But after Qiao Zijin entered university, her life was no longer under Ding Jiayi’s control. Still, Qiao Zijin had lied to her that the few books that she had brought back had been sold off by Ding Jiayi. Anyway, Ding Jiayi had never questioned Qiao Zijin about how she spent her money. As such, Qiao Zijin’s lies had never once been exposed.

  Even so, every time Qiao Nan waited for Qiao Zijin to return with her books, Qiao Zijin would always reply insincerely, “Sorry, my memory hasn’t been very good lately. I forgot about that, so I didn’t bring any books back this time.”

  At that time, Qiao Zijin was already a university student and Qiao Nan had already come of age. After being trampled on again and again by Qiao Zijin, Qiao Nan slowly understood that kinship did not exist in the Qiao family.

  As such, now that Zhai Sheng brought up the matter of Qiao Zijin’s knowledge level, Qiao Nan did not try to save any face for Qiao Zijin and simply said that Qiao Zijin had nothing in her. “Once, while she was having a gathering with her friends, I overheard her saying that she had only managed to pass her exams by cheating right under her lecturer’s nose. Qiao Zijin never liked to study, but her room in the Qiao family’s house is filled with books. Do you know what kind of books those are? Romance novels!”

  Apart from those romance novels, Qiao Zijin was unwilling to touch anything with words, even if they were simply instructional booklets. She claimed that her whole body felt uncomfortable just by reading them. Then, she would simply pass the job on to someone else.

  \r \r \r

  How could someone whose head hurt from reading instructional booklets possibly pass the written examination for the civil service entrance examination? What a joke!

  Hearing Qiao Nan describe Qiao Zijin’s situation, Zhai Sheng did not dare to belittle this matter. Something must have happened for Qiao Zijin to have been able to pass the written examination. Zhai Sheng was not completely ignorant of the Qiao family’s situation. As such, if the Qiao family had done anything with regard to this matter, they must have been riding on the laurels of the Zhai family.

  Zhai Sheng had never expected Ding Jiayi to be so bold as to do such underhanded things without Qiao Nan or the Zhai family’s knowledge. A few decades ago, such boldness would have made her a good spy. Zhai Sheng could not wrap his head around how someone like Ding Jiayi could give birth to a daughter as good as Qiao Nan.

  Was it that a black hen lays white eggs?

  Qiao Nan cared about this matter, and Zhai Sheng could not let Ding Jiayi have her way, ruining the Zhai family’s reputation. As such, Zhai Sheng made a call back to Ping Cheng to find out if there had been any problem with the civil service entrance examination. If anything had gone wrong, they would have to conduct a thorough investigation.

  To some people, Zhai Sheng’s call frightened them, yet it appeared just in time, helping them solve their problems.

  Because of this call, Zhai Sheng gained a deeper understanding of the situation and learned just how much milder Qiao Nan had described the Qiao family to be. “Alright, I understand. You must punish those who are involved. This shouldn’t be allowed anywhere. Such ideas are dangerous and we don’t need comrades like that. If people have such mindsets toward important matters concerning our country and people, imagine the mess our country will be in.”

  “Yes, yes……” The other party wiped his sweat while bowing and nodding. Although Zhai Sheng was not in front of him, he was already trembling in fear and could not stop himself from sweating or shivering. Thankfully, he had not gotten himself involved in the matter. Otherwise, he would have gotten himself into a huge mess instead of sucking up to such an important figure in Ping Cheng.

  “Don’t worry, chief. I’ll deal with this matter well. I won’t let her in and I’ll make sure that the people involved are punished. We will never allow such underhanded methods to be used in Ping Cheng’s civil service entrance examinations. Alright, I’ll definitely keep you updated on this matter. Goodbye, chief.” Upon hanging up the phone, the person who had been on the phone realized that the tissue in his hand was soaked with his sweat.

  After ending his call, that man immediately made another call to scold his subordinates. “What kind of people is the Zhai family? They are old revolutionaries and cadres! People don’t get any more righteous than the Zhai family! How could the Zhai family possibly be willing to do such things? Conduct a thorough investigation and find out who did this. Don’t let a single one of them go!”

  It was easy for them to resolve the matter within their department. Because the Zhai family was so clear about their stance on this matter, there was no need for them to worry about kicking that worker out of their department after committing such an error. The only thing he was depressed over was that they had already announced the names of those shortlisted for the interview stage this year.

  A name that should not have appeared on that list had appeared on it. How should he resolve this problem with as minimal damages as possible?

  After Zhai Sheng hung up the phone, Qiao Nan asked him about the details of the situation. When Qiao Nan realized just what Ding Jiayi had done, she was truly speechless. Yes, she had gotten married to Zhai Sheng. But the one who was a chief was not even on good terms with Ding Jiayi, and neither was he her biological son!

  How could Ding Jiayi be so bold as to do something like that? Of course, if Ding Jiayi had a son and took advantage of him in this manner, Qiao Nan could only say that he was even more unlucky than she was. “Is she crazy? She knows that Qiao Zijin might not even succeed, yet she’s taking on another one? Brother Zhai, you have to get down to the bottom of this. Ding Jiayi isn’t one who would do others favors without getting any benefits in return. There must be something more to this. Besides, it’s not just Ding Jiayi. Qiao Zijin isn’t someone like that either.”

  Being a civil servant was a glorious thing in the northern courtyard. Qiao Zijin had been prepared to ride on the Zhai family’s laurels to pass the civil service examination. If she was the only one in the northern courtyard who managed to pass this exam in this sitting, Qiao Zijin’s reputation would only get better.

  There was no way Qiao Zijin would let someone else share that glory with her. Neither Ding Jiayi nor Qiao Zijin would agree to help others without getting anything in return.