Ding Jiayi, who was outside the locked room, turned green with anger. “How dare you think of telling your Dad about this! Do you want to infuriate him and aggravate his condition? Do you want to watch him die?!”
“I did not borrow the money from Dad’s comrades. Even if Dad dies from anger, I am not at fault. You are the one to be blamed. You know how his temper is, yet you still went ahead to borrow the money. Do you think that we do not need to return the borrowed money and that Dad will never find out? My sister’s school fees are much less than the amount you borrowed. Mom, search your conscience. You have it all planned out. You knew that Dad and you are a couple after all. If you really could not repay the money, he would still repay the money in your stead, albeit unwillingly. In that case, what Dad earns will eventually be used on sister. Sister would stand to gain in the end!”
Qiao Nan knew more than anyone about what was going on in Ding Jiayi’s mind.
Qiao Dongliang was mindful of maintaining his image in front of his comrades. If they were to demand the repayment of the money, Qiao Dongliang would never delay the payment. Regardless of his initial plans, he would repay all of the debts as long as he had the money with him.
As husband and wife, Ding Jiayi was really too scheming to have had such designs on her husband.
But Ding Jiayi was unconscious of her own behavior. She had no idea that it was so hurtful to the other party.
“Are… are you opening the door or not?!” Ding Jiayi was enraged that Qiao Nan knew what she had in mind.
“No. Since you have the time to quarrel with me, Dad must have woken up. Come tomorrow when Dad is feeling better. Mom, you will have to bear the consequences for what you have done!”
“You are not allowed to tell your dad about the debts!” Ding Jiayi was anxious. “Did you hear that?!”
Since all the debts had been repaid, she had better keep her mouth shut lest Old Qiao became furious when he learned about it.
“I heard you, but no!”
“You dare disobey me? Do you still treat me as your mom?!”
“It is all up to you to say if we are mother and daughter. As for the debts, there is no room for discussion!”
She had to be firm to deal with people like her mother.
She did not care how her father wanted to dote on her mother; she was not going to budge in this life.
Even if she could not do anything to her mother regarding the debts, it would be good to give her a scare. Her mother would at least not mess with her for the next few days.
“You…” Ding Jiayi was panting with anger. She glared at the closely shut door. There was nothing she could do about Qiao Nan.
If it was up to her, she wished she could get a knife from the kitchen to hack off her door so that Qiao Nan could not lock her door in the future.
But on second thought, Ding Jiayi could not bear to do it. She would need to spend a bomb to fix the door.
“Fine, you have guts. You are the best in this house!” Ding Jiayi kicked at the door indignantly. “I am warning you, if anything happens to your dad when he learns of the debts—even if I need to commit murder—I would make sure you die and buried alongside your dad!”
“Ahh…” Qiao Nan laughed coldly. Her dad was hit by a car and did not have any other illness. Her dad was not like her, he would not be angered to death.
Ding Jiayi ranted and lashed out at Qiao Nan, but the latter refused to respond to her. In the end, she could only give up and walked away, panting in anger.
On the second day, the atmosphere was awkward in the hospital. Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin ignored Qiao Nan, while Qiao Nan also did not bother to spare them another glance. She gave all her attention to taking care of Qiao Dongliang. “Dad, I made this chicken porridge. Now that you have yet to recover, you could only have something light. Oily food is not good for you.”
“Chicken?” Qiao Dongliang said hoarsely. “Don’t… don’t waste the money. I will recover gradually.”
“It is alright. We can still afford the chicken.” Qiao Nan fed Qiao Dongliang the porridge. In fact, Qiao Nan did not buy the chicken. Zhai Sheng brought it to the Qiao family’s residence early in the morning.
The chicken was already slaughtered and skinned.
Given Qiao Dongliang’s health condition, oily food was unsuitable for him. It was good to have the chicken skinned.
Qiao Nan thought about it and made shredded chicken porridge for Qiao Dongliang.
“It is delicious.” The porridge tasted soft and smelled nice. Every grain of rice was soft and melted as soon as it touched the tongue. The taste was perfect, neither too salty nor tasteless. It whetted Qiao Dongliang’s appetite. “Nan Nan, you have good culinary skills.”
At the very least, the porridge tasted better than what Old Ding used to make for him.
“If Dad likes it, you should have another half a bowl. It is not good to have too much food at one go. I will make more for Dad in the future.” Qiao Nan stopped giving Qiao Dongliang the porridge after he finished one and a half bowl of porridge. Regardless of whether he would like some more or not, she stopped giving it to him.
Qiao Dongliang was an adult. He knew Qiao Nan had his best interests at heart. He would not be greedy and did not ask for more.
The pair of father and daughter had a good time feeding and eating the porridge. Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin who stood by the side seemed to be out of place.
“Brother, you are so fortunate. Your daughter takes such good care of you; she is even better than your wife.” Today, there was another patient in Qiao Dongliang’s ward. He was surprised when he saw this scene.
The wife was usually the one who took care of the husband when they were sick.
This brother had raised such a good daughter. His younger daughter did most of the chores, and unexpectedly, it was his wife and elder daughter who stood by the side watching.
The patient lifted the corner of his lips. He did not understand what was going on with this family.
“Yes, I am blessed.” Qiao Dongliang smiled. “We all say that daughters are like little warm jackets. It is very true. I am able to survive this car accident all because of this daughter of mine. I have to thank her for saving my life. She could match up to ten sons!”
“Dad, do you want some water?” Qiao Zijin turned green with anger. She quickly poured a cup of warm water and brought it to Qiao Dongliang. “The temperature is just right. You just had your porridge, so you should be thirsty.”
Qiao Dongliang blinked a few times and looked at Qiao Zijin without any expression. He uttered a sound and allowed Qiao Zijin to feed him the water.
Why should he make the younger daughter wait on him and let the elder daughter rest?!
After drinking the water, Qiao Zijin was even more uncomfortable. She felt awkward and uneasy. She just could not find the right standing position.
Qiao Zijin frowned and returned to stand by Ding Jiayi’s side. “Mom, I feel that Dad is acting strangely. After waking up today, he never looked at me in the eye. Didn’t you say that as long as I stayed by his side and was the first person he saw when he woke up, he would be good to me and would no longer be biased toward Qiao Nan? Why do I feel that Dad sides Qiao Nan even more than before?”
Since her dad woke up till now, he only mentioned Qiao Nan. His words just now also sounded as if Qiao Nan was the only good daughter he had. She treated him in the same way as well. Was she not good enough to him?
“It cannot be…” Ding Jiayi hesitated. But in fact, Ding Jiayi also felt the same way as Qiao Zijin.
Ding Jiayi, who was outside the locked room, turned green with anger. “How dare you think of telling your Dad about this! Do you want to infuriate him and aggravate his condition? Do you want to watch him die?!”
“I did not borrow the money from Dad’s comrades. Even if Dad dies from anger, I am not at fault. You are the one to be blamed. You know how his temper is, yet you still went ahead to borrow the money. Do you think that we do not need to return the borrowed money and that Dad will never find out? My sister’s school fees are much less than the amount you borrowed. Mom, search your conscience. You have it all planned out. You knew that Dad and you are a couple after all. If you really could not repay the money, he would still repay the money in your stead, albeit unwillingly. In that case, what Dad earns will eventually be used on sister. Sister would stand to gain in the end!”
Qiao Nan knew more than anyone about what was going on in Ding Jiayi’s mind.
Qiao Dongliang was mindful of maintaining his image in front of his comrades. If they were to demand the repayment of the money, Qiao Dongliang would never delay the payment. Regardless of his initial plans, he would repay all of the debts as long as he had the money with him.
As husband and wife, Ding Jiayi was really too scheming to have had such designs on her husband.
But Ding Jiayi was unconscious of her own behavior. She had no idea that it was so hurtful to the other party.
“Are… are you opening the door or not?!” Ding Jiayi was enraged that Qiao Nan knew what she had in mind.
“No. Since you have the time to quarrel with me, Dad must have woken up. Come tomorrow when Dad is feeling better. Mom, you will have to bear the consequences for what you have done!”
“You are not allowed to tell your dad about the debts!” Ding Jiayi was anxious. “Did you hear that?!”
Since all the debts had been repaid, she had better keep her mouth shut lest Old Qiao became furious when he learned about it.
“I heard you, but no!”
“You dare disobey me? Do you still treat me as your mom?!”
“It is all up to you to say if we are mother and daughter. As for the debts, there is no room for discussion!”
She had to be firm to deal with people like her mother.
She did not care how her father wanted to dote on her mother; she was not going to budge in this life.
Even if she could not do anything to her mother regarding the debts, it would be good to give her a scare. Her mother would at least not mess with her for the next few days.
“You…” Ding Jiayi was panting with anger. She glared at the closely shut door. There was nothing she could do about Qiao Nan.
If it was up to her, she wished she could get a knife from the kitchen to hack off her door so that Qiao Nan could not lock her door in the future.
But on second thought, Ding Jiayi could not bear to do it. She would need to spend a bomb to fix the door.
“Fine, you have guts. You are the best in this house!” Ding Jiayi kicked at the door indignantly. “I am warning you, if anything happens to your dad when he learns of the debts—even if I need to commit murder—I would make sure you die and buried alongside your dad!”
“Ahh…” Qiao Nan laughed coldly. Her dad was hit by a car and did not have any other illness. Her dad was not like her, he would not be angered to death.
Ding Jiayi ranted and lashed out at Qiao Nan, but the latter refused to respond to her. In the end, she could only give up and walked away, panting in anger.
On the second day, the atmosphere was awkward in the hospital. Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin ignored Qiao Nan, while Qiao Nan also did not bother to spare them another glance. She gave all her attention to taking care of Qiao Dongliang. “Dad, I made this chicken porridge. Now that you have yet to recover, you could only have something light. Oily food is not good for you.”
“Chicken?” Qiao Dongliang said hoarsely. “Don’t… don’t waste the money. I will recover gradually.”
“It is alright. We can still afford the chicken.” Qiao Nan fed Qiao Dongliang the porridge. In fact, Qiao Nan did not buy the chicken. Zhai Sheng brought it to the Qiao family’s residence early in the morning.
The chicken was already slaughtered and skinned.
Given Qiao Dongliang’s health condition, oily food was unsuitable for him. It was good to have the chicken skinned.
Qiao Nan thought about it and made shredded chicken porridge for Qiao Dongliang.
“It is delicious.” The porridge tasted soft and smelled nice. Every grain of rice was soft and melted as soon as it touched the tongue. The taste was perfect, neither too salty nor tasteless. It whetted Qiao Dongliang’s appetite. “Nan Nan, you have good culinary skills.”
At the very least, the porridge tasted better than what Old Ding used to make for him.
“If Dad likes it, you should have another half a bowl. It is not good to have too much food at one go. I will make more for Dad in the future.” Qiao Nan stopped giving Qiao Dongliang the porridge after he finished one and a half bowl of porridge. Regardless of whether he would like some more or not, she stopped giving it to him.
Qiao Dongliang was an adult. He knew Qiao Nan had his best interests at heart. He would not be greedy and did not ask for more.
The pair of father and daughter had a good time feeding and eating the porridge. Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin who stood by the side seemed to be out of place.
“Brother, you are so fortunate. Your daughter takes such good care of you; she is even better than your wife.” Today, there was another patient in Qiao Dongliang’s ward. He was surprised when he saw this scene.
The wife was usually the one who took care of the husband when they were sick.
This brother had raised such a good daughter. His younger daughter did most of the chores, and unexpectedly, it was his wife and elder daughter who stood by the side watching.
The patient lifted the corner of his lips. He did not understand what was going on with this family.
“Yes, I am blessed.” Qiao Dongliang smiled. “We all say that daughters are like little warm jackets. It is very true. I am able to survive this car accident all because of this daughter of mine. I have to thank her for saving my life. She could match up to ten sons!”
“Dad, do you want some water?” Qiao Zijin turned green with anger. She quickly poured a cup of warm water and brought it to Qiao Dongliang. “The temperature is just right. You just had your porridge, so you should be thirsty.”
Qiao Dongliang blinked a few times and looked at Qiao Zijin without any expression. He uttered a sound and allowed Qiao Zijin to feed him the water.
Why should he make the younger daughter wait on him and let the elder daughter rest?!
After drinking the water, Qiao Zijin was even more uncomfortable. She felt awkward and uneasy. She just could not find the right standing position.
Qiao Zijin frowned and returned to stand by Ding Jiayi’s side. “Mom, I feel that Dad is acting strangely. After waking up today, he never looked at me in the eye. Didn’t you say that as long as I stayed by his side and was the first person he saw when he woke up, he would be good to me and would no longer be biased toward Qiao Nan? Why do I feel that Dad sides Qiao Nan even more than before?”
Since her dad woke up till now, he only mentioned Qiao Nan. His words just now also sounded as if Qiao Nan was the only good daughter he had. She treated him in the same way as well. Was she not good enough to him?
“It cannot be…” Ding Jiayi hesitated. But in fact, Ding Jiayi also felt the same way as Qiao Zijin.
