“You don’t even have to do an investigation. I can already guess what’s fishy about this. After all, there are only a few possibilities. Since this has nothing to do with the Zhai family, the Qiao family would, at most, have borrowed the Zhai family’s name and roped a few dishonest test takers into the scheme.”
Zhai Sheng thought that there was nothing wrong with his family being investigated since they had done nothing wrong. People believed whatever Ding Jiayi said, so why did the Zhai family have to take responsibility for a fool like that? Besides, if these people had not harbored their own hidden motives and wanted to get in the good books of these ‘highly esteemed’ family members of the Zhai family, they would never have been taken in by the words of a mere housewife.
Could it be that these people working in the department had even less experience than Ding Jiayi, who had never worked a single day in her life? It was simply because they did not possess the right mindsets and attitudes that they had been swayed by the path presented in front of them.
“Alright.” Because Qiao Nan could tell from Zhai Sheng’s tone that this incident would not affect the Zhai family, she heaved a sigh of relief. All the problems that followed would be left to the Qiao family to solve. “What will we do now that Qiao Zijin’s name is already on the name list?” They could not possibly let Qiao Zijin attend the interview, right?
Since the Qiao family’s deception had already been exposed, allowing Qiao Zijin to attend the interview would mean robbing another capable young person of that opportunity. Because she had already been so unfairly treated at Qiao Zijin’s hands while she was younger, she did not wish for anyone to have to go through what she had.
“Don’t worry. This matter has already been settled. The name list has already been announced and can’t be changed. There will be too many rumors and speculations if we were to change it. As for how we’ll proceed, it’s easy. As long as Qiao Zijin can’t attend the interview, we’ll simply allow the next person on the list, who should have earned that spot, to attend the interview in her place.”
Since the incident had already happened, all they could do was try to minimize its impact.
Zhai Sheng could only remark about how small the world was. The only reason why they had not been able to keep Qiao Zijin’s matter under wraps and why the matter had been exposed was all due to Ding Jiayi’s greed.
Although the second marriage of Ping Cheng’s Chief Zhai had not made the news, most of the people in the circle had already learned of it. Upon finding out about this news, there were many who wondered if they would be invited to the wedding because they were officials. They wanted to see how chiefs organized their weddings, and get close to a chief in person.
It went without saying that most people did not get such a chance, but that did not stop people from getting interested in Zhai Sheng’s marriage. As such, there were quite a few people who tried to find out more about Chief Zhai’s bride and her family background.
And it so happened that both Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin had been on the news in the past. There was no need for Ding Jiayi to introduce herself to let the other party know that she was Chief Zhai’s mother-in-law.
Although this was her first time doing something like that, Ding Jiayi had not spared any expense with her boasting and arrogance. “It’s all good as long as you know who I am, who my daughter is, and who my son-in-law is. My elder daughter registered for the civil service entrance examination this round. Here are the documents of my elder daughter, the sister of my younger daughter. I’m sure you know what to do. I don’t think you need me to get my younger son-in-law to make a trip here personally, right?”
There was no way the other party dared to reject her. “Of course not. Chief Zhai is the light of Ping Cheng. We all know how busy he usually is. There’s no need for him to make a trip down for such a trivial matter.”
Initially, he had wanted to ask why Chief Zhai’s mother-in-law had to make a trip down for such a trivial matter. Given Chief Zhai’s position, he could have dealt with the matter with a simple phone call. It was not as though they were fools. They would know what they should do afterward. “By the way, does Chief Zhai have any other special instructions for us? Why don’t you make a call to Chief Zhai now and ask him?”
He had done Chief Zhai a favor by helping his sister-in-law secure a job in the civil service. If he did not make this call, Chief Zhai would never know that he was the one who had secured that job for his sister-in-law.
He was not one to do good deeds anonymously. As such, he had to let Chief Zhai know that he was the one who had done so. In that way, he would be the first person to come to Chief Zhai’s mind in the future if anything good happened, and Chief Zhai would be sure to give him a helping hand. Everyone in the circle knew to reciprocate.
Hearing that he was about to make a call, Ding Jiayi’s expression almost stiffened. Thankfully, she caught herself in time. Ding Jiayi could guess what that person was up to. “What’s the hurry? My daughter’s getting married to him and I’m sure they have a lot of things keeping them busy. There’s nothing more important than one’s wedding. Don’t worry. I know you’re a responsible person. Once my daughter becomes a civil servant, you’ll definitely be invited whenever our family organizes any events. At that time, we won’t even need a call. I’ll present you to my son-in-law in person and let him know what you’ve done for us.”
The other party happened to be fantasizing about attending Chief Zhai’s wedding and someone was now giving him this rare opportunity to do so! Ding Jiayi’s appearance had made it possible for him to have a chance to have a meal with Chief Zhai! Of course, there was no way a simple call would match up to a face-to-face meeting.
This was his lucky break!
Because of this encounter, Qiao Zijin, who had clearly submitted a blank script, had been shortlisted for the interview.
Initially, this would have passed just like that. However, the person whom Ding Jiayi had sought out had tried his best to transform Qiao Zijin’s blank script into one that would earn full marks. In reality, he did not know whether to laugh or cry upon seeing Qiao Zijin’s script being handed in the same way as when it had first been handed out.
But foolishness did not matter as long as one had the right connections. Although her brain was empty, she had a good sister. That was why she could think of getting a good job as a civil servant. But there were benefits of having a blank script. At the very least, it would not be obvious when he tried to amend Qiao Zijin’s answers.
