novelraw Chapter 98: Comparisons Kill
Chapter 98: Comparisons Kill
To motivate the students, the school added two advanced questions to the end of every exam.
But the reality was, most children couldn’t even understand the prompts, let alone answer the questions.
The result?
While others were still racking their brains, she calmly picked up her pen and began to write.
She answered both questions correctly, without a single mistake.
The news spread like wildfire among the teachers.
The more they discussed it, the more unbelievable it seemed.
When her family heard the news, they couldn’t sit still.
At the dinner table, Ding Qin put down her chopsticks, glanced at the whole family, and made an executive decision on the spot.
"Before the break starts, our entire family, young and old, must go pick Shanshan up from school together! We have to make a scene, make it grand, and let everyone know just how amazing the Ling family’s little granddaughter is!"
A convoy of five cars pulled up to the school gate.
The doors opened, and the family members got out one after another.
Leading the way was the Ling family’s patriarch, Ling Zhenkang, with Ding Qin by his side. Following behind them were two nannies and a private tutor.
The sheer spectacle of it all made the other parents at the gate turn their heads and stare.
Immediately, a wave of whispers rippled through the crowd.
Ling Zhenkang puffed out his chest, his steps steady and proud.
"Ah, our little granddaughter enrolled two years early, and after only half a year of study, she’s already number one in her grade."
The surrounding crowd immediately erupted in a flurry of discussion.
"The Ling family is really putting that child on a pedestal."
"Well, with their strict upbringing and ample resources, how could their child not be exceptional?"
"Did you see that backpack? It’s imported. Must cost several thousand yuan, right?"
"The key thing is her presence. The little girl walks with such confidence, her eyes are bright, and she shows no sign of stage fright."
The people murmured amongst themselves, sneaking glances at the family.
Hiding in a corner of the crowd, Cao Daqiang’s face was ashen.
He grabbed his daughter, Cao Jiajia, who was standing beside him with her head down, and turned to walk toward his bicycle.
"Let’s go! We’re going home!"
On the way, the cold wind whipped across their faces.
"How did you do on your exams? I heard that girl, Ling Xueshan, got a perfect score in every subject. What was your rank? Huh? What was it?"
As he spoke, he roughly rummaged through his daughter’s backpack.
The test papers, crumpled into a messy ball inside, fell out with a tug and scattered across the back seat of the bicycle.
He snatched one up and squinted at it.
"Language Arts: thirty-three..."
His voice faltered. He grabbed the next one.
"Math: seventeen..."
His breath hitched in his throat.
The score on the last paper, a combined test for Natural Science, was a glaring "nine."
"I’ve poured so much money into your education... and this is what you give me? Thirty-three? Seventeen? Nine?! Who do you think you’re answering to?!"
SMACK!
He slammed his hand on the bicycle’s handlebar, violently flinging the test papers onto a concrete table by the roadside.
Cao Jiajia trembled all over, tears welling up in her eyes.
’If I cry, Father will only get angrier,’ she thought.
This just made Cao Daqiang even more furious.
"Cry! All you know how to do is cry! With all the energy you spend crying, couldn’t you have answered a couple more questions? How can Ling Xueshan get everything right? Are you missing a brain? A hand?"
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, raising his hand as if to strike his daughter across the face.
Just in the nick of time, Liu Yingzi rushed over.
"The child is only six years old! She’s only been in school for half a year! Do you expect her to be like you, born knowing how to solve problems? How to do math? How to memorize texts?"
"If you really want to know why Ling Xueshan can get a perfect score, why don’t you look at how her family treats her? Her grandmother helps her study at night, her father checks her homework, her grandfather tells her stories! Isn’t every single one of them meticulously caring for her? Raising her with their full attention?"
"You can’t give her any of that. You don’t have the ability to give her resources, the patience to listen to her sound out a single word, or the time to sit with her for one math problem. And you still expect her to be first in her class? You dare to say she’s not good enough? What right do you have to force her to be as pathetic as you?"
Cao Jiajia buried her face in her mother’s arms, hugging her tightly around the waist.
"WAAAH... Mommy, I really don’t want to be with Daddy anymore... Ling Xueshan’s dad never yells at her or scolds her. He always smiles and brings her candied fruit skewers, and he gently pats her head... On weekends, he even holds her hand and takes her to the park to ride the carousel, pushes her on the swings, and buys her cotton candy..."
She spoke in fits and starts between sobs.
Liu Yingzi’s eyes reddened too, and tears began to fall one after another.
She hugged her daughter, her voice choked with emotion.
"That’s right. You can’t even bring yourself to say ’Good job, sweetie.’ Every time she gets a ninety-five, all you ask is why it wasn’t a perfect score. When she wins an award for her drawing, you complain that it’s a waste of paper and pencils... You blame her for not living up to expectations? How old is she? Is she fighting for the kind of success you want? The only thing she’s fighting for is a shred of your affection!"
The mother and daughter’s back-and-forth tirade left Cao Daqiang’s face livid with rage.
"This is outrageous! You two, mother and daughter, have you ganged up on me just to piss me off? Is that it?!"
He slammed his fist on the table, his voice hoarse.
"Daddy, can you please stop scolding me... I really tried my best... Can you... can you just hug me...?"
’Making comparisons can really kill a man.’
’I can’t leave the Ma Family, not yet.’
He’d been stuck in a low-level position for years with no hope of promotion.
If it weren’t for his father-in-law’s connections within the system, he wouldn’t even have a chance at a lateral transfer.
His salary was so low that he could barely breathe under the weight of basic living expenses.
Every month, his paycheck was gone before it even had a chance to warm his pocket, spent on rent, utilities, and gas.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about standing up for himself for once.
But if he really had a falling out with Liu Yingzi, she would take the child and go back to her parents’ house.
Not only would he lose his only place to live, but he wouldn’t even get to see his child.
’Where else could I go?’
’Back to that old, single-story house with no heating?’
’Or rent a basement room for two hundred a month?’
At that thought, he stopped in his tracks.
Liu Yingzi was still rattling off a relentless stream of rebukes.
Cao Daqiang clenched his jaw so hard his molars ached.
Meanwhile, in the Ling family, the day the exams ended and Shanshan’s school break began, the entire household seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted.
Everyone, except for Ling Zhiwei who was still slogging away at cram school, wished they could immediately escape to the cool shade of the trees.
Even though Shanshan was on break, she was listless and droopy during the day.
Her grandparents saw this, and their hearts ached for her.
That very evening, they pulled out a camphorwood chest, aired out the old bedding, and packed through the night, planning to take her to their old country home to escape the summer heat.
But Shanshan shook her head and said softly, "I don’t want to go yet. I want to wait for my brother to finish his exams so we can go together."
The moment those words left her mouth, Ling Zhiwei, who was in the kitchen washing dishes, felt his hands tremble.
He turned around, his eyes instantly turning red.
The moment the exams were over, Shanshan was like a different person, leaping up from the sofa in a flash.
"Fourth Brother! Fourth Brother! Come help me pack my clothes! I want to bring my little floral dress! And my new toys! And my favorite teddy bear! And crayons, so I can draw the creek and the fireflies in the countryside!"
She chattered away, hugging a throw pillow and spinning in circles.
"Is the old country home really that fun?"
She tilted her little face up, her eyes sparkling.
"Of course it’s fun!"
Ling Zhiwei grinned, revealing a set of white teeth in a brilliant smile.
"You can catch little shrimp in the river—just reach into the cracks between the rocks and you’ll pull out a whole string of them. You can pick wild strawberries on the mountain, so red they burst with juice in your mouth. At night, you can lie on the bamboo bed in the courtyard and look up at a sky full of stars, like the Milky Way has been spilled all over it... Now that’s what a real summer is like!"
Shanshan was so excited she stomped her feet. "Then let’s go tomorrow! Let’s go right now!"
"I don’t want to wait another minute! I want to go right this second!"