As Xia Wen excitedly joined in the discussion to name Xia Zhe’s children, Tan Jing silently shed tears in the kitchen. All these years, the fact that the two of them did not manage to have a child had always been a wound in her heart.
Xia Wen had always comforted her and said that it did not matter if they had children or not. However, when she saw Xia Wen being so concerned about Qiao Mei’s babies and even excitedly helping to name them, she could not help but feel upset.
Xia He observed quietly from the side. When Tan Jing first married into the family, Xia He liked her very much. She was cheerful, laughed a lot, and liked to sing and dance. Later on, after being married for many years and not having children, she completely changed into a different person and became silent and unwilling to communicate with anyone. She also looked unhappy all the time.
At first, Liu Fen kept nagging her about the matter. Later, Tan Jing felt so hounded and uncomfortable that she starved herself for a long time. After that, Liu Fen did not dare to mention it again and the entire family also avoided this topic. Xia Wen also secretly spoke to all the other family members and asked them not to make things difficult for Tan Jing.
However, now that Qiao Mei was pregnant, it was inevitable that everyone would feel happy and talk constantly about children, unintentionally hurting Tan Jing. In the beginning, Xia He and Tan Jing got along like biological sisters. Later on, it became harder and harder for Xia He to understand why Tan Jing cared so much about this matter. She had also gotten married herself, but she did not have children. Instead, she was very glad that she did not have that burden.
Now that she was in an unhappy situation, she need not maintain a painful marriage for the sake of children. She felt free and unrestrained, but Tan Jing kept getting herself stuck in a rut. As time passed, the two of them grew apart.
Zhou Hua glanced at Tan Jing from behind and laughed disdainfully. She had thought that with a daughter-in-law like Tan Jing, Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law would never have any grandchildren in their lives, meaning their bloodline would end with their sons. No one could have expected that Xia Zhe, who looked on track to becoming a monk, would actually get married and that his wife would be pregnant with twins.
The heavens were really unfair. All good things went to the eldest son of the family. Back when her mother-in-law was still alive, she was also biased towards her eldest son’s family. After she died, she even gave her house to Xia Zhe. No one else could get their hands on it.
Zhou Hua only found out about this when Tan Jing accidentally let slip this matter while they were chatting. Otherwise, she would still be in the dark.
The Xia family had a total of three sons. The eldest son had two boys, the second son had two boys, but their family had given the Xia family three boys! She could not understand why the house did not go to Xia Guang.
Currently, Xia Mao’s three children were all married and their eldest grandchild was about to be born. The second son, Xia Yao, lived a thriving and happy life with Liu Fen. Only Xia Guang’s family was not doing well! She could not understand why they could not get any good things. Their sons were unable to find wives because they did not have their own house.
Zhou Hua’s whole family was still living together into a 120-square-meter allocated property. Her eldest son was about to propose marriage to the girl he liked but she was unwilling to marry him because he did not have his own house.
She heard that Xia Zhe had managed to get back the part of the house occupied by the Cao family. There would only be five people living in such a big house, even If she included Qiao Mei’s grandfather. It was such a waste for only five people to live in such a big house! They might as well give her family a few rooms. She did not ask for much and would be happy to have just one section out of the four sections of the house.
She had been thinking about this for a long time, but she was too embarrassed to broach this topic when Xia Jun was around. Given that there was no one in charge at home today, she started to put on airs.
“Auntie Chen, please set the table. We’ll take a break.” Liu Fen came out of the kitchen rubbing her shoulders.
Although Auntie Chen was the family’s helper, she mostly just took care of Xia Jun and his meals. Xia Jun was an old man and he had a lighter diet, so his food needed to be made separately.
Everyone sat in the living hall and chatted.
“Xia Zhe is still the most capable among the kids of his generation,” Zhou Hua said flatteringly.
“That’s right. I also think Xiao Zhe is the most hardworking and capable!” Liu Fen did not know what Zhou Hua had in mind and simply agreed with what she said.
Xia Wen looked at Zhou Hua and smiled while Xia He did not reply as well. She knew that Third Aunt-in-law did not have a good heart and was a very nasty person. Qiao Mei also wondered why Zhou Hua’s attitude seemed to have changed after she came back from the kitchen.
