Chapter 1856: Aunt Was Great
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
He had used sweet talk to marry her daughter but not treat her well. He also let her granddaughter suffer so many grievances and even wanted to put a child who had nothing to do with the Zhai family into the Zhai family. Did he think that no one knew what he was trying to do?
Every time she thought of how Wei De treated a fatherless nephew better than his biological daughter, Miao Jing became angry.
“I asked Wei De to go back to celebrate the new year.” Zhai Sheng didn’t explain much but only provided a statement.
Zhai Yaohui’s eyes narrowed. “That’s good as well. They always celebrate with their Wei family every year. They couldn’t possibly break the Wei family’s habit just because Miao Miao and I are back.” Zhai Yaohui also felt that it wasn’t comfortable to have Wei De around when their family was celebrating the new year. It was good that Wei De left. Now, only the real family was left.
His daughter was already in her teens, but Wei De’s image in the hearts of the Zhai family was still so unbearable. This showed how much of a failure Wei De was as a person. It had been over ten years, but he never tried to change his image in the hearts of the Zhai family. Instead, as time went by, the Zhai family’s impression of him kept deteriorating.
“…” Qiao Nan looked at Zhai Sheng. Indeed, Brother Zhai had asked Wei De to go back. However, Wei De said that he would leave together with his wife and Jiajia. Was Brother Zhai not going to share this with the old chief and Auntie Miao? In the event Sister Zhai Hua couldn’t stand up for herself and stop Wei De from taking Jiajia away, how was Brother Zhai going to answer to the two elders then?
Miao Jing could not understand the look in Qiao Nan’s eyes and only thought that Qiao Nan was also interested in their son and was flirting with him. Zhai Hua, whose face was flushed with fury, pulled Jiajia over for a meal. “Dad, Mom, why aren’t you eating yet? Were you waiting for me and Jiajia? There’s no need to.”
“Grandpa, grandma, uncle, Aunt Qiao.” Jiajia greeted everyone sensibly. Now, Jiajia already knew that Qiao Nan was really her uncle’s match. However, before that was confirmed, she couldn’t address her as ‘aunt’ casually. Upon thinking that Qiao Nan was family, it didn’t seem so embarra.s.sing for her to have cried in Qiao Nan’s arms.
Qiao Nan exhaled when she saw Jiajia. “Sister Zhai Hua, Jiajia, both of you sit here.” Qiao Nan let Zhai Hua and Jiajia sit next to Miao Jing. There was no doubt that the empty seat next to Miao Jing was for the only child in this family, Jiajia. “Jiajia, if there’s anything you would like to eat, remember to tell me. We’re still in time to buy some ingredients. You can just have a simple meal today first.”
Qiao Nan felt heartache when she saw Jiajia. In her dreams, Xiao Bao was a silly and sweet child when he was young. Although his mom was always in the army, Tian Dong, the father, always took care of Xiao Bao. The two elders from the Tian family had doted on Xiao Bao like he was an ancestor. Furthermore, Xiao Bao had three older brothers and a sister to play with since he was young, unlike Jiajia.
When she compared Xiao Bao’s silly and sweet look with Jiajia’s face now, Qiao Nan felt sour in her heart and didn’t know what she should say.
“Thank you, Aunt Qiao.” Jiajia smiled sweetly. At her grandma’s house, only her mom would care about what she liked to eat, whereas her grandma would always only prepare the dishes Wei Wei liked to eat during reunion dinner.
Jiajia would throw tantrums initially. However, after being lectured by Wei De, Jiajia no longer kicked up a fuss. Wei De said that since they were celebrating the new year, she shouldn’t learn from her mom and cause everyone to be unhappy because of her temper and stubbornness. If there was a dish she liked, she should eat more of it. If there wasn’t any, she should eat less. If she still felt hungry after the meal, she could get her mom to prepare something for her. If she caused her grandpa and grandma to be unhappy, then she was being unfilial.
Since Wei De had already lectured her so, what else could Jiajia say? She could only not say anything.
When asked about her favorite dishes today, Jiajia felt warm in her heart. It could be said that she received similar treatment in her maternal grandma’s house now.
“Try the taste. How do you find it? Is it too salty or bland? Or do you prefer something sweeter or spicier?”
Jiajia tasted the dishes seriously. She turned her head and smiled at Qiao Nan. “It’s not too bland or salty. The taste is just right. These dishes are delicious and I love them. Aunt Qiao, you’re really formidable. How did you know my taste?” Jiajia wasn’t saying this out of politeness. Indeed, there were a few dishes she liked to eat on the table. The taste was similar to her preference as well.
This aunt was really too competent!
Jiajia silently threw Zhai Sheng a look of appreciation. She felt that the aunt her uncle found was really great. It was all thanks to her uncle that she had such treatment. When would her uncle start working harder so that she could address Qiao Nan as her aunt instead of Aunt Qiao?
Seeing that Jiajia had misunderstood, Zhai Yaohui didn’t bother to explain and only threw Jiajia a look that signaled ‘soon’. At this time, Zhai Sheng acknowledged one of Wei De’s strengths. Wei De wasn’t good at anything except for having Jiajia as a daughter. Compared to Wei De, Jiajia, the niece, was much more pleasing to the eye.
“It’s good that you like it.” Qiao Nan felt a little guilty. She had only known about Jiajia’s existence recently. How could she have understood her taste? It was just that in her dream, she had brought Xiao Bao up and thus understood Xiao Bao’s preference.
Qiao Nan had purely tried to make some dishes that Xiao Bao liked. Perhaps it was because Zhai Hua was the mother of both children. Even if Jiajia’s and Xiao Bao’s preferences for food weren’t a hundred percent similar, they were at least more than fifty percent similar.
Seeing this situation, Qiao Nan didn’t know if she should feel happy or sad. Xiao Bao was Xiao Bao. Jiajia was Jiajia. Both of them were different and independent of each other. She shouldn’t think of Xiao Bao whenever she saw Jiajia. One had to know that they had the same mother but different fathers.
She also didn’t know where Tian Dong was now.
As she recalled the young Zhai Hua’s joking words of marrying only when she was thirty years old and Tian Dong’s stubbornness, Qiao Nan felt tired in her heart and pinched her nose bridge. If this was real as well, then there was really a great marriage that was missed in vain due to a childhood joke and stubbornness.
“Aunt Qiao, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?” Was Aunt Qiao tired from cooking all those dishes for her?
On the way there, Zhai Hua had given her daughter a heads-up that the dishes today were all prepared by Qiao Nan. She was, after all, her future aunt. In any case, Zhai Hua asked Jiajia to give Qiao Nan face.
Jiajia was already mentally prepared to eat a few more mouthfuls even if she didn’t like the food so that she could win more impression points for her uncle. Of course, Jiajia was quite satisfied with the final taste of the dishes.