"The principal of your school called me this afternoon, saying you did very well this time. You’re the top scorer in the provincial college entrance exam." After Ye Qiu finished washing the dishes, Ye Peilin finally found a chance to mention this.

"Oh." Ye Qiu nodded to show that he knew.

Ye Peilin frowned: "Is this all the reaction you have? Aren’t you happy?"

"Before coming home, I checked on the computer at the training school."

"Hmm." Ye Peilin’s expression softened a bit, "Take a day off tomorrow, or simply resign from that training school; it’s unnecessary to go. Q University and A University have sent people here, and both want to talk with you. I’ll go with you tomorrow."

"I’m doing really well at the training school, and I promised to work part-time there for the entire summer."

"I’m not against your part-time job, but do you know your current status? Have they deceived you? Are they deliberately underpaying you?"

Ye Qiu finally looked up seriously at him and said slowly, "When my grades hadn’t come out yet, it was the training school that accepted me, so I won’t leave there. No status means anything to me, I’m just an ordinary high school graduate."

"You..." Ye Peilin was utterly furious, words tripping over each other.

Ye Qing seeing his inflexible, unadaptable talk, felt instantly that no matter how good the grades are, it’s pointless if you suffer in society later.

Hence, she couldn’t help but educate, "Brother, is this how you talk to Dad? Will you talk to your boss like this when you work in the future?"

Ye Qiu spoke frankly, "As long as I have enough competence, my boss wouldn’t talk to me like this."

"But you’re talking to Dad; do you have any respect? Is this how you provoke Dad?" Ye Qing’s brows furrowed in anger as she scolded Ye Qiu.

"Then how do you want me to respond? To be ungrateful to the training school? I can’t do that." Ye Qiu’s expression showed both helplessness and fatigue after he spoke, "Do you have anything else? I’ll go to school tomorrow; I will choose the information technology major which I had planned long ago."

"I’ve looked it up; your math and science comprehensive scores are perfect. It proves you have talents in other areas too. Q University’s other top program is its economics department; I recommend you choose that. After all, I can lend you a hand in the future." Ye Peilin spoke firmly again, "Studying information technology, no matter how good you are, you’re just working for others; there’s no competitiveness after thirty-five. You need to recognize this fact."

"I’m already an adult; I want to decide my own future." Ye Qiu reiterated his intention.

Ye Peilin was utterly furious and ruthlessly responded, "Alright, since you’re so determined, don’t blame me for not giving you any assistance in the future."

Ye Qiu looked back at him, "In fact, besides paying for tuition, you haven’t given me any other help."

"You ungrateful child!" Ye Peilin slammed the table, stood up, "Is this how you view me? Without the good conditions provided by the family, could you achieve your current grades?"

Ye Qiu also spoke frankly, "What conditions has the family provided for me? Letting me do chores every day or running errands for my sister often? Even when I’m studying, you ask me to temporarily stop studying; is that the good condition you’ve provided for me?"

After he finished speaking, Han Hui looked at him sadly, "Are you blaming us? You’re a boy; you need more competitiveness in the future. Which man in society doesn’t do chores? Your sister letting you run errands proves your close brother-sister relationship, doesn’t it? You never opposed it! Besides, running errands a couple of times can’t waste much time, can it?"

"No, you wanted me to do chores; I’ve never complained, since I’m also part of this family." Ye Qiu smiled bitterly, "What feels unfair to me is no matter what I do, you think I didn’t do well enough; no matter my performance, I’m never as significant to you as my sister. Is it just once or twice that my sister asked me to run errands? Have you ever rejected her requests? But have you ever believed anything I said?"

Ye Qiu’s questions struck Ye Peilin and Han Hui like a bolt of thunder, yet they stubbornly refused to admit their mistakes.

"Did we do anything wrong? You’re a boy, your sister is a girl, girls are sensitive, of course, we should accommodate and spoil them more. Without the training from me and your mom, would your grades be so good?" Ye Peilin argued.

"You think my good grades are your achievement? Weren’t you the ones who decided my grades were poor, which is why you let me do those chores and odds and ends? You even said earlier that you want me to attend a decent college. Now you say your training has led to my grades? Dad, is it that difficult to admit you’re biased towards my sister? I’m a living person; I can feel it." Ye Qiu said very tiredly.

He discovered that no matter how he reasoned in this family, it didn’t work. When bias becomes a habit, it becomes justified, and the one not favored is destined to be scarred.

So he had to escape, not wanting to be exploited by Ye Qing anymore, not wanting to be subjected to such moral coercion.

"Brother, is it that you hate me?" Ye Qing seemed to realize this for the first time, "You’re my brother; I just asked you to help me get something or buy something; why so much resentment? If it weren’t for me back then..."

"Back then if it wasn’t for you, I might not have been born, right?" Ye Qiu looked at her sarcastically, "I’ve heard enough of these arguments. Should I live my whole life for you? Am I your slave? Do I have to be grateful for life and work for you forever?"

"Slap!" The daughter-obsessed Ye Peilin couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing him talk to Ye Qing like that, in a moment of impulse, actually slapped him, "She’s your sister; she has doted on you since childhood, yet you hate her? Do you have any conscience at all?"

"Dote on me? When has she ever doted on me? With what exactly did she dote on me? Her so-called dote is asking me to do everything for her?" Ye Qiu’s eyes reddened as he spoke, "Can you stop lying with open eyes?"

"If your sister didn’t dote on you, why would she frequently buy things for you? If she didn’t dote on you, would she leave things for you to eat? What aren’t you satisfied with?"

"What did she buy for me? Unwanted trinkets when she returned from her trips? What she left for me was all things she didn’t like to eat, is this how she dotes on me? Even when I walked into her room as a child, I would get a brutal beating. You say she tutored me; her study materials she’d rather give to friends or throw them away rather than give them to me." Ye Qiu shouted in refutation.

He had long endured enough of Ye Qing’s hypocritical righteousness, as well as her showing deep brother-sister affection in front of parents and outsiders. Ye Qing is someone who seized all benefits yet remained extremely insincere!