1222 Stranger
“Everyone, let’s head inside. It’s cold outside. We can talk inside the house,” Qiao Mei said with a gentle smile.

Qiao Mei then caught sight of a stranger at the back of the crowd. She looked at Xia Zhe curiously. He frowned and seemed a little lost for words.

That person was Zhou Hua’s older sister, Zhou Luo. As Zhou Hua was never fond of her own three sons, the three children had been placed in Zhou Luo’s care since they were young. Zhou Luo was the person whom the three children were the closest to. She was more like their biological mother than Zhou Hua!

The Xia family had always been very polite to Zhou Luo. After all, without her, the three grandchildren from the third son’s family would probably have all starved to death. It was all thanks to Zhou Luo’s attentive care that the children were able to grow up well and healthy.

After Zhou Hua and Xia Guang divorced, Zhou Luo felt very unhappy. After all, Zhou Hua was her younger sister. Even if Zhou Hua had done something wrong, her marriage to Xia Guang should not have ended in divorce. Did the Xia family think that they could bully the Zhou family? It was uncommon to hear of a wife being divorced by her husband just because she did something wrong. There would always be difficulties in life and a couple was supposed to go through it all together.

“Auntie Zhou, you’re here today too,” Xia Zhe said.

“Why? Am I not welcome?” Zhou Luo asked unhappily.

“Of course we welcome you, how can we not? We just don’t know that you’re coming. Xiao Xing didn’t tell us in advance either. Come on in.” Xia Wen quickly brought Zhou Luo into the living room. As he walked, he gave Xia Zhe a look as a reminder to stay calm.

Even if Xia Jun was here, he also had to show Zhou Luo some respect. If they made Zhou Luo upset today, then Xia Xing and his two brothers would become completely alienated from the Xia family. For the sake of the overall situation, they must be hospitable to Zhou Luo.
“Who is this? Why do both of you have the same expression?” Qiao Mei whispered into Xia Zhe’s ear.

Xia Zhe told Qiao Mei the whole story and she quickly had an idea of what it all meant. It seemed that she would not be able to have a comfortable meal today.

“Elder sister, I think we won’t be able to execute our plan,” Xia You whispered to Xia Wan as they walked on.

Xia Wan hurriedly pulled Xia You to a corner and said, “You’d better stop it! Don’t you see how concerned Xia Zhe is about Qiao Mei? At first, I’m curious about how a village girl is able to chase Third Aunt-in-law away. Now that I’ve seen her, it seems that she’s indeed not a simple person. Since Auntie Zhou is here, it has nothing to do with us now. Just sit back and watch the show.”

“I had wanted to tease her! But I never expect her to be such a beautiful woman. I can’t bear to do it to her!” Xia You said as she pouted.

“We’d better talk less and help out more today. Let’s go and help Mom and Eldest Aunt-in-law. I hear that they don’t have a helper at home now. They must be very busy today,” Xia Wan said.

The kitchen was bustling with activity, but it was not Xu Lan and Liu Fen who were cooking. It was Li Gui and Xia He.

Ever since Xia He started learning how to cook, she helped out at every occasion where there was cooking involved. She did not care if the food she made tasted good or not, so long as it was edible! She just needed to make sure it did not poison people to death.

By now, she knew how to make many types of dishes and her cooking had also improved a lot. Xia He’s purpose in learning how to cook was not to please her future in-laws. She simply liked to cook. When she moved out to live on her own in the future, she would be able to cook for herself at home and be able to save more money to pay for the house.

Although Xia He was not as fast as Li Gui when it came to cooking, she was very proficient with a knife. She was able to chop the ingredients neatly and into pieces of almost equal thickness. She was also very quick and nimble, which made her a very good assistant in the kitchen.

“Mom, your cooking smells so good!” Qiao Mei said as she leaned against the kitchen door.

Li Gui smiled and said, “How can my cooking be as delicious as yours? Do you want to show off your skills later?”

Qiao Mei shook her head forcefully. She was dressed so nicely today. It would be difficult to wash off the oil stains if she got the dress dirty into the kitchen. This was a dress which took her a lot of effort to make and she must take good care of it.

“You’d better go out now. It’s oily and smoky here. If you breathe too much fumes, you may get a headache later!” Xia He said in all seriousness.

She spoke with the tone of voice of an experienced mother who had given birth to many children before and it made Qiao Mei laugh out loud. Xia He had been hanging out with Li Gui for so long that she was starting to resemble Li Gui in her mannerisms.