Chapter 2076: Intensifying
Not only did she dig out the memory that was buried in her memory, but she also drooled at the thought of the taste of that pickled ginger.
“You want to eat pickled ginger?” Qiao Dongliang was surprised.
“Yes. Is it troublesome to do this? Otherwise, you can let me know how to do it and I’ll try it myself?” Ever since she thought of that taste of pickled ginger, Qiao Nan felt that nothing was delicious. Spicy food lacked the acidity of pickled ginger while sour food lacked the spiciness of pickled ginger. The perfect combination of spicy and sour was only reflected in pickled ginger.
In this lifetime, before she got pregnant, Qiao Nan never thought that she would be the kind of person who would lose her senses just because she had a craving. In reality, ever since she had this thought, she even dreamed of when she was five years old at the Qiao family enjoying the taste of her first bite of pickled ginger.
After confirming that his daughter really needed him, Qiao Dongliang straightened his back. “Sure, I’ll tell you what to do. You’ll let Zhai Sheng take this down for you?” Although he said this, Qiao Dongliang decided to make a trip to the vegetable market personally tomorrow morning to pick a dozen kilograms of old ginger that were suitable to be pickled.
Telling others was completely different from others doing it. Qiao Dongliang was worried that the person in the Zhai family making pickled ginger didn’t have his own craft.
To be honest, the method of pickling ginger was unique to the Qiao family. When Grandma Qiao was still alive, the family was poor and there was little food. Coincidentally, the ginger that happened to be planted grew well. The problem was that in an era when staple food wasn’t enough, which family would be willing to spend money on condiments like ginger? It was already good if one could be full. How could one still afford to be picky?
There wasn’t a choice. Food shouldn’t be ruined. As such, Grandma Qiao made pickled ginger for the family. It was also a habit developed at that time. Thereafter, Grandma Qiao would make some pickled ginger at home from time to time to eat as a dish. To Qiao Dongliang, pickled ginger was part of his childhood memories.
Of course, the Qiao family’s pickled ginger had the Qiao family’s unique craftsmanship. Qiao Dongliang shared these pointers clearly over the phone. However, he was afraid that the Zhai family wouldn’t do it well. As such, Qiao Dongliang thought that the Zhai family could make some not-so-authentic Qiao family’s pickled ginger first so that Qiao Nan could eat it for a few days.
On his end, he would help make some as well. Once the pickled ginger was ready, he would get a courier to send it over to Qiao Nan. Qiao Dongliang also knew that even though pickled ginger was cheap, the cost of express courier to the capital could be as much as ten times more than the cost of pickled ginger. However, Qiao Nan wanted to eat it. It was worth it no matter how much money he had to spend.
The next morning, Qiao Dongliang, who was about to be a grandfather, became the first person to enter the vegetable market aside from the vendors. He bought a bunch of ginger and a few packets of seasoning.
“Mom, Dad woke up especially early today. It’s already afternoon and he is still in the kitchen. What is he up to?” Qiao Zijin couldn’t help but feel curious. She leaned over to Ding Jiayi and asked, “Even if he’s preparing a meal, he shouldn’t need to stay in the kitchen all morning, right? Mom, do you feel that Dad’s especially excited today? He’s even humming.”
Too many things happened to the Qiao family in the past year. Qiao Zijin couldn’t remember how long ago it was that she last heard Qiao Dongliang humming. “Did anything good happen in the family?” Why didn’t she hear about anything?
Ding Jiayi, who was watching TV, sat to the side. “The weather’s so hot. Why are you sitting so close to me? Move away.” When she was saying this, Ding Jiayi’s eyes never shifted away from the TV. As for Qiao Zijin’s question, Ding Jiayi’s words didn’t have the effect of clarifying her confusion.
Ever since the topic of the one hundred thousand yuan ended, Qiao Zijin thought that by leaving Ding Jiayi alone for a while, she would understand it and no longer mention to her about the one hundred thousand yuan. Although she no longer mentioned it, Qiao Zijin clearly felt that her mother was much colder toward her and no longer only had her in her eyes and heart, unlike the past.
“Mom, are you still angry at me?” If she could, Qiao Zijin didn’t want to take the initiative and mention the matter about the one hundred thousand yuan in front of Ding Jiayi. After all, until now, she never thought of taking the one hundred thousand yuan out and save Ding Jiayi’s so-called marriage. They were already so old. Only young people filed for a divorce.
Furthermore, as her father said, at this age, there wasn’t any difference in them getting a divorce or not. Her mom was the only one who was feeling nervous and worrying for nothing.
Ding Jiayi cracked the melon seed and glanced at Qiao Zijin. “Angry at you? Why should I be?” See? She didn’t even dare mention the one hundred thousand yuan.
“Mom…” Qiao Zijin called her ‘mom’ for a long time, like a spoiled child. Without a doubt, this worked on Ding Jiayi in the past. However, this wasn’t the case now. This set of tactics no longer worked on Ding Jiayi.
It used to work in the past. Qiao Zijin used to say a bunch of fictional words about filial piety to coax Ding Jiayi. Ding Jiayi always thought that by depending on this daughter of hers, Qiao Zijin, she could live the life of an old lady. As such, no matter what Qiao Zijin said, Ding Jiayi would always agree.
However, now…
Ding Jiayi drank a sip of water to moisten her throat. “I’m your mom. I always know that it’s very nice to call someone. If others heard this, they might think that we have a ghost in the house in broad daylight.”
“Mom, why do you suddenly have this attitude toward me?” Qiao Zijin was unable to accept Ding Jiayi’s 180-degree change. She had a completely opposite attitude, like someone who suddenly became clear after being addicted to madness for a while. “Mom, you weren’t like this in the past. In the past, you used to think for my best. You won’t give up on anything that’s good for me. You won’t do anything that would be against me. Mom, you’ve changed.”
She became more selfish and only had herself in her heart. She had forgotten about her, the daughter!
She asked for fifty thousand yuan previously and one hundred thousand yuan now. What about the next time? Her mom’s appetite was growing and she was asking for more money. It was such a huge amount of money but her mom dared to ask her for it. She only had a total of one and half million yuan. At this rate, within three years, her mom would take away all of her money.
She thought of how Ding Jiayi only asked Qiao Nan for ten or twenty thousand yuan a month when Qiao Nan was still at home in the past. The tides have turned. When Ding Jiayi asked her for money, it was now fifty thousand yuan or even a hundred thousand yuan! Was she used to exploiting her daughters? It was starting to get worse now!