Still a Fool
Still a Fool
Initially, Peng Yu had thought that he would become the right person who would help Qiao Zijin defeat Qiao Nan. In that way, Qiao Zijin would have all three aspects: the right place, time, and person. Then, he could only say that Qiao Nan was unlucky. But after what had just happened, Peng Yu no longer had such naive thoughts. Perhaps he could be Qiao Zijin's right person, but conversely, Qiao Zijin would definitely not be of much help to him.
After hanging up the phone, Peng Yu knocked his forehead. "You haven't settled this nicely this time. Before doing anything, I should have gained a good understanding of how Qiao Zijin is as a person and what kind of temper she has. If it was anyone else, or if we used a different method to expose this, the effect could have been much better."
Peng Yu had a vague premonition that it would not be a flaw in his plans that would lead to the failure of his plans to not be able to bring down Zhai Sheng's wife, Qiao Nan. The greatest mistake he had made was to pick Qiao Zijin as his collaborator.
To have Peng Yu have such thoughts toward Qiao Zijin, one could only imagine how foolish Qiao Zijin had been in front of Peng Yu.
Chen Jun had been far away in Ping Cheng but had always been paying close attention to what was going on in the capital. After learning of these events, he felt thankful on more than one occasion that he had not gotten back together with Qiao Zijin after all. The only reason why he had reconciled with Qiao Zijin was that he had wasted so much of his money on her while he was younger but had never gained anything from it. As such, he deliberately played along with Qiao Zijin. He had never expected that it was such a good decision not to get back together with her.
Over ten years ago, Qiao Zijin had been a fool. Ten years later, Qiao Zijin had grown crow's eyes and wrinkles, but her intelligence had not grown. In fact, her IQ had probably regressed too. If he had married a woman like Qiao Zijin, he would probably die early from needing to worry about a wife like that.
Fortunately, he had gotten rid of this burden long ago. More than ten years ago, in fact. Now, Chen Jun no longer felt sorry for his unrequited investment on Qiao Zijin. He was only thankful that he was decisive. Abandoning her was probably the best thing he had done.
Qiao Nan and her family practically spent the entire seven days of the National Day holiday outside. Only on the night of the sixth did the Zhai family and Qiao Dongliang return to the capital with tiredness and joy.
"It's already so late. I'll get auntie to make up the guest room. In-law, why don't you rest here for the night and go home tomorrow?" It was already nine o'clock in the night by the time they reached home. Miao Jing rubbed her shoulders. She had indeed grown old. When she had flown around all the time in the past, she had never felt sore. But she could not do that anymore.
It was always difficult to get tickets for all kinds of transportation during the National Day holidays, just like during the Lunar New Year. Just thinking about it made Miao Jing tired. Perhaps, the biggest mistake they made this time was not that they had continued to play at their advanced age, but rather, going on a holiday during the National Day period. There were so many Chinese!
Qiao Dongliang put down the things of the three children and smiled politely. "That won't be necessary. It's only nine. It won't even be ten by the time I get home. I'll take my leave first. I won't bother you any further." Qiao Dongliang knew that the Zhai family did not really accept him as their in-law. It was not that he did not know the reason. It was because he felt too ashamed to recall the past.
As such, other than standing in front of the three children as their grandfather, Qiao Dongliang was too ashamed to face the Zhai family. He was afraid that others would mock him for being too shameless.
"Dad, auntie has already made up the room. Even if you're not used to it, why don't you just stay the night? I won't stop you from leaving tomorrow." Qiao Nan shook her head. After a few days of being away, she guessed that the house would be all dusty. The blankets had not been aired either. It would be uncomfortable to sleep with a damp blanket. If her father slept over at the Zhai family's house for a night and returned home the next day, he could then air the blankets and clean up the house during the day so that he could sleep comfortably at night.
"That's right, grandpa. It's already so late. Don't leave. I'm tired." San Bao yawned. Because of this trip, San Bao was starting to treat her grandfather, Qiao Dongliang, just like she did before. It was totally unlike her behavior just a week earlier, when her expression had been cold upon seeing Qiao Dongliang. "If you don't agree to it, I won't be able to sleep in peace."
"Grandpa, just stay the night." Da Bao's words carried more weight than San Bao's. Once Da Bao said that, Qiao Dongliang could not help but nod his head while looking at that face which bore an uncanny resemblance to his son-in-law. It was as though Qiao Dongliang was still in the army and had just met his officer. He had no choice but to follow his superior's orders.
The moment Qiao Dongliang agreed, San Bao smiled. "Grandpa, I'll go wash up first. I'm really sleepy and tired. Goodnight, grandpa."
"Goodnight, grandpa."
"Goodnight, grandpa." The three children were too sleepy, and one by one, they all yawned and stretched while walking back to their own rooms. Before the three children graduated from primary school, while they were still in grade five, Qian Nan had arranged for the three children to sleep in separate rooms.
So right now, San Bao slept in a room, while Er Bao and Da Bao shared a room. Initially, San Bao had not been used to having a room to herself and had thrown a small tantrum. Thankfully, with Qiao Nan comforting her, she slowly got used to it in under a week's time.
"Dad, although it's already nine o'clock, I think it's better for us to eat something before we sleep." The moment Qiao Nan landed in the capital, she made a call home and asked the auntie to prepare an easily digestible supper, something like nutritious porridge.
At such a late hour, the auntie could not cook a complicated porridge, but she was still capable of cooking an easier dish like porridge with lean pork and century eggs. By now, the porridge had been cooked such that the grains were soft and mushy. Even if one drank an entire bowl of porridge, there would probably be nothing left in their stomach once they went to the bathroom.
"Fine." It was his first time staying over at the Zhai family's house and Qiao Dongliang was not used to it. Therefore, whatever Qiao Nan told him to do, he would do it so as to not create any trouble for Qiao Nan. After quickly drinking his porridge and finding out where his room was, Qiao Dongliang carried his backpack into the room, washed up, and went to bed.
In reality, Qiao Dongliang himself was deadbeat. Qiao Nan's decision to let him stay over had made it much easier on Qiao Dongliang. Qiao Dongliang suspected that if he were to return home, he might have fallen asleep once he got on the car. When he arrived home, the cost of the ride would really depend on the conscience of the driver.
Zhai Sheng allowed Qiao Nan to take her bath first. When he stepped out after his bath, he saw Qiao Nan sitting in front of her desk writing something, with her hair still dripping wet. "Why don't you dry your hair?" The water dripping down from her hair was about to soak through her clothes.