Zhu’s parents did indeed take Zhu Jiaojiao to the Qiao family’s residence, but they were refused entry. The Qiao family wasn’t stupid; they all knew that Zhu’s parents had previously believed Qiao Xudong would never wake up, so the Zhu family had arranged for Zhu Shanshan to take Zhu Jiaojiao’s place.
Now that Qiao Xudong had woken up, these people were trying to reap the benefits—but that simply wouldn’t do.
“We want to see Shanshan. We are her biological parents and her older sister,” said Zhu’s mother.
The Qiao family had a servant tell the Zhu family: “Do you want to go bankrupt?”
The Zhu family never imagined the Qiao family would refuse to see them. Fearing their family might truly go bankrupt, they had no choice but to slink away.
These people knew the Qiao family would actually go through with those plans. Since Zhu Shanshan didn’t get along with the Zhu family, they couldn’t count on her.
Qiao Xuxi was solely focused on getting his childhood sweetheart to change her mind about marrying someone else. He knew his older brother had woken up, but he only stopped by to exchange a few words of greeting. Qiao Xuxi devoted himself entirely to his childhood sweetheart; he waited for her in the pouring rain and played the “self-sacrifice” card. Finally, she agreed not to marry anyone else, and the two became a couple.
Qingmei’s family didn’t object; they were after a business marriage, and love wasn’t that important to them. As long as the Qiao family could bring them benefits, they’d let their daughter marry into the Qiao family.
Watching his two younger brothers act that way, Qiao Xudong was truly at a loss for words. These men had lost their heads over love; love was all they could see. Qiao Xudong didn’t love Zhu Shanshan that much; he valued the interests of the Qiao Group far more.
Sometimes, Qiao Xudong even felt that his two younger brothers should swap places with Qiao Xubei.
Now that Qiao Yitong was with Murong Yuchen, she naturally had no intention of going out of her way to flatter Zhu Shanshan or anyone else in the Qiao family—she couldn’t let others think she was too easy to please. Besides, as the future matriarch of the Murong family, she naturally had to project a certain air of authority.
Back when Zhu Shanshan was taking care of Qiao Xudong, Qiao Yitong hadn’t gone out of her way to flatter her either.
Qiao Xunan was back together with his stand-in lover, but there were always issues in her family—for instance, Jiang Wan’er’s younger brother got beaten up, and her gambling-addicted father, who had been missing for years, suddenly reappeared.
Qiao Xunan always had to deal with these matters. The Qiao family figured that the money Qiao Xunan spent on the Jiang family wasn’t that much; compared to what they’d have to spend on the Shi family, the Jiang family was indeed a much smaller expense. Anyway, the Qiao family had long known that Qiao Xunan wasn’t all that reliable, so they didn’t interfere much with him.
Qiao Xudong’s two younger brothers wanted to hold their weddings together with him, but Qiao Xudong refused.
“You two can have your wedding banquet together, but I won’t be joining you,” Qiao Xudong said.
Sometimes Qiao Xudong worried that if he spent too much time with his two younger brothers, he’d end up becoming love-struck too—no, wait, there were already too many love-struck people around him. Qiao Xudong was only concerned that he couldn’t let so-called love interfere with the company’s business in the future; he had to warn his younger sister to be more wary of Murong Yuchen. To say that Qiao Xudong’s two younger brothers had no objections at all would be a lie. They didn’t say anything, but their partners certainly did—they felt the Qiao family didn’t value them enough.
Given the difference in status among the future heirs—and the fact that Old Master Qiao and others were genuinely dissatisfied with Qiao Xunan and Qiao Xuxi’s behavior—Qiao Xudong did not hold his wedding banquet together with his two younger brothers; instead, his two younger brothers held theirs jointly.
Qiao Yitong would get married after her three cousins were married.
After her marriage, whenever Qiao Yitong returned home, she often heard her mother talk about Jiang Wan’er and her circle.
For example, she’d hear about what was going on in Jiang Wan’er’s family, or how Qiao Xuxi had stayed out too late with friends, and how upset his childhood sweetheart was.
“Mom, you’re just watching the drama unfold.” ” Qiao Yitong said, “We can’t get involved in all that.”
“Would I dare get involved? That’s the first family’s business,” Qiao’s mother replied.
Qiao’s mother didn’t dare to get involved in those matters, nor did she intend to; she was just watching the show. Qiao’s parents were only thinking about getting as much as possible from Old Master Qiao, but that was no easy task.
When Qiao Yitong got married, Old Master Qiao gave her one percent of the company’s shares. Old Master Qiao had a condition for Qiao Yitong: if she ever wanted to sell her shares in the future, she must offer them to the Qiao family first.
If Qiao Yitong hadn’t married Murong Yuchen, Old Master Qiao would never have parted with that one percent of the company’s shares. Old Master Qiao’s willingness to give up those shares was also due in part to Qiao Xudong’s influence.
Qiao Xudong knew that once Qiao Yitong became the matriarch of the Murong family, she would have no shortage of money. While the sibling bond between him and Qiao Yitong was indeed quite strong, sometimes, in the face of money, family ties are worth nothing. Qiao Xudong reasoned that Old Master Qiao had only this one granddaughter, and he certainly didn’t need to give every granddaughter a one-percent stake as a dowry. Moreover, now that Qiao Yitong had become the matriarch of the Murong family, Murong Yuchen would inevitably side with the Qiao Group.
Qiao Xudong knew Old Master Qiao’s temperament well; even though Qiao Yitong was his only granddaughter, he didn’t place much importance on her. Qiao Xudong had no choice but to appeal to the family’s best interests, and only then did Old Master Qiao agree. Since Qiao Xudong was able to persuade the Elder Qiao to contribute his shares, he himself didn’t have to give any. If the Elder Qiao hadn’t agreed, Qiao Xudong had planned to give one percent of his own shares to Qiao Yitong.
As a result, Qiao Yitong held her older brother Qiao Xudong in the highest regard. Murong Yuchen was a close friend of Qiao Xudong’s, and they were also related by marriage.
Jiang Wan’er and Qingmei both envied Qiao Yitong. When Qiao Yitong got married, she received shares in the Qiao Group as part of her dowry, and she also had shares in the Murong Group given to her by Murong Yuchen. Jiang Wan’er and Qingmei, however, had none. They held no shares in their maternal families’ companies, nor did the Qiao family grant them any shares.
Qingmei’s maternal family was well aware that since they hadn’t given their daughter any company shares, they naturally couldn’t demand that the Qiao family grant their daughter shares either. Their daughter claimed she was marrying for love, not for money. Since both families were of equal social standing and neither had provided company shares, there was no need to do so.
Jiang Wan’er’s biological mother wanted Qiao Xunan to give Jiang Wan’er shares; giving them to Jiang Wan’er would be the same as giving them to Jiang Wan’er’s younger brother.
Jiang Wan’er’s mother didn’t dare to bring it up in front of Qiao Xunan herself, so she only dared to have Jiang Wan’er do it: “Talk to your husband. If you have shares in the Qiao Group, you’ll be able to hold your head high.”
“I can’t,” Jiang Wan’er refused. “Mom, I’m afraid he’ll divorce me.”
“If you’re afraid he’ll divorce you, then you need those company shares even more,” Jiang’s mother said.
“It won’t work,” Jiang Wan’er refused once more. “With a family like theirs, if they want the shares back, they can just take them back. Mom, please don’t even think about it.”
Jiang Wan’er wanted a comfortable life and money; she knew what she could get and what she couldn’t.
Ms. Murong had appeared at Murong Yuchen’s wedding banquet, but she didn’t dare speak, afraid that Murong Yuchen would be displeased. After Murong Yuchen’s wedding reception ended, she went abroad again. Unless absolutely necessary, she avoided appearing before him, terrified that her son would look at her with hatred in his eyes.
In the Murong household, Qiao Yitong lived a comfortable life. She didn’t have to curry favor with anyone; the Murong family treated her very well, and it was usually the others who were trying to please her.
Qiao Yitong didn’t go to see Yun Ruozhu. Whatever Yun Ruozhu chose to do was her own business. If Yun Ruozhu wanted to compete with his older brother, that was his own affair; Qiao Yitong was merely a pretext for Yun Ruozhu to make his case. Yun Ruozhu believed that Qiao Yitong wouldn’t be with him because he wasn’t the future head of the family, but in reality, that wasn’t the case at all. It was Yun Ruozhu’s behavior that made Qiao Yitong feel he couldn’t be relied upon. Qiao Yitong didn’t want to change herself for a man; she’d much rather have others change for her.