802 Friendship Between Sisters-in-law
Back on the same bed after a long time away, she still felt a little different. She missed Xia Zhe very much. They had not contacted each other for a long time. The last time she spoke to him was when he first went back to the army unit.
She had heard that he was going on a very dangerous mission this time. This mission was confidential and no information could be revealed. She had not received any news about Xia Zhe for a long time and wondered if he was doing well.
Qiao Mei sighed deeply and thought that she should ask Xia Mao and the rest tomorrow if they had heard anything.
Without the chickens and ducks at home making noise in the morning, everyone woke up much later than usual. Li Gui was the first to get up and she swept up the fallen leaves in the courtyard and cleaned the windows. After doing this, she did not wander around for fear of causing any trouble.
“Mom… why are you up so early?” Qiao Mei walked out of the house leisurely.
“I’ve gotten used to it after so many years. Aren’t you going to sleep for a while more? Where’s the kitchen? I’m thinking about making some breakfast,” Li Gui asked carefully.
Qiao Mei waved her hand and said, “Mom, the entire courtyard house is ours. The front part belongs to Xia Zhe and the back part is the house we exchanged in return for my grandfather’s ginseng. The whole place is ours and the kitchen is in the room on the left after the main door. Let’s go out this morning to buy some groceries.”
Li Gui knew how valuable that ginseng was. Previously, Qiao Mei had told her that she wanted to use the money from selling the ginseng to buy a house. It was obvious that this courtyard house was worth a lot of money.
Qiao Mei first went to look at Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao. The two children were sleeping soundly and did not need anyone to help them into the wheelchairs yet.
She took the bamboo basket and wanted to go to the bun shop at the entrance of the alley to buy breakfast. As soon as she opened the door, she bumped into Xia He.
“What a coincidence. Where are you going?” Xia He asked with a smile.
“I’m going to buy breakfast. Have you eaten? Come in and eat with us,” Qiao Mei said.
Xia He lifted up the groceries that she was holding. There were two big bags full of meat and vegetables that were bought early in the morning. There were also all kinds of seasonings. It was Xu Lan who went out to buy all these.
She even specially instructed Xia He not to say that she had just bought it. She asked Xia He to just say that they had bought too much groceries yesterday and wanted to share it with Qiao Mei.
“Let’s go back in. I have brought so much groceries with me. These are all leftovers from yesterday. Mother asked me to send them over early in the morning. If I don’t do it, she’ll argue with me!” Xia He said resignedly.
Li Gui took the groceries from Xia He and said, “I’ll go and cook. You guys chat and the food will be ready in a while. You’re… Xia He, right? Stay for a meal.”
“Sure! Thank you, Auntie!” Xia He said with a smile.
Xia He held Qiao Mei’s hand and sat down on the rocking chair. She looked like she wanted to gossip with Qiao Mei about what happened at home last night. Her room was only one wall away from Xia Wen’s room, so she heard everything even if she did not want to.
However, Tan Jing really had gone overboard yesterday. If Xia Fang had not stopped her, she would have already taught Tan Jing a lesson on Qiao Mei’s behalf to vent her anger!
“Yesterday, Mother reprimanded eldest sister-in-law in the living room for a long time and even made her cry. Later on, Mother and Father had a meeting with eldest brother. After eldest brother returned to his room, the two of them quarreled again. It was really satisfying!” Xia He said.
“Eldest brother already apologized to me last night. I’m not taking anything to heart. I know how good he is to me,” Qiao Mei said.
Between both her sisters-in-law, Tan Jing and Qiao Mei, Xia He still preferred Qiao Mei. Tan Jing had married into the Xia family for so many years and never really got close to them. Qiao Mei had only joined them for half a year and was already well-liked by the entire family. Moreover, Qiao Mei had also helped her a lot with the matter of her divorce.
Qiao Mei did not persuade her to bear with the situation like everyone else. Instead, Qiao Mei wanted her to live an exciting life for herself. So what if she lost her relationship with Tan Jing? Having Qiao Mei as her sister-in-law was enough.
“It’s not easy for eldest brother either. It’s good that you understand,” Xia He said.
Qiao Mei went into the house and brought out a plate of seeds. She gently placed it on the stone table and said, “Don’t worry, this matter will at most be a conflict between eldest sister-in-law and me. It has nothing to do with eldest brother and I also won’t say anything to Xia Zhe. The relationship between the two brothers won’t be ruined because of the issue between eldest sister-in-law and me.”
