Chapter 2002: The Bride’s Father
Even though he now knew that his daughter was getting married and the wedding was a week away, he felt as though he was an outsider when his daughter simply reminded him to attend the wedding.
Qiao Dongliang had not forgotten why he had been admitted to the hospital in the first place. Not only so, but he had even spent fifty thousand of his younger daughter’s money. Previously, he had wanted to prepare a dowry for his younger daughter, but he did not even have a single cent now. “Nan Nan, your dowry…”
Qiao Nan smirked. Dowry? Whether it was in her dream or in reality, she had never once dreamed of the Qiao family preparing anything for her. “There’s no need for that. I’ll make preparations on my own. You don’t have to do anything.”
It was natural for her to take care of the Qiao family’s matters, and it’s even more natural for her to take care of her own matters alone. It had always been this way. Was there another way out?
Since Qiao Nan had so said, there was nothing else Qiao Dongliang could say. Qiao Dongliang felt as though there was something stuck in his throat and he could neither swallow it nor spit it out. It hurt so badly. “You’re getting married. Should… Should I send you off? You can’t possibly keep staying in the Zhai family’s house. I…”
Qiao Dongliang wanted to see Qiao Nan leave from the Qiao family’s house, but he was not confident in controlling Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin such that the pair would not ruin Qiao Nan’s wedding. He had not even been able to control them while he had been well. Now that he had fractured a bone and was in a cast, it would be even harder for him to do so. As such, he could not even promise that Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin would not make trouble during the wedding.
If Qiao Nan were to stay at the Zhai family’s house, it would make it seem as though she did not have a family of her own. This would not reflect well on Qiao Nan or the Qiao family. But Qiao Dongliang did not have a solution to this problem.
Qiao Dongliang laughed bitterly. “I’m so useless. I can’t even think of a solution to such a simple problem. No matter what, this wedding is the most important event in your life. Not only am I unable to help you, but I’m even dragging you down. Nan Nan, it’s really unfortunate that you were born into this family…”
Qiao Nan was not unfamiliar with these words, but they no longer stirred up any feelings in her heart. “Dad, you don’t have to think too much about where I’ll leave from. My in-laws have already thought about that. If you’re willing to come to the wedding, you can. As for anything else, don’t forget about the news. Anyone who watched the news knows about what happened to our family. There’s nothing much to be surprised about anymore.”
In other words, the Qiao family had pretty much aired all of its dirty laundry in public. If Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin continued with their antics, it would no longer be surprising. In fact, it would probably be expected.
There was nothing much left in the Qiao family that outsiders did not know about. As such, being self-conscious about that would just be deceiving themselves.
“…” Qiao Dongliang had no way of retorting Qiao Nan. It was true. Outsiders knew the Qiao family almost inside out. Even if they had not known about it, the news had already exposed everything afterward. Nothing would come as a surprise to outsiders now. “Alright. As long as you’ve thought it through. No matter how tough your life was, you’ve gotten through it. Don’t think too much about it now. You should just think about yourself and lead a good life after getting married.”
“Since you escaped and went into hiding the last time, it shows that you’ve already realized how to lead a good life, so I won’t say anything else. I just want to remind you not to bother about your mom’s and sister’s antics. If you can’t handle it, get Zhai Sheng to do it. He’s your man and he should take up that responsibility. Your mom and sister may dare to be fierce to you, but they would never dare to go against Zhai Sheng.”
Qiao Dongliang was absolutely sure of that, just as sure as Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin were that Qiao Nan would listen to them.
Once they realized that, it would not be that difficult to deal with Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi. Qiao Nan had already stayed hidden from the pair for close to a year. After getting married, there would be nothing wrong with Zhai Sheng dealing with these two people.
“Alright.” Qiao Nan was stunned. She had never considered getting Zhai Sheng to deal with Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin. But Qiao Dongliang’s suggestion had given her a new idea. Even if Zhai Sheng was not at home due to his work, she could find someone else to help her out: Zhai Hua.
Even after leaving Wei De, Zhai Hua had never gotten less aggressive. Zhai Hua’s skills were more than enough to deal with people like Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin.
“I guess you should be quite busy since you’re getting married. I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll attend your wedding.” Qiao Dongliang felt bitter as he said that as though he was eating medications without any water. He could even feel the bitterness in his heart.
Which father would only show up on the day of his daughter’s wedding as though he was just a guest attending a wedding? Which father would not turn up in advance to help out during the wedding?
Qiao Dongliang had two daughters, and Qiao Zijin had been married before. At that time, the Qiao family had been so busy preparing for Qiao Zijin’s wedding to Chen Jun, and he had pampered her like a princess. Thinking about Qiao Nan and how her in-laws had been handling everything for her, it seemed as though she had no family of her own.
After hanging up the call, Qiao Dongliang was extremely regretful that he had been talked into being biased toward his elder daughter by Ding Jiayi. Because of that, they had spoiled their elder daughter such that she did not even know how to repay their kindness, while their younger daughter was just shy of cutting all ties with her family.
Other families were always joyful when marrying their daughters off, but the atmosphere in the Qiao family seemed even colder and more somber than a funeral’s now that their younger daughter was getting married.
Seeing that Qiao Nan had ended the call, Zhai Hua hit Qiao Nan on the head. “What’s wrong? You look like you spread tomatoes all over your face. Don’t forget that you’re getting married in a week’s time. With this expression, others might misunderstand that we forced you into this marriage.” The Qiao family was really too much. They could not even go a day without hearing something about that family.
Zhai Hua’s experience with Wei De had made her grow a lot as a person. It was only with a comparison that she realized the truth. Zhai Hua had never liked Zhai Yaohui, thinking that he was not a normal dad.