Chapter 2017: Ident.i.ty
After thinking about it, Qiao Dongliang started with a relatively safe topic so that it wouldn’t be too awkward for the two of them to be sitting at the same table but not talking.
Jiajia smiled. “Yes, I just finished my middle school examinations yesterday. I’ll be going to high school in the next semester.”
“Just finished your middle school examinations…” Qiao Dongliang was in a daze when he heard that Jiajia was of this age. He couldn’t help but think that before Qiao Nan could graduate from junior high school, she was forced by Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin to drop out of school, start working, and shoulder the entire family’s financial burden. Other people’s children were still having fun at this age.
In reality, his family was in the same situation. What was different was that the person who was having fun wasn’t Nan Nan, but Zijin. When Nan Nan was studying, her results were fantastic. If Nan Nan had had the chance to take the middle school examinations, he believed that Nan Nan definitely would have gotten good results.
Nan Nan was like him, too soft-tempered and too easy to talk to. That was why she was bullied at home. As a girl, if Nan Nan could think more about herself earlier, she would have gotten married and had her own children, family, and life earlier.
“Grandpa, let me pour you a drink. What do you want?” Jiajia roughly knew that this unfamiliar grandpa should be a relative of her new aunt. In fact, he was most likely a close relative. The Qiao family’s news was pretty big. However, Qiao Dongliang was the only one in the Qiao family who wasn’t featured on camera. When there was a ruckus back then, only Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin were involved.
As such, Jiajia knew how Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin looked like. It was the first time she saw Qiao Dongliang today.
Qiao Dongliang was embarra.s.sed. He should be doing this instead. “There’s no need to. This is too sweet. I can’t get used to it. I’ll just drink plain water.” If Qiao Dongliang really wanted to drink today, he would have drunk alcohol instead of sweet Sprite.
“I’ll get you some plain water then.” Jiajia didn’t pretend to be polite to Qiao Dongliang. She went to get whatever Qiao Dongliang wanted to drink. Her uncle was getting married today. She was considered a little host. As the host family, of course she wanted to make everyone who attended the wedding today feel at home.
Not to mention that this man before her was her aunt’s family. She had to take care of him more.
As for the nonsensical matters in her aunt’s house, her aunt had said that she was still a child and didn’t need to worry so much. As long as she did her part and was polite, she completely didn’t have to bring the adults’ emotions to herself. Her aunt said that as a child, she should live simply and happily and try not to be entangled with the adults’ matters.
Jiajia understood what Qiao Nan’s words meant. With regards to those ‘relatives’ from the Qiao family, Jiajia didn’t need to take them to heart. She could treat them as ordinary strangers. As such, Jiajia didn’t need to discriminate against the Qiao family. Of course, she didn’t need to really treat the Qiao family as relatives and welcome them with the att.i.tude of welcoming relatives.
With Qiao Nan’s words as a base, Jiajia was quite comfortable when facing Qiao Dongliang.
“Oh, okay. Thank you.” Qiao Dongliang didn’t reject her. He really didn’t dare to drink alcohol at this time and felt that it was more reliable to drink plain water. There were too many things hidden in his heart. He was afraid that he would get drunk after taking a few sips. If he caused Qiao Nan trouble again, he would really have let Qiao Nan address him as ‘dad’ for nothing all these years.
As the bride’s father, Qiao Dongliang didn’t dare to walk around in the Zhai family and treat the Zhai family as his home. Jiajia said that she wanted to help him. Qiao Dongliang naturally couldn’t reject her. If he rejected her, they would have nothing to talk about anymore. “Thank you. You’re so polite. You’re a child of the Zhai family. Are you Zhai Hua’s daughter?”
Qiao Dongliang knew a little about the Zhai family’s situation. Of course, he knew that Zhai Hua’s daughter was the only child of the Zhai family thus far. He thought of how the forty-year-old Qiao Nan still stood a chance of giving birth. By then, when his grandchild was born, he didn’t know if this girl would get along well with his grandchild. “Little girl, do you like younger siblings?”
Jiajia drank a sip and smiled. “Yes, my mom’s Zhai Hua. Grandpa, don’t worry. I like younger siblings. I believe that after I become an older sister, I can take good care of the younger brothers and sisters. When they are old enough to go to school, I can even teach them homework and play with them.”
Her aunt’s father wasn’t particularly bad to her aunt and still cared about her.
Upon thinking that there were three people in the Qiao family but only Qiao Dongliang alone turned up for the wedding today, Jiajia understood that Qiao Dongliang was the only person in the Qiao family who still wanted to treat Qiao Nan well.
“That’s great. You’re so sensible. You’ll definitely be a good sister in the future.” All was good as long as this girl didn’t feel that his grandson was born to compete with her. How could the younger one win against the older one? It was like how Nan Nan was bullied by Zijin all this while.
Jiajia smiled. “Yes, I also think that I would be a good sister. I’m just waiting for Aunt to give birth to a son or daughter now.”
“Do you prefer a brother or a sister?” If it was a brother, without a doubt, his grandson would be the little master of the Zhai family in the future. If Nan Nan gave birth to a daughter, then would it…
The reason why Qiao Dongliang had such worries was because of the Zhu family’s situation. Zhai Sheng was getting married. The Zhai family’s lively wedding attracted many people’s attention. At the same time these people were discussing Zhai Sheng’s marriage, the Zhu family, who had similar background conditions as the Zhai family, were inevitably brought in.
The Zhai family had already produced three generations of chiefs. Although the Zhu family didn’t have three generations, they had two. Furthermore, the reason why the Zhu family didn’t produce a third generation of chief wasn’t that the Zhu family’s child had gone astray but that he had pa.s.sed away early.
The Zhu family could be regarded as a big family business. The contacts acc.u.mulated by the two generations of chiefs from the Zhu family were a powerful source of wealth. It was a pity that Zhu Chengqi’s only son pa.s.sed away. Instead, Zhu Chengqi’s sister had a son. This child was naturally Zhu Chengqi’s nephew.
Everyone was spreading that as soon as Zhu Chengqi kicked the bucket, the big Zhu family might have to change its surname to w.a.n.g and belong to w.a.n.g Yang alone. As such, there was no difference in giving birth to a son or a daughter. What was more important was that the child born had to live for a long time. Even if it was a daughter, she could still get a share of the family’s inheritance and everything.
With the Zhu family as an example, it was inevitable for Qiao Dongliang to share this example with Jiajia. At this moment, Jiajia was the only child of the Zhai family. One could imagine how pampered she was.