615 First Phone Call
He had thought that he would only write one or two lines, but he did not expect to have so many questions that he wanted to ask Xu Lan. The fact was that he was concerned about Xu Lan.
Xia Zhe took a deep breath and slowly pressed his home phone number. He waited uneasily for the other end to pick up.
“Beep, beep, beep…” On the fourth ring, someone picked up the phone.
“Hello? Who is it?” Xia Zhe did not expect Liu Fen to be the one to pick up the phone and his nervousness eased a little.
“Second Aunt-in-law, I’m Xia Zhe. How… has my mother been recently?” Xia Zhe asked hesitantly.
Liu Fen almost spun around in excitement. It seemed that Xia Fang had taken her words to heart!
“Xiao Zhe! Your mother hasn’t been in a good state recently and she doesn’t eat much. We have been trying to make her different kinds of food so she would eat, but she still doesn’t have much of an appetite. She’s already lost so much weight in a few days. If this continues, I’m afraid your mother won’t be able to carry on. I was also anxious, so I contacted your uncle. Don’t blame Second Aunt-in-law for being nosy,” Liu Fen said.
Xia Zhe understood why Liu Fen did what she did and he did not blame her. As Xu Lan’s son, he was unfilial and it had nothing to do with anyone else. He should be grateful to Liu Fen.
Otherwise, he would really regret it for the rest of his life if Xu Lan became so sick that she could not get out of bed.
“Second Aunt-in-law, I don’t blame you. When I get back, I still have to thank you properly for taking care of my mother. Then what is my mother doing now? Is it… is it convenient for her to talk to me?” Xia Zhe asked nervously.
He clutched the piece of paper so tightly in his hand that there were already signs of it tearing in some places.
“Yes! Yes! Wait a moment! I’ll go get her now!” Liu Fen hurriedly ran upstairs to wake Xu Lan up.
“Eldest sister-in-law! Wake up! Xiao Zhe has called home!”
“Wake up! Eldest sister-in-law! Don’t sleep anymore!”
At this moment, she could not care less about whether Xu Lan was sleeping soundly or not. It was so rare for Xia Zhe to call her, so she must not miss this opportunity!
Xu Lan slowly opened her eyes and frowned at Liu Fen. “What’s wrong?”
“Xiao Zhe! He called!” Liu Fen said happily as she pointed outside the door.
Xu Lan did not even bother to put on her slippers and rushed downstairs barefooted, almost falling down the stairs. Even though there were small stones on the floor that hurt her feet, she did not care about the pain.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, put on your slippers! Eldest Sister-in-law!” Liu Fen shouted behind her with the slippers.
She picked up the phone and shouted, “Hello! Son! Son! Are you still there! I’m your mother!”
Xia Zhe heard all of this over the phone and did not know what to say for a moment.
In his memories, Xu Lan had always maintained an elegant image. No matter what happened, she would not allow herself to lose her composure. This was also the reason why Xia Mao liked Xu Lan back then. It was because she was beautiful and dignified enough to be the eldest wife of the Xia family.
“Mother… it’s me… how… how have you been recently?” Xia Zhe was so nervous that his voice was trembling. He really did not know how to talk to Xu Lan.
This was the first time in so many years that mother and son chatted casually on the phone.
“I’m fine. Everything is fine at home. What about you? How are you?” Xu Lan said agitatedly.
“I have reached the army unit. There’s no problem now,” Xia Zhe said.
Xu Lan gripped the phone receiver tightly, not knowing how to ask Xia Zhe about Qiao Mei. She felt that she was the cause of everything that happened. If she had cared more about Qiao Mei, none of it would have happened. Now that Qiao Mei had lost her babies, she did not have the cheek to ask about how Qiao Mei was.
The two of them held on to their respective phone receivers without speaking. Liu Fen placed the slippers by Xu Lan’s feet for her to put them on and looked at her anxiously.
“Xia Zhe! Has Qiao Mei contacted you recently! Is she doing well! Do you have any recent news about her!” Liu Fen shouted towards Xu Lan.
Xu Lan also looked at her gratefully.
“I spoke to her on the phone yesterday. She said that she’s in good health now and that her grandfather and mother are taking good care of her, so you don’t have to worry. Qiao Mei even said that she doesn’t blame you. At that time, she was in a hurry to leave because she missed her grandfather. The methods of communication in their village are not very advanced and there will only be a postman going around to pick up the parcels at the end of the month. When the time comes, you’ll be able to get her letter,” Xia Zhe said with a smile.
