688 Owing Too Much
“Elder sister, don’t worry. I’ve also learned how to cook now. The food that Zhang Qin and I make is delicious!” Zhang Wei said with a smile.
Qiao Mei nodded gratifyingly and said, “You can take whatever you want from the storeroom, including meat. I’ll put a notebook and a basket inside for you. Although you can take whatever you want, you have to note it down and use your results to offset it. What do you think?”
It was a small matter for Zhang Qin, but Zhang Wei’s results were the worst among his siblings. He also had the worst comprehension ability. If he had to pay for stuff with his results, he might as well do manual labor.
“Elder sister… how am I going to pay for it…” Zhang Wei asked nervously.
“It’s only counted when you take an exam. If you do better than usual, you’ll be rewarded. If you do badly, you’ll be punished. When the time comes, I’ll write it down in the notebook. Then you can do the math yourselves,” Qiao Mei said.
Zhang Wei gritted his teeth and agreed. It was just an exam! It would not be a problem for him!
Moreover, Chen Hu had also told him that if his results were not good, he would not be able to join their team. He had to be developed in all aspects to be able to join them.
“Alright, you guys can go to the storeroom. Take whatever you want to eat. I’ll teach you how to cook later,” Qiao Mei said.
The children left the house happily. At this moment, Li Gui slowly walked out of the house with her jacket draped over her shoulders. She stood beside Qiao Mei, not knowing what to say.
She held onto a pillar and slowly sat opposite Qiao Mei. She took out more than 30 dollars from her pocket and placed it on the table. “Early this morning, Hai Hua came to look for me with the money that they managed to find. I had already cut ties with my mother. I heard that my second brother had also left and gone back.”
Qiao Mei remained indifferent and continued to sit there looking at Li Gui coldly. She had long expected such an outcome, but it was a pity that Li Gui did not believe her at all.
“Mei Mei… I know I made a mistake this time. And it’s a huge mistake. Can you stop being angry with me?” Li Gui pleaded.
Qiao Mei turned her head to the side and said softly, “What’s the use of me being angry? In the end, I’m the sinner who stopped you from doing what you want. I should go along with everything you want so that you can be happy.”
“No, no, no! It’s not like that! The fact is that I didn’t believe what you said. If I had believed you, I wouldn’t have ended up like this. It’s all my fault! I shouldn’t have pitied them. I brought this upon myself! I deserve it!” Li Gui reached out to slap herself.
Qiao Mei stopped her immediately. How could a daughter watch her mother being hit, even if it was her mother hitting herself.
“It’s good that you know your mistake. There’s no need to hit yourself like this. If you have the strength to hit someone, you should make use of it to recuperate well,” Qiao Mei said.
Li Gui nodded repeatedly. She knew that she owed this eldest daughter of hers too much. She had now completely seen through Old Madam Li’s character. From now on, she would no longer care about Old Madam Li.
She only wanted to take good care of her children and let them live out their lives in peace. Nothing else was important.
“Keep this money,” Li Gui said as she pushed the money in front of Qiao Mei.
Qiao Mei took a few glances before stuffing it back into Li Gui’s hand, saying, “Forget about this. You still have to buy medicine for Zhang Miao next month. Use it to buy the medicine.”
Li Gui also knew that without this sum of money, Zhang Miao would still face the situation of running out of medicine next month. She would take it that she borrowed this money from Qiao Me and put it down in her notebook. When she had money, she would pay Qiao Mei back.
Qiao Mei helped Li Gui back into the house and then secretly walked towards the back mountain behind the house. Back then, she had taken all the ginseng on the mountain with her, leaving behind only the low-grade ones. This time, she had to secretly plant a few more ginsengs. Otherwise, the truth would be exposed when Qiao Qiang went into the mountain to search tomorrow.
Qiao Mei chose to first go and see if the cave she camouflaged had been discovered. The grass in front of the cave was still very lush and looked better than before.
It was probably related to the 1,000-year-old ginseng she had left behind. She did not expect that growing good quality ginseng could also change the nutrition of the surrounding soil.
In the future, she would use this cave specially to cultivate ginseng. When the time came, it would not be a problem to cultivate ginseng that was more than 10,000 years old.
