“Come take a seat and don’t tire yourself out,” Xia Mao said to Qiao Mei with a smile after he drank the soup.
The first time when Xia Mao saw Qiao Mei, he already felt that this child was very obedient and sensible. Others may say that Qiao Mei was a village girl who was not worthy of Xia Zhe, but he did not think so. A village girl had her own good points.
“What exactly is going on?” Xu Lan asked Xia Zhe.
“The Cao family’s side suddenly collapsed in the latter half of the night and I went over to take a look at what happened to their house. Then they came and said they wanted to stay over, but I didn’t let them in. After that, these people came to dig up the courtyard,” Xia Zhe said.
Zhou Hua drank the ginger soup in one gulp and looked at Xia Zhe with resentment as she whispered, “Now that the door is closed, tell us everything. Have you hidden everything well!”
Everyone stopped drinking. Xia Zhe looked at Zhou Hua expressionlessly and asked, “What do you mean by everything?”
“We’re all family. Why are you so petty? It’s not like I want anything from you. Just tell your third aunt-in-law the truth so that I can cover for you when the time comes,” Zhou Hua said.
If not for the fact that there were so many people outside, Xu Lan would have stood up and given her a tight slap to wake her up.
Xia Zhe ignored Zhou Hua and turned to remind Qiao Mei, “They’re coming in to search the house later. Just put all your things in your bag.”
Qiao Mei nodded. The calligraphy and painting which she had bought at the antique market, the jade jewelry and the bangle were all in her bag. There were also two bundles of money which she had brought with her to cater for emergencies.
There were also Qiao Mei’s personal items and underclothes. She wanted to make sure that these things would not get dirtied when they came in to rummage through the cabinets.
Qiao Mei put her bag to one side. Given that everyone had arrived at the house so early in the morning, she knew that all of them must not have eaten yet. Qiao Mei whispered to Xia Zhe, “I’ll go and prepare some food for everyone. They must be hungry since they came so early in the morning.”
Xia Zhe nodded and instructed, “Be careful then. If it’s too much work, I’ll go out and buy some. Don’t tire yourself out.”
Qiao Mei smiled and said, “It’s alright, I’m already well rested. I’ll go now!”
“Wait a minute!” Xia Zhe took out his jacket from the cabinet and put it on for Qiao Mei, buttoning it up properly.
“Don’t catch a chill.” Xia Zhe looked at Qiao Mei gently. The truth was that he was afraid the people outside would eye Qiao Mei covetously. Even though Qiao Mei was pregnant, she still had a good figure and had even grown more busty recently. He could not let others feast their eyes on such a sight.
Wearing Xia Zhe’s clothes, Qiao Mei looked like a child who had stolen an adult’s clothes. It did not fit her and looked big and loose. Xia Zhe patiently rolled up the sleeves for Qiao Mei until she could see her own hands.
“I’m off!” Qiao Mei happily ran to the kitchen to cook. Xia Zhe handed the bag to Xia He and said, “Sorry to trouble you, elder sister. I still have to go to the front to keep an eye on them.”
“Sure, leave it to me,” Xia He said.
Xia Fang looked at how Xia Zhe and Qiao Mei were behaving in a loving manner despite everything that was happening and knew that everything was alright. Xia Zhe must have made all the necessary arrangements.
Zhou Hua did not give up on her belief that there were things buried underground. She searched through every room and only went out unwillingly after confirming that there was nothing in the main house. The moment Section Chief Chu arrived at the house, she firmly believed that there must be something in this courtyard. Otherwise, there would not have been an investigation launched out of the blue.
Back then, Wu Min’s family was considered a wealthy family. She did not believe that they did not have anything left. Even if they had donated everything back then, it was impossible that they did not keep a few things.
All these years, she had been looking for the family’s valuable items, but she did not manage to find anything. It turned out that they were all hidden in this courtyard!
No wonder the old lady insisted on leaving this courtyard to Xia Zhe. After today, she must sit Xia Zhe down and ask him what was going on. If she could not get anything out of him, she would ask Xia Guang to come back and ask him!
They were all members of the Xia family, so they had to have a share of all these things! They were all the old lady’s biological children, so why should all these things be left to only one grandson, Xia Zhe? Were all her other grandchildren not her biological kin? Zhou Hua herself had even given birth to three boys for the Xia family! Even if this was not an achievement, she should still be rewarded for her efforts!
