Chapter 83: Cannon Fodder Sister of the Female Lead (35)

Upon hearing these words, Jiang Qu’s already tense nerves completely snapped.

"Dad, have you already given up on me?"

Jiang Sheng realized he had said something wrong and sighed with a frown.

In the end, he consoled Jiang Qu.

"What your dad means is that you shouldn’t feel too much pressure. There’s still more than ten days until the exam. Take it with confidence, no matter how you perform, Dad won’t blame you."

"Of course you won’t blame me, you have Jiang Lai. But don’t be so happy too soon!"

After saying this, she urged her parents to leave quickly and not disturb her studying.

The college entrance exam day came quickly. The freshmen and sophomores had a holiday to return home, while the seniors began their exams.

After three days of exams, the school was completely empty.

Not long after Jiang Lai returned home, the head teacher suddenly visited, startling Liu Shuping into thinking Jiang Lai had gotten into trouble at school again.

The head teacher got straight to the point.

"It’s like this, Jiang Lai had previously mentioned to us that he plans to skip a grade to go directly to senior year. After a unanimous discussion among our subject teachers and school leadership, we’ve decided to approve Jiang Lai’s application to skip a grade. After the summer break, he will go directly to senior year. I’m here to confirm this matter with you both."

"Skipping a grade? Not attending sophomore year, going directly to senior year?"

"Yes, because Jiang Lai has a very solid foundation and strong learning ability. Before agreeing to her application, we had her take this year’s college entrance exam paper, and her scores were astonishing. Such an outstanding student doesn’t need to waste another year in high school. If you both agree, she will go directly to senior year at the start of school."

Of course, Jiang Sheng and Liu Shuping had no objections.

In the end, Liu Shuping warmly invited the head teacher to stay for a meal, but the head teacher politely declined.

After seeing the head teacher off, Jiang Sheng, usually not very talkative, finally spoke after a long silence.

"It seems our Jiang Family is truly going to have a college student."

"No, two! I never expected that the two daughters I raised would achieve so much! We should make an extra meat dish tonight, or maybe wrap some cabbage dumplings, since Lai Lai loves them."

Liu Shuping happily went to the kitchen to prepare.

In the evening, the family sat at the table, and Jiang Sheng had a bit of alcohol and talked about today’s events, his tone full of pride.

"I’ve never heard of skipping a grade before, Lai Lai, even if you’re starting senior year, you mustn’t slack off, remember?"

Jiang Lai nodded and immediately gave her empty bowl to Liu Shuping.

"Mom, another bowl!"

In the past, whenever Jiang Lai ate too much, Liu Shuping would always say something, but today, she happily filled another bowl full of meat dumplings for Jiang Lai, and after putting it down, she also asked Jiang Qu.

"Xiao Qu, have some more too. Mom will get you some more."

"I’m done eating. Save the good stuff for the college student."

After saying this, Jiang Qu directly brought the small pickled vegetables in front of her. Her obviously low tone and awkward attitude instantly cooled the atmosphere at the table.

Jiang Sheng, having said something wrong earlier, didn’t say much this time, just ate silently.

Liu Shuping still served her a bowl.

"Do college students get dumplings too? Besides, you’re also a college student, it’s all the same."

Since the college entrance exam, Jiang Qu seemed to become a different person — she spoke less, her face often looked sour, and her tone became sharper. She often showed attitude at the dinner table, spoke sarcastically, constantly mocking and criticizing Jiang Sheng and Liu Shuping’s partiality.

It was basically over a few eggs and dumplings. She used to enjoy these things too, but now the parents obviously focused their attention on Jiang Lai, since she had finished the college entrance exam and Jiang Lai would be the next to take it.

Previously, she treated Jiang Qiuhe the best, always thought of him no matter where she went, but now she acted like she didn’t see him whenever she saw Jiang Qiuhe and acted like she didn’t recognize him in front of others.

Jiang Qiuhe was puzzled, unable to understand how his once understanding and obedient younger sister could suddenly change, becoming somewhat unfamiliar to him.

He quickly found out why.

Jiang Qu bought a train ticket to Beijing, saying she wanted to check out the university in advance.

She applied to a third-rate college in Beijing, a specialized one, and if admitted, it would be in the last batch.

It was not until before departure that she told the family of her plan. It turned out she wanted to go to Beijing early to work. Someone told her that salaries in Beijing were particularly high, and casually working for a month could earn eighty or ninety bucks.

Jiang Qiuhe immediately got angry after hearing this.

"How could you make such a decision without discussing it with the family? Do you know how far Beijing is? How will you find a job there as a young girl? Who will arrange it for you?"

"I’ve arranged all of this. You don’t need to worry. I’ll earn my own tuition and living expenses."

"Is this about money? Mom is almost going blind crying, do you know that? It’s still early, do you really want to leave home this badly?"

Jiang Qu remained unmoved and continued packing.

"I’m doing this to lighten the burden on the family, isn’t there another college student to support?"

"I can support two college students! Don’t be in such a hurry to leave."

"Brother, do you know how exciting things are outside? You resign yourself to falling behind and don’t want to explore, can you not block my way? A friend has already arranged a secretarial job for me, no need to worry."

Jiang Qiuhe kept trying to stop her, but Jiang Qu had already made up her mind.

She had calculated her scores, and she exceeded the undergraduate cutoff by a few points. Even if the English score line was raised, she was sure she could at least get into a specialized college.

No matter what, she would go to college, eat commercial food in the future, and never have to return to this muddy countryside again.

In the end, Jiang Qu left. No one could stop her. Liu Shuping could only give her all the remaining money the family had and accompanied her on a long bus ride to the train station, tearfully seeing Jiang Qu off on the train.

"Mom, don’t cry. She might come back soon."

Whenever Liu Shuping cried, she wouldn’t cook well, and Jiang Lai wouldn’t get to eat good food, so she started thinking of ways to comfort her.

Liu Shuping, eyes red, said,

"That child is stubborn. Once she goes to Beijing to attend college, she may never come back."

"Take it easy, maybe she won’t even get into college."

"Could you... could you not wish ill on your sister! You’re sisters, fighting all the time like black-eyed chickens! Your sister is already heavy-hearted, sigh..."

Jiang Lai couldn’t stand having three meals a day of steamed cornbread with corn porridge anymore, so she decided to go directly to Cheng Lie and let him take her to eat at the factory.

Cheng Lie ran a foreign trade company himself, responsible for sales, and the supplier below was He Xing’s factory. Cheng Lie had invested eighty percent of the money, so even though He Xing was the factory director, Cheng Lie was actually the real decision-maker.

The factory was producing cashmere coats, and the machines had just been set up and put into production. Currently, the first batch of goods had just entered the market and was sold out in no time.