1467 Acknowledging Someone Else as Mother
“How rude. They don’t even know how to greet their elders when they reach! Hasn’t their family taught them anything? They’re so badly brought up,” Zhou Luo shouted in Qiao Mei’s direction.

Li Gui, Zhang Wei and Zhang Chao looked a little displeased. Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao were still young and did not understand what Zhou Luo meant. They did not even know who Zhou Luo was talking about. Qian’e was busy taking care of the two younger children and did not hear what Zhou Luo said.

Xu Lan held Li Gui’s hand to indicate that she need not care about what she heard. The two of them chatted about the four children’s future and also about whether they saw any fashionable clothes recently. They pretended that Zhou Luo had not said anything.

Qiao Mei was about to greet Zhou Hua and Zhou Luo when Xia You hurriedly grabbed Qiao Mei’s hand to stop her. After that, she shouted in Zhou Luo’s direction, “Huh? What elders! Aren’t all our family members sitting here? Why are there still other elders! Oh my, isn’t this Auntie Zhou? Auntie Zhou, you like my elder sister so much that you even bought tickets to her show! Why didn’t you tell us? We could have sent you a few tickets.”

The fact was that Zhou Luo did not buy the tickets. She was occupying one of the seats belonging to the Xia family’s third son’s family. It was the same for Zhou Hua.

“I won’t even accept a free ticket to such a performance! Why would I even spend money on it!” Zhou Luo said angrily.

“Then why are you here with the free ticket?” Xia You asked as she looked at Zhou Luo mockingly.

Zhou Luo was so angry that her whole face turned red and she could not speak for a long time. In the entire Xia family, Zhou Luo hated Xia You the most. Every time she ran into Xia You, nothing good would happen. Xia You would always think of all kinds of ways to bully her.

“Auntie Zhou, why are you free today?” Qiao Mei asked gently.

“I’m free every day!” Zhou Luo replied sulkily.

Qiao Mei did not argue with Zhou Luo. Once they had spoken to each other, it meant that she had already greeted them. There was no longer any basis for Zhou Luo to say that she did not respect her elders.

People like Zhou Luo were attention seekers. She would stop fussing around once she felt satisfied.

“Why aren’t you at home taking care of the children? Why are you here? The children are still so young and you just leave them at home. How can you call yourself a mother!” Zhou Luo looked at Qiao Mei and said accusingly.

Qiao Mei looked back coldly. She could ignore anything that was said about her, but she could not accept others passing comments about her children.

“I have two helpers taking care of the children, so nothing will happen to them. I hear that Xia Xing is working very hard now. Not long ago, his superior even put him in charge of many projects. Brother Xing is doing well,” Qiao Mei said.

“That’s true. They even say that our Xia Xing is a promising talent!” Zhou Hua said, feeling gratified.

Ever since Zhou Hua got divorced, she was a lot more restrained than previously. She was probably worried that she would not have anyone to rely on in her old age, so she was much more concerned about her three children than before. In particular, after what happened to Xia Xing, Zhou Hua was especially concerned about the children’s feelings.

Zhou Luo immediately said, “Helper? A helper is surely not as good as the children’s own mother. Is your helper the mother of your children? Don’t say that I didn’t warn you. My neighbor hired a nanny to take care of their child. The nanny taught the child to address her as mother and doesn’t allow the child to acknowledge her real mother. I hope your children won’t acknowledge someone else as their mother.”

Qiao Mei said nonchalantly, “Really? Then how do Xia Lu and Xia Yan address you?”

“You! They… of course they call me Eldest Aunt!” Zhou Luo did not know what to say for a moment. Zhou Hua also looked at her with a complicated expression.

Back then, after Zhou Hua gave birth, she let Zhou Luo take care of them. In front of Zhou Hua, the children addressed Zhou Luo as their eldest aunt, but Zhou Hua would not know what went on behind her back. Could it be that the story which Zhou Luo just told actually referred to Zhou Hua and her children?

“I don’t understand why, but after Shao Yin left, our Brother Xing seems to be doing exceptionally well. It’s like what happened in the past. He suddenly can’t do well at work when he had been doing well for so long. What exactly is going on?” Xia You asked as she pretended to be curious. Qiao Mei covered her face and smiled. This girl really had many tricks up her sleeve.

Zhou Luo was the one who introduced Shao Yin to Xia Xing. Back then, Zhou Luo had sung such high praises of Shao Yin, but in the end, Shao Yin turned out to be such an indecisive woman who even wanted to seduce Xia Wen.

It was so fortunate that Qiao Mei had exposed the Shao family’s evil scheme at that time. Otherwise, Xia Xing would forever be a cuckold!