Chapter 1743: Company
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
She had had good judgment and had picked out a gem. Unfortunately, she had not persisted and had given up such a gold mine! One would never be able to understand such a pain if they were not the party concerned.
Because she could not take this lying down, the young lady headed down to the bar every night for a whole month just to see if she had any luck bumping into the three young men who drove a Jaguar.
Who could be so sure about something like fate? What if she really ran into them? If they had no fate, she would not have bumped into them the first time, right?
Of course, Qiao Nan had no idea about this small episode. What she knew was that her two sons who had followed in their father’s past were finally free to come home for a week. She was practically overjoyed. “You two rascals! Now that you’re in the army, you’re even crazier than your dad was when he was younger! I’ve lived half my life, but I’ve never had such a hard time because of him. But I’ve always been counting the days to see when the two of you would finally be back! Now that you’re back, spend more time with your grandma and grandpa. Do you understand?”
Qiao Nan sighed. Now that she was older, her mindset had changed completely. The triplets were all grown up and had already gone out into the workforce, but Qiao Nan had gotten married and given birth to her children early. Because of that, Qiao Nan still looked very young.
Unlike Qiao Nan, Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing were really old. They were so advanced in age that they had to rely on crutches when going out and had to walk extremely slowly for fear that they might fall if they were to walk faster. At this age, their bones were particularly brittle.
No matter how much Qiao Nan tried to nourish the two elders with calcium, she could not change the fact that the elderly couple was already in the seventies to eighties. Now, Zhai Yaohui was finally making up for his regret in his youth. He was finally able to stay by Miao Jing’s side every day. And for that, he was rather happy.
But Miao Jing felt differently because she had her regrets.
Having five generations under the same roof was truly a great blessing because it was rare that five generations could live together. It was not particularly difficult for four generations to live together. Unfortunately, Zhai Yi and Zhai Xin were both soldiers and had no chance of meeting girlfriends at all. Her son, Zhai Sheng, had not gotten very early, and Zhai Hua had only married in her thirties. If her grandson and granddaughter were to get married so late in life, they might not even get the chance to meet their great-grandchildren!
At the thought of this, Miao Jing could not help but sigh. Her father-in-law had been much more fortunate than her. Not only had her father-in-law been able to live with three other generations, but he had also had the good fortune of meeting three great-grandchildren all at once. She was not expecting to see three great-grandchildren just because she had three grandchildren. But the problem was whether she would even be able to meet even one!
Thankfully, Miao Jing was old but not muddleheaded. These were just her thoughts. She would not go so far as to force her grandchildren to get married just because of her own wishes.
Zhai Hua had married well, and Zhai Sheng had married even better. It was always better for young people to have feelings for each other as a foundation before progressing on. Only then would they have a good life together in the future.
Qiao Nan could not be clearer about what Miao Jing was thinking about. Miao Jing might not have said anything to the triplets about her little private wish, and as their mom, it was even more so that Qiao Nan could not force her children to do something against their own will.
It was indeed no mean feat to deliver a great-grandchild to the elderly couple all of a sudden. But her children had finally returned home, so Qiao Nan was still very willing for the triplets to spend more time with their elders.
Even though that meant she would have less time and opportunity to spend time with her sons, she was still young. She would still have twenty to thirty years with her children. Thus, she was more willing to let her two sons spend time with her parents-in-law now to appease them and put them in good moods.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m sure grandma will be elated to see me.” Zhai Xin patted his chest to reassure her. He rarely had the time to come home, so he wanted to cherish this time more than anyone else to spend time with his family.
When he was younger, Zhai Xin had held it against his father because other families’ fathers were always by the children’s sides, unlike their dad. Because they had spent so little time with their father when they were younger, he did not even have much of an impression of his father in the past.
His mom had told him that it was only after they turned three that they finally remembered and recognized that the man who visited them once in a while was their father!
Now that they themselves lived away from home, Zhai Yi and Zhai Xin could finally understand their father’s feelings and responsibility on his back at that time. They were beyond grateful that their father had set such a good example for them, and they even had a good mother, who took care of the entire household on their father’s behalf. She had even constantly reminded them about how their father was a great hero.
Thus, even though they lacked a fatherly figure in their childhoods, the three of them had never felt that their childhoods had been any different from others’. Neither did they have any regrets because of that. Perhaps, separation made the heart fonder and made people understand that it was truly precious to get together.
Qiao Nan patted Zhai Xin on his shoulder and let out a meaningful smile.
When Old Master Zhai was still alive, he had said that Zhai Xin’s personality was the spitting image of her father-in-law’s when he had been younger. He had been as playful and cheeky as a monkey, completely unlike his matured and stern self now.
Her mother-in-law had never seen her father-in-law when he was younger. Hearing Old Master Zhai say that, her mother-in-law had always felt that watching Er Bao grow up was as though she was participating in her father-in-law’s growth. As such, her mother-in-law had shown a special preference toward Zhai Xin. This was the reason it had arisen.
It was just that the Old Master Zhai had simply mentioned this in passing when the three children were still young. At that age, they might not have understood that. Even if they did, they probably would not have any impression of it anyway. When the three children grew older and started understanding the world around them, no one ever talked about how Zhai Xin resembled her father-in-law when he was younger so as to protect her father-in-law’s image.
Thus, the misunderstanding caused by her mother-in-law’s bias toward Zhai Xin had continued up until this very day.
Qiao Nan, who knew the truth, simply smiled at her son without saying a word as though she was agreeing with Zhai Xin.
“Mom, this is today’s newspaper, right? I’ll bring it over and read it to grandpa.” When he was home, Zhai Xin did not give up entirely on training, even though the intensity of his own training was nowhere as high as it was in the army. Now that he was free, Zhai Xin unhesitatingly chose to spend all his time on his elders.
In this way, Zhai Xin realized that he might have come home to rest, but it seemed as though he was even more worn-out and had less free time as compared to when he was back in the military.
“Go on.” Her father-in-law’s presbyopia had worsened significantly. If not for Zhai Yu who read the newspaper to her father-in-law after returning from work every day, her father-in-law might not have been able to continue with his habit of staying abreast of current affairs, given his dislike for wearing glasses. “Now that the two of you are back, Zhai Yu’s spending less time at home. All three of you are getting busier by the day.”