Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Now…
Ding Jiayi had to admit that, in comparison to the elder daughter, the younger daughter’s academic performance was better.
The elder daughter could continue with her studies even though she flunked the middle school exams. If the younger daughter performed better in the exams, she would not able to convince Old Qiao on this. However, if the younger daughter performed worse, she would have the opportunity to convince Old Qiao to change his mind.
“Mom, don’t mention this anymore.”
Talking about money, Qiao Zijin was more dismayed than Ding Jiayi.
Qiao Zijin had long been aware of Qiao Nan’s money, before Ding Jiayi’s knowledge.
Qiao Zijin was a spendthrift who spent all that her parents gave. She also knew that Qiao Nan did not spend a single cent and gradually saved up.
The reason that Qiao Zijin did not tell Ding Jiayi about the money was that if her mother knew, her mother would simply confiscate Qiao Nan’s money and not let Qiao Zijin spend it. Qiao Zijin was reluctant to part with that money.
Qiao Zijin thought that it was easy to sweet-talk Qiao Nan.
As long as she wasted some breath and sweet-talked Qiao Nan, the savings would eventually have been spent on her.
Qiao Zijin treated Qiao Nan as a living bank.
Now, the money was not being spent on her and was giving Qiao Nan the opportunity to continue her studies.
If she had known that this would be the case, she would not have allowed Qiao Nan to keep the money until this day. A few days ago, she would have cajoled Qiao Nan into buying new clothes for her.
At this time, Qiao Zijin had a feeling that if it had been a few days ago, she was certain that she could get the money out of Qiao Nan’s hands. But now, it was difficult.
“Well, don’t mention the money, how about your learning attitude? Zijin, whatever happened in the past, Mom will not talk about it anymore. But after you go to high school, you need to buck up.” Ding Jiayi thought of Qiao Zijin’s academic results and could not help but start to frown.
“I understand.” Qiao Zijin said, her heart on fire. She also wanted to study hard and be like Qiao Nan, who was always in the top three in the cohort, so that her parents would be proud of her wherever they went. She would also be proud of herself.
But…
“Qiao Nan is revising. You did not do well for your junior high school, you can ask her to teach you.” Ding Jiayi’s eyes lit up as she hatched this idea. In fact, she had used the same method before.
Qiao Nan was in secondary one and Qiao Zijin secondary two. When Qiao Zijin could not remember what was taught in secondary one when she was solving secondary two mathematical problems, Ding Jiayi would ask Qiao Zijin to check with Qiao Nan.
However, to outsiders, Ding Jiayi would always tell them that the elder daughter guided the younger one, and thus the younger one’s academic performance was good, that it was the sacrifice of the elder daughter to fulfill the younger daughter’s wishes.
Qiao Zijin’s eyes lit up. Yes, why had she not thought of this? If she kept pestering Qiao Nan, wouldn’t Qiao Nan have less time for revision?
“Nan Nan.” This time, Qiao Zijin did not knock on the door and went straight into Qiao Nan’s room.
“Are you thinking of grabbing my book again?” Qiao Nan did not even raise her head, as she was tackling a mathematical question.
For Qiao Nan, to revise mathematics, you must master all the example questions in the book. The notes in the book that she had picked were more comprehensive, and the solutions to the problem were clearer, which allowed Qiao Nan to do more with less.
“No, I am here to ask you questions.” When she peeked and saw that Qiao Nan was reading the subject that she had the most problem with – maths, Qiao Zijin spoke with more confidence.
Qiao Nan moved and closed the book. The corners of her mouth curled and she looked at Qiao Zijin. “Did you come of your own accord, or did Mom ask you to?”
In two lifetimes, since when did Qiao Zijin like to study?
“Of course I came of my own accord.” Qiao Zijin helped herself to a place in the room and sat down. “Nan Nan, teach me how to do this question.”
Qiao Zijin arbitrarily turned to a page and pointed to a question.
Qiao Nan grabbed the book back, and then took out a workbook and copied the question that Qiao Zijin pointed to.
When she saw Qiao Nan doing this, Qiao Zijin laughed.
Just shortly after Qiao Zijin laughed, she heard the sound of Qiao Nan tearing the blank piece of paper which noted the question. “Dad!”
“What’s wrong?” When Qiao Dongliang heard the younger daughter’s voice, he immediately came over.
When Qiao Nan called, Qiao Dongliang came over without any hesitation. Qiao Zijin snorted unhappily.
“Dad, Sister said that she did not know how to do this secondary one question. I need to revise. Dad, can you teach Sister.” Then, Qiao Nan simply handed that paper with the problem to Qiao Dongliang.
She was now unwilling to waste any feeling or money on Qiao Zijin, not to mention time and energy, which were more more precious than money.
“I’ll look at it.” Qiao Dongliang took the math problem over. At a look, he did know how to solve this.
Qiao Dongliang was not highly educated. As both daughters went to school, Qiao Dongliang would occasionally pick up and read his daughter’s books, thinking that they could make improvements together.
It was rare that the daughter did not know something that he did. Qiao Dongliang was feeling motivated. “Zijin, you bring your book and pen to the study room, I will teach you.”
Without waiting for Qiao Zijin to decline, Qiao Dongliang pulled Qiao Zijin and left.
Seeing the unwilling Qiao Zijin being taken away, Qiao Nan laughed and opened the book to continue with her revision.
Rested well for a night, the next day, with the 20 yuan from Ding Jiayi in her pocket, Qiao Nan reported to school.
After paying the tuition fees she was left with three yuan. With this three yuan, Qiao Nan simply spent it all on school supplies.
She was used to using things that were leftover by Qiao Zijin. All of a sudden, she had new things that belonged solely to her. Qiao Nan was in disbelief.
With a handful of new books, Qiao Nan thought about it, and she did not take all the new books home. Instead, she placed everything at the Zhai family’s house.
She would rather trouble herself a bit more by waking up earlier to go to the Zhai’s house to retrieve her books than to leave it at home. If she did not pay attention, her mother would scrap all her books.
“Where are the books?” Seeing that Qiao Nan had only brought one book home, Ding Jiayi’s pulled a long face. “Who are you guarding them from?”
Qiao Nan’s clear eyes stared straight at Ding Jiayi and said in a semi-loud voice, “The books are too heavy, I can’t bring them back, I’ve left them in the school.”
“How about the money?” Sick of mentioning the books, Ding Jiayi thought of the money. “I remembered that your tuition fees are 17 yuan. Give me the three yuan left over.”
Three yuan could provide a few meals of meat.
Qiao Nan shook her head. “I have spent all the money, Dad promised to let me buy me a pen and notebook.”
“You are a wastrel!” Ding Jiayi was furious. “It is impossible to spend all three yuan! How much did you spend? Hurry, take your things and return them to the store to get a refund. Your sister has a lot of leftovers, aren’t they all good to use?”
Not waiting for Qiao Nan to answer, Ding Jiayi simply started searching Qiao Nan’s body and vowed to take all the money from her.
