Chapter 1798: Not Here to Steal Your Job
It was exactly because she knew that her family background was poor that she had never intended on heading northward to find the Zhai family even after leaving Ping Cheng in her dream. “About that… I was sent here to take care of Zhai—Chief Zhai. Now that a replacement has been found, I’ll take my leave.” Even after knowing that this ‘Xiao Zhao’ would be her replacement, Qiao Nan did not dislike Xiao Zhao.
No matter what, she hoped that there would be someone who would be able to take good care of Zhai Sheng and nurse him back to health. Now that that person was here, she would only feel unnecessary and excessive if she were to continue staying here.
“Are you tired?” Thinking about how Qiao Nan had been busy the whole day, Zhai Sheng thought that Qiao Nan was leaving because there was someone to take over her s.h.i.+ft now. “What time are you coming tomorrow? What are you going to make?” If Qiao Nan was not leaving now, Zhai Sheng would have asked Qiao Nan what she was going to cook for dinner, even though his lunch had not yet been fully digested.
Qiao Nan’s lips curled into a dry smile. “Chief Zhai, I won’t be returning tomorrow since Xiao Xu and Xiao Zhao are both here. As for what you’re eating tomorrow, why don’t you discuss it with Xiao Zhao?” No wonder the landlord said that it would only be for a while. It was true. She had only made four meals for Zhai Sheng. Time had pa.s.sed quickly indeed.
“Sister Qiao, sorry for troubling you this time.” Since the chief had posed such a question, Sister Qiao must have done a good job in taking care of him these past two days. He had not expected that the person his mom had found at the last minute would be even more reliable than those nannies that he had hired in the past. If he had known that the chief would accept Sister Qiao so easily, he would never have gone to such an extent.
Zhai Sheng looked at Qiao Nan. “Do you not want to come? Or do you think that there’s no need for you to come?”
Qiao Nan raised her eyebrow, instinctively disliking Zhai Sheng’s question. “Is there any difference?” The end results were the same anyway. She would not come either way.
“Of course there’s a difference.” Since the reason for not coming was different, the outcome would naturally be different as well. There were not many people whom Zhai Sheng allowed to take care of him. But if Qiao Nan herself did not want to come, it did not seem right for him to force her to take care of himself either.
“…” Xiao Xu scratched his head, feeling that the conversation between the chief and Sister Qiao was a little weird. Had something happened between the chief and Sister Qiao in the time that he had been away? “Chief, I heard Sister Qiao address you as brother earlier?” He had not heard or remembered it wrongly, had he? Sister Qiao had indeed addressed Chief Zhai as Brother Zhai. “Do you two know each other?”
No wonder Sister Qiao got along with the chief so well. It was because they knew each other. He would have to tell his fellow soldiers in the future. Who said that Chief Zhai knew no other woman apart from his mother and sister? Wasn’t there one right before his eyes? Sister Qiao did seem a little old, but she was still beautiful and did not look old.
“We used to live in the same quad.” Before Qiao Nan could deny it, Zhai Sheng replied while looking into Qiao Nan’s eyes. Because Zhai Sheng had answered first and was staring down at her, Qiao Nan could only agree with Zhai Sheng.
That was a fact. There was probably no big deal in not denying it.
“Oh, is that so?” His mom was amazing. She had simply found a tenant to take care of his chief for a while, but she had managed to find a familiar face! No wonder he felt that the chief was in a better mood this time when he returned. It was because he had finally met his childhood friend.
Sister Zhao was slightly confused. “What about me?” It turned out that this woman was just like her and had been hired to take care of the chief. But the problem was that there was only one chief. There was only one person whom the two of them had to take care of. She was all right with the two of them working together. She would receive her salary all the same and there would even be someone to work with.
But if they were only to hire one person, she might very well be sent back after just one day. This job offered a slightly higher salary than other jobs, after all.
Now that Qiao Nan was no longer someone she needed to suck up to, and had instead become someone who was going to s.n.a.t.c.h her job from her, Sister Zhao’s thoughts toward Qiao Nan were extremely complicated.
Qiao Nan did not know whether to laugh or cry. She had never meant to s.n.a.t.c.h Xiao Zhao’s job from her. “Actually, I have a job. It’s just that my job is not demanding and I have quite a lot of flexibility in arranging my time. It’s just as well that you’re here. I can finally make up for all the tasks I missed out on for the past few days.” When she returned home yesterday, she saw that several of her previous clients had already found her for translation work.
It was just that she had been meticulously a.n.a.lyzing the menu for Zhai Sheng that she had not been able to start working.
It was truly unexpected that she had met Zhai Sheng and had even interacted with him in real life. She had come to Qingshui Town with the mentality of retiring. Qingshui Town was a good place, and there was no need for her to give up on life in this small town because of a dream.
But Zhai Sheng’s appearance in her life changed everything. The more she interacted with Zhai Sheng, the more afraid Qiao Nan got that she would never be able to wake up from that dream. Even while she was preparing lunch for Zhai Sheng, she had done so according to her habits in her dream.
In reality, she knew why Xiao Xu insisted on Xiao Zhao making a meal for Zhai Sheng the moment she arrived. It’s because Zhai Sheng disliked fish and sweet tastes. This one dish broke both taboos. But the problem was that fish was high in protein and low in fat. It was good for health.
She cooked according to how she had done in her dream, and Zhai Sheng had indeed accepted her dish. But now that Zhai Sheng’s habits in her dream were being confirmed one by one, Qiao Nan could not help but panic. Reality was being intertwined with her dream.
Before this, she had never had any contact with Zhai Sheng. Neither had the Zhai family ever exposed their lives to the media. Where had she learned that Zhai Sheng disliked fish and sweet tastes that she had been able to come up with it in her dream? Her dream had been so realistic that it was frightening.
As her guesses were proved correct one by one, Qiao Nan could not help but be afraid. If this continued, she would truly never be able to pull herself out of her dream and separate her dream from reality. Even though Zhai Sheng had already gotten a divorce from Qiu Chenxi and was now single, she had no chance or qualifications to be with Zhai Sheng, apart from her age.
Daydreaming did not seem like a good thing, especially in her case.
Qiao Nan wondered if she should distance herself from Zhai Sheng in case she started comparing everything that happened in reality to what had happened in her dream.
“Oh, that’s good.” Xiao Zhao smiled. As long as she was not trying to s.n.a.t.c.h her job away. Without the compet.i.tive relations.h.i.+p, Xiao Zhao was now much friendlier toward Qiao Nan and thought that Qiao Nan was a good person. The chief seemed to be very used to Qiao Nan taking care of him. That familiarity had caused her to mistake Qiao Nan for the chief’s wife.