Chapter 2131: Wrong Bet
Qiao Dongliang had always been mistaken that Qiao Zijin was more capable than Qiao Nan and was more educated than Qiao Nan. Once she graduated, she would then help her younger sister out. But such a lie would be exposed one day.
Initially, her plan had been going just as planned, but Ding Jiayi had never thought that the truth of the matter would one day be exposed and how unlucky and embarrassed she would be when that time came. It was all in the past anyway. Zijin had gotten married to such a good man, Chen Jun, and had become the pride of the Qiao family. The results were the most important. There was no need to be concerned about the process.
But recent events had thrown a curveball at Ding Jiayi. Not only had the past been brought up again, but Qiao Dongliang had even gotten incensed over it, insisting that Qiao Zijin retake her most hated English proficiency test more than ten years after her graduation.
For the sake of a test, the Qiao family had nearly broken out into a war, causing Ding Jiayi to have a splitting headache. She had not been the one to ask Zijin to take the test. Why was Zijin throwing a tantrum at her? “Stop shouting at me. Your dad said that he would pay for the registration fee if you can’t bear to pay for it. No matter what, you’ll have to take it for his sake. He wants to see how much of a difference you and Qiao Nan have between you.”
Qiao Zijin’s face paled. He had asked her to sit for such a difficult test just to find out how different she was from Qiao Nan? “What’s the point in that? Even if he likes studious kids, it doesn’t matter how much Qiao Nan likes to study. She’s just a junior high school graduate. I’m the only university graduate in our family. That’s a fact.”
If they were to get into it and find out more, the one who would be the most hurt might not even be her but her dad. At that time, if her dad had not agreed to persuade Qiao Nan into submission, Qiao Nan would never have given up the opportunity to study so as to find a job to pay for Qiao Zijin’s school fees.
Her dad was one of the reasons why Qiao Nan had suffered so much in the past. He couldn’t shirk away from that responsibility.
It was because of this that Qiao Zijin especially hated how Qiao Dongliang had suddenly seemed to come to his senses. In fact, he had been just as bad to Qiao Nan. Intentional or not, he had indeed done so.
The unintentional hurt that her dad had brought upon Qiao Nan must be worse and more painful than what she and her mom had done to Qiao Nan.
They were birds of the same feather. Why did Qiao Dongliang have to come to a sudden realization and turn around to scold her? Qiao Zijin could not help but feel that her dad was too foolish. Qiao Nan was no fool and refused to forgive her. So, did her dad really think that Qiao Nan would not have any grudges toward him and could treat him as though nothing had happened in the past or that her dad had not done anything to wrong her? Who was he trying to fool?
She knew that all the parcels that her dad had tried to send to Qiao Nan had been returned. Did he really think that Qiao Nan would accept him as her father if he acted kindly all of a sudden? Would he become the kindest person in the Qiao family? He could not even deceive himself about that, much less anyone else.
All four of them in the family were clear about this. It was just that they were pretending to be ignorant of the situation.
Ding Jiayi sighed. “So, are you going to take the exam?” Ding Jiayi knew how Qiao Zijin had handed in a blank paper during the civil service examination. If she were to sit for the Level Six proficiency test, Ding Jiayi had already prepared herself to face the possibility that Qiao Zijin would once again submit a blank piece of paper.
Qiao Zijin was already a middle-aged woman in her forties. There was no way Ding Jiayi would worry over Qiao Zijin’s scores as she had been in the past. It was just that their family refused to give in to each other. Since she could not persuade anyone, she would let them sort it out themselves.
“Fine. But there’s no need to sign up for it. The Level Six proficiency test is already over. It won’t be too difficult to get the test paper. Don’t worry. I won’t resort to cheating when doing it at home. I’ll just take the test at home. Don’t waste your money on registering for it. I’ll just let my dad know what he wants to know. If I really sign up for the test, I’ll have to wait for another half a year, at the very least.”
If her father wanted to go to this extent, she would play along.
What did her dad mean by paying for her registration fee? How much money did her dad even have? Everything her dad had came either from her or Qiao Nan. That meant that the registration fee would eventually be from her own pocket. It was ridiculous that her dad was trying to be generous in front of her.
After Qiao Zijin agreed to it, Ding Jiayi did not hesitate in letting Qiao Dongliang know. After thinking about it, Qiao Dongliang agreed and allowed Qiao Zijin to buy the Level Six proficiency test papers home to do.
Initially, Qiao Dongliang thought that it would be a complicated process, but Qiao Zijin gave Qiao Dongliang a slap in the face in the simplest way possible. Qiao Zijin had just bought the test papers and gave them nothing more than a glance before handing a blank script to Qiao Dongliang.
Qiao Dongliang frowned. “You haven’t even started writing anything. Why are you passing me the paper?” He was not the one taking the test. It was supposed to be Zijin.
Qiao Zijin sneered. “Dad, don’t joke with me. I handed in a blank script during the civil service examination too. If you insist on making me sit for the exam, that’s all I can do. I graduated more than ten years ago. There’s no way I would still remember all these characters. It’s already good that I still remember the twenty-six alphabets. Are you joking? How can you expect me to sit for the exam? Even if I really do, I’ll just take my chances and fill in the multiple-choice questions randomly. That’s the only good thing about this English proficiency test. There are so many multiple-choice questions, but there are only so many choices. I’ll have a one-in-four chance of getting it right. That’s how I managed to pass quite a few of my English tests in university too.”
That was why it had been much cheaper for her to simply buy a test paper home instead of attending the actual proficiency test. Anyway, all her dad wanted was a result. She had already said that her dad would be the most hurt once they cleared the air. “Oh right, Dad. Didn’t Qiao Nan take the test quite some time ago? Her scores should be out. Did you ask her how she did? Why don’t you tell me so that Mom and I can be happy about it too? At least, that would prove that the Qiao family has such studious genes in us!”
At the very most, her dad had made a wrong bet on her.
Qiao Dongliang’s face turned green and he had no intention of replying to Qiao Zijin.