707 New Creation
The entire family sat in front of the sofa and helped with the knitting. They had thrown away all the things they bought for Qiao Mei earlier and now they had to prepare everything from scratch. Xu Lan did not find it troublesome and was even happy about it.
Liu Fen and Tan Jing still did not know about the truth of the matter and only went along with it to make Xu Lan happy.
“I bought all the best yarn! The children will definitely feel warm wearing them. I even asked someone to buy a lot of pure cotton fabric and found the best tailor in the capital to make clothes for them. There will be enough clothes to last them until they’re one year old!” Xu Lan said happily.
“Mother, this is too much. Back then, I used to wear my eldest brother’s clothes. Why are all these brand new?” Xia He said out of jealousy as she held the child’s clothes.
“How can you be unhappy when you’re the aunt. Consider our family’s situation back then, then look at us now. Now we can afford it. Say, you don’t know how to knit or sew clothes, yet you’re still being so picky here.” Xu Lan grabbed the clothes from Xia He’s hands in disdain.
Xia He knew that Xia Wen had told Xu Lan that Qiao Mei’s children were safe and sound. Initially, she thought that it was a good thing, but now it seemed that Xu Lan’s efforts were getting a little too out of hand.
“You can still get these things done in time when the time comes. First you renovate, then you make clothes. How much money have you spent?” Xia He asked.
Xu Lan had not tabulated it yet. She did a rough estimate and said, “The renovation works cost more than 2,000 dollars, and these clothes cost more than 1,000 dollars. I also found a local master to make a lot of furniture! Those are all good stuff made of solid wood and I haven’t paid yet. All in all, it should be about 4,000 dollars.”
Tan Jing paused her knitting. The amount of 4,000 dollars was not a small sum. Xu Lan did not seem to feel any heartache at all and even felt that these things were far from enough.
This was even more luxurious than when Qiao Mei married into the family. Tan Jing also did not even get such treatment when she married into the family.
Xia Wen also chimed in, “Do you think this is all Mother wants? She even asks me to find 100 families who have both a son and a daughter, and to ask them for a piece of cloth each to make a patchwork quilt for Qiao Mei! Moreover, these people must be from families with good backgrounds and have good moral standing.”
The so-called patchwork quilt was a quilt sewed with cloth from a hundred families. It was actually not difficult to make, but it was very difficult to find people with both a son and a daughter. There were not many people in the city now and everyone was worried that they would not be able to support so many children.
The reason why there were so many children in the countryside was because every child would be allocated land as well. Whoever had a bigger family would get more land, and naturally be better off than people with a smaller family.
However, it was not that easy to find people with both a son and a daughter in the city, let alone someone with a good family background and a good character.
“Aren’t you just making things difficult for my eldest brother? Where can he find them all?” Xia He complained.
“Nothing is unachievable in this world! Your brother has so many students in his school. Can’t he even gather 100 people?” Xu Lan said.
The fact was that Xia Wen had really succeeded in doing this task. He took out the 100 pieces of cloth from his bag and said, “Sigh, how can we not do what our mother asked us to do?”
Tan Jing and Xia Wen were working in the same school, but she did not hear anything about such an ostentatious thing that Xia Wen did. It seemed that the family had hidden this issue from her.
“I also made a few sets of maternity clothes for Qiao Mei and a cotton jacket suitable for a pregnant woman. Xiao Wen, send them to your sister-in-law when you leave later. Otherwise, it’s too inconvenient for me to bring them home,” Xu Lan instructed.
Xia Wen agreed with a smile. Suddenly, the phone rang. Xia Wen walked over and picked it up. “Hello? Who is this?”
“Hello, there’s someone at the gate who says that she’s a relative of yours. She says that she’s Qiao Mei’s youngest aunt,” the guard said.
For a moment, Xia Wen did not know where this Qiao Mei’s youngest aunt came from, but since she was already here, he had to take a look. He gave a simple reply and hung up.
“What’s wrong? Why do you look so serious?” Xia He looked at Xia Wen in confusion.
“Qiao Mei’s youngest aunt is here. Does she have a youngest aunt? Why don’t I remember such a person,” Xia Wen said thoughtfully.
They had already found out everything about everyone in Qiao Mei’s family much earlier. There was no mention of a youngest aunt. Even if there was, why would she come to their house?
“Let’s go take a look first. I’ll go with you.” Xia He held on to Xia Wen and left with him. She was curious about what this youngest aunt looked like as she had never heard Qiao Mei mention this person before.
