Chapter 10: Drastic Measures

Mom had hurt Qiao Nan. Dad must be angry.

If Mom quarreled with Dad again because of Qiao Nan, would Dad still forgive Mom?

At the sight of Qiao Nan’s injury, Ding Jiayi quietened instantly.

On the contrary, when Qiao Dongliang glared, the murderous look in his eyes simply scared Ding Jiayi and her face became as white as a sheet.

Qiao Dongliang was considered an old good guy. He does not lose his temper easily. But when the person who does not lose his temper had a slightest tinge of anger, it was even more frightening.

Therefore, when Qiao Dongliang displayed the first sign of anger, Ding Jiayi hid her arrogance and forced herself to go along.

Qiao Dongliang parked the bicycle and did not argue with Ding Jiayi in the quad “You come with me to the room, I have something to tell you.”

Having said that, he headed towards Ding Jiayi and his bedroom. Ding Jiayi held her breath and followed behind him.

Qiao Zijin was so scared that she ran to Qiao Nan, pulling Qiao Nan’s hand. “Nan Nan, Dad’s expression is not quite right, what’s wrong with him? Do you think he will quarrel with Mom? Should we go and mitigate?”

Qiao Nan pulled away Qiao Zijin’s hand. “You may go and mitigate if you wish to. I can’t help to do so. I’m afraid of getting bashed.”

The moment before she died, Qiao Nan’s heart had already been broken by Ding Jiayi – her own mother. She was driven to her grave by Ding Jiayi’s words.

The time of rebirth in this life was also too coincidental; it was when she found out that her fever was deliberately engineered. The worse thing was that her mother would rather discard the fever medicine than to let her have it. Was she really Ding Jiayi’s daughter?!

“Nan Nan, don’t you want to see Dad and Mom get along well?” Qiao Zijin started talking and tried to cajole Nan Nan like she had in the past. “If a few blows and a little suffering could let Dad and Mom mend their differences, I am definitely willing to do it.”

When she heard these words from Qiao Zijin, Qiao Nan was on fire.

In the previous life, under Qiao Zijin’s constant use of this type of heart stirring tactics and brainwashing, Qiao Nan had become obedient and withdrawn.

Qiao Zijin was all beautiful talk and no action. Qiao Nan was always the one left alone to carry out the silly tasks!

Qiao Nan sneered. “Sister, since you said so, then quickly go to the room and persuade them. Mom loves you so much, even if you are beaten, it’s for the sake of Mom. Hurry, after you are beaten, Dad and Mom will mend their differences.”

Anyway, the one who got physical would not be Dad; only Mom would use physical ways to vent her emotions.

In the face of her most precious elder daughter, Mom would definitely not do it.

Seeing that Qiao Zijin was in a daze and there was no movement, Qiao Nan even nudged Qiao Zijin. “Sister, hurry up and go. If it’s too late, Dad and Mom will start quarreling.

Before Qiao Zijin could say word, her body gave a honest reaction. She twisted. How could she be willing to enter the couple’s room?

Qiao Zijin smiled embarrassedly. “Dad and Mom are in the heat of an argument now. If I go in at this juncture, it will be definitely be awkward for them. I, I will wait until they have finished quarreling before persuading them.” With that, she ran straight back to her own room.

Qiao Nan sneered, she had long known about Qiao Zijin’s self-centered personality. Only her mother would treat Qiao Zijin like a treasure.

She did not know what Qiao Dongliang told Ding Jiayi. Since that faithful day, Ding Jiayi never lifted a finger to Qiao Nan. But whenever she cast her eyes on Qiao Nan, it was very unfriendly, as if she was looking at her enemy.

Moreover, from this day onwards, Ding Jiayi began to ignore Qiao Nan. It was as if Qiao Nan did not belong to the family.

Qiao Nan smiled. She understood this tactic – it is called psychological abuse.

In her previous life, whenever she did not satisfy her mother’s desires, her mother would either make a huge fuss or use this tactic.

At that time, she also deserved it. She was unhappy as she often felt that her mother was ignoring her. So she would keep all the suffering to herself and think of ways to please her mother.

In this life, with her mother ignoring her, she would also have one less person to scold her. Even better!

Sitting in her own room, Qiao Nan was thinking about how she could live this lifetime to the fullest. She must definitely continue her studies but she could not recollect much of the knowledge gained during the days in junior high school.

Although at this time, those who went to vocational secondary school were more promising than those in the high school, Qiao Nan knew best that, in future, the college students would be in demand as they valued the diploma in higher education.

Qiao Nan rummaged through her entire room. She did not find a single piece of homework, not to mention the junior high school textbooks. In this way, how was she going to revise the studies for junior high school to advance to high school?

Qiao Nan thought about it and went straight to look for Qiao Zijin. “Sister, why have my secondary one and two textbooks gone missing?”

Qiao Zijin, who was eating a milk popsicle, said coldly. “They’re your books. How would I know where they are?”

Qiao Nan stared at Qiao Zijin’s milk popsicle a few times. “Then are your books still around? Can you lend me your secondary three textbook?”

Qiao Zijin still thought that Qiao Nan was greedy and eying her popsicle. Pettily, she bit her popsicle and finished it in two or three mouthfuls. Her teeth were so frozen in pain that her words became incoherent. “I have completed my exams so Mom sold my books. It’s good to get some money back too.”

Of course, during that time, Mom had also conveniently sold Qiao Nan’s secondary one and two textbooks.

Mom was not prepared to let Qiao Nan continue her studies, so there was no point in keeping the secondary one and two textbooks.

Even if Qiao Zijin was not explicit about it. Qiao Nan, who had crossed paths with Ding Jiayi for the second time in her life, knew her mother’s character best. “Did Mom sell my textbooks too?”

Qiao Zijin’s face turned stiff. She did not know if she was frozen by the ice or stunned by Qiao Nan’s reaction. “How would I know? Anyway, my textbooks are gone.”

Qiao Nan pursed her lips and sneered. She did not believe that Qiao Zijin did not know anything about this matter.

“What are you going to do?” Seeing that Qiao Nan was leaving, Qiao Zijin quickly stopped her. “Because of you, our parents have already quarreled twice in three days. Can you stop ruining their relationship?”

“Move away!” Qiao Nan rudely pushed Qiao Zijin away and returned to her room.

There was still a half a week before school starts. Not only must she learn the knowledge of secondary three, she must also pick up secondary one and two.

Without the textbooks, it would certainly not work. If she could not rely on others, she would have to rely on herself.

Qiao Nan’s room was very small. It was so tiny that it could only fit one bed. But Qiao Nan dug a hole in her room.

The houses in the 1980s and 1990s were not like the 21st century. All of them were built on cemented land. Qiao Nan’s house was paved with neither cement nor bricks; it was paved with mud.

Usually, Ding Jiayi would never give Qiao Nan any money. The red packet that was given to her during Lunar New Year, she would always retrieve it behind Qiao Dongliang’s back.

For the sake of putting up an act in front of Qiao Dongliang, a person like Ding Jiayi could even pretend to give Qiao Nan some meat with her chopsticks and asked Qiao Nan to put it back. How would she be willing to give Qiao Nan any money?

Ding Jiayi would not, but Dongliang would occasionally gave a little. Qiao Nan would save up everything as she could not bear to use it. It came in handy at this time.