1399 Dishonest
Due to their background, the Zhou family needed to be related to a family with connections in the political and military world, so they targeted the Xia family. The Zhou family made Zhou Luo and Zhou Hua hang around the Xia family residence often. By chance, Zhou Hua met Xia Guang at the roller rink and the two of them quickly fell in love and decided to get married.
Zhou Luo felt very resentful about this. She felt that she was more deserving to be the Xia family's daughter-in-law. How could Zhou Hua be the one instead? This was especially since she felt that Zhou Hua was inferior to her in every way.
At some point, Zhou Luo probably had a part to play in the eventual breakdown of the marital relationship between Xia Guang and Zhou Hua. Given that Zhou Luo now had two grandsons of the Xia family in her hands, she was just waiting to get her share of the Xia family's assets!
"Hasn't this place been renovated? I'm just worried that the position of the toilet might have changed," Zhou Luo explained.
"There are so many people at home to help you. Xiao He, please bring Sister Zhou to the toilet. Don't let her enter the wrong room. She might not be able to explain herself if something goes missing," Xia Fang said.
Zhou Luo glared at Xia Fang and walked to the toilet with Xia He. Xia Fang looked at Zhou Luo's departing figure and muttered softly, "Who does she think she is! What a dishonest beastly thing. Later, let's remind Qiao Mei to lock up all the valuable things in the house. Don't give her a chance to steal anything! Every time she comes to our house, there will always be something missing after that!"
During the Spring Festival, Zhou Luo had stolen a pair of earrings from Xu Lan's place. No one knew when and how she managed to enter Xu Lan's room. One must say that her inherited skills were quite impressive. It was just a pair of earrings, so it was not a big deal and Xu Lan did not make any fuss about it.
"Qiao Mei is a smart girl. She must have put away her jewelry and other things long ago, but… this one is a professional. Even if all the things are all hidden away, she can still find them," Xu Lan said with a frown.
"Look at every room in Qiao Mei's house. There are valuable items everywhere. Even if she just takes one random item and sells it, she can make enough money for the Zhou family to spend for a few years," Liu Fen said as she pointed at the rooms outside.
In the past, the old folks used to say that it was better to let the thief steal once than to let the thief have designs on you. So long as the thief kept thinking about something, he would steal everything sooner or later.
Xu Lan summoned all the guards who were nearby and asked them to keep an eye on Qiao Mei's study and bedroom. If they saw anyone entering the rooms, they must inform the Xia family members immediately.
Qiao Mei finally finished cooking the last dish. There were a total of three big tables with 18 dishes on each table. Every table held the same dishes. The banquet this time round was much more luxurious than the one during the Spring Festival.
Among these dishes, only the fish was a seafood item from the Xia family's special supply. The rest were all bought by Xia Wen from the market and were not very extravagant items. They were not inclined to serve the Shao family members any rare fruits and vegetables.
"Look! These dishes are so exquisite!" Bian Duo said in shock.
The Shao family members sat around the tables and sang praises of Qiao Mei for a long time. Everyone said all kinds of wondrous statements. No wonder Shao Yin was so eloquent. It turned out that it was an inherited skill.
The tables were set out in such a way that there was one for the menfolk, one for the womenfolk, and one for the people who came to help out. All the Shao family members looked very gleeful and only Shao Yin did not look too happy. She was a guest at the Xia family residence during the Spring Festival and already knew that Qiao Mei knew how to make all kinds of delicacies.
At that time, she had never seen all those different kinds of food in her life, especially that plate of prawns. It was the first time she had eaten prawns in her life! The dishes today were far inferior to the ones served during the Spring Festival! Qiao Mei clearly did not care enough about the Shao family!
Shao Yin did not know that those foodstuffs were available only because the Xia family had a special supply of vegetables and seafood. She thought that everything could be bought with money. Since Qiao Mei did not make the prawn dish today, it only meant that Qiao Mei was unwilling to buy it for them!
"Shao Yin, what's wrong? Why do you look so unhappy?" Shao Chun asked.
"It's nothing," Shao Yin said coldly.
Xia Fang sized up Shao Yin carefully for a long time before saying, "Are you Xia Xing's girlfriend? I didn't have time to make it home during the last Spring Festival. I'm Xia Xing's aunt."
"Hello, Aunt. I'm Xia Xing's wife. My name is Shao Yin." Shao Yin stood up politely to greet Xia Fang and even emphasized the word "wife".
All the women from the Xia family lowered their heads and held back their laughter. Shao Yin had yet to register her marriage with Xia Xing but she was already so keen to be part of the Xia family. No one knew what she was up to. By now, everyone knew that Xia Xing and Shao Yin did not have any emotional attachment and were matchmade by their parents.
If the Xia family did not allow Shao Yin to marry into their family, there was nothing that the Shao family could say. At most, they could only grumble that the Xia family had gone back on their word.
