Chapter 375: Chapter 365: Fickle Fate

As a rich second-generation heir, Qiao Xin’s days were spent doing nothing but shopping and having fun.

But a chance visit to an underground concert changed the course of her entire life.

At that underground concert, she met a handsome rock singer. He was a few years older than her, brimming with talent, and exuded a rebellious charm.

He was nearly perfect, aside from being poor.

But in Qiao Xin’s eyes at the time, poverty wasn’t a flaw at all. If anything, it only made his talent shine brighter.

And who was Qiao Xin? She was a woman who had nothing *but* money.

She quickly and hopelessly fell in love with him, following his tour schedule all over the country.

Qiao Xin wasn’t unattractive, so it wasn’t long before the two of them got together.

However, her relationship was met with staunch opposition from the Qiao Family.

They had investigated the rock singer. He hadn’t even graduated from high school, had a criminal record for fighting and theft, among other things, and was a regular at the police station.

He had a bad temper, poor character, and had even hit women before. Besides being decent-looking and a good singer, in the eyes of the Qiao Family, he was utter trash, completely unworthy of their little princess.

But a love-struck Qiao Xin couldn’t be bothered with any of that. She just felt her family was looking down on him for being poor. ’How could they be so materialistic?’

Having never wanted for money and been protected in an ivory tower her whole life, Qiao Xin couldn’t understand a single word her parents or brother said to her at the time.

She had a huge, earth-shattering fight with her family, but neither side was willing to compromise.

The situation finally came to a head when Qiao Xin got pregnant.

It was the wandering singer’s child.

She wanted to marry him.

The Qiao Family was devastated. To make Qiao Xin give up this unreliable relationship, they even gave her an ultimatum.

"If you have that child, don’t ever come back. You will no longer be a daughter of the Qiao Family, and that child will have nothing to do with us."

The young Qiao Xin couldn’t understand her parents’ desperate intentions; she only thought they were being too cruel.

In a fit of anger, she left with the singer and her unborn child, never to return home.

And the Qiao Family, true to their word, never gave Qiao Xin another cent.

It wasn’t until Qiao Jin’s grandparents passed away one after the other from illness that Qiao Xin returned home with her child for the first time—to a home where only her brother remained.

It turned out that Qiao Xin had not been living well all those years.

When she left home pregnant, the wandering singer never expected the Qiao Family to be so ruthless as to completely cut off Qiao Xin’s financial support.

Realizing he couldn’t get any more money out of her, the singer disappeared without a trace, not even bothering to legally marry her.

He left Qiao Xin alone with the child in her belly, in a cold, rented room.

In truth, if Qiao Xin had gone home and admitted her mistake, Qiao Jin’s grandparents would have surely forgiven her. After all, she was the little daughter they had doted on for so many years.

But Qiao Xin was a stubborn one. Even with nothing left, she refused to go home, not wanting her parents to know that her choice had been wrong.

With sheer tenacity, this former young lady actually managed to give birth to the child all by herself.

But even then, fate was not done with Qiao Xin.

Qiao Xin gave birth to a daughter. But because she had endured so much hardship during her pregnancy, the daughter was born with irreversible intellectual disabilities.

Just like that, Qiao Xin worked three jobs and single-handedly raised a child with intellectual disabilities.

It wasn’t until both her parents had passed away that she returned to the Qiao Family’s home.

George Lin had a love-hate relationship with his younger sister.

But she was, after all, the sister he had grown up with and loved for over twenty years. He accepted her back once more, wanting to take good care of her.

But Qiao Xin refused the twenty percent stake in the company that George offered her.

"Mom and Dad said back then that if I had this child, I would get nothing. I had the child, so naturally, I won’t take any of these things."

After years of hardship out on her own, Qiao Xin’s temperament had grown increasingly strange.

She refused to accept George’s money, yet she would often bring her daughter with intellectual disabilities back to the Qiao Family home for meals during holidays, as if trying to maintain some semblance of a family bond.

The young Qiao Jin had really detested that aunt and cousin of hers.

Because whenever this aunt came to her house, she did nothing but eat. She wouldn’t do any chores, nor would she speak to Qiao Jin or her mother, just sitting there like a statue.

And that cousin, named Yiyi, was even more annoying. When she came over, she would just rummage through everything and make a mess, ruining Qiao Jin’s drawings and paints.

Sometimes, she would throw a tantrum and lash out at the adults for no reason. Qiao Jin was even a little afraid of her.

Yet even so, her father always favored them, treating them with kindness and agreeing to whatever they asked.

Little Qiao Jin couldn’t understand her father and thoroughly disliked her aunt and cousin.

And right now, that detestable aunt was sitting in front of Tang Mo, her face still contorted from her hysterical screaming just moments before, looking all the more ferocious.

"What are you doing here? Where’s George Lin?"

Seeing Qiao Jin, Qiao Xin seemed to regain a bit of her composure.

"I got separated from them."

"So you didn’t die. You’re pretty lucky."

’Sure enough,’ Tang Mo now understood why Qiao Jin hated this aunt so much.

’This woman really has a talent for making everyone hate her.’

"I’d advise you to go inside now. You might still be able to grab something," Tang Mo suggested to the woman before him.

"I think *you’re* the one who shouldn’t be standing here like an idiot."

Qiao Xin leaned back unnaturally, and Tang Mo noticed the two enormous backpacks behind her.

’So this woman already packed everything she needs. No wonder. Even if she grabbed more stuff, it would be useless if she couldn’t carry it.’

The supermarket doors had been broken down, and the food would soon be completely looted. There was really no reason to stay here any longer.

’It seems this woman planned her escape route long ago. She’s not so dumb after all.’

Although they were aunt and niece, they only had a few words to say to each other. The rest was just silence.

The convenience store was large, but even fully stocked shelves in the food section couldn’t withstand the frenzied looting of dozens of people.

In just a few minutes, everything edible was gone.

Even the condiment aisle was completely empty.

Everyone was leaving with a large, full backpack, loaded with their haul.

Some who had grabbed less were grumbling resentfully, cursing themselves for not being faster.

Aunt Hua and Da Bao had clearly both gotten a full load. They returned to Tang Mo’s side with joyful faces, examining their spoils.

"Xiao Jin, why didn’t you go?"

Seeing Qiao Jin still standing there empty-handed, Aunt Hua paused in surprise.

Her attention had been entirely focused on looting just now, so she really hadn’t noticed what Qiao Jin was doing.

’This child... How could she not cherish such a good opportunity!’

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