Chapter 81: Do You Think That Way Too
“Zijin copied from Nan Nan, do you think Zijin is right? If Zijin is capable, why didn’t she write it herself, why does she have to copy? Nan Nan was being labeled as lazy for using her own essay, what about Zijin who copied Nan Nan’s essay?” Qiao Dongliang was confused, he couldn’t think.
The elder daughter copied the younger daughter’s essay and almost copied her way to a prize.
When he heard that, Qiao Dongliang had no idea if he should be glad or angry.
He was happy that the younger daughter’s essay was good enough to get a prize in high school. There was no way that the same essay would not get a prize in the junior high school competition.
But he was furious as the elder daughter used such underhanded methods to copy the younger daughter’s essay and was issued a warning for it.
As a sister, she resorted to copying from her younger sister. If he was not trying to keep his temper in check, he wanted to ask the elder daughter, why would she be so shameless?
But his wife gave the younger daughter a lecture as soon as she reached home. Qiao Dongliang felt so outraged for the younger daughter.
The elder daughter was caught copying from the younger daughter, but the younger daughter was being blamed instead, what right does the elder daughter have to copy from her sister?
“What’s wrong, Zijin bought a stack of essay books so as to ‘learn’, what do we mean by learn, isn’t it similar to copying? Besides, this is our essay, if not for Qiao Nan, nobody would know that it wasn’t Zijin’s idea. She has to be blamed for it.”
Ding Jiayi was totally brainwashed by Qiao Zijin who bawled her eyes out at school just now. She believed that “All articles were created by copying”.
Besides, there were no outsider involved, how could it be considered copying? Zijin merely borrowed it.
If Qiao Nan did not write this essay but wrote another essay, everything would be alright.
“Who told you all this? You are so downright shameless. Old Ding, are you really this shameless?” Qiao Dongliang lashed out at her, “This is not our property, this is Nan Nan’s essay, her own essay! Can Zijin take and use Nan Nan’s property as and when she wish? Who said this?! Nan Nan’s works belonged to her alone, you can’t say that it belonged to the family.”
“Isn’t Zijin her biological sister? Zijin treated her so well, shouldn’t she help her as well?” Ding Jiayi refused to back down, “We are one family, why do we have to be so calculative? Ha!”
“Alright, if that’s the case, does it mean that Nan Nan can use Zijin’s things and has it all for herself?” Qiao Dongliang was boiling with anger at Ding Jiayi’s arrogant and unreasonable behavior. He almost felt like giving a slap to her face.
“Zijin took credit for Nan Nan’s essay. No matter how we look at it, it’s Zijin’s fault. How can you say that Zijin is being good to Nan Nan? That’s just crap!”
Qiao Dongliang stretched out his hands to pull at Ding Jiayi. “Since you insist that Nan Nan is at fault, that she shouldn’t be lazy and she should write another essay, go outside with me now. I dare you to repeat what you said to me and Nan Nan just now to the people at the quad. If you dare to do that, Nan Nan and I will admit that it’s our fault. What do you think?”
“What are you doing?” Ding Jiayi paled in fright, she slapped at Qiao Dongliang’s hands, refusing to step out of the house.
Ding Jiayi felt that it was alright of her to make unreasonable requests to Qiao Nan, and that Qiao Nan was obligated to do according to her wishes.
But she felt ashamed to repeat what she said to others.
Ding Jiayi dared not tell the others that instead of the person who wrote the essay, the one who copied the essay had the right to use the essay. She dared not tell them such shameless things.
“So you also realized that what you said just now was shameless and you dared not let others know. But why would you treat Nan Nan in this way? You only dare to take it out on the family and to bully Nan Nan? How unlucky Nan Nan must be to have a Mom like you? Do you know that what you said just now will affect the relationship of the two sisters? If they fall out with each other and turn their back against each other, you will have to bear the full responsibility! As you said, Zijin is Nan Nan’s biological sister, if she runs into any troubles in the future, she has no one to seek help except Nan Nan. Yet you want to create troubles!”
Qiao Dongliang’s words was to serve as a reminder to Ding Jiayi and Qiao Nan.
Ding Jiayi did not get it, but Qiao Nan understood.
Qiao Dongliang had two meanings to his words.
First, Ding Jiayi’s ramblings was all her own doings, it had nothing to do with Qiao Zijin. He wanted Qiao Nan not to have any misunderstandings and not to affect the relationship between the sisters.
Secondly, Qiao Dongliang understood that even if the elder daughter has been making improvements, her results was still far behind the younger daughter’s results.
In the society now, those who could study would have a brighter future.
The younger daughter might have better future prospects as compared to the elder daughter.
If the elder daughter ran into any troubles, she could only seek help from the younger daughter.
If Ding Jiayi continued with her ways to spoil their relationship, the younger daughter might not be willing to help the elder daughter when she was in trouble?
His wife would only hinder the elder daughter.
Qiao Nan’s lips dropped, she could no longer feel the surge of warmth when Qiao Dongliang jumped in to defend her just now.
That surge of warmth was not enough for her to feel comforted and warm, instead his words were just like pouring a bucket of cold water over her.
Her mother wanted her to be the source of income for Qiao Zijin. She would do anything that was beneficial for Qiao Zijin, even if it meant taking everything away from Qiao Nan.
As for her father, he wanted Qiao Nan to be Qiao Zijin’s nanny, to take care of her no matter what.
“How am I creating trouble?” Ding Jiayi refused to admit. “Zijin was the victim here, you decide what to do!”
Old Qiao wanted to take in a son-in-law for Zijin. She did not believe that he would not be anxious that she was being issued a warning.
If not for the fact that Qiao Zijin’s teacher had told Ding Jiayi outright that it was only possible that Qiao Zijin copied the essay from Qiao Nan, Ding Jiayi might have dragged Qiao Nan to The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, and forced her to admit in front of the teacher that she had copied from Qiao Zijin.
Not only did Ding Jiayi refused to admit her mistake, she acted justified and confident. Qiao Dongliang had a splitting headache, Old Ding was so muddleheaded. “Nan Nan…”
He could only work on the younger daughter since his wife refused to listen to reasons.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, Qiao Nan had always been obedient and sensible. Hence Qiao Dongliang was used to the fact that she should give in and suffer in silence, and try to be more understanding towards Ding Jiayi and Qiao Zijin. “Your Mom has a bad temper, she was muddleheaded to have said those words. Do not take it to heart. She is a good person, it’s just that she cared too much for your sister.”
“Dad, did you also think that I should let sister copy my essay?”
Chapter 82: Would Not Compromise
“How could that be?” Qiao Dongliang denied adamantly. He was not as muddleheaded as Old Ding. “But Nan Nan, you must understand, if there’s peace at home everything will prosper! You should know your Mom’s temper, you can’t possibly ask her to apologize to you?”
They were one family, they could not possibly stay at loggerheads with each other forever?
“Even if Mom is wrong, I would still need to obey, listen to her and please her?” Her father did not seem happy when she did that in her previous life.
“I am not asking you to obey your Mom… ” Qiao Dongliang had a terrible headache. If Nan Nan was to obey Old Ding in whatever she asked, the house might be even more chaotic.
“What does Dad want me to do? When Mom reprimanded me for being lazy and that I should have let sister copy my essay, I did not even say a word. Dad, am I not submissive enough? Which areas should I improve on? You can tell me and I will change.” Qiao Nan spoke in an exceptionally calm voice, in a composed manner that was beyond people her age.
The more Qiao Nan appeared to be calm and composed, the more Qiao Dongliang felt guilty.
Qiao Dongliang used to think that as children, they were obligated to obey their parents. Since Old Ding was muddleheaded, Qiao Nan would just have to suffer in silence.
It might sound irresponsible, but it was Nan Nan’s fault to have such a mother.
But when he looked into Qiao Nan’s dark eyes, her calm and still expression halted him in his tracks. It was as if his mouth had been glued. No words came out of his mouth.
If Qiao Nan threw tantrums and cried in anguish, Qiao Dongliang could chide her for being disobedient and insensible. But Qiao Nan stayed silent all the while, Qiao Dongliang didn’t know what to say.
He tried multiple times to persuade Qiao Nan, but he could not make any sound.
Given Ding Jiayi’s personality, there was no way that Qiao Dongliang could persuade Qiao Nan. He had reached a dead end.
If Qiao Nan was to give in to Ding Jiayi, there would not be any chance that she could continue with her studies. She would be responsible for writing essays for Qiao Zijin to copy.
But this was against Qiao Dongliang’s world views. In that case, how could he tell his daughter to obey his wife? And what exactly should she do to obey her?
Qiao Dongliang had no answers to his own questions, he was lost in thoughts.
After a while, an upset Qiao Dongliang said in disgruntlement, “All of you have such a bad temper.”
With that he returned to his room.
His wife would not listen to him, and his daughter had her own views, she would no longer listen to her parents.
He could no longer take his wife and daughter in hand.
Qiao Nan could hear the censure from Qiao Dongliang’s words, she twitched her lips in self mockery. No matter what, she would no longer give in to her mother and Qiao Zijin. That was impossible!
If her parents knew that she had done the essay incident on purpose, she wondered how her parents would react.
But Qiao Nan was not foolish. She would not admit it out of her own accord and invite trouble for herself.
She returned to her room right after Qiao Dongliang left.
But in a while Ding Jiayi came storming in.
Without a word, Ding Jiayi searched through Qiao Nan’s schoolbag, throwing all the contents onto the bed, searching through them book by book.
“Mom, what are you doing?” Was her mother so furious about Qiao Zijin’s incident that she wanted to tear up her textbooks.
“Dad!” Qiao Nan knew that there was no way that she could stop her Mom, she could only shout for his help.
But Qiao Dongliang was still angry over the incident just now. Upon hearing Qiao Nan’s call for him, he stayed in his room and did not utter a word.
“Let me ask you, where’s your essay book?” After searching through all the books, Ding Jiayi could not find the essay book that Qiao Zijin mentioned. She demanded it from Qiao Nan, “Give your essay book to me. From now on, you are not allowed to use any of the essays in your essay book, do you understand? If there’s a next time, I will not let you off. Hurry up, hand me your essay book!”
Qiao Nan smirked at Ding Jiayi. “I don’t have it!”
“Don’t have it? I don’t believe you. Give it to me now. If not don’t blame me for being unruly!”
“Even so I do not have it with me!” Qiao Nan ran out of the room. “Dad, Mom wanted to tear up my books!”
“You wretched girl…”
“What, Old Ding!!!” Qiao Dongliang bellowed and rushed out. “Old Ding, I didn’t flare up recently but that doesn’t mean that I am good tempered!”
“When did I say that I want to tear up her books? I merely wanted her to give me her essay book and not to use them in future.” Ding Jiayi glared at Qiao Nan furiously. This wretched girl lied to frame her.
“Dad, do you think I should hand them over?” Qiao Nan was not afraid of Ding Jiayi, she turned and asked Qiao Dongliang.
“What’s there to give, don’t give them to her. There are other components besides essays in the college entrance exams. Even if Qiao Zijin could copy Qiao Nan’s essay, there is no way that Qiao Nan could sit for the other exams on her behalf? You are so foolish.” Qiao Dongliang chided Ding Jiayi.
“I don’t care. It would be good if Zijin can do better for her essay. When you are in high school, every mark matters. I will do whatever I can to help Zijin. Besides it would not kill her to help her biological sister. Why is she so stingy? That’s the only way that she can be of use at home.” Ding Jiayi refused to listen to reason.
“Come out with me.” Since Qiao Dongliang could not talk reason into Ding Jiayi, he could not be bothered to talk sense into her anymore. He stepped into Qiao Nan’s room and dragged Ding Jiayi out with him. “Nan Nan, keep an eye on your books in the future, if the worst comes to worst, don’t bring them home.”
Qiao Dongliang had no other choice. There was no way that his wife would change her ways until she had gotten what she wanted.
Qiao Dongliang had a sudden thought, it might be a good idea for Qiao Nan to put all her books elsewhere.
Nan Nan could no longer take things lightly. His wife was beyond reasons, she would go ahead to take Nan Nan’s stuff without any reasons.
Before this Qiao Dongliang was still angry at Qiao Nan. But after looking at Ding Jiayi’s unruly behavior just now, all his anger had dissipated.
Nan Nan was plain unlucky to have such a mother like Old Ding.
“Oh, I understand.” Qiao Nan was relieved that Qiao Dongliang seemed to have cooled down.
Even though her father might be fickle minded at times, but Qiao Nan knew that he was the only one in the family who would defend her. If she enraged and offended him, Qiao Nan would have an even more difficult time at home.
Qiao Dongliang dragged Ding Jiayi away after Qiao Nan’s affirmative answer.
Chapter 83: Use Another Method To Persuade
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?”
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.
Chapter 84: Tell the Teachers
“Before we begin lessons, I have a piece of news to share with all of you.” During self study sessions, Teacher Chen stood on the stage in a good mood. “We selected five students from the school to represent the school in the essay competition. I am very proud to announce that among the five of them, two of the students were awarded prizes. One of them came in the third place while the other student came in the first place. The student who came in third is from another class. But the student who came in first place is in our class!”
Teacher Chen and Teacher Lee were exhilarated. They were very proud to have their student to come in first in the essay competition.
Of course, if it was a Mathematics competition, Teacher Chen would be even happier.
“The first place?! Who is it?”
“Zhao Yu is the only one from our class that participated in the essay competition. It must be her.”
“Crap, Zhao Yu is so brilliant. Being awarded the first place in the essay competition, this is much more difficult than coming in the first place in Chinese in school. One really can’t tell that she is so intelligent.”
The students were full of murmuring. Most of them guessed that it must have been Zhao Yu, while Zhu Baoguo lifted his chin and kept his silence as if he knew something.
“The student who came in the first place in the essay competition is Qiao Nan!” Teacher Chen announced in excitement. “Qiao Nan did very well for her essays, why didn’t anyone guess that it was her?”
The classroom was in total silence at Teacher Chen’s words. Most of them were in shock.
Although there were many rumors that Qiao Nan participated in the essay competition, she did not take part in the preliminary rounds organized by the school nor did she go for the essay training session that was specially organized for this competition. Hence even if there were rumors that Qiao Nan was among the five students who participated, everyone treated it as a joke and wanted to see how Qiao Nan would make a fool of herself.
But now the only person to come in first place was Qiao Nan?
“That’s right, Qiao Nan did very well in the two Chinese exams this semester. Teacher Lee even pasted them on the blackboard. I have taken a look. They were really well written, even better than the essay books that I bought.”
“Yes, Qiao Nan deserved the first place. Zhao Yu was not good enough.”
After hearing Teacher Chen’s announcement, a lot of the students corrected themselves. Previously they looked at Zhao Yu enviously, but now they only had contempt for her.
Zhao Yu paled and bit her lip. She hung her head and sniffed.
“Everyone, let’s give a round of applause for Qiao Nan. She has made us all proud this time.” Teacher Chen started to clap, and the students followed thereafter.
“Qiao Nan, you have to get ready to receive the prize from the principal after the morning exercise.”
“Teacher Chen, I understand.”
After Teacher Chen has left, Zhao Yu glared at Qiao Nan with bloodshot eyes, “Qiao Nan, don’t be too smug.”
“Are you crazy?” Zhu Baoguo pulled at his sleeves and gave Zhao Yu a fierce stare.
“What’s the hurry?” Qiao Nan stopped Zhu Baoguo. “Don’t be too smug? I am going to laugh smugly, I am going to laugh smugly!”
When she was participating in the essay competition, someone must have broken her pens on purpose. She did not want to pinpoint Zhao Yu, but she was being too obvious.
Zhao Yu had told Qiao Nan not to be too smug, yet Qiao Nan sang “laugh smugly” at her. Zhao Yu longed to throw her books at Qiao Nan and to scratch at her face. She wanted to see if Qiao Nan would still be able to laugh smugly after that.
But before Zhao Yu could do anything, Zhu Baoguo had already pulled Qiao Nan aside. He lifted his chin and looked askance at Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu gritted her teeth and lowered her hand.
“Zhao Yu, I brought three pens to the essay competition, but they were all broken and could not be used. Do you know who did that?” Qiao Nan arched her eyebrows and looked at Zhao Yu.
Eyes flickering around, Zhao Yu could not hide her emotions. She dared not look at Qiao Nan in the eyes. “Your, your pens were broken, it’s none of my business. What do you mean by do I know who did it. Your pens were broken. There’s no one to blame.”
“How could three pens be broken in one go?” Qiao Nan smirked. “Could all the pens have ganged up together?”
“This, this is a coincidence. Why would you ask me, I have no idea at all. You, you are really getting on my nerves. I am done talking to you!” Zhao Yu could feel her heart thumping, she was stuttering and her face was flushed red.
At this time the school bell rang. It was time for morning exercise.
While the class monitor lined up the students, Qiao Nan stared coldly at Zhao Yu.
If Zhao Yu really broke her pens, this was no longer a simple matter of throwing tantrums or playing pranks on other students.
If Zhao Yu a junior high school student could come up with the plan of breaking her pens to prevent her from writing her essay, nobody would know if she would do more terrible things next time.
“You just wait and see!” Qiao Nan had gone to line up, but Zhu Baoguo who purposely trailed behind said in a vicious tone when he passed by Zhao Yu. “Qiao Nan may not take it to heart, but that doesn’t mean I will let this matter rest. Did you break Qiao Nan’s pens?”
“No, no, I am innocent. Qiao Nan framed me!” Zhao Yu might not be scared of Qiao Nan, but she feared Zhu Baoguo. She was scared of his family status and his gangster attitude.
At his command, not to mention outside the school, a lot of the students in the school would be willing to be his hatchet men.
By that time Zhu Baoguo would escape unscathed while she was being bullied.
“Would I believe you?” Zhu Baoguo smiled coldly and walked off to line up.
Zhao Yu was angered and scared at the same time by Zhu Baoguo’s attitude. She stomped her feet in frustration.
What should she do now? She thought that no-one would know about the pens and Qiao Nan would suffer in silence.
After all, no-one could tell for sure how the pens were broken. She had no idea that Qiao Nan would have guessed that the pens have been broken.
So what if the pens were broken, Qiao Nan still managed to borrow a pen and came in first place in the essay competition. What more did she want!
During morning exercise, Zhao Yu looked on in anger and frustration when Qiao Nan was called up to the stage by the principal. She received the certificate and prize from the principal and was the center of attention of the whole school.
The thunderous sounds of applause was painful to Zhao Yu’s ears. It hurt even more inside her heart.
“Where’s Qiao Nan?” After morning exercise Zhao Yu was anxious when she didn’t see Qiao Nan.
“She seems to have gone to look for Teacher Chen. Zhao Yu, Qiao Nan was in the limelight today. She came in first. I wonder how many marks would be added on to her middle school exams.” The students remarked bitterly.
“What, she went to look for Teacher Chen? Qiao Nan has gone way overboard!” How could Qiao Nan tell the teacher, it was just pure speculation on her part!
Chapter 85: Exposed Her Own Deed
“Hey, Zhao Yu, where are you going?” In a flash, Zhao Yu ran out and a classmate was trying to pull her back. “Is Zhao Yu mad because Qiao Nan clinched the top place?”
“Teacher Chen.” Zhao Yu ran to Teacher Chen’s office. True enough, Qiao Nan was also there. Zhao Yu’s eyes welled up instantly in front of Teacher Chen.
“What is the matter?” Teacher Chen was shocked that she was crying without an apparent reason. “What is wrong, come in”
“Teacher Chen, Qiao Nan is maligning me.” Zhao Yu wiped away her tears as she sobbed quietly, looking so pitiful.
Qiao Nan shot a glance at Zhao Yu coldly, without saying a word.
Obviously, youngsters do have the tendency to lose their cool.
“Qiao Nan maligned you?” Teacher Chen looked at Zhao Yu strangely. “How did Qiao Nan malign you, and about what?”
Zhao Yu did not decipher the meaning of Teacher Chen’s question. She was absolutely certain that Qiao Nan had complained against her. To Zhao Yu, Teacher Chen was interrogating and not questioning her as Teacher Chen had always believed in whatever Qiao Nan said.
After all, Teacher Chen had always liked Qiao Nan and treated her exceptionally well.
Teacher Chen even gave Qiao Nan a place for the essay competition behind closed doors. It was impossible that Teacher Chen would not believe Qiao Nan’s words.
“Teacher Chen, I was wronged. Those pens were not broken by me. Qiao Nan cannot malign others and blame it on me just because her pens were broken.” Unless Qiao Nan had evidence, otherwise, she would never admit to it. Zhao Yu cried in front of Teacher Chen.
“I know I have a bad temper and Qiao Nan doesn’t like me. But we are classmates, even if she disliked me, she shouldn’t bully me like that… Teacher Chen, trust me, I, I really did not do it.”
At the sight of Zhao Yu who was crying miserably, Qiao Nan did not know what happened but she suddenly saw a hint of Qiao Zijin in Zhao Yu.
In the previous life, when Qiao Zijin was broke, she cried to her mother in this manner too.
When Qiao Zijin was pregnant with Chen Jun’s child, she also sat by the side and sobbed quietly while she watched her mother hit and scold Qiao Nan to force Qiao Nan to give up the relationship.
At the time when she was just reborn to this life, her ears were hurt by her mother and Brother Zhai also taught her to use a similar crying tactic on her father. Crying was so handy.
“The pens were broken, all broken?” When Teacher heard this, he felt that something was not right. Although his mood had been dampened by Zhao Yu’s tears, he remained calm and manage to grasp the point made by Zhao Yu. “Qiao Nan, what exactly is happening?”
“During the essay competition, I brought three pens. One is the usual pen that I used, the other two were brand new. However, strangely, none of the pens worked during the competition. Fortunately, someone lent me a pen. Otherwise, most likely I would not have been able to participate in the competition,” Qiao Nan told Teacher Chen honestly.
“Borrow a pen, who lent you the pen?” Teacher Chen was alarmed. If Qiao Nan did not manage to borrow a pen, they would have a close brush with the first place, and would have let slip the championship that was already in their hands.
“It was a big brother from my neighborhood. He happened to pass by and lent me a fountain pen. Zhao Yu was in the same exam hall as me, when the invigilator was helping me to borrow a pen, Zhao Yu did not say anything. Zhao Yu also only brought one pen, I can understand this. Zhao Yu, I did not blame you.” Qiao Nan smiled at Zhao Yu amicably.
Teacher Chen was not the only one present in the office, and every teacher brought their brains to work.
Which student would bring only one pen to participate in the competition or exam. In other words, when Qiao Nan’s pen was broken, Zhao Yu was not willing to lend one to her. This was a fact.
Also, the three working pens that were prepared by Qiao Nan were all broken at the same time.
This was strange.
They thought of Zhao Yu running to the office, crying that she was maligned and emphasizing that she did not do this.
At that moment, the teachers in the office had a feeling that Zhao Yu had exposed her own deed.
Zhao Yu did not know the teachers’ thoughts. After she heard the conversation between Teacher Chen and Qiao Nan, she was dumbfounded.
Hadn’t Qiao Nan come to the office to complain about her to Teacher Chen?
Then, whatever she said just now, was it not…
Teacher Chen’s face was gloomy. Obviously he was not in a good mood.
Teacher Chen’s chest heaved up and down and he looked at Zhao Yu a few times. “Zhao Yu, no-one is maligning you. You may return to the classroom.”
Teacher Chen’s words were like a double-edged sword. Zhao Yu’s face turned red with embarrassment.
“Teacher, Teacher Chen.”
“Leave.”
“Teacher Chen’s attitude was firm. Furthermore, there were many teachers in the office. Zhao Yu was still young and not thick-skinned enough. When she heard Teacher Chen, she cried more miserably than before and tears rolled from her eyes uncontrollably as she turned and left.
“Qiao Nan, why didn’t you tell the teachers? Does Teacher Lee know?” Teacher Chen let out a frustrated sigh. He looked at Qiao Nan sullenly. Qiao Nan was good in everything but she was too kind and easily bullied by others.
As the form teacher, he knew that Zhao Yu had been making things difficult for Qiao Nan.
“I don’t know.” Qiao Nan shook her head. “When the car arrived, I went to the restroom to wash my face and left my bag in the car. When I came out, everyone was preparing to enter the exam hall. I discovered that all my pens were broken only when I was attempting the question in the hall.”
After the competition ended, the teachers sent the students home without any ado.
Qiao Nan did not have any chance to mention this matter to Teacher Lee.
Furthermore, it was difficult for Qiao Nan to say it. She could not possibly tell Teacher Lee that all the three pens that she brought were broken and she suspected that someone had intentionally broken them.
Teacher Chen guessed Qiao Nan’s thoughts. “Fine, I understand. You have to pay more attention in future. The kids nowadays… really, they are not as simple as the kids during my generation. They are still so young.”
Teacher Chen did not continue further. Anyway, everyone knew what was going on at heart.
“Teacher Chen, then I will go back.”
As she left Teacher Chen’s office and passed by the corner, Qiao Nan was held back by Zhao Yu whose eyes were as red as a rabbit due to the crying.
Zhao Yu was crying as she choked on her words. “Qiao, Qiao Nan you, did you set me up today?”
If Qiao Nan did not look for Teacher Chen in such a hurry, she would not have misunderstood that Qiao Nan was making a complaint about her. After all, Qiao Nan just told Zhu Baoguo about this.
“Guess yourself.”
Zhao Yu was stunned. At this juncture, what was there to guess? “Qiao Nan, you did it intentionally. You wanted to malign me. Teacher Chen already favored you so much, why do you still have to smear my reputation?”
“Then tell me. How did I set you up? What did I do intentionally, what did I malign you about? If you can narrate the the full story to me from beginning till end, I will pay you respects and apologize to you. Not one thing less.”