Shi Peng smoothed his frown. Of course, he would not sow discord between Qiao Nan and his daughter. However, he liked to remind his daughter from time to time, lest she became too complacent and thought that she was the smartest person in the world.
With Qiao Nan as the living example, Shi Peng would be wasting resources if he did not make use of it fully.
“Dad, it’s already so late. Aren’t you going to bed soon?!” Shi Qing snorted as she pushed Shi Peng to his bedroom.
“Don’t. I’ve not finished reading two sets of documents. I’ll sleep after I read them.” Shi Peng brought the documents home and was prepared to work overtime so that he could quickly decide on the solutions and then implement the reformation plans to develop township enterprises.
To Shi Peng, he very much wished that he was a superhuman with three heads and six arms, and that he could have seventy-two hours a day. It was only as such that he would have enough time for his use.
How could Shi Peng be willing to sleep when Shi Qing asked him to?
“Documents, information? These are the ones right?!” Shi Qing glanced and took out the full stack of papers from Shi Peng’s document bag. “This is your home, not office. I won’t allow you to work overtime at home. You’re only allowed to rest and sleep at home. To prevent you from knowingly doing these things, I’m confiscating these items. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely return them to you tomorrow morning. I have no use for these items anyway.”
“Wait.” Shi Peng wanted to snatch them back. Unfortunately, he was not as agile as Shi Qing. “Qing Qing, don’t mess around. This is Dad’s work.”
“I’m not messing around. Didn’t you always ask me to emulate Qiao Nan? Qiao Nan was the one who taught me all these. Qiao Nan told me that if I wish to continue to be a child who has a father, then I can’t be soft on you or indulge you too much. Fine, quickly sleep. I’m switching off the lights.”
Earlier, Shi Peng was just trying to use Qiao Nan to make Shi Qing feel sullen. At this moment, Shi Qing was making use of Qiao Nan to make Shi Peng feel bad.
“…” Watching helplessly as the documents were being taken away, Shi Peng was simply dumbfounded. Was this considered as shooting oneself in the foot?
Shi Peng wanted to use Qiao Nan to set an example for Shi Qing. He did not expect the turnaround of things whereby Shi Qing wanted to take him in hand strictly because of Qiao Nan’s advice.
Even when he was ill and hospitalized in the past, the supervision of the doctors and nurses was only that much.
“Ah, supervise as you wish.” Shi Peng felt quite good to be taken in hand so strictly by his daughter.
After going to the toilet, Shi Peng really went to bed obediently. After all, all those documents had been taken away by Shi Qing. Shi Peng did not have anything else to do even if he did not wish to sleep.
After putting away the documents, Shi Qing glanced at the clock. She waited for ten minutes before opening the door of Shi Peng’s bedroom to take a look.
She only saw a dim and dark room. The lights had been switched off long ago. Most importantly, she heard Shi Peng breathing in a stable manner. This sound obviously meant that Shi Peng had not only fallen asleep but was also in a deep sleep.
At the thought that her father was in such a deep sleep within ten minutes, Shi Qing frowned in worry. “Falling asleep once he hit the bed. Dad must have been exhausted, yet he still wanted to hang on. She could not be any less strict!”
“Goodbye, Teacher Qiao Nan.”
“Goodbye.”
Qiao Nan could finally send off the second batch of students before August came to an end. Although there were still more than ten days until the end of the summer vacation, Qiao Nan rejected all the parents that subsequently came to her. She stuck to her words of not accepting any more students.
“Look at how happy you are.” Shi Qing was flipping her fan. “When there’s no student, it means you have no income.”
Uncle Qiao was not reliable. If Qiao Nan wanted to study in college in the future, she most probably had to rely on herself.
“It’s enough. Don’t forget that I still have next year’s summer vacation. I initially didn’t intend to rely on this to earn money, but I’ve done some basic preparations this summer. When the college entrance examination ends next year, and including this year’s batch that is willing to send their children to me, there will only be more parents who will let me tutor their kids. It won’t be less.”
Qiao Nan had thought about it. She definitely wanted to work hard to earn her college fees.
There were too many uncertain circumstances at her father’s end. It would be best to rely on oneself and not others. Furthermore, she still had the time and space to work for it.
“That’s true. There are only so many days in summer and you only took in ten students per class. You can’t take in that many students during one summer. If the grades of the twenty students that you taught this year improve after they return to school, then your tuition fee for next year will definitely become higher, right? Qiao Nan, do you think it’s too much to demand such a high fee?” Shi Qing was a little hesitant. She had seen tutors raise their fees but not one whose fees rose so quickly.
“Wrong. I won’t raise my fee.” Qiao Nan shook her head. “Regardless, it’ll depend on fate.” However, Qiao Nan felt that it would not be possible for the fee to remain the same.
“Smart.” Not taking the initiative to raise the fee and let the market bring the price up. “Qiao Nan, have I told you before that you actually have the potential to be a sly businessman?”
“This is the first time I hear it.”
“Great.” Shi Qing really took her hat off Qiao Nan.
“Don’t mess around. It’s only a few days until school reopens. You decide for yourself how much homework you wish to do.” Qiao Nan gave a small reminder. This was in case Shi Qing procrastinated and, like others, had to rush out or copy her homework when school reopened.
“Don’t remind me.” Shi Qing clasped her head. “The summer weather is quite hot but it passes very quickly.” At the thought of returning to school to study, she felt a little tinge of sadness.
Qiao Nan took a glance at Shi Qing. “You’re worried about your dad. You’re afraid that you can’t keep a watch on your dad like what you did these past few days after you return to school?”
With Shi Qing’s intelligence, would she, like other students, hate to go to school and feel that schooling is a very difficult matter?
No, to Shi Qing, learning textbook knowledge was just a piece of cake, something at her fingertips.
Shi Qing snorted. “Don’t expose my thoughts so soon. I didn’t feel it that much previously. After you asked me to keep a watch on my dad more, I realized that my dad is quite crazy when he’s working. He doesn’t take his lunch properly. When he’s back at night, he will stare at the documents and make preparations until very late at night if I don’t stop him. When I asked the secretary who assists my dad, he told me that it’s, in fact, better when I’m around. When I’m not around, it’s so difficult to get him to have his meal. It would drag on until over two o’clock, and most of the time, he would always take two mouthfuls and that’s it.”
“Okay… You’ve said so much, but what do you really want to say?”
“Help me think of a solution to this.” She was helpless when it came to her dad, but wasn’t Qiao Nan very smart? Qiao Nan would always be able to help her think of a way.
“…” No wonder she found it strange for Shi Qing to tell her so many things, wondering what she was trying to do. So, she was trying to entrap her. “What solutions can I have? You’re his daughter. He should be willing to listen to you. If it is others, even me, it’ll be useless.”
