1064 How Many Pages To Go



Qiao Mei's courtyard was filled with the bonus items distributed by the government and the army during the new year. The items one received depended on one's rank in the organization. Some items were specially for the Xia family. Only the Xia family had these and no one else.

Given that Xia Mao had been injured in the line of duty this time round, it was very likely that he would get promoted when he resumed work. Many people sent gifts to him and there were particularly a lot of tonics.

In the past, these things were always sent to Xu Lan's house and the helper would sort everything out. This year, as everyone was gathering at Qiao Mei's house to celebrate the new year, even the items meant for Xia Yao and Xia Guang were also sent to Qiao Mei's house. There were a lot more things compared to the past years, so they were naturally running out of space.

"Oh my goodness, this is too tiring. My arms are about to break from carrying so many things for the past two days," Xia He said as she collapsed into a chair.

"Thank you so much for your hard work. I'm not of any help now. Why don't I get Qian'e to come and help you," Qiao Mei said.

Xia He quickly rejected the idea and said, "Better not. We have no chemistry and we quarrel whenever we meet. I don't want to interact with her unnecessarily. It's better that I do all these things myself!"

"Is there still a lot of stuff that hasn't been delivered yet?" Qiao Mei asked curiously.

Xia He took out four pieces of paper from her pocket with a resigned expression. Each piece of paper was tightly cramped with words. These were the records of the items received over the past few days, including a list of the gifts exchanged between the Xia family and the other families they were on good terms with during the festive season. This was a task usually handled by Xu Lan and Xia Mao in the past. This year, the two of them had simply delegated everything to Xia Wen and Xia He.

Fortunately, Xia He was very well-versed with these things and she did not face any problems during the entire process. However, the sheer volume of work still made her feel a little tired.

"Based on my rough calculations, there's probably still two pages to go," Xia He said helplessly.

Qiao Mei laughed. The unit of measurement that Xia He used was page and not item. It was really an eye-opener for her.

Xia He muttered unhappily, "Xia Wen and Tan Jing should be the ones doing all this. This shouldn't have anything to do with me at all. Mother does not trust Tan Jing to do a proper job. She said that Tan Jing is stingy and petty, and that if she offends any of our family and friends in the process, it's the Xia family who will suffer for it. I'm so angry that I can die. I wonder how our eldest brother managed to find such a wife."

"Never mind. I'll help you. Many hands make light work," Qiao Mei said.

"Forget it! If anything should happen to you, Mother will definitely kill me. I can't bear the responsibility. Just stay in the room obediently. You don't have to worry about any of these things. I'm just venting my frustration to you. Eldest brother is at work all the time and doesn't even come back to deal with any of these things at all. He just leaves everything to me. Sigh… it's so tough…" Xia He said aggrievedly.

Xia Wen had no choice on his end. The leaders in the workplace kept organizing dinner gatherings and there was no way he could reject the invites, so he could only ask Xia He to help him out.

The busy days passed quickly and it was finally the last day of the year. Xia Mao had been drinking Qiao Mei's medicinal wine every day and he could already move around freely by now. His wound had also almost recovered, but he still needed to take care of his diet and make sure that he did not eat too much oily food.

There were many cars stopped outside Qiao Mei's house in an orderly manner, attracting the attention of many neighbors. They had never seen such a spectacle before! A few days ago, when a few cars stopped outside Qiao Mei's house to deliver new year goods, everyone was curious about how grand the event at Qiao Mei's house was going to be. As they looked on, they realized that they could have underestimated the grandeur.

In order to avoid causing traffic congestion in the alley, the cars only stopped temporarily outside Qiao Mei's house. The chauffeurs would unload the items from the cars and once it was confirmed that there were no mistakes, the chauffeurs would then drive off. During this period of time, all the family members were staying over at Qiao Mei's house and they would contact the chauffeurs to pick them up if they needed to run any errands.

Qiao Mei had changed into a red padded cotton jacket coupled with a red maternity dress inside. To match the festive atmosphere, Qiao Mei even tied her hair into two buns on her head, looking very cheeky and adorable.

"Oh my! Why are you standing at the door! Go in quickly! Why are you out here!" Xia Jun hurriedly walked forward to chase Qiao Mei back into the house, worried that she might catch a cold outdoors.

"Grandfather, I'll be fine. My clothes are very thick! Let's go in quickly. My grandfather is still waiting to play chess with you in the backyard. He even says that he must thoroughly defeat you today!" Qiao Mei said.