Xia Wen immediately asked, “Then is this ginseng root something rare and potent?”
Qiao Mei paused for a moment before saying, “I don’t know either. My grandfather just asked me to bring it along, so I did.”
Xia Wen looked at her and smiled without saying anything. He knew that this young girl was not telling the truth. She was someone who was able to recognize a 100-year-old ginseng, so this ginseng root must be something more valuable than a 100-year-old ginseng.
Xia Wen looked at Xia Zhe but did not speak.
“Are we going to sell this ginseng to He Ning?” Xu Lan asked as she pointed at the 20-year-old ginseng.
“We need to discuss it further.” Xia Mao brought all the men upstairs, and asked Qiao Mei along.
After all, this ginseng belonged to Qiao Mei and she also had the right to decide how to deal with it.
The eyes of all the women downstairs followed Qiao Mei up the stairs. Other than Eldest Aunt, no other women in the family had ever participated in family discussions held in the Xia family’s study.
Liu Fen was the only one who did not care. She had no interest in participating in such matters at all. She was a person who only wanted to take care of the family and to leave all other decisions to the men. She only wanted to look after household matters.
Now that it seemed like the issue was almost resolved, Liu Fen happily ran into the kitchen to cook.
“Xiao He! Come and help! There are too many people at home today and I can’t cope!” Liu Fen shouted.
Xia He looked at Liu Fen busying herself in the kitchen and smiled. Maybe it was not too bad to live a life like how Liu Fen did.
“Let’s just prepare the ingredients. Then when Qiao Mei comes down, she can do the cooking straight away. Let’s not waste the ingredients given that she makes such delicious food. It’s so rare that everyone is gathered together,” Xia He asked.
Liu Fen had tasted Qiao Mei’s cooking before. It was indeed more delicious than what the two of them could make. Moreover, Liu Fen’s cooking skills were on a level that was comparable to Xia He’s. The food she made could only be described as being edible.
“I just don’t know if the food is made by Qiao Mei or Xiao Zhe. You have to talk to your younger brother. How can a grown man enter the kitchen? Which other man in the Xia family helps out in the kitchen?” Liu Fen said as she held Xia He’s hand.
“Alright, Second Aunt-in-law, I’ll talk to him when I’m free,” Xia He said vaguely. Whether or not she talked to him later was another matter for another day.
Tan Jing sat in the living room and looked at the empty corridor in a daze. Everyone had gone out today to raise money to help the family. She was the only one who did nothing.
She had not managed to save much money herself. No, it could be said that she did not manage to save even a single cent. Every month, she had to ask Xia Wen for money to subsidize the expenses of her maternal family, and it had been like this for so many years. When she telephoned her maternal family today, they told her they did not have a single cent to spare.
When she first married into the family, she did not feel much pressure. She knew that the Xia family was a wealthy and prestigious family and they would not mind that she could not contribute much as her meager contributions would not make any difference to them. When Qiao Mei joined the family, she thought that Qiao Mei would be in the same situation as both of them came from humble backgrounds.
In the end, she did not expect Qiao Mei to be able to solve the Xia family’s problem singlehandedly.
When she saw the relaxed smile on Xia Wen’s face earlier, she found it especially glaring. Things were not supposed to be like this.
In the study, everyone kept quiet. Xia Wen helped Xia Jun to sit on a chair slowly.
Xia Jun looked at Qiao Mei kindly and asked, “Mei Mei, tell grandfather the truth. Tell me what you want. Whatever the He family can do for you, so can our Xia family.”
Qiao Mei had prepared all these ginsengs for Xia Zhe. Now that she was contributing them to share the family’s burden and solve their problem, they did not want to take this gesture for granted and wanted to treat her well.
Qiao Mei shook her head and said, “I’m thinking about going back to the village soon. I’ve been away for quite a long time and I want to go back to see my grandfather. In the future, I still have to stay at home and take care of the children. I want to keep an eye on the children when they are young, so I don’t really want to go out to work. As for money… I still have a lot of ginsengs back at home.”
All the men in the room fell silent.
Initially, they all thought that Xia Zhe had married a villager wife because he wanted a hardworking woman to take care of his family. They did not expect this girl to be actually richer than all of them…
Xia Jun nodded to indicate that he understood what Qiao Mei meant. He turned around and discussed with the rest about how to best use the ginseng.
It was definitely a worthy trade if it meant that they could use it to exchange for He Ning’s agreement not to cause trouble for them anymore.
He Ning was not a scary person, but he was very difficult to deal with and was willing to do things that would cause trouble for others. The Xia family members were dutiful people who only did what they needed to do and were unwilling to participate in other things. They preferred to have a peaceful and quiet life.
Although He Ning had not done anything that would rock the Xia family’s foundation, it was still very annoying to them.
