Chapter 1620: Worlds Apart
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Up until now, Da Bao still did not understand why his grandpa treated his mom this way even though he was being supported by her. He had heard that in over three decades that his elder aunt had been alive, she had never been filial to his grandpa. She had never given him any money to spend. It would be considered good if she just avoided doing things that would anger his grandpa.
Could it be that his grandpa and grandma liked naughty children and hated obedient children like his mom?
But that did not matter. Even if his grandparents did not adore his mom, he did. He would live longer than his grandpa. When his grandpa died, he would still be young. When that time came, he would protect his mom even more and love her even more.
Zhai Yaohui was a person who was always true to his words.
Qiao Dongliang was still in distress about how he had not been able to get justice for his daughter against Zhou Zheng for having held his wedding during the period of Qiao Zijin’s funeral. As such, Zhai Yaohui made his first visit to Qiao Dongliang’s residence.
Upon seeing Zhai Yaohui, Qiao Dongliang was stunned and immediately greeted Zhai Yaohui with a deep bow. “Chief, why have you come?” Even though the two of them had been in-laws for more than a decade, Qiao Dongliang had never been able to adapt to such a role. In his eyes, Zhai Yaohui was not his in-law, and neither was he his younger daughter’s father-in-law. Zhai Yaohui would always remain as his superior.
Zhai Yaohui was more sensitive about this than anyone else, so he had never changed his att.i.tude toward Qiao Dongliang. Since Qiao Dongliang did not treat him as an in-law, there was no need for Zhai Yaohui to do so either. Anyway, it was not worth it. “Sit down. I’ve come to talk to you about something.”
“Please sit down, chief. I’ll get some tea for you.” Qiao Dongliang’s expression was not only stiff but also terribly frightened. If one did not know, they would really not be able to tell that these two men were in-laws. The way they interacted was as though Zhai Yaohui was a much more superior creditor who was there to ask for repayments. It was as if Qiao Dongliang had owed Zhai Yaohui a huge debt and was a bast*rd who had to sell his children to repay his debts.
“You, too. Please take a seat.” Zhai Yaohui pushed the gla.s.s of water that Qiao Dongliang had given him to a side. “Looking at how you are, I don’t think you’ve had a good rest lately.”
Qiao Dongliang smiled bitterly. “Sending off my own child…” How could he have rested well? Besides, up until now, he had not been able to get justice for Zijin. He was a useless father. He had always been.
Zhai Yaohui’s eyes twinkled. “It’s not just for this reason alone. If it was just because of the Zhou family, then you can sleep well from tonight. At least in front of Zijin, you tried to be a good father. Compared to your other child, Zijin was much luckier. You can feel that you’ve done enough for her.”
Qiao Dongliang did not pay attention to Zhai Yaohui’s use of the phrase ‘other child’. He had placed all his attention on the Zhou family. “What’s with the Zhou family?” Despite having not agreed to help him earlier, had Nan Nan gotten justice for Zijin from Zhou Zheng after all?
“It’s not what’s happened to the Zhou family, but what’s happened to Zhou Zheng.” Zhai Yaohui corrected Qiao Dongliang.
Qiao Dongliang was indignant. “It had not even been that long since Zhou Zheng got divorced from Zijin before he got married again. And he even stopped Ying Ying from attending Zijin’s funeral, saying that it would be inauspicious for such an auspicious event to clash with a funeral. If they really thought that it was so inauspicious…” Zhou Zheng should not even have married another woman during such a time. It was not just Zhou Zheng’s responsibility but also Father and Mother Zhou’s. If they had been willing to stop Zhou Zheng, there was no way that Zhou Zheng could have carried on with his wedding.
Zhai Yaohui’s gaze turned cold. This was the first time he was speaking privately with Qiao Dongliang, and it would be the last. He finally understood why his three grandchildren had been so worried before going back to school. They were actually quite tender-hearted, especially toward their loved ones. But the mere mention of Qiao Dongliang had brought about the gritting of teeth after that day.
Now, Zhai Yaohui realized that his emotions were not dissimilar to the triplets’. He even told himself that this was the first time, but it would also be the last. If he were ever to talk one-on-one with someone like Qiao Dongliang again, any normal person would get so angry that he would experience symptoms of hypertension.
“I don’t know who your superior was when you were still in the military, but what I can say is that I would never have had subordinates like you under me. Without a clear investigation, you’re speaking with no evidence or basis, simply making things up from your imagination. Don’t you know about these things? Do you know about the Zhou family’s current situation? Do you understand the whole story? Just because you have lost a disobedient and unfilial daughter, Qiao Zijin, are you going to lump all those people you hate and the people who have wronged Zijin together?”
Qiao Dongliang’s resentment toward Father and Mother Zhou meant that Qiao Dongliang actually blamed Qiao Nan in his heart. He blamed Qiao Nan for sending Qiao Zijin into the Zhou family, giving the Zhou family the opportunity to wrong Zijin. Qiao Dongliang was resentful against Qiao Nan for only targeting Zhou Zheng and for letting him off too easily.
What rights did he have to blame someone else for doing too little? Was he not wallowing around at home in misery because he was completely incapable?
Qiao Dongliang was indeed worlds apart from them. He was thankful that Qiao Nan had not grown up wayward even after growing up in such an environment. Quite on the contrary, she even had an upright character and was a good role model. Perhaps, all the good energy and essence of the entire Qiao family had gone to Qiao Nan alone.
Qiao Dongliang had left the military because of the birth of his second child, so he had failed to achieve his final goal of rising to the position of a battalion commander.
But the way Zhai Yaohui saw it, there was no way Qiao Dongliang could have been promoted to a battalion commander even without the birth of his second child. Qiao Dongliang might even have been kicked out of the military soon after Qiao Nan’s birth if he had stayed on.
Apart from in front of Qiao Nan, Qiao Dongliang was always short-tempered in front of everyone else. Qiao Dongliang pinched his own hand in embarra.s.sment. “Don’t be angry, chief. That’s not what I meant. S-so, what happened to the Zhou family?” Zhou Zheng had remarried happily, and the Zhou family was probably rejoicing over Zhou Zheng’s remarriage. Could something else have happened?
Knowing that Qiao Dongliang did not believe it, Zhai Yaohui only stated the facts. “Zhou Zheng is like his father, but his mind is even more unclear than his father’s, nothing like his brilliant mother’s. Mother Zhou had disagreed to Zhou Zheng’s second marriage to his ex-girlfriend. Father Zhou stood on Mother Zhou’s side, but Zhou Zheng insisted on getting married anyway. The Zhou family didn’t really try to stop him either, but neither did they fork out a single cent for Zhou Zheng’s second wedding.”
In other words, Mother and Father Zhou’s att.i.tudes toward Zhou Zheng’s second marriage was like night and day when compared to Zhou Zheng’s first marriage to Qiao Zijin, when they had spared no expense or effort.