Qiao Mei rolled up her sleeves and wanted to go forward to deal with the roots of the cherry tree. When Xia Zhe saw this, he quickly stopped her and said, “Just tell me what to do. You can instruct me from the side.”
Now that it had started to rain again, Xia Zhe went into the house and took out the raincoat for Qiao Mei to wear. He was worried that Qiao Mei’s wrist would get tired if she had to hold an umbrella for a long time.
“It’s indeed difficult to do such work in my current clothes. I’ll rely on you then.” Qiao Mei instructed Xia Zhe on how to wrap up the roots of the cherry tree to prevent them from rotting. Otherwise, given the incessant flooding from both the rainwater and the groundwater, the roots would rot from being soaked in water for too long.
Actually, she was just putting on an act for everyone. Even if this tree died, she would be able to resurrect it. However, she had to make it believable. Otherwise, people would cast suspicions on her.
Zhou Hua sat at the side and looked at Qiao Mei with disdain. This young woman was shameless enough to be able to flirt with a man in front of so many people. She was not as decent as she looked!
After taking care of the cherry tree, Qiao Mei went to pack up the things in the house. They had just moved in for a few days and did not have anything valuable with them. She packed a few items of clothing for both of them and prepared to leave, but Zhou Hua continued to sit down motionlessly.
“Aren’t you leaving, Third Aunt-in-law?” Qiao Mei asked.
“I’ll help you look after the courtyard! Look, it’s so chaotic around here. There are all kinds of people here. I’ll help you look after the things here so they don’t get stolen,” Zhou Hua said.
“Third Aunt-in-law, there’s nothing valuable in this house,” Qiao Mei said.
Zhou Hua pointed at the beds and furniture in the house in exasperation and said, “You’re a child from the countryside after all! Don’t you know how to be thrifty! All the things in this house cost money! You’ve only been married for a few days and you’re already looking down on these things!”
Before Qiao Mei could get angry, she suddenly felt a tight grip over her hand. Xia Zhe had become angry.
“Third Aunt-in-law, there’s no need to waste your time waiting here. Whatever you want is not here. Even if it is, it’s not yours.” Xia Zhe looked at Zhou Hua with a vicious look.
What he said made Zhou Hua so angry that her eyes turned red.?She was the third daughter-in-law of the Xia family! She had officially married into the family! She had given birth to three grandsons for the Xia family!
Why was it that the things passed down in the family could not be given to the third son of the family but were all taken over by the eldest son’s family! They had already taken the house, did they have to take all these things as well!
“You’d better speak louder too. He Ning’s cronies haven’t left yet. You’d better let them all know that there’s something under the ground. When the time comes, let the He family come and tear down this house. If the Xia family gets implicated, Third Uncle’s life will become even more difficult and I hope you’ll be happy then!” Xia Zhe said.
Zhou Hua was overjoyed! It seemed that there was really something in this courtyard!
However, why was this matter related to the He family? What did Xia Zhe do to offend the He family?
“What did you do to offend the He family?! Why did you offend him for no reason?! The He family is not to be trifled with! What if you implicate your third uncle?!” Zhou Hua complained as she looked at Xia Zhe.
The He family was the one who started all the trouble, but the Xia family members did not tell their womenfolk about it. This was all political and military strife. The women stayed at home all day and did not work or have any social circles. They just stayed at home obediently, so there were many things that they did not know.
Xu Lan would occasionally hear Xia Mao talk about his family matters. After all, she still had some connections in the military art troupe and might be able to help. Liu Fen did not care about these things at all. What she cared about was Xia Yao’s safety and whether her whole family was doing well. She would not even bother to listen to anything else even if someone wanted to tell her.
As for Zhou Hua, they deliberately kept everything from her. Zhou Hua was very easily deceived and misled. If she knew about all these family matters, everyone on the streets would know about whatever was happening in the Xia family the next day.
Sometimes, Xia Jun regretted not being stricter about his sons’ marriages. The Xia family had allowed their children to fall in love freely and marry whoever they liked without any restrictions. However, this freedom had now become a “hidden danger” for the Xia family.
