Chapter 2241: Having Grievances
Among children of the same generation as Zhai Sheng, they could rarely see a child as outstanding as Zhai Sheng. There was really nothing to say about the Zhai family’s blessings. Zhai Sheng casually married an older woman but said woman could give birth to triplets. Why did they feel that everything good in this world was taken up by only the Zhai family?
Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing were completely in a state of retirement. Naturally, Zhai Sheng was responsible for all external matters while Qiao Nan was responsible for all internal matters. Those who wanted to have a good relationship with the Zhai family could no longer contact Miao Jing. Instead, they had to go through Qiao Nan. As long as the other party became friends with Qiao Nan, they could continue their good family relationship with the Zhai family.
As such, ever since Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing started taking care of their grandchildren, Zhai Sheng’s side didn’t have many changes. However, Qiao Nan’s side had so many changes that they couldn’t be described with just a simple word ‘big’. Outsiders were very eager to go after Qiao Nan and became proud if they could become friends with her.
A change of sovereign brings a change of ministers. Miao Jing handed over all the rights of the Zhai family’s matters to Qiao Nan for her to handle. Of course, those friendships of the past wouldn’t be so useful anymore. Smart people understood one fact: The people in charge of the Zhai family now were Zhai Sheng and Qiao Nan!
Even if her identity and status had changed, the way Qiao Nan handled things didn’t change much. It wasn’t late to make friends now. Knowing that these people were rushing over for the Zhai family, Qiao Nan wouldn’t use an arrogant attitude to reject them. However, similarly, she wouldn’t be so foolish to really make friends with them and treat them as close buddies.
Qiao Nan’s clear-headed attitude surprised a few people. Those who engaged in wishful thinking had no choice but to dispel such thoughts.
“Hi, we meet again.” As Qiao Nan got out of the car, she bumped into Li Yayan, whom she first met when she collected her books previously. “We’re so fated. You left without telling me your name then. This time, should we introduce ourselves?”
“…” Qiao Nan was stunned. “You’re also studying here?” It wasn’t that Qiao Nan was presumptuous, but the country had long implemented the nine-year compulsory education. As such, a lot of parents started to pay attention to their child’s learning abilities. The Qiao family’s situation was considered to be completely strange. Qiao Nan wasn’t sure if Li Yayan was an only child, but based on the vibe that she was giving off, Qiao Nan didn’t feel that Li Yayan was someone who wanted to receive higher education as she was career-focused.
Li Yayan smiled. “You also know that we normally choose only one major in university. Choosing two majors would be too tiring and I can’t do that. After stepping into society upon graduation and finding the right person to get married to, I realized that I’m still interested in other things. Anyway, my family doesn’t have to rely on my salary from work for a living and my husband encouraged me to learn more things. That’s why I signed up for this.”
Li Yayan knew that Qiao Nan had only graduated from junior high school. Her father-in-law looked down on her and always complained that she was inferior to Qiao Nan. Li Yayan wasn’t willing to take this lying down.
That was because Qiao Nan was very lucky, alright? She coincidentally fitted into the image of an obedient daughter that Zhu Chengqi and his wife who had passed away for years had always wanted. She didn’t understand. Qiao Nan only had a junior high school certificate. Compared to the requirements of contemporary society, even if they couldn’t be considered completely illiterate, they could be considered semi-illiterate. As such, why did Zhu Chengqi like Qiao Nan and always treated her, an outsider, as his daughter?
Zhu Chengqi was confused and wasn’t clear-headed. It was difficult for people to accept him making such a wrong decision. Her father-in-law looked so energetic and wanted to join the excitement. She, a university graduate, couldn’t be compared to someone with a junior high school certificate? Li Yayan didn’t feel good at all.
Li Yayan was thinking that if Qiao Nan really got married to Wang Yang, aside from the fact that Qiao Nan could help the Wang family to get the Zhu family’s inheritance, she didn’t believe that her father-in-law would be willing to bring Qiao Nan out to meet other people. Based on the Wang family’s conditions, if they had a daughter-in-law who only graduated from junior high school, they would lose a lot of face. As such, Li Yayan was very certain that even though her father-in-law had complained about and despised her during the new year, if she were to change positions with Qiao Nan such that Qiao Nan was the Wang family’s daughter-in-law, her father-in-law would only let Qiao Nan stay at home and be a daughter-in-law who couldn’t be seen in public.
In the face of Father Wang, a person with many provocations, Li Yayan didn’t have much respect for him. Change was the only constant. With the example of Qiao Nan in front of her, Li Yayan had already thought about it.
When Zhu Chengqi’s inheritance was back in their hands, she would wait for her father-in-law to completely hand over the Wang family to her husband. When that happened, she could be the madam of the Wang family and no longer had to look at other people’s faces. If there was such a day, the first thing that Li Yayan wanted to do was to bring her son back to her side so that she could raise him.
She knew that her in-laws had kept her son by their sides so that he wouldn’t be close to her, his biological mother. Hah. There was no child in this world that wouldn’t be close to their biological parents. Sooner or later, she would let her in-laws understand this.
Li Yayan pulled back her thoughts and smiled at Qiao Nan. Everything just now was just her thoughts. Only if she handled this person before her could she stand a chance of transforming the things she had thought of just now into reality.
Qiao Nan raised her eyebrows. “So, it’s like this. You really like to learn.”
“The main thing is that there are people supportive of my decision. Oh, right. Since we’ve met by chance, let’s have a meal together. We can go dutch.”
It wasn’t that Li Yayan was reluctant to pay for the meal but she knew that Qiao Nan was a careful person. If she said that she was going to treat her, Qiao Nan would most probably refuse. If everyone went dutch, at the very most, they would just be having a meal at the same table.
Qiao Nan looked at Li Yayan a few more times. The first time they met, she wanted her to wait for the bus together. The second time they met, she wanted to have a meal with her. If she were younger and Li Yayan was a male, she couldn’t help but wonder if Li Yayan was planning to pursue her. But she was already forty-one years old and was a mother of three. Li Yayan was similarly married. So, what was Li Yayan really up to?
“I’m sorry. My children at home are still young, and my elders are waiting for me to go back to eat. I can’t make it this time.” Qiao Nan wasn’t lying. Zhai Yaohui and Miao Jing were indeed waiting for her to have lunch together as she didn’t have lessons in the afternoon. Qiao Nan would only have meals in the school cafeteria if she had classes in the afternoon.
Li Yayan blinked. “You’re heading back to have lunch with the elders and children? How filial. A lot of young people nowadays live freely.”