Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  “The Zhai family left in two separate cars early this morning and left the house to the original housekeeper.” As for where the Zhai family or Qiao Nan had gone, there was no way for Ding Jiayi to find out about that.

  Qiao Zijin’s expression stiffened. “So, you’re saying that you made a trip in vain today and that you didn’t meet the Zhai family or Qiao Nan?” Much less make her requests known to Qiao Nan so that the Zhai family would help her out? “Mom, are you really trying to help me? The civil servant entrance examination is already over. Very soon, the announcement will be out for the interviews. If I didn’t pass the written tests, I won’t be able to attend the interviews. If that happens, you can solve the problem yourself! Didn’t you say that you already thought of a solution? Is this it?”

  1

  Qiao Zijin was truly enraged. It was a civil service job! While she had still been married to Chen Jun, she had once made such a request to Chen Jun as well. She had not wanted to stay at home with nothing to do all day and wanted to find a job instead to earn her own keep. Of course, she had not intended to neglect her family just because of her job.

  She wanted a job that would not require her to be present often. Basically, she wanted a job that would allow her to have free time after work without anyone pressing down too hard on her. If she were really to get such a good job, she would be able to take care of her family while holding down a job.

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  Ping Cheng happened to be recruiting civil servants just as Qiao Zijin raised this issue with Chen Jun. Qiao Zijin had not explicitly expressed her desire to become a civil servant, but her motive was clear since she had talked about this during such a time. As such an intelligent person, Chen Jun had immediately figured out Qiao Zijin’s motive the moment she had opened her mouth.

  In the end, the conclusion of their ‘discussion’ was that Chen Jun would increase Qiao Zijin’s monthly allowance by five hundred yuan and Qiao Zijin would stay at home to take care of their child and his parents. There was no need for her to get a job.

  He had no other choice. After marriage, Chen Jun had realized that Qiao Zijin only had brains when trying to deal with Qiao Nan. In any other situation, Qiao Zijin had neither IQ nor EQ. Besides, Chen Jun worried that Qiao Zijin would end up bringing more trouble to him because of his position, thus ruining his reputation and his future.

  Instead of giving Qiao Zijin a job, Chen Jun would much rather spend just a little more money every month to maintain his family’s reputation and save himself from trouble. He would simply treat it as though he was paying for some peace of mind.

  She had not managed to become a civil servant while being married to Chen Jun, but now that Qiao Nan had gotten married to Zhai Sheng, she had gotten this idea in her mind once again.

  Qiao Zijin remembered clearly that her mind had been in a daze upon seeing the questions on the written examination. She had not even been able to understand a single question, much less answer any. Since she had not done so, how could she have received any marks for her examination?

  To put it simply, Qiao Zijin’s mind had simply shut down upon receiving the paper. Then, she had simply stared blankly at the examination paper. Invigilators cared only about whether test-takers were cheating, and not about whether they were doing their best to answer the questions.

  Although they had not seen many like Qiao Zijin, she was not the first. Seeing that Qiao Zijin was only here to try her luck and had gone blank, the invigilators did not even bother about Qiao Zijin again after ensuring that she was not cheating. There was nothing they could do since Qiao Zijin was not cheating, and neither was she causing any disruption to the examination procedures.

  As such, Qiao Zijin had completed the examination in a ‘peaceful’ manner.

  After handing in a blank paper, Qiao Zijin placed all her hopes of becoming a civil servant on Ding Jiayi. It was Ding Jiayi who had assured Qiao Zijin that she had come up with a solution and would be able to fulfill Qiao Zijin’s dreams.

  It had been a few days since the written examination, and it would very soon be the day of the interviews. Qiao Zijin was anxious just thinking about that. As such, Qiao Zijin had not even tried to stop Ding Jiayi from going to lecture Qiao Nan even though it was the first day of Qiao Nan’s marriage. In fact, she could not wait for Ding Jiayi to hurry there without any delay.

  She was on tenterhooks about whether she would succeed in becoming a civil servant, so why should Qiao Nan be able to enjoy her first day of marriage so blissfully after being ‘satisfied’ by her husband? Life was not always smooth-sailing. If Qiao Nan was so insensible, she would not mind teaching Qiao Nan a lesson as her elder sister.

  “I know. I remember everything. I said that I’ll help you become a civil servant even if I don’t get to meet Qiao Nan. When have I ever gone back on my word? What’s the hurry?” Ding Jiayi retorted in frustration. There was no other choice. Her most obedient and most ‘unpromising’ daughter had become disobedient. This had almost always been the case lately and Ding Jiayi was upset, feeling as though she had lost all dignity.

  Every time Qiao Zijin posed that question, Ding Jiayi would always give her the same reply. Qiao Zijin could not help but stomp her feet. “Fine, I won’t care about it anymore. If the results come out and my name isn’t on the interview shortlist, you can deal with it, Mom! This is the biggest event of my life. Besides getting married, getting this job is the only thing I can count on to give me a good life in the future. It’s all up to you whether it fails or succeeds. I’m your only daughter now. You can’t possibly leave me to die!”

  The conversation between the mother-and-daughter pair had been overheard by Qiao Dongliang, who had been in his room. Qiao Dongliang could not understand how Ding Jiayi was so confident that she would be able to secure Qiao Zijin a civil service job even without meeting Qiao Nan or the Zhai family.

  What was Ding Jiayi’s solution? Albeit given Qiao Dongliang’s understanding of Ding Jiayi, he could not put his finger on Ding Jiayi’s plan.

  Qiao Zijin did not believe Ding Jiayi, and neither did Qiao Dongliang, but he could not help but worry that Ding Jiayi would create more trouble for Qiao Nan once again. It was only when the interview name list was announced that everyone in the northern courtyard was caught by surprise.

  Qiao Zijin had been rather intelligent in her childhood and was a university graduate too. Ten years ago, she could have gotten away with it…… But now that Qiao Zijin had graduated from university and had spent quite a lot of time back at the Qiao family’s house, and given that these neighbors had educated their children on their own, they were clear about how much knowledge Qiao Zijin truly had.