Chapter 357: Take the Four Bags and Leave
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Having that said, Qiao Nan brought two bowls of rice for Qiao Dongliang and herself.
Qiao Dongliang smiled and took the bowl of rice from her. “Nan Nan, sit down and eat. The food will turn cold and it will not be good for the body. Have more of the food. These are your favorite dishes.”
At Qiao Dongliang’s words, Qiao Zijin then realized that these dishes were indeed Qiao Nan’s favorite food.
Qiao Zijin twitched her mouth. Qiao Nan was so good at keeping up pretenses. She put up a show of being good to her father, implying as if she did not care for her father.
No matter what Qiao Nan did, it was useless. Whenever anything happened, she would be the first person that her father thought of. Qiao Nan was wasting her time if she thought that she would gain her father’s love by doing all these.
Qiao Zijin was in a good mood now. She had no wish to argue with Qiao Nan. She finished her bowl of rice and a lot of the dishes by herself.
After the meal, she brought her bowl and chopsticks to the kitchen to wash. “Dad, I have washed my bowl and chopsticks.”
Even though Qiao Zijin merely washed her own bowl and chopsticks, Qiao Nan gave her an incredulous look. “Sister, did you have chicken blood today?” Why would she take the initiative to do housework? Wang Yang and Chen Jun had left, so who did she put up the show for?
“Everyone knows clearly who is putting up pretenses.” When her father was not around, she would call her by her name. When her father was around, she would address her as her elder sister. Qiao Nan was too pretentious.
Qiao Nan curled the corners of her mouth and had her rice. She would not argue with Qiao Zijin.
“Dad, I have finished eating. Can you send me back?”
“It’s still early. You can go back by yourself. Nan Nan is not feeling well. I have to take care of her.” Qiao Dongliang refused.
Qiao Zijin took a closer look at Qiao Nan. “Dad, I think Nan Nan is much better now. She does not need anyone to take care of her. Besides, it will not take long for you to send me home and come back.”
“Why do you insist that Dad sends you back? You know the way back and the sun is still up. Are you afraid of losing your way?” Qiao Nan looked at Qiao Zijin, feeling puzzled. “Sister, you are getting more and more pretentious.” Qiao Zijin did not insist that her father fetched her from the quad to their house either.
“There are so many sacks. I can’t bring them back by myself.”
“What do you mean?” Qiao Nan shot Qiao Dongliang a questioning look. “Dad, what did you give to Sister that she can’t bring it back by herself and will need your help?”
“She can bring it by herself.” Qiao Dongliang put down the bowl of rice that he had almost finished. He went to the kitchen and came out with four small plastic bags. “Take them. You can go back now. They weigh two kilograms in total. It’s not that heavy, so there is no need for me to bring it back for you.”
Qiao Zijin was dumbfounded. “Dad, are you mistaken? The four small bags of snacks are for Nan Nan. Those two big sacks…” was for her.
Those snacks were hers. She was being kind by giving two kilograms of the snacks to Qiao Nan. Was Qiao Nan so greedy that she wanted the bigger bags for herself?
That was not right. Qiao Nan had been resting in the room and never came out at all. She did not know what happened just now.
“These dried foods were given by Nan Nan’s friend. Since you are Nan Nan’s sister, I acted of my own accord and gave you two kilograms of them. As I said, all these were from someone else. It was their kind intentions to Nan Nan. Nan Nan should have them all for herself. But since you like them, I can only ask Nan Nan to share some of them with you. Besides, your relationship with Nan Nan is only worth these two kilograms. Take them back with you and have them at home.”
He gave Zijin a chance, but she did not cherish it.
Qiao Dongliang knew that Qiao Zijin liked to eat dried food.
Before Qiao Zijin brought up this topic, Qiao Dongliang had never thought about how he intended to distribute these things for Qiao Nan. He did not have any idea how much of these should he give to Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi. He thought that since the wife of the chief of the army told Zhai Sheng to bring the dried food to Qiao Nan, then all these should belong to Qiao Nan alone.
However, since Qiao Zijin had brought up such a request, as a father, he decided that he could get Qiao Nan to share some of them with Qiao Zijin.
Qiao Dongliang was still pondering over how much to ask from Qiao Nan when Qiao Zijin distributed it by herself.
He had asked Qiao Zijin time and again whether she only wanted to give Qiao Nan half a kilogram of each of the snacks. Qiao Zijin had the same answer that she was already being good to her sister by giving her half a kilogram each.
Since Qiao Zijin had said so, Qiao Dongliang did not bother to say anything else. He weighed half a kilogram of every snack and packed them into four small bags.
Qiao Zijin had not expected that the four bags of snacks that were meant for Qiao Nan were actually for her.
“Nan Nan, will you be angry with me for taking half a kilogram of each snack for your sister?”
Qiao Nan almost choked on the rice. “No, I’m not angry. I’m not angry at all.”
Given Qiao Zijin’s overbearing character, she would not have asked for half a kilogram of each of the snacks. The four bags of snacks only added up to two kilograms. It could not compare to the two big sacks of snacks. This was, in fact, dismissing her like someone would a beggar.
Her father must have been angered and decided to give half a kilogram of each of the snacks to Qiao Zijin. This was as good as not giving anything to her.
“Y-you didn’t buy these for me?”
“Of course not.” Qiao Dongliang smiled and mocked himself. “I am poor and useless. I don’t have much money with me and I do not know any influential people. How would I have the money to get these for the Lunar New Year? Nan Nan’s friend gave them to her to nourish herself. You have to thank Nan Nan for sharing these with you. You must not forget that she is being so nice to you.”
Qiao Zijin turned red in anger and embarrassment after she was ridiculed by Qiao Dongliang.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me that these things are given to Nan Nan by others?!” If she had known, she would not have embarrassed herself.
After finishing the rice, Qiao Dongliang said, “I thought you knew what I am capable of and that I couldn’t afford these dried foods. Did I need to spell out something so obvious? You must have had a look at how much these snacks cost at the market.”
These snacks might be common and could be seen everywhere in the markets. However, those that were sold in the markets were not as high quality as those given by the Zhai family.
The Zhai family was just and righteous. They would not accept money and expensive gifts. Other people had to be mindful when they prepared gifts for them. If they were to give them common dried food, they would have to select those of a high quality for which were not readily available in the markets. The average people would not be able to buy such stuff.