807 Preferring Boys Over Girls

There were many families in Foshan Village who chose to save the children and not their mothers. Some people were even worse. No matter how hard and tiring it was for a pregnant mother, she still had to take care of the entire family's daily needs and also to work in the fields. Otherwise, she would get beaten and scolded. These people had the idea that as long as the child was fine, nothing else was important.

Hearing this, Li Gui became quite emotional. It was still fine when she was pregnant with Qiao Mei and she did not suffer. However, giving birth to the four children in the Zhang family weakened her a lot. These children were two years apart in age from one another. Basically, for eight years, she went through a non-stop cycle of confinement, pregnancy and giving birth. Actually, she did not even go through confinement. Once she gave birth, she had to do housework, including using cold water when washing up.

She had many illnesses which arose from that time.

"Xia Zhe is very healthy now. He doesn't look like he was born prematurely," Qiao Mei said.

Generally speaking, premature babies were very fragile and needed to be looked after with care. Some children were also very weak and sickly from birth. It would actually be more accurate to say that based on health conditions, Xia Wen looked more like a premature baby than Xia Zhe.

It was said that in winter, Xia Wen would have a persistent cough. Sometimes, it would get so bad that he would cough up blood. This was a common occurrence.

"At that time, under the care of Xia Zhe's grandmother, Xia Zhe recovered very quickly. Ever since he was young, Xia Zhe had his diet strictly controlled. The fact is that Xia Zhe had chosen a great time to be born. At that time, the Xia family had started to prosper and did not lack food or clothes. The ones who suffered the most were Xia Wen and Xia He," Xu Lan said.

Xia He quickly shook her hands and said, "You can say that my eldest brother has a hard life. I don't have a hard life! I grew up getting fed by everyone."

"Our Xia family is no longer living those tough days from before. When my eldest grandsons are born, they will definitely live a good life and can have whatever they want! We definitely won't treat them badly!" Xu Lan said as she looked at Qiao Mei's stomach with a smile.

At this moment, Li Gui frowned slightly. Could it be that Xu Lan favored boys over girls? Ever since she came to the capital, she kept hearing Xu Lan speak about her eldest grandsons and had never heard her talking about a granddaughter. Did that mean that if Qiao Mei did not give birth to a boy, the Xia family would despise her?

When she gave birth to Zhang Qin and Zhang Miao in the Zhang family, no one in the family was happy and they kept cursing her.

Qiao Mei could tell that Li Gui was worried. She looked at Xu Lan playfully and asked, "Mother, what if it's two granddaughters?"

"Then they'll enjoy life even more. The boys in our family have the lowest status. When we were young, Xia Zhe and I suffered a lot. Whatever good stuff is given to Xia He first. We don't have the right to use it at all," Xia Wen said as he walked out of the house.

Xu Lan nodded and said, "I just feel that girls are precious and there are many things to worry about. They should be cherished and protected carefully. It's different for boys. I just need to send them directly to your father and ask him to watch over their training. Just hand them over to the army and let them serve the country. Boys have thick skin and don't need to be raised too preciously."

When Li Gui heard this, she felt much better. It seemed that the Xia family was really nice to Qiao Mei and did not hold any prejudice against her. Qiao Mei's life was much better than her own and she felt at ease seeing Qiao Mei happy.

Xia Wen called everyone to gather for the meal. At first, Li Gui and the others stood at the side uneasily, not knowing where to sit. In the past, whenever there was a banquet, Li Gui and her two daughters were not allowed to sit at the table and could only eat leftovers in the kitchen.

"Come and sit down, in-law! Sit beside me so that we can have a nice chat!" Xu Lan smiled and pulled Li Gui to sit down.

The four children sat with Qiao Mei and the entire family finished their meal while chatting and laughing. Xia Jun and Xia Mao left first because they had to go back to the army unit. Xia Fang also returned to the hospital to prepare for a surgery that night.

"Mei Mei, there's some news regarding the house you want to buy. There are four houses nearby. Do you want to take a look?" Xia Wen said.

Qiao Mei looked at Xia Wen in surprise. She did not expect Xia Wen to get back to her so quickly. She had thought that it would take at least a week or two to find some options. It looked that she had still underestimated the Xia family's capability.

"Have you contacted the owners? Can we go today?" Qiao Mei asked.

Xia Wen took out the information he had prepared. It stated the condition of each house and how far they were from Qiao Mei's courtyard house. One of the houses was located along the alley at the back door of the courtyard house and was very close to Qiao Mei's house.