Chapter 2486: Persistence (3)
Whether it was her own family or her in-laws, no one had been good to her!
“Mom, I know you don’t like me, but I wasn’t the one who caused Dad’s death. Why are you directing all your anger toward me?” Qiao Zijin felt aggrieved. There was no reason for her to receive the hate she was receiving. She had to stand up for herself and let everyone know that she was innocent.
She wasn’t Qiao Nan and would never bear the responsibility of something she had never done.
Ding Jiayi was exhausted and sneered. “It’s true that your dad’s death had nothing to do with you. When I’m gone, you’ll only care about whether it has something to do with you. It’s my fault that you grew up in this way, and your dad… is probably at fault too. So, it’s your dad’s and my retribution. Qiao Zijin, I’m really curious if you would turn out this way if you had other people as your parents.”
Ding Jiayi had never thought that it was entirely Qiao Dongliang and her responsibility that Qiao Zijin had turned out this way. Qiao Zijin had to bear some responsibility too.
She wasn’t a three-year-old kid. Even though some of her worldviews had already been formed, Qiao Zijin could very well have changed them once she understood what was going on around her.
But had Qiao Zijin been willing to do so?
Of course not.
Qiao Zijin was all too clear that her life would never be as easy-going and comfortable if she were to change her personality.
Qiao Zijin wanted to lead a good life but didn’t want to work hard for it. All she wanted to do was to enjoy life and reap the benefits others had gleaned.
That was Qiao Zijin’s nature. She had not caused Qiao Zijin to develop such a personality.
She had always taught Qiao Zijin to study hard and get good results so that she could enter a good university and have a bright future.
But ever since entering school, Qiao Zijin had never scored well. Every time, Qiao Zijin would coax her by saying that she hadn’t released her full potential, that there had been something wrong with her pen, or that there had been other unexpected situations.
In short, all the unexpected problems with Qiao Zijin’s stationery led to her faring badly in every single one of her exams.
Qiao Zijin had no responsibility over her bad results. It was all due to her bad stationery and Qiao Nan, who was always distracting her.
Was that what she had taught her?
No, she had never taught Qiao Zijin that.
Ding Jiayi thought about it again. Actually, their family of four had to bear some responsibility for Qiao Zijin turning out this way.
The difference was that Qiao Nan had chosen to withdraw herself from the mess early on. She no longer tolerated Qiao Zijin’s laziness as she had done in the past and had instead chosen to leave to start a new life afresh.
Both she and Old Qiao had been foolish and unlucky for being Qiao Zijin’s parents.
As such, they couldn’t abandon Qiao Zijin and had no choice but to endure the pain that Qiao Zijin brought upon them time and again.
Ding Jiayi took a deep breath. “I don’t want to listen to you or talk to you. If you still want to acknowledge your dad and me as your parents, please maintain your silence and let your dad leave peacefully. If you don’t treat us as your parents anymore, that’s fine too. You can leave straightaway and not disturb our family. Alright?”
Ding Jiayi had no more energy to throw a tantrum or get angry at Qiao Zijin.
If possible, she wanted to end this as soon as possible, return to her apartment, and live peacefully for the rest of her life.
She had already gone down the wrong path for half her life anyway. It was too late to make any amends now.
It could be said that Ding Jiayi’s heart had died alongside Qiao Dongliang.
Ding Jiayi had already made herself clear. The deceased had to be respected. Moreover, Qiao Dongliang was Qiao Zijin’s father. She couldn’t possibly throw a tantrum and leave at that moment.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she couldn’t.
Qiao Zijin knew that Chen Feng would definitely have a worse opinion of her if she were to leave at that moment.
Her son was all grown up. As long as her son was willing to support her, she would definitely be able to live a comfortable life in her old age, just like her parents had. She could offend anyone but her son.
Very quickly, Qiao Zijin calmed down. Even though she didn’t help out, she maintained her silence and followed the others as Qiao Dongliang’s daughter.
Before the cremation, Ding Jiayi had requested three minutes alone with Qiao Dongliang’s body.
Everyone had agreed to it.
Up until Qiao Dongliang’s death, Qiao Dongliang had still been legally married to Ding Jiayi. No one could take that last opportunity away from the married couple.
After everyone left, Ding Jiayi looked at the icy-cold and wrinkled Qiao Dongliang, whose complexion was filled with pigmentation spots. She wept.
Ding Jiayi knew that she had grown old too. All that was left of her were bones. There was no fat to be found, and her whole body seemed saggy and especially ugly.
She walked over and held Qiao Dongliang’s icy-cold hands. “Old Qiao, I know that I wasn’t good enough in this lifetime and disappointed you, but can you give me another chance to be your wife in our next lifetime? I’ll definitely be a good wife and mother so that this won’t happen again.”
Qiao Dongliang, who was already dead, was naturally unable to answer Ding Jiayi and simply lay there lifelessly.
“Old Qiao, since you’re not answering me, I’ll treat that as an agreement.”
With that, Ding Jiayi took out a small purse from a pocket that contained hair that Ding Jiayi had cut off.
Ding Jiayi was afraid that her agreement with Qiao Dongliang’s body wouldn’t mean anything, so she had to leave something with him.
That was when Ding Jiayi had thought of her own hair. She had specially cut off a long strand and placed it into a small purse to be burned into ashes along with Qiao Dongliang’s body.
With that, Ding Jiayi finally wiped away her tears and allowed everyone else to enter and watch Qiao Dongliang leave.
Everything finally came to an end after Qiao Dongliang’s ashes were placed into the urn.
Qiao Nan, who had already lost a significant amount of weight, wasn’t just physically exhausted but mentally exhausted as well. She wanted nothing more than to return to Zhai Sheng’s side.
As such, as soon as Qiao Dongliang’s funeral ended, Qiao Nan didn’t even greet Ding Jiayi before flying back to the capital with Da Bao. She simply transferred twenty thousand yuan into Ding Jiayi’s card.
To Qiao Nan, Qiao Dongliang’s death meant that she had lost half of her familial relations.
Once Ding Jiayi left as well, Qiao Nan would finally be free of her family and would never need to face Qiao Zijin ever again.
But now that Qiao Nan was finally free, Jiajia bitterly exclaimed that she was about to be her aunt’s successor. Was she going to have to deal with a nasty mother-in-law like Qiao Zijin?