Chapter 196 - Have a Discussion
“Good.” Qiao Dongliang’s nervous mood relaxed in an instant. “Nan Nan, you can rest assured. From today onward, Dad will really be a good father.”
Today, after being slapped in the face by Qiao Dongliang, Ding Jiayi finally stopped resorting to any tricks. She and Qiao Zijin cleaned up the room for Qiao Nan and went to cook right away. “Old Qiao, dinner is ready, shall we eat?”
As soon as he saw Ding Jiayi, Qiao Dongliang’s face turned cold. Turning his face to look at Qiao Nan, he kept his voice low and said with an affectionate tone in his voice, “Nan Nan, come over for dinner.”
Seeing the expression on Qiao Dongliang’s face, Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin turned hostile in an instant.
Ding Jiayi was furious, while Qiao Zijin’s expression was somber.
She could not help but feel that she did not only fail to spend the three hundred yuan, but her father also ended up to be on Qiao Nan’s side. He seemed to dote on her even more! What exactly went wrong and caused Dad’s drastic change of attitude toward Qiao Nan?
“Old Qiao, what about Zijin’s tuition fees?” Sitting down, Ding Jiayi mustered the courage to ask Qiao Dongliang about Qiao Zijin’s tuition fees.
“Mom, there is still half a month before school starts. I will try to look for a job and earn as much as I can.” Qiao Zijin took a deep breath. “Nan Nan, you spent all of the summer vacation taking care of Dad, yet you managed to earn three hundred yuan, much higher than Dad’s salary. Nan Nan, can you recommend me to such a good job? If I can earn more, I can pay for my tuition fees and Dad’s medical expenses as well. Nan Nan, have you ever mentioned who did you borrow the money from to pay for Dad’s medical expenses?”
She was curious. Aside from Zhu Baoguo, Qiao Nan did not have any other friend. Who did she borrow the large sum of money that was close to two thousand yuan from? Also, how did she manage to earn three hundred yuan within a short summer vacation?
“Qiao Nan, you’d better not do anything shameless and disgraceful!” Ding Jiayi widened her eyes and started shooting her mouth off again.
“Are you looking for another slap in the face?” Qiao Dongliang had no wish to hit women, especially in front of the two daughters. But Ding Jiayi was really asking for it. She could not bear to see Qiao Nan do well. Qiao Dongliang was so angry that he almost picked up the chopsticks and threw them directly at Ding Jiayi’s face.
“No, no! I… I am concerned about Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan is young and insensible. You won’t want Qiao Nan to do disgraceful and shameless acts in order to make money. As her mother, I am teaching her the ways. I don’t want her to go the wrong way. I heard that nowadays, young girls can make money by…”
Ding Jiayi lowered her voice. She made excuses for herself, refusing to admit that she was wrong. She also spared no efforts to defame Qiao Nan.
“Mom, dig in, stop talking!” Qiao Zijin was scared at Qiao Dongliang’s darkened expression.
As for Ding Jiayi’s words, not to mention Qiao Dongliang, Qiao Zijin also thought that what her mother said was not something she should say in front of the children. Did her mother mean that Qiao Nan ‘sold’ herself for money?
Qiao Dongliang cast a cold glance at Ding Jiayi. “Ding Jiayi, you are getting from bad to worst. Be careful with your words in the future. My temper is not as good as before.”
Knowing that she had said the wrong words and only made matters worse by explaining, Ding Jiayi stuffed some food into her mouth and kept eating lest she provoked Qiao Dongliang again.
Whenever she talked about Qiao Nan, Ding Jiayi just had the tendency to defame her.
In addition, Ding Jiayi had been working for a while. She knew more people and heard more gossips. When women were in groups, they were bound to gossip. Ding Jiayi could not help but associate the gossips she heard with Qiao Nan.
“Nan Nan, have some vegetables.” After scolding Ding Jiayi, Qiao Dongliang gave Qiao Nan some vegetables, like a father taking care of his daughter.
“Dad, thank you.” Qiao Nan had her dinner, unaffected by her mother’s words. Qiao Zijin was perplexed. Did Qiao Nan not understand what her mother meant?
“Nan Nan, you haven’t answered my question. I want to lighten our parents’ burden as well. If you have a good way of earning money, let me know as well. We are one family. You will not refuse to help me, right?” Qiao Nan was not foolish. How could she possibly do the kind of things her mother said?
Qiao Nan definitely had some connections and was acquainted with some influential people. Hence, she landed herself a simple and high-paying job.
“Nan Nan, it is for the good of everyone that I want to work and use the shortest time to make the most money. Dad can’t work for the time being and Mom doesn’t earn much. If you and I don’t work hard, when can we pay off Dad’s medical expenses? I am the elder sister. I can’t be so selfish. I can’t make you bear the responsibility of earning the money by yourself, can I? He is my dad and he is Mom’s husband. Since you know of a good way to earn money, you must share with all of us.”
Qiao Nan finished her dinner in the speed of light.
She was worried that if she was to listen to more of what Qiao Zijin was going to say, she would have indigestion and lose her appetite.
Did Qiao Zijin finally remember that Qiao Dongliang was her father as well? Then, what had she been doing all along?
Her only motive was to know where Qiao Nan earned her money.
It was rare that Qiao Zijin could come up with a convincing argument and make some sense in what she said. However, she had wicked and evil motives.
In the previous life, Qiao Zijin put up a pretense that she was concerned about Qiao Nan to get Qiao Nan to tell her about Chen Jun’s family situation. In the end, Chen Jun was as what Qiao Nan said. He could be a good husband, but he ended up as Qiao Zijin’s husband instead of Qiao Nan’s husband.
“You want to take on the job that I am doing? Okay.” Qiao Nan took out a piece of paper in English and placed it in front of Qiao Zijin. “If you can translate this document from English to Chinese, I will share the job with you when there is another opportunity. Of course, if you have the ability, you can be fully responsible for it, and you can have all the money.”
As soon as Qiao Zijin saw the piece of document that was in English, she blanked out and could not understand a word. “Was that how you earned the three hundred yuan?”
Among the many subjects that she had to study, she hated science the most, followed by English. It was too difficult to memorize all the grammar and vocabulary.
Qiao Zijin never did well for her English. It was good enough that she could score an average grade for her English. It was sheer torture to have her do English to Chinese translation.
Qiao Zijin wanted to make money, but she was incapable of doing that.
“Nan Nan, are you lying? This document is in English. I can’t do it, but can you do it?”
“There is someone who teaches me.” Brother Zhai would teach her whenever she stumbled upon areas that she did not understand.
“Someone taught you?” Qiao Zijin’s eyes sparkled. “Nan Nan, I will not ask that you tell me who teaches you. But can we discuss this job of yours?” She thought of an easy way to make money from this job!