Ding Jiayi was furious, but she dared not speak up. She could only suppress her frustration and speak nicely to Qiao Nan.
Qiao Dongliang put down the cup, his expression serious. “Zijin, do you think what your mother said is appropriate?”
“…” Qiao Zijin pursed her lips and was extremely reluctant to answer this question.
“Since you don’t say anything, it means that you agree that it is not appropriate as well. Okay, then we shall not have any more discussion about this.” Qiao Dongliang stood up with difficulty. “Nan Nan, help me back to the room. All of you can go to bed earlier.”
“Okay, Dad.” Qiao Nan helped Qiao Dongliang stand and supported him back to the room.
When Qiao Dongliang sat down on the bed, he sighed. “Nan Nan, Dad has lived all these years for nothing. It seems that you are a better person than Dad. Your attitude toward your sister is better than that of Dad. In the future, you will do as you deem fit. I believe you can handle it well.”
Qiao Nan nodded. “Dad, you can rest assured. I know what to do.”
“Nan Nan…” Qiao Nan had just come out of Qiao Dongliang’s room, and she was blocked by Qiao Zijin. “Nan Nan, I didn’t give it my best shot today. Can you give me another chance?”
Qiao Nan leaned on the doorframe. She knew that Qiao Zijin would not give up so easily. At the mention of money, Qiao Zijin’s obstinacy was unrivaled. “You really want to take up this job and give it another try?”
“Yes!” No matter what, she had to get the job first. Afterward, she would come up with ways to get the money without working.
Qiao Nan sneered. “Alright, but let me tell you beforehand. It is impossible for me to edit and make changes to your translation. I will tell the boss about our family’s situation. I will give you part of my workload. You will be paid based on how much you translate. Of course, I do not have the final say as to whether your translation is up to standard. The boss will have the final say. After all, the boss is the one who pays us, not me.”
Qiao Zijin’s face turned green. If she did according to what Qiao Nan said, given her standard, she could not get a single cent at all. The most important thing was that if she really wanted to do this, she had to work on the translation conscientiously.
As soon as she thought of how she worked on the translation for more than an hour and still could not come up with a decent translation, Zijin lost all interest in the job.
“Forget it. It is too much trouble. If you really say this to your boss, your boss may misunderstand you. If you lose your job as a result, it will be my fault. Okay, you can continue with the translation. As for my tuition fees, I will find another way.”
Since she did not get what she wanted, Qiao Zijin could not be bothered to waste her time on Qiao Nan. She walked away without another word.
As soon as Qiao Zijin returned to the room, Ding Jiayi, who had been waiting for her, stepped forward and asked, “How is it? Did Qiao Nan, that wretched girl, agree to it?”
“Fat chance. Qiao Nan is as sneaky as a thief. She seems to know what I want to do and is thus on her guards.” If not for the fact that Qiao Nan asked her to translate the document on the spot in front of the whole family, and she made a fool of herself, she would be able to make sure that Qiao Nan gave her half of the salary.
Ding Jiayi shot disdainful looks. “I have already said that Qiao Nan has no conscience. If I knew that she would be so heartless, I should have thrown her away when I gave birth to her. Raising her was a waste of money. That wretched girl is so ruthless. We are one family, yet she does not want to lend you a helping hand. Zijin, you have to bear this in mind. When you become successful in the future, you must not help her if she comes to you for help.”
“I will definitely not help her. Since she doesn’t treat me as her biological elder sister, why should I treat her as my biological younger sister?” Qiao Zijin was frustrated. Till now, she still could not understand how Qiao Nan knew what was on her mind. How did she know that she intended to use that method to take advantage of Qiao Nan?
“But Mom, what about my tuition fees?”
“There’s no other way. Even if you go out to find a job now, you can’t find a job within half a month. Let’s do it this way. I will take some handiwork back to do. You will do them during the day, and when I am back from work at night, I will do it with you.” Ding Jiayi could only think of this method.
“Do we really need to do handiwork? It’s tiring and we can’t make much money from that. Mom, is there any other work?” Qiao Zijin did not want to stay through the night and work on the handmade products every single day.
Ding Jiayi let out a long sigh. “I will definitely recommend you to jobs that are easy and pay well if there is any. Forget it. Bear with it for the time being. When you grow up, get yourself a good husband and you will have a good life. In this life, I am stuck with your dad. Unless you marry someone rich, I will have to endure my miserable life.”
With that, Ding Jiayi touched the left side of her face which was swollen and felt a throbbing pain.
“Mom, it’s getting late. You should boil an egg and rub it on your face to reduce the swelling. After that, you should hurry to sleep.”
“Oh, have an early rest as well. I will bring the materials back tomorrow.” Ding Jiayi was still hurt from the harsh words Qiao Dongliang said today, but she felt comforted by her elder daughter’s concerned words.
There were not many eggs left in the Qiao’s family, and each was precious.
After rubbing the freshly boiled egg on her face, Ding Jiayi placed it back into the bowl of warm water, saving it for Qiao Zijin tomorrow.
The evening next day, Ding Jiayi took a bunch of handiwork materials home. “Zijin, you have to do it well. If the material is spoiled, we have to compensate.”
Upon hearing this, Qiao Zijin pulled a long face, displeased.
“Okay, don’t pull a long face. Now that we don’t have any skill, it is not easy to make a living. If we are like Qiao Nan who is good in English, we can stay at home all day and earn three hundred yuan easily.” Ding Jiayi patted Qiao Zijin on the shoulder. “Be good and do the handiwork. I have something for you.”
“What is it?”
“Have you forgotten that I have spent fifty yuan of Qiao Nan’s money?”
Ding Jiayi, who was in high spirits yesterday, bought two dresses for Qiao Zijin. She panicked when she came home to see the police at her house. On top of that, after a big fight with Qiao Dongliang and being slapped by him, Ding Jiayi had forgotten all about the dresses that she bought for Qiao Zijin.
It was only when she was at work today, sitting in the factory, did Ding Jiayi remember that she had bought the dresses. She could use them to make Qiao Zijin happy.
“New clothes!” Sure enough, as soon as Qiao Zijin heard that there were new clothes, she broke into a smile immediately.
“Give me a minute, I will bring it over.” As long as Qiao Zijin was happy, Ding Jiayi was happy as well. She rushed to get the plastic bag in which she kept the clothes. “Hey, I remembered that I put the clothes here yesterday. Where are the clothes?”
Qiao Zijin’s smile vanished. “Mom, are you sure you put the new clothes here? Maybe it was too messy yesterday and someone took the new clothes you bought for me?”
Qiao Zijin acted like a thief, so she treated everyone as thieves as well and made harsh comments.
Ding Jiayi was furious, but she dared not speak up. She could only suppress her frustration and speak nicely to Qiao Nan.
Qiao Dongliang put down the cup, his expression serious. “Zijin, do you think what your mother said is appropriate?”
“…” Qiao Zijin pursed her lips and was extremely reluctant to answer this question.
“Since you don’t say anything, it means that you agree that it is not appropriate as well. Okay, then we shall not have any more discussion about this.” Qiao Dongliang stood up with difficulty. “Nan Nan, help me back to the room. All of you can go to bed earlier.”
“Okay, Dad.” Qiao Nan helped Qiao Dongliang stand and supported him back to the room.
When Qiao Dongliang sat down on the bed, he sighed. “Nan Nan, Dad has lived all these years for nothing. It seems that you are a better person than Dad. Your attitude toward your sister is better than that of Dad. In the future, you will do as you deem fit. I believe you can handle it well.”
Qiao Nan nodded. “Dad, you can rest assured. I know what to do.”
“Nan Nan…” Qiao Nan had just come out of Qiao Dongliang’s room, and she was blocked by Qiao Zijin. “Nan Nan, I didn’t give it my best shot today. Can you give me another chance?”
Qiao Nan leaned on the doorframe. She knew that Qiao Zijin would not give up so easily. At the mention of money, Qiao Zijin’s obstinacy was unrivaled. “You really want to take up this job and give it another try?”
“Yes!” No matter what, she had to get the job first. Afterward, she would come up with ways to get the money without working.
Qiao Nan sneered. “Alright, but let me tell you beforehand. It is impossible for me to edit and make changes to your translation. I will tell the boss about our family’s situation. I will give you part of my workload. You will be paid based on how much you translate. Of course, I do not have the final say as to whether your translation is up to standard. The boss will have the final say. After all, the boss is the one who pays us, not me.”
Qiao Zijin’s face turned green. If she did according to what Qiao Nan said, given her standard, she could not get a single cent at all. The most important thing was that if she really wanted to do this, she had to work on the translation conscientiously.
As soon as she thought of how she worked on the translation for more than an hour and still could not come up with a decent translation, Zijin lost all interest in the job.
“Forget it. It is too much trouble. If you really say this to your boss, your boss may misunderstand you. If you lose your job as a result, it will be my fault. Okay, you can continue with the translation. As for my tuition fees, I will find another way.”
Since she did not get what she wanted, Qiao Zijin could not be bothered to waste her time on Qiao Nan. She walked away without another word.
As soon as Qiao Zijin returned to the room, Ding Jiayi, who had been waiting for her, stepped forward and asked, “How is it? Did Qiao Nan, that wretched girl, agree to it?”
“Fat chance. Qiao Nan is as sneaky as a thief. She seems to know what I want to do and is thus on her guards.” If not for the fact that Qiao Nan asked her to translate the document on the spot in front of the whole family, and she made a fool of herself, she would be able to make sure that Qiao Nan gave her half of the salary.
Ding Jiayi shot disdainful looks. “I have already said that Qiao Nan has no conscience. If I knew that she would be so heartless, I should have thrown her away when I gave birth to her. Raising her was a waste of money. That wretched girl is so ruthless. We are one family, yet she does not want to lend you a helping hand. Zijin, you have to bear this in mind. When you become successful in the future, you must not help her if she comes to you for help.”
“I will definitely not help her. Since she doesn’t treat me as her biological elder sister, why should I treat her as my biological younger sister?” Qiao Zijin was frustrated. Till now, she still could not understand how Qiao Nan knew what was on her mind. How did she know that she intended to use that method to take advantage of Qiao Nan?
“But Mom, what about my tuition fees?”
“There’s no other way. Even if you go out to find a job now, you can’t find a job within half a month. Let’s do it this way. I will take some handiwork back to do. You will do them during the day, and when I am back from work at night, I will do it with you.” Ding Jiayi could only think of this method.
“Do we really need to do handiwork? It’s tiring and we can’t make much money from that. Mom, is there any other work?” Qiao Zijin did not want to stay through the night and work on the handmade products every single day.
Ding Jiayi let out a long sigh. “I will definitely recommend you to jobs that are easy and pay well if there is any. Forget it. Bear with it for the time being. When you grow up, get yourself a good husband and you will have a good life. In this life, I am stuck with your dad. Unless you marry someone rich, I will have to endure my miserable life.”
With that, Ding Jiayi touched the left side of her face which was swollen and felt a throbbing pain.
“Mom, it’s getting late. You should boil an egg and rub it on your face to reduce the swelling. After that, you should hurry to sleep.”
“Oh, have an early rest as well. I will bring the materials back tomorrow.” Ding Jiayi was still hurt from the harsh words Qiao Dongliang said today, but she felt comforted by her elder daughter’s concerned words.
There were not many eggs left in the Qiao’s family, and each was precious.
After rubbing the freshly boiled egg on her face, Ding Jiayi placed it back into the bowl of warm water, saving it for Qiao Zijin tomorrow.
The evening next day, Ding Jiayi took a bunch of handiwork materials home. “Zijin, you have to do it well. If the material is spoiled, we have to compensate.”
Upon hearing this, Qiao Zijin pulled a long face, displeased.
“Okay, don’t pull a long face. Now that we don’t have any skill, it is not easy to make a living. If we are like Qiao Nan who is good in English, we can stay at home all day and earn three hundred yuan easily.” Ding Jiayi patted Qiao Zijin on the shoulder. “Be good and do the handiwork. I have something for you.”
“What is it?”
“Have you forgotten that I have spent fifty yuan of Qiao Nan’s money?”
Ding Jiayi, who was in high spirits yesterday, bought two dresses for Qiao Zijin. She panicked when she came home to see the police at her house. On top of that, after a big fight with Qiao Dongliang and being slapped by him, Ding Jiayi had forgotten all about the dresses that she bought for Qiao Zijin.
It was only when she was at work today, sitting in the factory, did Ding Jiayi remember that she had bought the dresses. She could use them to make Qiao Zijin happy.
“New clothes!” Sure enough, as soon as Qiao Zijin heard that there were new clothes, she broke into a smile immediately.
“Give me a minute, I will bring it over.” As long as Qiao Zijin was happy, Ding Jiayi was happy as well. She rushed to get the plastic bag in which she kept the clothes. “Hey, I remembered that I put the clothes here yesterday. Where are the clothes?”
Qiao Zijin’s smile vanished. “Mom, are you sure you put the new clothes here? Maybe it was too messy yesterday and someone took the new clothes you bought for me?”
Qiao Zijin acted like a thief, so she treated everyone as thieves as well and made harsh comments.
