Wang Xiuying saw Qiao Nian chasing after her relentlessly, so she got on her bicycle and pedaled furiously.
The events of the past two days had taught her one thing: whenever Qiao Nian was involved, nothing good ever came of it.
Qiao Nian’s two older brothers worked at a shoe factory, and Wang Xiuying knew where the factory’s workers’ residential compound was.
As soon as they arrived at the shoe factory compound, Wang Xiuying saw several children playing hopscotch at the entrance. She was just about to walk over and ask them where the Qiao family lived when something poked her from behind.
She shuddered, and a chill ran through her entire body.
When she turned around, she saw Qiao Nian grinning broadly, showing all her teeth, with a huge smile on her face.
“Mom, are you going to the Qiao family’s house? You should have told me earlier! Come on, I’ll take you there.”
Wang Xiuying felt her teeth ache.
This wretched Qiao Nian seemed completely unaware that she was going there to cause trouble. She acted as though Wang Xiuying were going there to deliver gifts.
For a moment, Wang Xiuying wanted to turn around and run.
But Qiao Nian seemed to be able to read her mind.
“Mom, you’re not afraid to go, are you? Are you trying to run away now?”
Wang Xiuying choked. Provoked by her words, she rolled her eyes and immediately said, “Who’s running away? My shoelace is loose! I just wanted to tie it!”
Qiao Nian drawled, “Ohhh.”
Wang Xiuying’s face flushed with embarrassment. She snapped impatiently, “Aren’t you going to lead the way?”
Qiao Nian was satisfied. She happily rode ahead and led the way.
Xiangyang Shoe Factory had been established in 1955. When it was first founded, the two Qiao brothers were lucky enough to get jobs there at the same time.
After working at the factory for about a year, they met their future wives through social gatherings. Qiao Weiguo married Chen Hongmei from the Cotton Quilt Factory, while Qiao Yuemin married Shen Guifang from the Garment Factory.
When the factory was first established, the employee benefits were quite good. The two brothers were each allocated a two-room apartment.
Because they were brothers, the two apartments were connected to each other.
Later, Old Man Qiao and his wife moved in as well. They occupied one room, while the second and third branches of the family each had one room. Qiao Wei had a room of her own, while the two boys slept with their respective parents.
When Qiao Nian had first returned to the Qiao family, she shared a room with Qiao Wei.
Later, Qiao Wei accused her of stealing things and tearfully complained to Old Man Qiao. Without even asking any questions, Old Man Qiao punished Qiao Nian by making her kneel for an entire day and night.
After that, she moved out.
They put up a small curtain in the room, creating a space just large enough to fit a single bed.
She lived there for ten years.
Qiao Nian came back to her senses as they approached the house.
Just as they were about to reach the entrance, she heard a burst of exaggerated laughter coming from inside.
There were also fragmented conversations following it.
Qiao Nian was puzzled.
Did none of these people have to work?
When Wang Xiuying saw Qiao Nian standing motionless at the entrance, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
“What? Now that you’re at the Qiao family’s house, you’ve become timid? You don’t dare to go inside?”
Qiao Nian smiled.
She turned around and gave Wang Xiuying a thumbs-up.
Then she suddenly turned the thumb downward.
She turned back, raised her foot, and kicked the half-closed door open.
Well, well!
There really were guests!
Besides the Qiao family members, even her older and younger aunts were there.
There was also a middle-aged couple and two young men who looked to be under twenty.
Their clothes were particularly refined, and they exuded an air of wealth and nobility. Compared with the plainly dressed Qiao family, they looked as though they belonged to two completely different worlds.
On the other hand, Qiao Wei was dressed in a white Dacron shirt, black flared trousers, and a pair of little lambskin high heels. She stood shyly beside the slightly older young man.
The young man beside her was also smiling, looking extremely pleased with himself.
Qiao Nian took a closer look.
Oh?
Wasn’t this the man who had been her husband in her previous life?
In her previous life, Qiao Wei had gotten married at the age of twenty-two.
Marriage proposals for her had never stopped coming, but no one in the Qiao family thought any of the men were good enough, so they rejected every single one.
Gradually, gossip began spreading among the neighbors.
People said that she had too high a standard and was far too picky. They wondered what kind of man she would eventually find.
Then, when she was twenty-two, she met Zhou Shaoliang.
The two fell in love at first sight and got married not long afterward.
After that, all the gossip gradually disappeared.
The reason was simple.
The Zhou family were red capitalists with substantial wealth. Even before the founding of the country, they had continuously donated money during various natural disasters and periods of turmoil.
Even during the years of war, they had continuously sent all kinds of supplies to the battlefields as though they were giving them away for free.
They were true, patriotic red capitalists.
Old Master Zhou had donated more than half of his family fortune and only then managed to survive the political reckoning of those years and preserve the Zhou family.
What a pity.
Qiao Nian shook her head.
Old Master Zhou had devoted his entire life to his country and his family. He was a man of unwavering integrity.
Yet, throughout his life, he had only one daughter.
He had arranged for a son-in-law to marry into the family, hoping he would take care of his only daughter.
He never expected that man to turn out to be a completely ungrateful and shameless bastard.
The year Old Master Zhou died, he left behind only a twelve-year-old grandson.
Unexpectedly, just one year later, his son-in-law remarried.
He even brought home two stepchildren who were older than his own son.
They were called stepchildren, but anyone with eyes could see that they looked exactly like that ungrateful son-in-law, Fang Guoqiang.
No one simply dared to expose the truth.
Meanwhile, the Zhou family’s true grandson, Zhou Shaoquan, was arrested at the age of eighteen after getting into a fight. He was accused of accidentally causing someone’s death and was sent to prison.
After that, there was no further news of him.
Later, Fang Guoqiang gradually transferred the Zhou family’s assets.
He changed the surnames of his stepson and stepdaughter to Zhou, and later changed them back to Fang.
Eventually, the Zhou family became a thing of the past.
From then on, there was only the Fang family.
By the year Qiao Nian died, the people in charge of the Fang family were already Fang Shaoliang and Qiao Wei.
And their development was even more aggressive than that of the Zhou family had been at its peak.
Thinking of this, she raised her head and glanced at the other young man.
He stood at the edge of the crowd, with shadows covering most of his face. Only a section of his sharply defined jawline was visible.
A gloomy, oppressive aura seemed to surround him, as though all the liveliness around him had nothing to do with him.
Qiao Nian smiled.
He was just another pitiful person, just like her.
Wait!
Qiao Nian suddenly realized something. Her brows furrowed slightly.
The development of events was wrong.
In her previous life, there were still five years before Qiao Wei met Zhou Shaoliang. Before that, she had absolutely never heard anything about the two of them knowing each other in advance.
So why had they met so early in this life?
Could it be that her rebirth had caused deviations in the course of events?
Having such a powerful backer this early was definitely not a good thing for Qiao Wei.
Qiao Nian was lowering her eyes and thinking about this when Qiao Weiguo, who was sitting inside, saw her and immediately became furious.
“You’ve only been married for two days, and instead of staying properly at your husband’s house, what are you doing back here?”
He was already filled with anger whenever he saw this wretched daughter.
Yesterday, she had tricked him out of six hundred yuan, and she had even dared to go around talking nonsense outside.
Now, whether he was at the factory or in the workers’ residential compound, people pointed at him whenever they saw him.
They said the Qiao family was a complete mess. They said the relationships between the brothers, sisters-in-law, and other family members were immoral and that they had completely disregarded proper family ethics.
He had been utterly humiliated.
They were both daughters of the Qiao family, but just look at Weiwei and then look at Qiao Nian.
Even though he had known for a long time that Weiwei would eventually become successful, at this moment, watching his third brother sitting there while distinguished guests praised him one after another, he still couldn’t help feeling jealous.
And now Qiao Nian had just happened to walk in.
Naturally, all the anger he had been holding inside came pouring out at her.
“What am I doing back here? Of course I have something to discuss with you, you old bastard.”
After being reborn, the one thing Qiao Nian was most steady about was her state of mind.
If she couldn’t figure something out, she simply wouldn’t dwell on it.
Now that Qiao Weiguo was taking his anger out on her, she immediately fired back without holding anything back.
Everyone thought she was an easy target.
They all thought they could come over and squeeze her whenever they wanted, whether they were human or ghost.