Shen Tong agreed that sending Jing Qi to elentary school was indeed inappropriate. "Jing Qi never finished elentary school. Her situation is special, so she should be able to go straight to middle school."
"Jing Qi won’t be going to middle school," Qin i stated.
"Don’t tell you want her to go straight to high school?" Shen Tong asked in surprise.
Qin i shook her head, dropping a bombshell. "She’s going to take the college entrance exam directly."
"The college entrance exam?" Shen Tong was stunned. Seeing the determined look on Qin i’s face, she grew troubled. "Fourth Sister-in-law Jing, you sure have so bold ideas. There is no college entrance exam. If Jing Qi wants to go to a university, we can use the Qiao Family’s connections to get her a letter of recomndation for a school nearby."
The Jie Family had limited connections. With Jing Qi’s situation, their only hope was for the Qiao Family to step in.
"Jing Qi will wait to take the college entrance exam," Qin i enunciated, each word sharp and clear. Though she didn’t say it outright, she was giving Shen Tong a hint.
"Fourth Sister-in-law Jing," Shen Tong said, looking at Qin i with a sense of helplessness. She reminded her again, "There *is* no college entrance exam."
"Just because there isn’t one now doesn’t an there won’t be one in the future. Maybe Jing Qi will get lucky. If heaven smiles upon her, she might really live to see the day the exam is reinstated," Qin i said, sitting in the rattan chair and giving Shen Tong a look full of hidden aning.
"The restoration of the college entrance exam." Those words hamred at Shen Tong’s heart, making her blood boil and her spirits soar. But after the initial excitent, a sense of calm washed over her.
Her head drooped, and she slumped onto the stone table, her spirits sinking. With a fingertip, she drew circles on the tabletop. "The exam being reinstated... will a day like that really co?"
"It will if you believe in it." Qin i was on the verge of telling Shen Tong the exact date the exam would be brought back.
"And when would that be? When pigs fly?" Shen Tong asked dejectedly.
Qin i gathered her thoughts. Her gaze turned serious, her tone firm. "Whether the exam is reinstated is secondary. What truly matters is studying hard. You need to have the skills to pass the exam, not just the hope that you’ll get to take it. That way, if your dream does co true one day, you’ll be able to stand out."
She had said the sa thing to Jie Jingshan and Jie Jingchen. She’d wanted to say it to Jie Jingjue, but he was resistant to studying. Since Shen Tong loved to learn, Qin i didn’t mind repeating herself. Whether Shen Tong would take it to heart, however, was up to her own fate.
Shen Tong, still slumped over the stone table, looked up to study Qin i with a questioning gaze. A faint lancholy swam in her hazy eyes.
In that mont, Qin i seed like a prophet in Shen Tong’s eyes. A conviction grew that Qin i’s prediction would co true, and the tangled knot of her confusion suddenly unraveled.
"I know what I have to do now." Shen Tong shot to her feet, smiled at Qin i, and gave her a deep bow. "Fourth Sister-in-law Jing, thank you. Jing Qi, I’m going now."
Qin i stared in a daze at Shen Tong’s retreating back. Seeing her friend’s sudden epiphany, Qin i felt completely bewildered. She turned to Jie Jingshan. "Did I give her the wrong advice?"
Jie Jingshan shook her head. She was just as baffled.
Qin i was filled with anxiety. Shen Tong’s reaction worried her. It was as if Shen Tong was standing at a crossroads, and the path she chose now would define the rest of her life.
Qin i didn’t see Aunt Zhang or Xu Chunyan around, but she paid it no mind. She urged Jie Jingshan back into her room, reminding her to lock the door from the inside before bed.
Qin i went back to her own room, bolted the door, used the restroom, then changed and went to sleep.
Qin i only napped for half an hour. If she slept any longer, she wouldn’t want to get up, and then she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at night. ’Nights without a phone are just too long.’ She didn’t like television either, so she had no desire to buy a set.
’What’s so great about a black-and-white TV, anyway?’
Qin i was in the courtyard making dicinal salves when Aunt Zhang returned. The older woman shot Qin i an arrogant glare, let out a cold snort, and stalked back to her room.
Aunt Zhang’s gait was a little strange. ’That’s odd,’ Qin i thought. ’I pinched her really hard, and I made sure to pick spots that wouldn’t show, but it shouldn’t have affected the way she walks.’
"Fourth Sister-in-law, let help you," Jie Jingshan said, opening her door.
Qin i arched an eyebrow and spoke with displeasure. "Jing Qi, your job right now is to study."
"Fourth Sister-in-law, I have plenty of ti. It won’t interfere with my studies," Jie Jingshan said with a smile.
Qin i’s eye twitched. ’Plenty of ti? It’s March now, and the college entrance exam is coming back in October. Ti is tight, more like.’
"Jing Qi, listen to ," Qin i said, her face stern.
Jie Jingshan froze, taken aback. She nodded obediently, closed the door, and went back to her studies.
Staring at the closed door, Qin i felt a wave of conflict. ’Jing Qi loves to study, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m forcing her, pushing her to prepare for the exam.’
Qin i wondered if she should take the exam herself and get a university degree. She knew all too well how important a degree would be in the future.
Qin i stopped after making twenty plasters. She packed everything up and stored it in the room where Jie Jingjue used to live. After he moved out, Qin i had started keeping her common dicinal herbs in there, but she only felt safe keeping the valuable ones in her own room.
When Jie You ca ho from school, Xu Chunyan, just back from work, took her son to their room to help him with his howork.
A little while later, Shen Qing and Jie Jingchen returned together. Shen Qing parked her bicycle and walked past Qin i, hesitating as if she wanted to say sothing.
"Third Sister-in-law, is sothing the matter?" Qin i asked.
Shen Qing pressed her lips together, her eyes fixed on Qin i with a complicated expression. Without a word, she walked into her room.
Jie Jingchen was parking his bicycle. Qin i stood up and hurried over to him. "What’s wrong with your sister-in-law?"
Jie Jingchen lowered his gaze, his eyes boring into Qin i. "Let’s talk inside."
Jie Jingchen first took the less-than-fresh vegetables to the kitchen. When he got back to their room, Qin i was waiting for him by the window. She had a vague inkling of what was going on. She’d been feeling uneasy ever since Shen Tong left, and the look Shen Qing had just given her all but confird her fears.
When Qin i saw Jie Jingchen co in, she imdiately stood up and shut the window.
Jie Jingchen watched her cautious movents and shook his head with a wry, helpless smile.
"Did Shen Tong co by this afternoon?" Jie Jingchen asked. Qin i held her breath and nodded. He asked again, "Did you two have a long talk?"
Qin i rubbed her nose. "Not that long."
’We talked about everything we should have, and probably a few things we shouldn’t have.’
"You two hit it off?" Jie Jingchen asked, narrowing his eyes as he studied her.
"It wasn’t a matter of hitting it off. We just shared so opinions on a certain topic. And maybe... possibly... she agreed with them." Qin i’s voice grew quieter and quieter toward the end, a clear sign of her guilty conscience.
’The college entrance exam is coming back in October.’ She knew it for a fact, but no one else did, and she couldn’t just co out and say it. Biting her lip, Qin i was filled with regret. She just couldn’t stop herself from trying to convince people to prepare for it.
’The exam is the only real shortcut for students from humble backgrounds to change their fate and climb the social ladder.’
Jie Jingchen sighed. "Qin i, Shen Tong isn’t like Jing Qi. You shouldn’t have told her those things."
"What’s that supposed to an?" Qin i shot him a sidelong glance.
A thoughtful look flickered in Jie Jingchen’s amber eyes. He chose his words carefully. "Jing Qi is different. She hangs on your every word, but it won’t have a major impact on her life. Shen Tong, on the other hand..."
"Jie Jingchen." His words made her laugh with anger. Her voice dripped with ice as she demanded, "What do you an, ’it won’t have a major impact on her life’? What are you trying to say, Jie Jingchen? That in your eyes, I’m just so charlatan spreading lies to delude people?"
Jie Jingchen raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose. Seeing how agitated Qin i was, he felt a headache coming on. "Qin i, please, calm down. That’s not what I ant."
"That’s exactly what you ant." A hint of self-mockery flashed in her eyes. ’So he just handed Jing Qi over to , letting do whatever I wanted with her, all because Jing Qi has a safety net. The Qiao Family is her ultimate safety net.’
’He just treats my words like they’re nothing, letting them go in one ear and out the other. He says over and over that he trusts , but has he ever really trusted ?’
Qin i’s brow furrowed. ’What is wrong with ? Why is it so important whether he trusts or not? Since when does his attitude have the power to affect my mood?’
Jie Jingchen gazed at the fuming Qin i, a look of helplessness spreading across his exquisitely handso face. He sighed. "Qin i..."
"Shut up. Don’t talk to ," Qin i snapped, cutting him off.
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