Chapter 138 I don't know her
The faces were unfamiliar, completely unlike the ones she remembered.
When Wang Qin left, she was about the same age as Qiao Xing now. In my memory, she had fashionable permed hair, wore a trendy trench coat, wore lipstick, and sprayed perfume that, although cheap, smelled very good.
Despite working in a factory, she still dresses up smartly every day.
She argued with her father because she dressed too beautifully, and her father suspected that she was having an affair with other men at the factory.
Later, the argument escalated to the point that the father even suspected Qiao Xing wasn't his biological son. Since they had always favored their son, the divorce was so decisive.
But now, the woman sitting there is wearing the cheapest street vendor clothes, washed until they are faded, and still have some stains that haven't been washed off.
His hair was gray, his face was covered in wrinkles, and his eyes were cloudy. He was in even worse condition than his aunt.
The little girl next to her was dressed similarly, with thin clothes, dark skin, and many freckles on her cheeks, as if she had been frozen for many years. Her skin was black and red, her hair was dry and yellow, and her fingers had chilblains with faint signs of suppuration.
No matter how you look at it, she doesn't match the woman in Qiao Xing's memory.
There's a feeling of both strangeness and familiarity; after looking at it for a while, it just feels strange.
She didn't know this woman.
The woman grabbed the little girl beside her and called out hesitantly, "Xingxing."
Qiao Xing looked at her, her face expressionless, because she didn't know what expression to use when facing this woman.
Logically speaking, she should feel relieved and gratified to see the person who abandoned her now living a miserable life.
But in reality, she remained completely calm, as if she were looking at a complete stranger.
Auntie started to interfere again, "Xingxing, come on, you two haven't seen each other for so long, have a good talk."
Qiao Xing stood still and said, "Since we've already met, let's leave it at that. I have to go to work tomorrow, so I'll be going now."
Her aunt grabbed her arm, glanced back at Wang Qin, and whispered, "Come with me."
Aunt pulled Qiao Xing into the house. Qiao Xing frowned. Aunt's mood could change faster than turning the pages of a book.
We had such a bad falling out over the house before, but now she's acting like nothing happened and is incredibly attentive.
My aunt called my uncle in as well, and the three of them closed the door and prepared to have a private conversation inside.
"Uncle and Aunt, what do you want to say?"
Aunt tugged at Qiao Xing's arm, "Xingxing, you've seen your mother, don't you have any thoughts?"
"No, I don't know her."
"You child!" Her aunt glared at her, annoyed. "Before, I originally wanted her to come and see how well you're doing now, so you could vent your anger."
"But your mother hasn't had a good life these past few years."
Qiao Xing remained silent.
Whether she's doing well or not has nothing to do with her. Qiao Xing hasn't been doing that well either these past few years.
As my aunt said, she even earned her own money for college by working five jobs a day during winter and summer vacations, saving up little by little.
Because her maternal grandparents were still in good health and could earn their own money, her maternal grandmother paid for her schooling, and her aunt had no objections.
But later, as Grandma got older, she couldn't earn money anymore and had to rely on her aunt and uncle to support her. If they then gave money to Qiao Xing for his schooling, they would have objections.
Therefore, Qiao Xing has to rely on himself.
Later, when I was in school, I did some part-time jobs, so I had a little extra money and would occasionally give some pocket money to my grandparents.
Auntie saw hope then, thinking that if Qiao Xing became successful in the future, he could repay them, which is why she let Qiao Xing stay here.
As a result, this whole mess happened because of a house.
The aunt was still recounting Wang Qin's suffering, "Her current husband is a terrible person, he gambles! He gambled away a perfectly good family and turned it into this. The woman sitting outside is your sister, she only finished fourth grade and still hasn't started school."
"Aqin's husband gambled away all of their daughter's tuition fees. Not only did he lose it all, but he also beat his wife and children when he came home."
"Your uncle and I paid for the entire trip back this time!"
Qiao Xing twitched the corner of her mouth, looked up and said, "That was her own choice, what does it have to do with me?"
"This Qin is something else. All these years, she has never said a word or contacted her family. When your grandparents passed away, she didn't come back. We called her so many times, but she didn't come back."
“Back then, your uncle and I were cursing her, thinking she was heartless. If she hadn’t come back this time, we wouldn’t have known that she couldn’t come back, she didn’t even have the money for the trip.”
Qiao Xing asked, "So how did you convince her to come back this time?"
My aunt said, "Actually, we contacted her a long time ago and asked her to come back for your cousin's wedding, but she refused."
“Just a few days ago, she suddenly called your uncle and said she couldn’t go on living because her husband had been gambling and accused the other person of cheating, and they got into a fight.”
"Look, they beat someone up, the person is in jail, and they still have to pay for the person's medical expenses. Your mother can't afford it, so those people go to scare your mother and your sister every few days."
"Aqin's husband wants to sell your sister to someone as a wife. They offered 50,000 yuan, and he's going to sell his daughter. The girl is only sixteen years old. He's a heartless bastard."
In some remote mountainous areas, there are indeed people who get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen. The man is sending his daughter to such a remote area to be someone's wife, which is no different from selling his daughter.
“Your mother wanted to take your sister to jump into the river, but they were stopped. Now that she had nowhere else to go, she called your uncle.”
My uncle is a soft-hearted person, and Wang Qin is his sister, so he can't just ignore her.
So, there was another reason why Aunt called Qiao Xing over: she didn't want Wang Yue to get involved in this mess and wanted to leave Wang Qin to Qiao Xing.
"That has nothing to do with me." Qiao Xing clenched her fists, her attitude resolute.
She had already caused Qin Ce too much trouble, and she didn't want to cause him any more trouble because of her own messy affairs.
"How can you be so heartless? That's your own mother, after all! If you don't take care of her, people will gossip about you behind your back!"
Qiao Xing said, "Let them think what they want. Since they chose to abandon me back then, they should bear the consequences of their choices."
Why should I pay for their choices?
The aunt was stunned for a moment, and she didn't know how to persuade him. She gave Wang Yue a wink.
That's his sister, and it's also a source of trouble for their family. They always make her take the lead, while he hides behind and pretends to be the good guy. Even his aunt is unhappy about it.
Wang Yue hesitated for a moment, then looked at Qiao Xing with a complicated expression.
"Star, there are some things I haven't told you. I was afraid you'd overthink it if I did, so I didn't..."
Qiao Xing's heart sank, and she turned to look at Wang Yue.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com