Chapter 659 The Head of the Qiao Family
Surprisingly, the second son of Qiao Qingchen's third wife and his family also accompanied the eldest branch of the Qiao family to Beijing this time.
These are Qiao Yue and Qiao Li, the parents of Qiao Ling, the five-year-old boy who came to Beijing with Old Madam Qiao and her entourage.
Because Qiao Qingchen's family separated from the main family early and Qiao Yue was born out of wedlock, Qiao Yue's generation did not follow the naming conventions of the main family.
The house on Changxing Street originally housed five people, including Old Madam Qiao and Qiao Jingyi, as well as Qiao Ning and Qiao Ling.
Now that the old master has come to Beijing, he shares a courtyard with the old lady and her husband. Qiao Qingping and his wife will have their own courtyard. Qiao Jinglian's wife has also come to Beijing with their two children. The third wife, Qiao Yue, and her husband have also brought one child to Beijing.
As a result, the houses on Changxing Street, which were originally quite spacious, now seemed cramped.
On the day the Qiao family arrived in Beijing, Qiao Qinghe personally came to Changxing Street to welcome them.
But when the people arrived and she met with Old Master Qiao and her brother and sister-in-law, she did not stay long. She told them to take care of themselves and that she would come over again in a few days after everything was settled.
The elderly people were all quite old, and they had traveled a long way to the capital. They were exhausted and didn't stay long.
After leaving the Qiao residence and boarding the carriage to return home, A-Shuang cautiously said, "Madam, when I went out, I saw that Third Madam's eyes were red; she must have been crying."
Qiao Qinghe frowned. "Do you know what happened?"
Ah Shuang shook her head and guessed, "Is it probably related to the courtyard we live in?"
"With so many people, how can this house be enough? I suppose the Third Madam's household has suffered some injustice."
Qiao Qinghe sighed, but didn't say anything more.
A few days later, the Qiao family was finally settled, and Qiao Qinghe went there again.
This time, Qiao Qinghe brought Wei Jia and Feng Yuerou with her, and Feng Yuerou also brought two three-year-old twins.
Originally, Wei Jia had planned to bring Zhen Jie'er along, but Qiao Qinghe said the child was too young and not in good health, so it wouldn't be good for the child to travel back and forth. So she left her at home.
But when Qian-ge'er saw everyone leaving, he grabbed his nanny's hand and shuffled after them with his little legs, constantly calling out, "Go, go, go..."
Besides the Qiao family members, Madam Zhou also brought Qiao Yuanyao and his son, Mu Jin and Qiao Zhan. Since it wasn't a day off, Qiao Jingyao wasn't among them.
Upon arriving at the Qiao residence, the two sides exchanged greetings according to their seniority. After the adults finished their greetings, the younger generation knelt down and kowtowed to the patriarch, thus concluding the ceremony.
Because there were too many people, after the greetings were completed, the children were led to play elsewhere.
Even so, the main room still felt very crowded.
Not to mention Qiao Qinghe, even Zhou Shi was getting restless.
Fortunately, Qiao Qingping knew that Qiao Qinghe's family was going to hold a baby's first birthday celebration in a few days and would be very busy, so he stopped the chattering old master and old lady Qiao, said some polite words, and then let them leave.
Qiao Qinghe naturally wouldn't refuse her elder brother's kindness, and took the opportunity to say goodbye and leave.
Zhou also got up to take her leave.
After everyone left, Old Mrs. Qiao became unhappy.
"They've only been sitting here for a short while! And they're already leaving! I've really wasted my time raising this daughter!"
Old Mrs. Qiao's face was very ugly. "The second son's wife is no good either! Look at her, she only cares about Qiao Qinghe, she doesn't care about us at all."
"Hmph, what a despicable bastard who flatters the powerful and belittles the weak!"
No one else dared to speak.
However, Old Master Qiao spoke up and said something fair: "Did you raise Qinghe? Wasn't she raised by the late old man and old woman?"
Grandma Qiao choked, her face turning even uglier. "Whose side are you on?"
In case the elderly couple really started arguing, Qiao Qingping quickly advised, "Dad, Mom, please say less."
"Now that we're in the capital, we'll have to rely on my younger sister for many things at home. Mother, you should probably tone down your temper a bit."
In the past few days, besides packing and resting, Qiao Qingping also learned from his third son and daughter-in-law about everything that had happened to the old lady and the others after they came to Beijing.
Naturally, she also learned about the words Qiao Qinghe had said after the old lady had angered her.
He had no doubt that if she crossed her bottom line, she would truly dare to sever ties with them.
Old Mrs. Qiao wasn't afraid of anyone else, not even her husband. But she was particularly afraid of her eldest son.
"I didn't say anything, did I?" Old Mrs. Qiao muttered. Seeing Qiao Qingping looking at her, she reluctantly said, "I understand. I won't speak ill of Qiao Qinghe anymore. Is that alright?"
Qiao Qingping nodded in satisfaction, glanced around at everyone in the room, and said with a warning tone, "The capital is not like our ancestral home; it's not a place where we can run wild."
"Everyone should be careful with their words and actions in daily life, and not cause trouble for the family. Also, don't cause trouble for your aunt."
"Did you understand?"
Qiao Qingping, as the patriarch, carries a lot of weight in his words.
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone answered in unison, "We understand."
***
The next day, news of what happened at the Qiao residence reached Qiao Qinghe's ears.
“Uncle is a reasonable man, so Madam can rest assured.” A-Shuang was also quite happy.
Qiao Qinghe nodded. Her grandfather was shrewd his whole life, but her father was muddle-headed and incompetent, and her mother was also clueless.
However, her eldest brother inherited his grandfather's shrewdness and competence.
Most importantly, since her older brother could keep the troublesome old lady in check, she had a much easier time.
She no longer needs to constantly worry about the old lady causing her any trouble.
"There's one more thing," the servant continued, "The Qiao residence officially announced yesterday that Second Madam Lian will be in charge of the household."
"That's about it."
"Step down."
The servant bowed and withdrew.
Ah Shuang then sighed and said, "Actually, Third Grandma is a very nice person."
Qiao Qinghe also quite liked Qiao Wangshi and Qiao Jingyi. The couple were both sensible people, eloquent, and good at pleasing others.
However, neither of them were particularly ambitious.
For years, they've relied on pleasing their elders to make a living. Now that the environment has suddenly changed, the Qiao family is preparing to change their way of life.
Yes, it's quite obvious that the Qiao family is now aiming to change their social standing.
As a result, life became difficult for Qiao Jingyi and his wife.
Even the dim-witted old Mrs. Qiao subconsciously sided with Qiao Jinglian's family, so you can imagine the attitude of the others.
"Madam, should we lend Third Master and the others a hand?" Ah Shuang asked cautiously.
Qiao Qinghe shook her head. "It's not the right time yet."
She had approached Qiao Jingyi before, saying she would arrange something for him to do, but he was a man without perseverance and quit after less than a month.
This time, she planned to test his patience. She hoped he would eventually get fed up with the disdain from those around him and come to her of his own accord.
With Qiao Qingping in charge of the Qiao family, Qiao Qinghe focused all her attention on Li Yiqian's first birthday celebration.
The invitations have been sent out, the courtyard for the banquet has been prepared, the banquet tables have been booked, and even the person in charge of greeting guests has been chosen.
For the female guests, Qiao Qinghe planned to have Wei Jia and Feng Yuerou come forward together.
On the male side, Qiao Qinghe asked Qiao Jingyao and Qiao Mo for help.
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