Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Qiao Nan breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Ding Jiayi left the room.

  Elder Lee knew that she had an essay competition today and asked her to leave the essay book with him. Qiao Nan had no idea why he would want the essay book, but she did not bother to find out.

  No matter what, Elder Lee was not like her mother, who would give her essay to someone else to copy and forbid the original writer from using it.

  Her mother was getting way out of hand. No wonder when she was knocked down by the car in her previous life, her mother was happy enough to cry, saying that Qiao Zijin finally had the money and the kidney to cure her illness.

  After being dragged to her room by Qiao Dongliang, Ding Jiayi ranted at him. “Old Qiao, are you foolish? Instead of giving money to Zijin to buy essay books, we should just let her look at Qiao Nan’s essay.”

  “That wouldn’t do. Those were Nan Nan’s essays. They belonged to her. Zijin cannot use them. If others find out about this, Zijin may find it a disgrace. You must consider Zijin’s future. Is she still going in to take in a husband?” Qiao Dongliang said in exasperation.

  “We can keep it to ourselves.”

  “Oh, so you do realize that what you are doing is wrong and you do not want others to know about it?” Qiao Dongliang mocked her. “Do you think that we can keep such things under wraps? We have to count our blessings that things didn’t blow up.”

  Zijin had already been issued a warning in school. Of the students in The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, at least everyone at her class would have known about it.

  Qiao Dongliang’s head hurt at the thought of that. “Look at what happened. Now that Qiao Zijin has been issued a warning, do you think she wanted to stay in that class? Will she be looked down upon by others?”

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  It was so disgraceful to cheat with one’s own sister’s essay. Qiao Dongliang blushed in embarrassment at the thought of that.

  “No, they won’t.” Ding Jiayi was lost for words. She stuttered, “It’s, it’s only…… besides, the essay is Qiao Nan’s, it’s our family affair, what has it got to do with outsiders? They have no right to look down on Zijin.”

  “Keep your words to yourself. You should know that Zijin only had a chance to enter the competition because of Nan Nan’s essay. If Zijin did not participate, another student would have the chance to take part. Apart from the other students, how do you think Zijin’s teacher will view her after this incident? Will the teacher be displeased with her? Zijin has been issued with a warning. Her teacher might have been been disciplined for this as well.”

  “Do you mean that Zijin could have offended her teacher because of this incident? It, it cannot be so serious, right?” Ding Jiayi was shocked. She did not really care about the reactions of other students, instead she was worried that Zijin’s teacher might be displeased with her.

  “Don’t you know what kind of school The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China is? Even if you kept saying that it’s okay, but that fact that Zijin cheated in the competitions would remain a record in The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. Not to mention the teachers, what do you think the principal will think?”

  “What, what should we do?” At home, Ding Jiayi might have insisted that it was normal to copy from one’s sister. But it was a different matter outside.

  “I have no idea. This is a complicated matter. Why would Zijin be so foolish. As for you, did you even use your brains to think? To think that you wanted to snatch Nan Nan’s essay books. Do you think that Zijin’s reputation in not in tatters yet? Do you want her teachers to dislike her further? Now her teachers are well aware of her standard, if she used Nan Nan’s essay again, do you think they would not find out?”

  Qiao Dongliang had given up on making Ding Jiayi understand that what she did would affect the sisters’ relationship. Instead he tried to make her see the impact of the incident on Zijin. It was only in this way that she would take in his words.

  “It, it would turn out this way?” As expected, when Qiao Dongliang pointed out the ramifications of this incident and how it might affect Qiao Zijin, Ding Jiayi was willing to listen to every single word that he said. “Then, then what should we do? I thought it would be useful to Zijin if I gave her Qiao Nan’s essay book.”

  That wretched girl, as expected, she was of no use to Zijin at all, not even her essay book could help her.

  “You do not need to meddle in this matter. I am not trying to help Nan Nan. Instead what you should worry about is whether what you do would be doing harm to Zijin.”

  “You yourself know if you are doing this for Zijin or for Qiao Nan. But as for Zijin, I would have to think about it, if her teacher is displeased with her, what should we do about it?” Ding Jiayi knew that what she could do next was to help Zijin make up for her mistake.

  An absurd weekend passed by for the Qiao family. On the next Monday at school, Zhao Yu had just sat down when the other classmates crowded around her and said, “Regarding the competition last weekend, do you know what happened to Qiao Nan?”

  Zhao Yu pulled her face. They were obviously rubbing someone’s nose in it.

  She was boiling with anger when she was reminded of how she passed all the rounds, went for half a month of training, and yet it has been decided that Qiao Nan would be one of the participants. “Alright, stop probing. Qiao Nan was one of the five participants who took part in the essay competition.”

  “Really?” All the students who were hoping to see some fun were dejected.

  “Stop talking about this. I am so frustrated. I am going to read my books.” Zhao Yu placed her books vertically in front of her and buried her face in them.

  She had thought that since she had broken Qiao Nan’s pens, she had no pens to write her essay and she would have to give up on the competition.

  Who would have known that some busybody would lend her a pen. Hopefully she did not do well in her essay this time.

  At the thought of this, Zhao Yu shot Qiao Nan a guilty look. All her pens were broken, would she be suspicious?

  But nobody was there when she broke her pens. Even if Qiao Nan suspected her, she could do nothing about it.

  “Here’s your essay book, take it back.” Zhu Baoguo gave Qiao Nan the essay book that she left with Elder Lee.

  “Thank you.” Qiao Nan was relieved when she finally had her essay book back.

  Luckily she did not bring her essay book home, if not with her mother’s temper, she would have given it to Qiao Zijin.

  In this life, the money that she earned belonged to her, and it was the same for the essay that she wrote as well. She would never let Qiao Zijin copy another word from her!

  Because of this, Qiao Nan’s words of gratitude sounded even more sincere and agitated than before.

  “Are you running a fever?” Zhu Baoguo who was used to her cold attitude was shaken up by the tone in her voice. “Have you taken the wrong medicine?”

  “Go away.” Qiao Nan shot a disdainful look at Zhu Baoguo. He laughed at her instead, “That’s better.”

  Qiao Nan twinged the corners of her mouth. She did not know that Zhu Baoguo was like that.