Chapter 2036: Very Blessed

On the contrary, her daughter had recently graduated from university and was in the most knowledgeable period of her life.

She could not bear to see her daughter lose to someone like Qiao Zijin, much less hand her hard-earned money over to someone like that. Everyone in Ping Cheng knew just how badly Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi had treated Qiao Nan.

Even though Qiao Zijin and Ding Jiayi had treated Qiao Nan so badly, they had still been able to leech off Qiao Nan and ride on her laurels after she married well! Why was that so?

The neighbors were filled with resentment and dissatisfaction. All sorts of complex emotions jumbled up together. As such, that old neighbor had not agreed to her daughter’s proposal. Initially, that neighbor had even threatened Ding Jiayi to help her.

However, her anger lasted only for a moment. After all, what mattered was her daughter’s job. She could not possibly cause her daughter to lose that job just because of a moment of anger. But once Ding Jiayi’s hardened her att.i.tude, that old neighbor had no other choice. There was no way of salvaging this deal.

Alright, she would pay for her help if necessary. As long as Ding Jiayi was willing to help her family and let her daughter attend the interview with Qiao Zijin, spending a little was fine with her. Her daughter was right. It was better to have somewhere to spend her money than have no money to spend. But what frustrated her most was that even though she was willing to spend this sum of money, she could not find anyone who was willing to accept her money!

It had not been easy for a family like the Qiao family to appear in the northern courtyard and this was good news to everyone in the northern courtyard. At least, they would have someone they could depend on in the future. “Sister Ding, you don’t have to feel burdened. I have only one daughter. It doesn’t matter how hard her dad and I have to work as long as it benefits her!”

She thought about Ding Jiayi’s greed and how Ding Jiayi wished to suck Qiao Nan dry of everything she had. Qiao Nan was her biological daughter, no less. She was only an outsider. Now that she was willing to pay Ding Jiayi, she was afraid that Ding Jiayi might make her family go bankrupt!

There were limits to everything, after all. She could only hope that Ding Jiayi would have a little conscience and propose a smaller number on the account that they had been neighbors for a long time.

“Auntie, look at what you’re saying. If my mom can really help you, she would.” Qiao Zijin’s ears were extremely sharp. She had just thrown a temper at Ding Jiayi, but the moment she heard that someone had arrived at their house, she momentarily forgot about her anger and perked up her ears to listen in on the conversation happening outside. The more she heard, the more interested Qiao Zijin got.

It was not the first time Qiao Zijin encountered such an incident since she had once been the Chen family’s daughter-in-law. However, she had not been in charge in the Chen family. Chen Jun was still on the rise and could not afford to have anyone drag him down. As such, the Chen family had always rejected such requests.

It was Father Chen’s decision to make. If he decided to accept them, Chen Jun could only accept his decision and Qiao Zijin would only hear about it afterward. As for how much the Chen family benefited from it, Qiao Zijin had no idea since she was never consulted in the process. But her years of experience in the Chen family had, at least, taught Qiao Zijin how to handle such matters.

‘Money’ could not rule the matter, even if the Qiao family were not officials like the Chen family. The Qiao family could not afford to be accused of having received bribes. Besides, they had to be even more careful, given their relations.h.i.+p with the Zhai family.

While she had been in the Chen family, she had never been allowed to interfere in such matters. Now that she was back in the Qiao family, it was only natural for her to take things into her own hands. Such a new experience delighted Qiao Zijin. Her mom was right. It did not matter that Qiao Nan did not acknowledge them as her family. Because Qiao Nan had once been part of the Qiao family, she would always be part of the Qiao family. There was no way she could cut her ties off just like that.

Even if Qiao Nan no longer saw herself as part of the Qiao family, others would still regard Qiao Nan as part of the Qiao family as long as the Qiao family was willing to acknowledge her. In that case, Qiao Nan would never be able to rid herself of this familial relations.h.i.+p. It did not matter even if Qiao Nan was reluctant to help her family and give them better lives. They would have their own solutions to that.

Connections and backdoors solved everything. She would not even need to bring up the matter of money. There would be a whole horde of people waiting to throw their money at her, even begging her to accept it.

Seeing that Qiao Zijin had emerged, the old neighbor felt even sourer. Even so, she had to force a smile out for the sake of her daughter. “Zijin, you have such great fortune. You have a good mother and a good sister. Congratulations. You’re going for the interview, right?”

Qiao Zijin smiled in glee. “Auntie, your news sources are great! You found out about it before I did! But I just received the notice earlier too. Yes, I have good fortune, but so does your daughter. She has a good mother, at least.”

Yes, she had good fortune. It had always been good since she was young. Qiao Nan, who had risen to become a phoenix, was her younger sister, and she had a mother who was devoted to her. This was something that others could only dream about. “Auntie, it isn’t early anymore. We should get ready. After all, this situation is a little different. There are some things that should be prepared ahead of time.”

The old neighbor’s lips twitched. “Alright. I’ll come and find you again tonight.” To send some money over.

The old neighbor had never expected Qiao Zijin to be much more sophisticated than Ding Jiayi and to accept her money without much thought. The problem was that the Qiao family had not specified the sum of money they wanted, so how much should she actually give them? If she were to give them too little, they might be unwilling to solve their problem. That would be a waste of money. On the other hand, it was heart-wrenching to give them too much.

She could not wrap her head around how the Qiao family had the cheek to accept such a huge sum of money from her. After all, they had shared such a long history and got along quite well too. Helping them meant nothing to the Qiao family and could be done without them even doing anything. As expected, the entire Qiao family, apart from Qiao Nan, was so materialistic. They were inhumane!

After receiving an affirmative answer, the old neighbor rushed home to discuss with her husband and daughter how much to give the Qiao family. Since her husband was uncertain, her daughter hesitated for a moment before suggesting a hundred thousand yuan. It was a six-figure sum, and the old neighbor felt like her heart was already bleeding. Contrarily, her daughter even asked her whether it would be sufficient!

Of course!

She had initially intended to give just a few thousand yuan. That was already more than enough in her opinion. But who would have known that her daughter would immediately propose a six-figure sum? “Won’t it be considered bribery if we give the Qiao family so much money at once?”