“Yes, yes. My mom’s the best!” She was so amazing that she could hardly recognize her! “Mom, I may have passed the written examination, but what about the interview?” The written examination was nothing compared to the interview. Since she had already passed the written examination, had her mother already paved the way for her such that she only needed to appear for the interview to be able to pass it?
Ding Jiayi smirked smugly. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, I’ll make sure that everything goes smoothly. The interview’s just a formality. Dress well and just show up. I’ll arrange for everything else.”
“Mom, you’re awesome! Mom, I love you so much!” She realized for the first time that her mom was not only capable but extremely capable! Compared to her dad, her mom was a few hundred times more reliable! “Mom, what about our neighbor? The results for the written examination may be out, but you can do your magic again and settle that too, right? Don’t worry. We won’t work hard for nothing. Of course, if they are stupid and try to pay us off with just a little bit of money, I’ll definitely not make you go through so much hard work!”
They could dream on about getting a favor with a small sum of money.
If they were capable, they could use that small sum of money to get help elsewhere.
Ding Jiayi frowned. “Zijin, do you really want me to interfere in that matter?” Zijin was her daughter and that wretched girl, Qiao Nan’s, elder sister. That was why it had been easy to settle Zijin’s matter. But if they were to talk about that neighbor’s daughter, it would get much more complicated. “If this happened before the results were announced, I might have been able to do something about it. But it’s too late now. After all, everyone knows about the results. It’ll be too hard for me to effect any change now.”
Ding Jiayi had thought that Qiao Zijin was simply trying to shoo their neighbor away by mentioning money. Ding Jiayi had self-awareness, at the very least. That neighbor was asking for a favor for the sake of doing so. What a joke! The civil service entrance examination was such an important event. Was it something that neighbors could help each other with?
She would never get herself involved in something like that. It was only because Zijin had taken the test that she had done something about it. Did other family’s daughters concern her?
The moment the results of the written examination came out, Ding Jiayi gave up all hope. And after her neighbor threatened her earlier, Ding Jiayi had gotten even more upset. Initially, she had been a little fearful but she came to a realization later on. What kind of situations had those people in the department not seen?
These people definitely had a backup plan for themselves. Besides, it was not easy for ordinary citizens to check on the civil servant examination papers. She was even more certain that there would be nothing wrong with her daughter’s papers. It did not matter that Zijin did not know how to answer those questions as long as those people did.
Zijin was not the only one who had passed the written examination. The people marking the papers could simply copy the right answers exactly, or with minor modifications, onto Zijin’s paper. In that way, no one would suspect a thing.
It was because of this that Ding Jiayi had not been afraid of her neighbor’s threat. Since she had already vented her anger, Ding Jiayi was already prepared to leave the matter at that now that the difficulty had intensified. “Zijin, I’ve thought about it. I don’t want to get involved with it. Although I settled your matter and helped you get into the interview round, we shouldn’t be too cocky and let our guards down. It’ll be easier to settle everything when we keep low profiles.”
If Qiao Nan had not gotten married to Zhai Sheng, she would never have thought to do such a thing. Ding Jiayi’s success was nothing more than a fluke. As an ordinary citizen, Ding Jiayi wanted to live a normal life. She could not possibly assure others that she could ensure that they would pass the civil servant examinations and reap benefits from others because of that.
Her daughter might have succeeded, but what would she do if she accepted money and they failed in the end? Would they take it lying down as long as she returned their money to them? Helping Zijin alone was alright. It was not such a huge matter that would draw too much attention. She would always be able to clean up after herself.
If there were too much money and too many personnel involved, however, Ding Jiayi was afraid that she would no longer be able to handle everything. There was no way she could stand up tall and commit so many crimes.
Qiao Zijin was in a frenzy. While she had been in the Chen family, she had never gotten the say in such matters. Now that she was back in her own family, why could she not make the decisions in the same situation? “Mom, can’t you be a little braver? Don’t forget that your daughter is the wife of a chief. If anything goes wrong, you can always use your position against them. The people who arrest you will have to invite you out respectfully unless they have a death wish. Besides, there’s only one other person apart from me who needs your help. What’s so difficult about that? I think we can even accept one or two more people in the future.”
Of course, that would all depend on how much all those people were willing to pay. If the sum of money was satisfactory, they would render their service. Otherwise, they would have to find someone else for help.
“Mom, there’s no hurry. Let’s just see how much they are willing to give us before we make a decision. If you really decide not to do it because it’s too troublesome, then I won’t stop you from rejecting them. You’re my mom. I want you to be happy. As long as you’re happy, I will support you no matter what decision you make. I can’t possibly stand on other people’s sides against my own mom!”
Qiao Zijin was anxious but her brain still worked just fine. She knew very well the kind of temper her mom had. The only thing her mom took a fancy to was money. If that neighbor was smart and was willing to fork out a reasonable amount of money, she did not believe that her mom would be so adamant in rejecting her.
As long as money came into the picture, she would not even need to interfere in the matter. Her mom would agree to the matter herself. Her mom was almost seventy and did not have many more years to live. How much could she possibly spend in those few years? As such, all of her mom’s money would eventually belong to her alone after her mom’s death.
If they succeeded this time, Qiao Zijin knew that there would definitely be a lot more people coming to ask the Qiao family for favors in the future. Of course, this would mean that there would be even more money being stuffed into their pockets.
When that time came, she might be able to repurchase the big house that she had sold off previously. In fact, she might even have enough money to buy a villa!
