Qiao Nian was talking nonsense.
Wasn’t Qiao Wei the one who loved speaking in that manipulative, passive-aggressive way? She always said only half of what she meant, leaving the other half for people to infer. She never directly said anything, yet somehow made sure everyone understood what she wanted them to think.
Fine.
Qiao Nian didn’t know how to play those games, but when it came to throwing accusations at people, she was exceptionally good at it!
There was no way Qiao Wei would ever be able to shake off the accusation that she liked Li Dazhuan!
After all, Qiao Wei was the mastermind who had incited her father to sell her off in exchange for a job.
It had been like this ever since they were children.
Whenever Qiao Wei was unhappy, she would frame Qiao Nian. In front of their grandfather, she would put on an act and pretend to be generous and magnanimous.
She was extremely skilled at acting one way in public and another behind people’s backs.
Just like those people in the Li family.
Disgusting!
“Ah! Ahhh!”
“It hurts! Qiao Nian, let go! Let go of me!”
“Let go? Why should I? When we’re somewhere with no one around, you hit me plenty of times, didn’t you? What? You don’t dare fight back now?”
“Dad! Mom! Grandpa! Help me! Save me!”
Qiao Wei gritted her teeth in pain.
Did Qiao Wei not want to fight back?
With the Zhou family watching, how could she behave like this shrew and start hitting someone?
Just wait until they were somewhere private.
She would make Qiao Nian pay.
“Qiao Nian, stop! You two are biological sisters. How can you hit her?”
Shen Guifang grabbed at Qiao Nian, anxiously trying to pull her away.
“Third Aunt, you admitted it!”
Qiao Weiguo’s entire body stiffened.
Damn it. This was bad.
Sure enough, Qiao Nian’s next words came immediately.
“I knew it! Everyone keeps saying Weiwei and I are biological sisters. So tell me, Third Aunt—did you cheat on your husband, or did my mother cheat on my father?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Shen Guifang hurriedly explained.
“Can you just say things like that recklessly? You two are cousins. Your fathers are biological brothers from the same parents. You grew up together, so you’re practically no different from biological sisters!”
So that’s why!
Now she understood why those people yesterday had been looking at her so strangely.
“Fine, Third Aunt. I’ll give you some face. But if she keeps running her mouth, I’ll beat her every time I see her!”
Qiao Nian clapped her hands and was just about to stand up when she suddenly noticed something.
The collar of Qiao Wei’s shirt had been pulled open during the fight, revealing a milky-white pendant.
It was teardrop-shaped, decorated with tiny specks of golden light. A bright red cord was tied around her neck.
Qiao Nian’s anger, which had just begun to subside, suddenly flared up again.
The cord around the pendant was very thin.
She grabbed it and ripped it off.
Then she asked, “Qiao Wei, is this pendant yours?”
Back then, Qiao Wei had falsely accused her of stealing her bracelet.
That silver bracelet had been given to Qiao Wei by Old Man Qiao when she was one month old.
Qiao Wei claimed she had lost it.
In the end, it was found on Qiao Nian’s bed.
Qiao Nian was punished by being forced to kneel for an entire day and night.
After she left that room, she was branded a thief from then on.
But Qiao Nian had never imagined that although she hadn’t stolen the bracelet, the pendant she had always believed was lost would one day appear around Qiao Wei’s neck.
The corners of Qiao Nian’s eyes turned red.
She had returned to the Qiao family when she was six years old.
Before that, she had been raised by her grandmother.
This pendant was the only thing her grandmother had left her.
Qiao Nian remembered that kind-faced old woman.
Some of her memories had already become blurry, but that woman had nevertheless become one of the few sources of warmth in her entire life.
“No!”
Qiao Wei shrieked.
“Qiao Nian, give it back to me! That’s my pendant!”
“Yours? You really won’t stop until you see the Yellow River!”
Qiao Nian’s expression darkened.
“I don’t think I hit you hard enough today!”
With that, she grabbed Qiao Wei by the hair and was about to continue beating her.
But before she could even reach her, several women nearby hurriedly stepped in and pulled Qiao Nian away.
Zhou Shaoliang helped Qiao Wei up from the floor and brushed the dust from her clothes. His handsome brows were tightly furrowed, and he stared at Qiao Nian with clear displeasure.
As for Qiao Wei, her once spotless white Dacron shirt was now so dirty that its original color was barely recognizable.
She was breathing heavily.
For all these years, she had never done any hard physical work, and Qiao Nian had completely pinned her down and beaten her.
She hadn’t even been able to turn herself over.
She stared at Qiao Nian for a long while.
Then tears began falling from her eyes.
She looked toward Old Man Qiao and cried,
“Grandpa, look at her! When she first came back, she stole my bracelet, and now she’s openly snatching my pendant from me! Sob… How can she bully me like this?”
Qiao Nian said nothing.
She simply stared straight at Old Man Qiao.
Old Man Qiao frowned and looked at Qiao Nian with displeasure.
“This belongs to Weiwei. You’ve always been like this ever since you were little. Whenever Weiwei has something, you have to take it away from her! Hurry up and give it back to her!”
See?
That old bastard was always like this.
He blindly protected Qiao Wei without caring about right or wrong.
Qiao Nian grabbed Qiao Wei by the collar and dragged her toward the doorway.
A faint ray of sunlight streamed inside.
Qiao Nian held the pendant up.
Under the sunlight, the tiny golden specks shimmered brilliantly.
With one hand, she grabbed Qiao Wei by the chin and forced her to look directly at the pendant.
“Yours?”
“Open your damn eyes and look carefully. What does it say on this pendant?”
“Why does your pendant have my name engraved on it?”
Qiao Wei opened her mouth, staring at Qiao Nian in horror.
She had worn this pendant for ten years. Why had she never noticed that there was a name engraved on it?
“What? Cat got your tongue? You’re a thief calling someone else a thief!”
Qiao Nian tightened her grip around Qiao Wei’s neck.
“Qiao Nian, stop! Stop right now!”
Old Man Qiao was so furious that he was gasping for breath. His face was filled with distress as he looked at his precious granddaughter.
He gave Qiao Weiguo a meaningful glance.
Her father glared viciously at her and immediately moved toward them.
Qiao Nian grabbed Qiao Wei and pulled her in front of herself as a shield.
She looked at Qiao Weiguo and said, “Come on. If you dare lay a finger on me today, you’ll have to climb over Qiao Wei’s dead body first!”
“Grandpa! Grandpa!”
Qiao Wei’s face had turned bright red. Her legs kicked helplessly as she desperately cried for help.
Her screams were so shrill they could practically pierce one’s eardrums.
Even Zhou Shaoliang paused in his steps and inexplicably took two steps backward.
“Qiao Nian!”
Old Man Qiao slammed his hand heavily against the table.
His trembling finger pointed at Qiao Nian, and even his lips were shaking with anger.
“You’re a granddaughter who has already married into another family. What exactly are you trying to do today?”
“Qiao Wei stole my pendant. That’s an undeniable fact. Come on, you can punish her too. Make her kneel in the courtyard for an entire day and night!”
“She’s family! You’re biological sisters! Weiwei is still young. What’s wrong with her taking it to have a look? Why have you become so selfish?”
“We’re family too! My dad and Third Uncle are biological brothers. So what’s wrong with making them switch wives? They can’t be so selfish, can they?”
Qiao Weiguo: ???
Qiao Yuemin: ???
“Qiao Nian, listen to yourself! Listen to what you’re saying! Is that even something a normal person would say?”
Old Man Qiao desperately tried to suppress his anger. He was so furious he nearly had a fit.
“What? You people are allowed to spout garbage all day, but I’m not allowed to tell the truth?”
Qiao Nian shrugged.
“Fine. Are you going to punish her or not? If you won’t, then pay me. If this matter isn’t settled today, I’ll go door to door and tell everyone to watch out for this thief who even steals from her own family.”
Qiao Nian changed her approach.
Getting Old Man Qiao to actually punish Qiao Wei was obviously impossible.
Old Man Qiao was so furious that his heart ached, but he still had no choice but to ask,
“How much do you want?”
“One thousand!”
Based on the Qiao family’s development in her previous life, that old bastard definitely had plenty of valuable things in his possession.
Otherwise, how could his sons and daughters-in-law have continued obeying him so completely for all these years?
If it were because of his personality or charisma—hah!
What kind of charisma could this old man possibly have?
One day, when she had some free time, she would come back again.
Just like she had done with the Li family, she would turn the entire Qiao family upside down and strip them clean too!