Chapter 18 18 Check-in

As the saying goes, every autumn rain brings a chill.

The autumn rain that fell after the quarrel with Xia Tang was even colder.

Although the rain was not heavy.

But in this cool autumn in the south, the chill brought by the drizzle cannot be underestimated.

Walking back with an empty stomach, coupled with the cool breeze blowing sideways and the annoying autumn rain, Xia Lulu felt as if her whole body had been soaked in cold water, and she felt uncomfortable all over.

And when she thought about the reason why she was hungry, she wanted to pull Xia Tang in front of her and scold him severely.

Just now, after quarreling with Xia Tang, she watched Xia Tang and Qin Yue enter the cinema.

Tsk, isn't it just watching a movie? What's so great about it!

She was making up bad words in her mind and turned to ask Li Meifeng:

"Sister Meifeng, where are we going to eat?"

When they just came out, Li Meifeng promised her to take her to eat the newly opened wonton shop in the market.

The hot wontons are full of meat. Liu Mei doesn’t know how to make them, but she loves them the most.

But she didn't expect that Li Meifeng, who had been very accommodating to her in the past few days, would stare at her for a long time.

After a while, she asked:

"Lulu, are those things Xia Tang just said true?"

Everything... is true!

Xia Tang just said it casually, did she really believe it?

In other words, even if Liu Mei treats Xia Tang badly, so what?

She's just a niece. Do you really think you can be treated like a biological daughter?

She ate and drank at their house, and the bill hasn't been settled yet!

Xia Lulu was unhappy and scolded Li Meifeng:

"Don't listen to Xia Tang's nonsense. She is a person who always talks nonsense."

After saying that, he started to complain about Xia Tang again.

She thought Li Meifeng could hear her.

In fact, Li Meifeng did not refute or ask any further questions.

But when she suggested eating wontons, Li Meifeng said:

"Why don't you go home and eat? I...remembered that I have something to do at home."

After saying that, he ignored her and pushed the cart away.

Thinking of this, Xia Lulu couldn't help but blame Li Meifeng in her heart.

She blamed her for believing whatever others said and for not treating her to some hotpot.

I even complained that she was like a gourd with a sawed mouth, refusing to say anything.

"With that kind of personality, who can stand you? If it weren't for your family conditions, my brother wouldn't marry you!"

Xia Lulu muttered this to herself and pushed the door open with force.

"Mom, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

The light was on in the room, and there were several figures under the light. It looked like it was time to eat.

Xia Lulu felt as if a spring of water was growing in her mouth, so she swallowed hard and walked over quickly.

But, unexpectedly, there was nothing on the table.

Xia Dashan sat on a bamboo chair and picked up a large enamel pot to drink tea.

Xia Dong found a book from somewhere and read it under the light bulb.

Liu Mei was holding the last plate of leftovers that she was about to take off the table. When she saw Xia Lulu coming in, she waved:

"You're finally back, girl. Why don't you come and help mommy wash the dishes?"

"What?"

Xia Lulu couldn't help but frown.

"Mom, I haven't eaten yet! You...didn't you leave any for me?"

She looked at the empty table. There were some gnawed corn cobs and hulled edamame on it, but nothing else.

"Why should I leave food for you? Don't you always stay away from home to eat? Why should I leave food for you?"

Sister Liu urged impatiently,

"Come over and wash the dishes! You are the one who runs around all day long. I, your mother, do this and that every day. My waist is almost broken from exhaustion!"

Xia Lulu was so angry that she almost died.

The resentment and grievance that I had not vented just now finally couldn't be held back.

"You don't even leave me food! And you're still making me work!"

"Isn't Xia Dong also at home? Why can't you let him do it?"

When Liu Mei heard this, she also got angry and glared at Xia Lulu and said:

"Why should Xia Dong do this? Isn't he tired from working every day?"

"What have you done for the family? You never bring back a penny and you never work! I am so unlucky to have given birth to such a stupid girl like you!"

"Yes! I'm just a dead girl with no job!"

Xia Lulu retorted without showing any weakness.

"Xia Dong has a job, but why does he have a job? We are both successors, so why can't you let me take over my dad's job?"

"You just dislike me because I'm a girl and are biased against me!"

"You little bastard... I'm going to break your legs!"

Liu Mei never expected that despite her busy schedule, her own daughter not only did not feel sorry for her, but instead accused her of being partial.

He was so angry that he picked up the broom beside him and chased after him.

How could Xia Lulu let herself be beaten, so she quickly ran to the yard.

The mother and daughter were running and chasing each other, making the whole house full of smoke and excitement.

No matter how much they made noise, Xia Dong just sat there reading a book without moving.

Xia Dashan ignored it at first, but when he saw that things were really getting noisy, he couldn't help but frown:

"What are you all arguing about! Stop it!"

However, both mother and daughter were filled with anger and could not stop fighting.

Just when the noise was getting out of hand, there were two knocks on the slanting door.

A man and a woman walked in from outside, one elegant, the other wealthy:

"Hello, is this the Xia family's house?"

The yard suddenly became quiet.

Liu Mei reacted immediately.

She was the closest and could tell at a glance that these two were not ordinary workers.

She glanced at the broom in her hand, put it down quickly, and walked forward with a smile on her face:

“It’s right here.”

"You are..."

"oh."

The leading man held out his hand to her, his voice carrying a distinct foreign accent.

"Hello, my name is Su Zhaoyang, and I'm the new inspection clerk in the factory."

When they heard that it was the discipline inspection secretary, several people couldn't help but stand up.

Xia Dashan smiled and was about to step forward to ask what the purpose of the visit was when he heard Secretary Su say:

"I heard from my colleagues in the logistics department that the Xia family's house would be allocated to me, so I came to take a look in advance."

The smile on Xia Dashan's face froze on the spot.

Not only him, but several other people were also frozen on the spot.

After a while, I heard Liu Mei's stiff voice:

"Secretary Su...what did you say?"

"Collect the house!"

Secretary Su's attitude was very peaceful, but he could not help but act a bit like an official when talking to the workers:

"I heard that you are staying in this house temporarily. But it doesn't matter. My family won't be here for another week. You can take your time to pack your things. If you don't have time, ..."

"Hey! Hey! Comrade! What's wrong with you? Don't fall down!"

*

The drizzle on the previous day did not prevent it from being a sunny day the next day.

However, it is autumn after all.

The originally bright yellow sun, in the autumn, seems to have a layer of duck egg membrane and is no longer so bright.

Moreover, nowadays, no matter how bright the sun is, it feels cold when it shines on the Xia family.

Xia Dashan didn't sleep all night.

Ever since Secretary Su and his wife left, he sat in the yard and smoked all night long.

However, hearing Liu Mei's sobbing voice in my ears, even though I was smoking, I felt a blockage in my heart.

“Stop crying!”

Even now, sobbing sounds can still be heard from inside the house.

Xia Dashan was so annoyed that he turned around and yelled. His voice was indeed much quieter, but then Liu Mei's hoarse and unpleasant voice came.

"You must have thought of a way to stop me from crying..."

"Now... my house is about to be taken away... what should I do..."

Xia Dashan closed his eyes, threw the cigarette butt to the ground, and stepped on it with his foot.

The cigarette butt that was flashing red just now was reduced to a wisp of green smoke in an instant, but the fire in my heart could not be extinguished no matter how hard I tried.

Xia Dong also got up early today, came out with messy hair, and sat down next to him:

"Dad, if this house is taken away, where will Li Meifeng and I live in the future?"

He was thinking of something more practical.

He was thinking about himself.

However, as the only male in the family, Xia Dong was thinking about the most important things of the entire Xia family.

Thinking of this, Xia Dashan couldn't help but hate Xia Tang even more.

Although Secretary Su said it well yesterday, saying that this matter had nothing to do with Xia Tang and was a policy decision in the factory.

However, the house was signed in the name of her parents. Could the factory take it away without her permission?

Xia Dashan is not stupid.

Looking at his son's haggard face, Xia Dashan sighed.

Then he stood up and walked towards the door as if he had made a decision.

But when he walked, he dragged his legs and his steps were very heavy.

Xia Dong also stood up:

"Dad, what are you going to do?"

Xia Dashan didn't even turn his head, his back was bent and hunched due to the pressure:

"I'm going to the factory to find Xia Tang!"

*

At this time, Xia Tang knew nothing about the changes in the Xia family.

She was prepared for Xia Dashan to come to her again.

But she didn't know when the factory would be cleared away or when Xia Dashan would come to look for her.

At this moment, she was in the market, shopping at the morning market.

Generally speaking, the things at the morning market are the freshest.

Now that the policy has changed, farmers in the suburbs will also transport all kinds of crops picked from the mountains to sell, and there is a wide variety of them.

And in Yuncheng, you can buy even more at the morning market.

The whirring yellow ant eggs, the freshly scraped olive bark, the bright red plums, the thorny cucumbers, the snails just picked out of the pond, and all kinds of different mushrooms...

All kinds of strange and exotic fruits and vegetables piled together are really eye-opening.

After having a simple bamboo tube rice at a stall in the morning, Qin Yue went to the new house to clean up, and Xia Tang came to the morning market alone.

She was going to invite Gu Yan and Chen Minzhi to dinner in her new house today, so it was inevitable that she would be more picky.

She had just bought some local pork ribs and a piece of pork belly from a farmer, and happened to see a pile of mint leaves on the stall in front of her, so she squatted down, took a bowl, and picked them up carefully.

Mint leaves have a special cooling scent.

Some people are not used to eating it, but when used to make mint fried pork ribs, it is a delicious dish that you can't stop eating.

In her previous life, Xia Tang’s favorite dish was fried pork ribs with mint.

This time, when she heard that Chen Minzhi's sister would also come, this was the first dish that came to her mind.