Chapter 1939: Could Not Eat

That wretched girl had better not even dream of having a piece of the courtyard. But given Old Qiao’s attitude, she could not say for sure.

The courtyard was worth a lot more than that big apartment that was sold off.

If she had known that keeping the courtyard would bring about so many problems, she would have stood on Zijin’s side and insisted on selling the courtyard instead of the big apartment. If they had sold the courtyard instead, all these problems would not even have appeared.

Qiao Zijin was a little anxious that Ding Jiayi was silent. “Mom, Qiao Nan’s so unfilial to you guys. It’s not right for you to give the courtyard to her. I’ll be really hurt if you do that.” The courtyard was her emotional support. Only the courtyard could give her peace. Without it, she felt like she was floating on water.

“Mom, I can’t count on Dad. The only person I can rely on is you. Mom, you have to make a decision for me. Don’t be like Dad and do things that will hurt my heart.”

After being coaxed by Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi had almost lost all sense of direction. Ding Jiayi patted Qiao Zijin and reassured her. “Don’t worry. Mom’s here. Your dad’s opinions are not important. As long as I’m here, do you think I’ll let your dad shortchange you? Just count on me for the property deed.”

Old Qiao was confused but she was not.

Previously, she had wondered if Zijin was overthinking it. After all, Qiao Nan had been so unfilial and evil. How could Old Qiao leave a portion of the courtyard to Qiao Nan? But facts had just proved that Zijin had not been overthinking it. Old Qiao’s attitude was indeed frustrating.

At that time, if she had not pressed that wretched girl for money, could they have repurchased this courtyard? That wretched girl would have spent all her money long ago. So, she was the true owner of this courtyard. No one could stop her from handing the house over to whomever she pleased. It was her right to do so.

Ding Jiayi felt that she could not directly confront Qiao Dongliang about the ownership of the courtyard. After all, she had just suffered a beating, and her wounds had not completely healed. Ding Jiayi did not want to provoke Qiao Dongliang a second time so quickly.

The courtyard was worth quite a lot, but it was not exactly big. There were only those few places where they could hide things around the house. Old Qiao was muddleheaded, but she would not let that go on any longer. She was Old Qiao’s wife and Zijin’s mom, after all. She had to worry about the relationship between the father and daughter.

“Mom, are you thinking of…” Not going through her dad and directly looking for the property deed?

If possible, Qiao Zijin hoped that she could gain ownership of the courtyard openly. But given her dad’s attitude, Qiao Zijin was afraid that such a day would never come and that her dad would never agree to it. If that was the case, it was indeed true that her mom’s solution was the best one and the least troublesome one.

Earlier, Qiao Zijin had already thought through this problem and what she would do if her father disagreed. Before her surgery, she had even thought of asking her mom to steal the property deed to sell the house secretly. But selling the house was different. Once the buyer appeared, their deeds would be exposed very quickly.

Now, all she was doing was to transfer the ownership of the house from her father to her. No one was going to reclaim the house, and there would not be any changes in the status quo. If nothing happened in the family, they would not even need to see the property deed. In that way, her father would never even realize what had happened. “Mom, thank you so much. Will Dad have a misunderstanding toward you because of this?”

Ding Jiayi patted her chest and assured her. “This is no big deal. No matter what your dad thinks, you are my only daughter. No one else can interfere with how I decide to divide my assets. My things are yours alone. No one else should think of getting a single cent of it. This is, at most, handing my assets over to you in advance. What’s wrong with that? Just wait. I’ll definitely find it for you!”

Once the name on the property deed was changed to Zijin’s, there would be nothing for Old Qiao to get confused over. And once they got the property deed of the courtyard, Zijin would finally realize just how difficult it was to be a parent.

Ding Jiayi confidently assured Qiao Zijin that she would handle this matter. With Ding Jiayi’s reassurance, Qiao Zijin dropped the matter of the courtyard. “Mom, Dad knew where Qiao Nan was but he didn’t look for her. What about us?”

What about the few hundred thousand yuan in Qiao Nan’s hands? Qiao Zijin could not leave it lying down just like that. She would really be suffering a huge loss if she could not retrieve that sum of money.

“There’s no hurry. We’ll take it a step at a time.” The few hundred thousand yuan in Qiao Nan’s hands could not compare to the courtyard. She had to make this most valuable asset Zijin’s before going to find Qiao Nan for her to hand over every cent that belonged to the Qiao family.

Qiao Zijin thought that that was reasonable. It did not seem logical to give up a whole forest for a tree. “Mom, that makes sense. I’ll listen to you. I’ll do whatever you say. Mom, I’m tired. I’m going to get some rest in my room. Call me when you’re done cooking.” After her surgery, her uremia had indeed been cured, but she always felt as though she lacked energy, and standing for a while longer made her legs and hips ache badly.

Ding Jiayi quickly urged Qiao Zijin to rest. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you weren’t feeling well? You know very well the condition you’re in. You have to recuperate well. Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll do the worrying. Just rest.”

Once she chased Qiao Zijin into her room, Ding Jiayi, who had Qiao Zijin’s trust, was in a jovial mood and skipped into the kitchen while humming a song. Just as she was about to pick up her knife to cut the vegetables, she suddenly thought of her injuries that were hurting badly.

Ding Jiayi returned to her room unhappily and took off her clothes to check on her injuries. Seeing the skin that had been bruised, Ding Jiayi once again felt that Qiao Dongliang had intended to kill her today.

They were already so advanced in age. Not only did Qiao Dongliang dare to hit her, but it also seemed that he was getting more brutal every time. Her life…

Ding Jiayi took a deep breath and rubbed the bruises with safflower oil. Since she could not see or reach the bruises on her back, she could only leave them be. When Ding Jiayi dished up the meal laden with a safflower oil smell, Qiao Dongliang remained indifferent and simply ate what he wanted to.

Qiao Zijin frowned. “Mom, did you accidentally pour safflower oil in? Why do the dishes smell like safflower oil? It smells horrible! Can these still be eaten?”