Qiao Qiang was stunned when he heard this. What was going on, didn’t she say two days ago that she would ignore those people from the capital, yet she wanted to look for them. The look of righteous indignation on Qiao Mei’s face made it seemed as if she was going to seek revenge. So she looked so worried yesterday not because she was waiting for the Xia kid’s letter but because she was thinking about the matter concerning him.
“This… Meimei, didn’t we agree there is no need to go to the capital to look for them? Besides, so many years have passed and I also don’t want to look for them anymore. And you’re pregnant…”
Before Qiao Qiang could finish speaking, Qiao Mei was also stunned. So grandfather thought that I am going to the capital to ask those people for an explanation.
“Grandfather, what are you thinking, here’s what happened. In his letter, Xia Zhe mentioned that he can go home at the end of this month. I want to go to the capital to look for him and meet his family. What do you think?” Qiao Mei asked carefully, afraid that Qiao Qiang would not agree to let her go. If he rejected her, she did not have any other good reason.
“Ah right, then you should go. You haven’t even met them yet. Tell me when you intend to go,” Qiao Qiang said.
Qiao Mei heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Qiao Qiang did not suspect anything. Otherwise, her intentions would have been exposed. When they got married, Xia Zhe had sent her the ‘three turns and one sound’. The radio was able to receive the news broadcasts. If Qiao Qiang knew of her going to Gushan and then he heard the earthquake being reported over the radio after a few days, she would not know what would happen if Qiao Qiang got worried and went to look for her. It was better not to let her grandfather worry.
“Perhaps in a week’s time. I still have to pack my things,” Qiao Mei said.
“Go to the county city with Sister Dong tomorrow and buy a few pieces of nice fabric to make some new clothes. It doesn’t matter how much it costs. I still remember how your mother-in-law was about such things in the past. She’s not a typical person so you have to be serious about it.” Qiao Qiang had saved Xia Jun before and had a good relationship with him, and also knew his son and daughter-in-law.
“There’s no need for that, grandfather. The fabric that Xia Zhe gave me should be good enough. There’s no need to trouble Auntie Dong to make a trip with me.” Qiao Mei felt that her grandfather was making a mountain out of a molehill.
“Sigh! Don’t disobey me. I know what their family is like. Your father-in-law is not too bad, he usually just likes to spend time with his birds and he has a good temper. Your mother-in-law is one-of-a-kind. When she was young, she was in the military art troupe and was a key personnel there! She’s very capable and she’s also good-looking, and she’s especially particular about her clothes. Later on, when she was older, she transferred to the logistics department. Anyway, you just need to wear whatever looks nice and fashionable!” Qiao Qiang said as he recalled the past.
Based on what Qiao Qiang had described, it seemed that she really had to come up with some countermeasures. This mother-in-law seemed really one-of-a-kind. Qiao Mei planned to make a few more dresses. In the past few years, such clothes were not allowed. People would say that a person wearing that was indecent, and the person would get reported and had to go to attend a meeting about the issue. There was not much said about such clothes now, but people were still not very liberal. Since her mother-in-law had an eye for fashion, then she need not have any misgivings about it.
Qiao Qiang felt that it was not enough for her to just wear nice clothes but that she still had to give them something presentable. Qiao Qiang went back into the house and rummaged through the cabinets. He took out a bottle of wine that he had kept for many years but then thought that there were plenty of that in the capital and they probably would not care for it at all. After a while, he finished searching the entire house but still did not manage to find anything suitable.
Qiao Qiang then took out a small box containing the wild lingzhi and a small piece of wild ginseng that Qiao Mei had brought back and gifted to him. For such herbs, the artificially cultivated ones were not as nutritious as the ones picked from the mountains, and could only be chanced upon by luck. Qiao Mei originally wanted him to keep it for himself, but he could not be bothered with that now.
Qiao Qiang took the box to Qiao Mei and said, “Take this with you. They should value this kind of thing.”
Seeing that her grandfather was afraid that she would be subject to criticism and had taken out his most valuable assets for her, she could not help but tear up. Qiao Qiang’s actions made her feel the warmth of having a family.
To Qiao Mei, it was a simple matter to produce these. Any simple energy exchange could get her high-quality wild ginseng and wild lingzhi. She did not have to worry about finding these herbs.
Right now, Qiao Mei’s superpower allowed her to search for rare and valuable plants within a three-kilometer radius and her energy exchange could produce high quality plants. However, these herbs were supposed to be rare. If she caused them to appear all over the mountains and plains, people would surely notice something was amiss. Therefore, Qiao Mei only did a simple energy exchange and brought back two to three catties for Qiao Qiang to try out and see if it helped with his health. He would usually soak them in his drinking water. The quality of this batch of herbs was still not good enough to be brought to the capital.