Chapter 3 My Money Was Swallowed by an Ingrate

All night long, Meng Qian kept her company while she cried for most of it and got to know a bit about the Qiao family's situation.

The history of the Qiao family is quite complex; they were a large family during the era of the Republic of China. By the time of Qiao Xia's grandfather's generation, the Qiao family had already fallen into decline, barely maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.

Qiao Xia's mother was an only child and came from a well-off family. The couple supported each other and managed to expand and strengthen Qiao's to the point of almost monopolizing the bathhouse market in City A. Qiao's had eight large chain supermarkets in City A and several dozen across the country, becoming a leader in the industry.

Eleven years ago, the family of four went on a trip to Egypt, where they encountered a revolt by anti-government forces. Qiao Xia's parents and sister died in a foreign land, and Qiao Xia, after being kidnapped for a month, miraculously survived.

Qiao Xia had an uncle, Qiao Guang, who was a ne'er-do-well in his youth. He managed a supermarket for Qiao's, and when the family split, Grandpa Qiao gave him two apartments and one supermarket. The two-hundred-year-old Qiao family house was left to Qiao Xia's father.

After the death of Qiao Xia's parents, the Qiao family's main support was gone. Grandpa Qiao was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. It wasn't long before the elderly passed away, leaving Qiao Xia and Qiao Enterprises in the care of Qiao Guang before he died.

It was only natural for Qiao Guang to become Qiao Xia's guardian.

Ten years had passed.

Not only did Qiao Guang's family take over Qiao Enterprises, but they also occupied Qiao Xia's ancestral home. Qiao Guang and his wife treated Qiao Xia worse than a stranger. Eight years of cold treatment put Qiao Xia through all kinds of misery. After turning eighteen and becoming an adult, she moved out of the Qiao family home and rented a place on her own.

Li Hui and Qiao Xia were childhood sweethearts, and both families had agreed early on to a marriage. The two fell in love during their first year of high school and confirmed their relationship. Later, Li Hui went abroad for further studies. Although the couple maintained a Platonic relationship, their affection for each other remained strong.

Qiao Lan is Qiao Guang's eldest daughter, three years older than Qiao Xia.

Anger flooded Meng Qian upon hearing this; Qiao Guang's family had seized Qiao Xia's property, and though she said nothing about it—moving away to distance herself from them—Qiao Lan even snatched away Qiao Xia's fiancé. They were nothing but a pack of ingrates.

Qiao Xia went to work with swollen eyes, and even thick makeup could not conceal them.

The media department at TVE Entertainment Company was always the trendsetter for fashion and gossip, predominantly female, the place was rife with overt and covert battles. Except for Meng Qian, everyone else in the office was a rival to Qiao Xia. Seeing Qiao Xia with swollen eyes, they heaped insult upon injury.

Qiao Xia remained silent, gold in her silence, no matter what they said. The others were puzzled; usually, she would have retorted by now. Today, however, she was exceptionally quiet, not at all like herself.

Having not scooped any news yesterday, Qiao Xia was berated in the director's office to the point of humiliation. It had been a gloomy morning, compounded by a lack of appetite, making her feel especially awful.

"Xiao Xia, I happen to be near your company, and it's been a while. Let's go out for a meal." Qiao Xia received Fang Xiaoxia's call during lunch break.

Fang Xiaoxia was Li Hui's mother and a classmate of Qiao Xia's mother, both sharing a good relationship. It was they who had brought the Qiao and Li families together.

In the first two years after her loss, Fang Xiaoxia had been quite kind to her, taking good care of her. However, in the past few years, she had grown much colder. Whenever Li Hui took her home for a meal, Fang Xiaoxia showed extreme indifference.

Not to mention asking her out to eat proactively.

"Okay."

Fang Xiaoxia had arranged to meet her at a Western restaurant. When she arrived, to her astonishment, Qiao Lan was there too, the two appearing close as mother and daughter. Qiao Xia's mind went blank as if she'd been slapped across the face.

They really knew how to humiliate her.

After doing what they did, they still had the audacity to come and embarrass her.

"Qiao Xia, you've arrived..." Qiao Lan's voice dripped with sweetness, her eyes not hiding her smugness, "Aunt Fang said it's been a long time and invited me to join for a meal. You don't mind, do you?"

"I mind a lot!" Qiao Xia's face was expressionless.

Qiao Lan's face stiffened, not expecting Qiao Xia to be so blunt and was about to react but held back due to Fang Xiaoxia's presence. She didn't want to leave a bad impression on her.

"Xiao Xia, are you blaming Aunt Fang?" Fang Xiaoxia's face also turned cold.

Qiao Xia's countenance remained frosty. Qiao Lan, trying to smooth things over, strove to present herself as demure and amiable, "Aunt Fang, the dishes here are quite good. Don't be shy, Qiao Xia. I suppose it's been a long time since you've been to a restaurant like this."

The jab at Qiao Xia's poverty was well-placed, making herself seem like a caring older sister.

Qiao Xia smiled, "Indeed, my money has been swallowed up by a bunch of ingrates."

Qiao Lan's complexion changed dramatically. The truth stood uncontested, yet Qiao Xia had never before brought it up openly. She had thought that Qiao Xia feared them, but she didn't expect such a piercing statement in front of Fang Xiaoxia.

"Who are you calling ingrates?"