Qiao Mei pushed hard on the door of Xia Mao’s house and realized that the Xia family’s main door was double-layered. The outer door was locked once it was closed. One needed a password even to open it from the inside. Unless she had a key or a password, she was unable to open this door.
“Forget it, we can talk about it tonight,” Qiao Mei said with a sigh.
From what she could hear from the phone conversation just now, it seemed that everyone would get together that night to see how much money they had managed to pool together. The Xia family members were either political officials or soldiers, and their salaries were not high. They were not able to save much from their salaries and depended on subsidies to help out with their expenses.
The Xia family received a lot of subsidies and did not need to spend money on food and clothing at home. This was how they managed to have more savings than other families. Nowadays, ordinary families with only a few hundred dollars in savings could be considered to be rich.
Liu Fen’s maternal family was from the countryside and they were self-sufficient by growing their own food. Qiao Mei did not know how much savings they could have and thought that they probably would not be able to help much.
Qiao Mei still had a small 20-year-old wild ginseng she brought along to cater to emergency situations. She had no idea about the prices of goods and houses in the capital and was worried that a 100-year-old ginseng might not be enough to exchange for a house. That was why she had hidden one more ginseng in the compartment of her bag in case of any emergency.
Xia Zhe did not even know about these things. He did not have the habit of going through her bag.
Actually, there was something even better in her bag. It was meant to save Xia Zhe’s life back then, but it was something a little too extreme. If she took it out, it would probably shock the entire country…
At this moment, Qiao Mei suddenly heard someone ringing the doorbell. She opened the inner door and saw an unfamiliar man through the glass of the outer door. However, she felt that he looked a little familiar.
“Hello, who are you looking for?” Qiao Mei asked politely with a smile.
The stranger was clearly stunned for a moment before he quickly sized Qiao Mei up. He smiled faintly and said, “Are you Miss Qiao Mei? I’m here to look for you.”
“Looking for me? Then who are you?” Qiao Mei looked at the man in puzzlement.
This was the first time someone had come to the Xia family’s house to look for her. She had no relatives or friends in the capital, so she did not expect someone to come looking for her.
“My surname is He. I’m He Ning,” He Ning said.
It took Qiao Mei by surprise. So this was He Ning. No wonder he looked so familiar. She had seen him from afar when she went to the nursery to absorb the ginseng energy.
“So you’re He Ning,” Qiao Mei said.
Qiao Mei also sized him up. He was in his late twenties and tall with fair skin. He stood very straight but he was very thin. She did not expect a ruthless person like He Ning to look so gentle and refined.
“Why? You don’t believe me?” He Ning asked.
“No.” Qiao Mei just wondered how such a person could actually seem to have a similar temperament to Xia Wen. However, when she conversed with Xia Wen, it felt like there was a spring breeze blowing on her, while this man was just unfathomable.
“In that case, can you let me in to talk?” He Ning said with a smile.
Qiao Mei shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, but you can’t. There are no other men in the house now, so it’s not convenient for you to come in. If you have anything to say, you can say it here. Or you can come another day.”
During this era, men and women still kept a distance from one another as it was not in line with societal norms to get too close. Qiao Mei’s answer was not inappropriate at all.
“Alright,” He Ning said helplessly.
He Ning knew that Qiao Mei was telling the truth. After all, he had used all kinds of excuses to divert away all the occupants of the house. Otherwise, he would not have been able to pay her this visit.
“It’s like this. I’m not in good health and need ginseng to save my life. I heard that you still have a 100-year-old ginseng? I wonder what it would take for you to sell it, Miss Qiao. I’m willing to pay any price, just name it,” He Ning said.
It was now that Qiao Mei understood what Xia Zhe meant. He Ning was indeed an unpredictable person who did things decisively and according to his own whim and fancy. Not long ago, he had framed the Xia family and almost killed them. Now, he was openly coming by to buy ginseng.
It looked as if He Ning had been in very poor health for the past two days. After she had drained all the energy from all the plants and medicinal herbs in his house, it seemed to have made his life very difficult.
Qiao Mei held back her laughter and looked at He Ning politely without saying anything.
Then, Qiao Mei pretended to look at He Ning in confusion and said, “Oh? Didn’t the Cao family give you the ginseng?”
At the mention of this, He Ning’s head hurt even more. He was really too embarrassed to say it out loud that he had wasted such good ginseng. He found it to be a great humiliation and a reckless waste of natural resources.
