The other womenfolk of the Xia family were also in the house. Her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt-in-law and Xia Zhe’s elder sister were all there. He did not expect that she, the youngest among them, would be the one to negotiate with him.
He could see that Xu Lan and Liu Fen both wanted to say something, but could not find a way to take part in the conversation. Qiao Mei handled this matter in a manner that was neither servile nor overbearing, and with a sense of propriety. They could not find any fault with how she handled him and their help was not needed at all.
This was what a daughter-in-law of an aristocratic family should be like. Even He Mei had not learned the tiniest bit from him after learning from him for a few years.
He Ning was now even more determined to break the couple up. If Qiao Mei stayed in the Xia family, the family would go from strength to strength very soon and there would be no place for the He family in the future.
After everything was settled, He Ning left. Actually, He Ning did not want to leave. He could smell something cooking in the kitchen. The Xia family must be making supper.
“What are you having for supper?” He Ning asked.
His words stunned everyone in the room. Qiao Mei had never seen such a thick-skinned person.
“Whatever we’re eating tonight has nothing to do with Mr. He. This is our private matter.” Qiao Mei pointed at the door and said, “Take care, Mr. He. It’s not convenient for us, so we won’t be sending you off.”
In her other life, Qiao Mei was quite a charming woman and there were many men who tried to woo her. Therefore, she was very skilled at rejecting people. If the other party had the cheek to ask for something, she also had the cheek to reject him heartlessly.
He Ning was also stunned. This was the first time in decades that someone did not give in to his whims.
“Alright then. Goodbye.” He Ning left the Xia family regretfully.
The other party had already rejected him forcefully. It would be too shameless for him to insist on staying. Moreover, there were only women in the house and it would not be good if word got out.
“Wait a minute! Mr. He!” Qiao Mei shouted as she looked at his retreating back.
He Ning thought that Qiao Mei had felt that her words were too harsh and that she had offended him, and so she wanted to ask him to join them for supper.
“Are you still eating fish tonight? Or did you make a new dish?” He Ning immediately turned around and looked at Qiao Mei with a wide smile.
The speed at which he changed his expression even stunned his attendant.
“No… I just want to say that I’ll give you all the flowers upstairs as well,” Qiao Mei said.
Qiao Mei did feel a little sorry, but not about rejecting his request for supper. Instead, she felt uneasy about exchanging so many food stamps for only 10 pots of ordinary flowers and plants.
Furthermore, if He Ning returned home and then concluded that the smell he wanted did not come from the flowers on the first floor, he might return to ask for the flowers and plants on the second floor. She might as well give him all the flowers now, rather than run the risk of that happening.
He Ning looked at Qiao Mei in disappointment and asked his attendant to deal with the flowers while he returned to the car. He did not expect Qiao Mei to really reject him.
Qiao Mei asked He Ning’s attendant to wait downstairs while she and Xia He went to the second floor to bring down the flowers and plants.
Xia He was already starting to be full of admiration for Qiao Mei. Due to He Ning’s reputation, she did not really dare to deal with him. Although they were around the same age, she could not deal with He Ning the way that Xia Wen did.
She felt as if they were not on the same level. If He Ning had told her that he wanted to stay for supper, she would not have dared to refuse. She did not expect Qiao Mei to be so unrelenting.
There were only three pots of flowers upstairs which were similar to the flowers downstairs. There were some peonies and jasmine and there was nothing special about them.
Qiao Mei had not taken any “special care” of these flowers in the Xia family’s house. Perhaps the energy that Qiao Mei unintentionally emitted had been absorbed by these flowers and plants, so they bloomed well. However, they only looked a little better than flowers everywhere else and did not have any special powers.
Qiao Mei did not feel any pinch in giving them away. If Xu Lan wanted to grow flowers, she would go and buy a few pots of nice ones for her.
After the flowers were given away, the Xia family’s house quieted down. Everyone was tired after a long day. It was all because she would rather have dimes than banknotes. There were so many that the truck almost could not hold all the coins.
Could it be that Qiao Mei wanted to use the dimes to buy candy and ice cream?
Then there were also so many food stamps. Although they would have a little advantage by exchanging local food stamps for national food stamps, was the Xia family lacking these food stamps worth a few hundred catties?
Could it be that she really planned to use the bags of food stamps as burning materials!
Qiao Mei was unable to explain these things to them and just moved everything into her room. She stood at the door and looked at the room that was filled with sacks of food stamps and money. These things would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the future.
Just thinking about it made her very happy.
Let’s eat braised pork tonight! It’s a reward for everyone!
