clear this misunderstanding. He simply felt that Qiao Nan had indeed been too aloof in the past. Perhaps, it was because she had never had any free time in the past due to the Qiao family. After marrying into the Zhai family, she had gotten pregnant almost immediately and had gone to school even while pregnant. In the past year, Qiao Nan had had almost no time to rest. Naturally, he wished for Qiao Nan to have personal time and her own life.

After a discussion with Miao Jing, they decided that they would take up more responsibility in taking care of the triplets while they were younger so that Qiao Nan could get out and expand her social circle.

It didn’t matter if outsiders mistook Qiao Nan as a dispensable tool that the Zhai family used for childbirth, but it would be terrible if Qiao Nan herself thought so too.

“No, it’s nothing.” Miao Jing laughed awkwardly. She had never expected Qiao Nan to hit the bullseye. Because Qiao Nan had questioned her when she had let her guard down, Miao Jing couldn’t even smile while answering her.

Of course, Qiao Nan didn’t believe Miao Jing, especially after seeing her expression. “Dad, Mom. Others will never be able to tell whether we live our lives well. Only we will be certain about that. I think my life is pretty good now. I might be a little busy taking care of three children at once, but if you guys try to get me to make friends instead of taking care of the children, I think I’ll feel empty. Besides, I think that friends made in that situation aren’t reliable.”

One didn’t make friends with a purpose. If one made friends for the sake of doing so, those friends wouldn’t be true friends anyway.

After spending so much time and effort, she wouldn’t even be able to achieve her goal. What was the point in doing so, then? She would even be exhausted because of it. Qiao Nan had no strong desire to make friends. She was more than content to simply go with the flow.

Since Qiao Nan had already stated everything out reasonably, Zhai Yaohui let go of his worries. Anyway, he had only said so because he was worried about Nan Nan, not about outsiders. He had always felt that Qiao Nan might not have high educational qualifications, but she had always been very transparent. The more he interacted with her, the more Zhai Yaohui felt so.

Even though Qiao Nan had not attended school full-time, she had still been able to rank in third place last year. That showed Zhai Yaohui that not only was Qiao Nan’s emotional intelligence high, but neither was her IQ low.

It was truly such a pity that such an outstanding child had been born in the Qiao family. They had seriously dragged her down. As long as Qiao Nan had the chance, she would definitely be able to prove her worth and show that she wasn’t the ‘useless servant’ in everyone else’s eyes.

If Qiao Nan had not grown up in the Qiao family, Zhai Sheng might have still gotten married to her eventually. Perhaps, when outsiders spoke of the couple, they wouldn’t talk about ‘the woman whom Zhai Sheng married’ but ‘the man whom Qiao Nan married’ instead.

Zhai Yaohui had no idea that the scenario he imagined had indeed happened in Qiao Nan’s dreams. When Qiao Nan appeared, they had never addressed her as ‘Zhai Sheng’s wife’. In fact, there were people who addressed Zhai Sheng as ‘Qiao Nan’s husband’ instead.

“The two of you are really…” Seeing that Zhai Yaohui had ‘compromised’ so easily, Miao Jing was upset. “Nan Nan, haven’t you met anyone you can get along well with now that you attend school often?” Wasn’t it easier to find true friends in school? Since Nan Nan was pursuing her studies, wouldn’t it be the perfect time for her to make some friends?

While this conversation was going on, Qiao Nan had finished her lunch. “Mom, don’t worry about me. The school I’m attending is different from the school you have in mind. The school you’re thinking about is where students go to. The school I attend is purely for self-improvement and upgrading our skills.”

Anyone who attended an adult school was after a diploma or an even larger goal. People who belonged to the former category paid to get their diploma, while those in the latter wanted to broaden their horizons and knowledge. It didn’t seem realistic to make friends there.

Of course, Qiao Nan had not immediately rejected them. But she had never had much good luck ever since she was young apart from having gotten married to Zhai Sheng and joining the Zhai family. As such, Qiao Nan had absolutely no expectations toward this matter.