509 Acting

Xia Zhe watched Qiao Mei’s every move. It seemed that Qiao Mei had only used a small part of her talent in the capital. This village was her true “small world”.

Everyone was fond of her and liked to help her. They would think about her whenever there was anything good and they would also help her family with the plowing. Her family members were mainly very young or very old, so they would help out whenever they could.

“Why are you looking at me?” Qiao Mei turned around and saw Xia Zhe staring straight at her with a smile.

“I just like to look at you,” Xia Zhe said.

Before Qiao Mei could say anything, they arrived at the door of her house. Xia Zhe got down from the vehicle and carried Qiao Mei down before removing everything from the vehicle one by one.

“Old mister, come in and have a seat! I’ll make you something delicious to eat!” Qiao Mei said warmly.

The old man quickly waved his hands and returned to the vehicle. “No, no. My wife is still waiting for me to go home for dinner. Remember to greet your grandfather on my behalf!”

“Alright! Old mister, be careful!” Qiao Mei said as she waved.

The old man chuckled as he drove away from Qiao Mei’s house. Qiao Qiang put on a shirt and slowly came out of the house. The moment he saw Qiao Mei, he thought that he was seeing things because of his old age.

He rubbed his eyes carefully and looked again. Qiao Mei was really back home!

“Mei Mei! Is it Mei Mei!” Qiao Qiang shouted as he hurriedly walked up to Qiao Mei.

When Qiao Mei saw Qiao Qiang, tears welled up in her eyes for some reason. She went forward agitatedly to hug Qiao Qiang and said, “Grandfather, I’m back!”

“Good! It’s good that you’re back. So good that you’re back.” Qiao Qiang stroked Qiao Mei’s head with trembling hands.

Qiao Qiang also saw Xia Zhe behind Qiao Mei and recalled that when they first met, he got him drunk together with Qiao Mei. It had taken him a lot of effort to carry the young man into the back room…

“Xia Zhe is back too,” Qiao Qiang said.

Xia Zhe stood up straight and saluted respectfully. He said loudly, “Yes! I’m back!”

“Goodness, this child. I’m an old man now and not a soldier anymore. Why are you giving me a military salute? Hurry up and enter the house,” Qiao Qiang said with a smile.

Xia Jun had previously instructed Xia Zhe to treat Qiao Qiang like his regiment commander. Although the old man was no longer a soldier, his glorious deeds were worthy of respect from everyone, especially the Xia family. Throughout all their generations, they must not forget that Qiao Qiang was their savior.

Qiao Mei took a glance at their private plot of land in the courtyard from the corner of her eye. Although it looked to have been cleaned up, she could still tell that it had been trampled on.

“Grandfather, did Qiao Zhuang’s family come here?” Qiao Mei asked.

“No such thing. Would they dare to come knocking on our door? I’ll break their legs!” Qiao Qiang said as he seemed to put up a front.

Qiao Mei went to the cabinet and took out the small box containing the ginseng and lingzhi. There seemed to be a few pieces less, but there was still too much left after two months’ worth of consumption.

“Did you also not eat these regularly?” Qiao Mei asked with a little bit of anger.

At this moment, Qiao Qiang lowered his head like a child who had made a mistake and said softly, “I’m not sick, so I don’t need to eat these things. I’ll eat them when I don’t feel well.”

Qiao Mei closed the box and threw it back on the cabinet forcefully. She also understood how the older generation thought, but if her grandfather did not take good care of his health, his illness would become more and more serious. She had to put on an “act”.

She wanted to make Qiao Qiang willing to soak the herbs in water and drink it every week so that she could feel more at ease.

Xia Zhe hurriedly went forward to hold on to Qiao Mei. She had only just been drenched not long ago and was still tired from the long journey for the past two days. She got so angry the moment she returned home. Given that she was pregnant, he could not let her mess around like this.

“Don’t be angry. Come and sit down.” Xia Zhe helped Qiao Mei to take a seat on the brick bed.

Tears started streaming down Qiao Mei’s face, scaring Qiao Qiang so much that he did not know what to do. He said in a panic, “I’ll eat it, I’ll definitely eat it. Mei Mei, don’t be angry and don’t cry. It’s not good for the baby.”

“Grandfather, you still know that it’s not good for the baby! Then why don’t you take care of your own health! Do you even eat three proper meals a day! Why haven’t you taken good care of yourself when I’m not at home,” Qiao Mei said as she wept.

Xia Zhe already could not tell if Qiao Mei was really angry or just scaring the elderly man. He quietly wiped her tears with a tissue.