Chapter 29 - 27: Qiao Jing Delivers a Verbal Knockout With No Regrets
Chapter 29: Chapter 27: Qiao Jing Delivers a Verbal Knockout With No Regrets
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Bang—” Zhan Qipei landed on his butt first, nearly shattering.
“Ummh—” Zhan Qipei propped himself up from the ground, clutching his waist, “You woman, truly bite the hand that feeds you!”
“I bite the hand that feeds me? Clearly, the one doing that is you,” Qiao Jing retorted.
“Me?” Zhan Qipei pointed at himself, “I bite the hand that feeds you? Yesterday when you had a fever, I was the one who fed you medicine, I took care of you.”
Regarding what happened last night, Qiao Jing’s memory was a bit fuzzy. After hearing what the man said, she raised her hand to touch her neck and felt the sweat that hadn’t dried. Her gaze then shifted, falling on the medicine bottle and teacup on the bedside table.
It seemed he indeed hadn’t lied.
“You took care of me, and I thank you for that. But I don’t understand, why did you end up in my bed?”
Zhan Qipei continued to rub his sore waist, looking at Qiao Jing in annoyance, “You were the one, using me as an ice pack, who dragged me onto the bed.”
Qiao Jing observed Zhan Qipei’s expression, which didn’t seem like he was lying, “You could have resisted.”
Zhan Qipei’s expression faltered slightly, yes, he could have resisted, it’s just…
“I had an injury on my leg, I couldn’t resist,” Zhan Qipei said, feeling a bit guilty, but his face was calm, betraying no emotion.
As for the truth… he would never admit it.
Qiao Jing’s gaze moved down to Zhan Qipei’s leg.
She had performed his surgery, so she understood his condition best. It had been over ten days, but he hadn’t fully recovered.
Moreover, with her strength, being in an unconscious state would make her even stronger; it was reasonable that Zhan Qipei couldn’t break free.
“I’m sorry.”
An apology was due, the most basic courtesy one should have.
Qiao Jing’s sudden apology left Zhan Qipei at a loss for words.
If Qiao Jing had continued to argue with him, he might have lost his temper. But now that Qiao Jing had stepped back, it didn’t seem right for him to be too forceful.
Just as Zhan Qipei was thinking this, his phone chimed with a new message alert.
Upon opening it and seeing the one million Qiao Jing had transferred to him, his lips twitched involuntarily.
“What do you mean by this?”
“I don’t have anything good to give you as compensation, keep the money,” Qiao Jing thought it over and, since she had more money, transferred one million to Zhan Qipei.
Zhan Qipei was so annoyed that he didn’t want to deal with Qiao Jing at all. After returning the money, he turned around and walked out of the room, but then turned back.
“If you want to thank me, just make me a meal once you’re feeling better.”
He was starting to crave the meals that Qiao Jing used to make, having not eaten them in a while.
“Then I’ll go buy groceries now,” Qiao Jing said, getting ready to get out of bed.
Zhan Qipei frowned, “I said wait until you’re better!”
“Oh, I’m almost fully recovered,” Qiao Jing said, slipping on her slippers and walking out.
Zhan Qipei’s anger flared up in an instant, and then, in the next second, he forcibly suppressed it, “I’ll be back very late today, make it tomorrow instead.”
Since Zhan Qipei said so, Qiao Jing was no longer in a hurry to go out and buy groceries.
In fact, she had indeed been pushing herself a little earlier; illness strikes like a landslide, but disappears slowly like spinning silk, her current state hadn’t completely recovered yet.
The next day.
The weather was beautiful, the sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the room, making it warm and cozy.
As Qiao Jing returned from buying groceries, she saw right at her doorstep Su Manhan and Zhan Nanqing, and Zhan Qipei’s childhood friend, Lou Xinrou.
“Qiao Jing, are you courting death? Letting my brother live in a place like this!” Zhan Nanqing screamed in an exaggerated tone as she walked in.
Su Manhan was also livid, her face a patchwork of blue and purple.
“This crappy sofa, this lousy flat-screen TV, and the decoration is so shabby?”
“Oh my god! Just two rooms? So small? And only one bathroom and one shower?”
Qiao Jing glanced at them indifferently and proceeded to the kitchen with her groceries.
No sooner had Qiao Jing entered the kitchen than Su Manhan followed, looking at Qiao Jing with a commanding tone, “Move out now, find another place immediately. I’ve already picked one for you, in the Tan Palace villa district.”
Qiao Jing completely ignored her, took out the celery from the bag, and began washing it.
Su Manhan, livid at Qiao Jing’s attitude, raised her voice and shouted, “I’m talking to you, do you hear me?”
“Mhm, I heard you,” Qiao Jing replied nonchalantly.
“If you’ve heard, then—”
“I’m not going to Tan Palace,” Qiao Jing interrupted Su Manhan.
Su Manhan’s eyes widened as she looked at Qiao Jing, her chest heaving up and down like she was working a bellows.
“Why won’t you leave? You married into our family, you are my daughter-in-law, and you have to listen to me!”
Qiao Jing turned off the faucet and turned to look at Su Manhan. “Why not? Because Grandpa Zhan said I can live wherever I want to.”
“You, you actually dare to use the old man to suppress me?!”
“Mmm, yes,” Qiao Jing nodded seriously.
Su Manhan clutched her chest and staggered back several steps.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Aunt Su, are you alright?”
Zhan Nanqing and Lou Xinrou stepped forward, supporting Su Manhan from both sides.
“I’m so angry, I’m literally going to die from anger!” Su Manhan was on the verge of losing it.
After Zhan Nanqing helped Su Manhan to sit on the couch, she stormed over to Qiao Jing, fuming with anger.
“Qiao Jing! Why don’t you take my mom’s words seriously? No matter how you look at it, she’s your temporary mother-in-law right now. She’s your elder! Don’t you have any manners or upbringing?”
Qiao Jing’s eyebrows raised, and she met Zhan Nanqing’s angry gaze with a cold one of her own, retorting, “I am, after all, your temporary sister-in-law right now. You don’t call me ‘sister-in-law’ and just address me by name, that’s one thing, but you also yell at me. Where are your manners and upbringing? Did a dog eat them?”
Zhan Nanqing was left with her mouth agape, the frustration inside her like a drain clogged for over a dozen days.
Su Manhan was infuriated once again.
By scolding Zhan Nanqing for her lack of manners and upbringing, Qiao Jing was indirectly criticizing her too.
Oh no… I can’t take it, I’m going to die of anger.
Su Manhan was so angry she was rolling her eyes.
Lou Xinrou saw that both Su Manhan and Zhan Nanqing had been defeated and thought that if she stood up for them now, she would certainly gain their favor and be seen as part of their alliance.
“Qiao Jing, don’t be so hostile toward Aunt Su and Nanqing. They don’t mean to harm you. Asking you to move out is just to provide you and Brother Pei with better living conditions. They—”
“Shut up! You’re an outsider, you have no right to interrupt!” Qiao Jing wasn’t foolish, she could tell that Lou Xinrou was trying to use her to win over Su Manhan and Zhan Nanqing’s favor.
Lou Xinrou’s mouth fell open as she too was beaten in the argument.
Now Lou Xinrou truly was in the same camp as Zhan Nanqing and the rest, in the camp of being so stumped they couldn’t speak.
Just as the atmosphere became extremely tense, Zhan Qipei returned.
He pushed the door open and saw that the house was even more bustling than usual.
“Qipei, you’re finally back. This girl is being unreasonable, she nearly drove me to death with anger. Don’t stay here anymore, come away with me right now,” Su Manhan began as soon as she thought of her son putting up with hardship and it pained her heart.
In a place as bad as this, with poor food and living conditions, the boy has gotten thin—
Huh?
That’s when Su Manhan, thinking this, fixated her gaze upon Zhan Qipei.
Was it her imagination?
Why did she feel like Zhan Qipei looked a bit chubbier?
Zhan Qipei’s gaze shifted from Su Manhan to Qiao Jing.
Qiao Jing was holding vegetables, clearly preparing to cook.
He swallowed instinctively, then turned to Su Manhan. “This was Grandpa’s order, if you can persuade him, I will move out.”
That’s right, it wasn’t that he was gluttonous and lacked ambition, he just didn’t want to upset Grandpa.
Hearing Zhan Qipei say this, Su Manhan instantly lost momentum.
Without hurrying away, Su Manhan stayed, having just seen Qiao Jing cooking; she wanted to know what sort of meals her son was eating every day.
It must be terrible!
While Su Manhan was thinking this, Qiao Jing looked over at Zhan Qipei. “Are you busy?”
“Not really.”
“The toilet’s clogged. Fix it.”
What? Su Manhan and the other two were taken aback.
Qiao Jing was actually asking Zhan Qipei to unclog the toilet? They hadn’t heard wrong, had they?
There were no greater surprises, just even more astonishing ones.
Before the trio could recover from the shock of Qiao Jing’s words, they saw Zhan Qipei obediently entering the bathroom and picking up the plunger.