My Inner Thoughts Are Heard by the Entire Noble Academy

Chapter 170: Li’s Mouth, Deceptive Ghost

Chapter 170

Qiao Jingjia was admitted to Qianpu Middle School based on his excellent academic performance, but that didn't mean his family background was poor.

Compared to most of his classmates, his family situation wasn't considered very good. His father owned several chain foot massage parlors (the kind without special services), and the family had assets of a few million yuan. While this couldn't compare to his classmates' families, it would be considered wealthy among ordinary people.

Qiao Jingjia's biological parents divorced when he was very young. Qiao's father, to take care of his young child, married a divorced woman who also had a child.

After the marriage, Qiao's father's business grew bigger, and he became busy pursuing his career outside, neglecting his family at home.

Qiao Jingjia grew up under his stepmother's care, often suffering abuse. His stepmother frequently beat and scolded him.

Qiao's father ignored these issues. It was Qiao Jingjia's grandfather who couldn't bear to see his grandson being beaten and took him in.

Qiao Jingjia's aunt, uncle, and aunt-in-law would often invite their nephew to stay with them for a few days, but since he wasn't their own child, he couldn't stay with them for long periods.

However, Qiao's father felt it was inappropriate for Qiao Jingjia to live with his grandfather. He thought, "I'm still alive as his father, yet he's living with others. People will gossip about this."

Although the old man felt sorry for his grandson, Qiao's father was the child's legal guardian. So, Qiao Jingjia was brought back to live with his father and stepmother.

By that time, Qiao Jingjia had grown up and was no longer as submissive to his stepmother's beatings as he had been as a child.

As he grew older, his life became a bit more comfortable, at least he was rarely beaten.

His stepmother stopped hitting him but adopted a different approach. She acted like a loving mother in front of his father while simultaneously portraying Qiao Jingjia as an unfilial son to deceive his father.

His father was very dissatisfied with his disrespect towards his stepmother.

Fortunately, his excellent academic performance gave his father a strong sense of vanity in front of relatives and friends.

Because of his outstanding grades, even with a troublemaking stepmother stirring up problems, his life was still not too bad.

His father gave him a substantial monthly allowance, and since he entered Qianpu Middle School based on his academic performance, the school also awarded him scholarships every year.

He didn't have many expenses, so he saved up his scholarship money and allowance. In just over a year of high school, he had saved up quite a bit.

Although Qiao Jingjia wasn't obsessed with money, he never thought about inheriting the family fortune to get rich.

He didn't care if all the money his father earned was donated, but it absolutely couldn't go to his stepmother. He couldn't let her have her way.

The thought of all the money falling into his stepmother's hands was more painful to him than death.

The cashier was a middle-aged woman who noticed the young man in front of her take out his phone but not do anything for a while.

It happened to be at the crucial moment of payment.

She thought to herself, "This young man isn't trying to dine and dash, is he? I better keep an eye on him."

The woman waved her hand, "Young man, is everything alright? Is there a problem with our payment QR code?"

Of course, she knew there was no problem with the code. She was just reminding him to pay. If he didn't have money, he shouldn't pretend to be a big shot and should let the others at the table pay.

Seeing the three capable individuals behind Qiao Jingjia, the woman retracted her previous thoughts.

The remaining three people eating with this young man were all children, obviously without the ability to pay.

Qiao Jingjia was brought back to reality by the woman's words. He said "Oh" and explained the reason for his earlier daze, "The network was bad just now."

The woman didn't care why he hadn't paid immediately. She was satisfied when she heard the electronic notification of payment received.

The driver was nearby, so Shi Li suggested giving the three of them a ride home.

Rongrong and Qiao Jingjia were about to refuse, but Shi Li had already started pushing the three towards where the car was parked.

"It's on the way anyway, no problem."

Rongrong lived in the old town area, just nearby.

After dropping Rongrong off at the entrance of the residential complex she had indicated, they could see from the exterior that this complex had a long history.

After getting out of the car, Rongrong stood by the roadside waving goodbye in the direction of the car.

Shi Li waved back similarly, "Bye-bye~"

Qiao Jingjia's home address was further away, in a newly developed residential area. If Shi Li remembered correctly, this development was built by Wei Yi's family.

The process of dropping off Qiao Jingjia was the same as with Rongrong. Qiao Jingjia opened the door, got out, and closed it. Shi Li lowered the window and waved goodbye to Qiao Jingjia outside the car.

The difference was that this time they encountered some unexpected situations.

A middle-aged woman walking with a little boy noticed Qiao Jingjia by the roadside, and her gaze fell on the small golden ornament on the front of the black car. As a worldly housewife, she recognized at a glance that this car was not cheap.

"Jiajing—"

Shi Li was drinking milk tea and almost spat it out. [Qiao Jingjia's parents are quite good at naming. His parents must be avid history enthusiasts, though this name isn't very auspicious.]

[No, wait. From a prince who became an emperor, this name is actually quite auspicious. It has a sense of being able to change one's destiny.]

This was truly a bizarre sense of destiny. Qiao Jingjia had been given many nicknames by friends and classmates because of this name, but it was the first time someone had looked at it from this perspective.

For a moment, he felt that this name was actually quite good.

Regardless of Jiajing's reputation in history, his fate was good.

While the three were lost in their own thoughts, the woman with the child, who was actually Qiao Jingjia's stepmother, had already approached.

Her face was full of smiles, "You must be our Jiajing's classmates. Thank you for bringing him home. Since you're here, why don't you come up and sit for a while?"

Even though he had long been accustomed to his stepmother's changing faces, Qiao Jingjia still felt disgusted.

He was still young, his skills in maintaining composure not yet fully developed. After his stepmother spoke, he revealed an expression as if he had eaten something rotten.

Did Shi Li want to go upstairs? She did, she really did.

The corner of Fu Huixing's clothes was tugged, moving slightly.

At the same time, Shi Li asked for his opinion, "Should we go up and sit for a while? I've never been to a classmate's home before."

Just half a year ago, she had gone to his house to deliver a banner of appreciation, and now she was saying she had never been to a classmate's home.

Shi Li was quite the liar.

Fu Huixing was already used to it.