821 Beat a Retreat in the Face of Difficulties

"I'm negotiating with you right now. You can also choose not to stay in my house. Otherwise, what are my options if you owe me rent for more than 10 years in the future? So if you want to rent my house, you have to use something as collateral. Otherwise, I won't let you stay," Qiao Mei said.

The Tan family members were completely stunned on the spot. They had thought that everything would be fine as long as they went to look for Qiao Mei themselves. How could so many of them not be able to convince a country bumpkin who had never gone to school?

Xia He looked at them with a smile on her face. Back then, He Ning did not even manage to take advantage of Qiao Mei. There was nothing scary about the Tan family.

"We... we'll go back and think about it." After Tan Bai finished speaking, the whole Tan family left in a sorry state.

Xia He watched them leave the alley before she felt at ease to return. All along, the Tan family had bullied the Xia family. They relied on their status as the Xia family's in-laws to ask for various benefits. Xia Mao and Xia Wen did not say anything out of respect for them. As long as that family did not go overboard, they just silently tolerated their behavior.

"Qiao Mei! You should see the way they looked when they left! Hahahaha! It was really too satisfying!" Xia He said happily.

"Has the Tan family always been like this?" Qiao Mei asked.

Xia He also did not know the details. She only knew that the Tan family members were all very greedy. Xu Lan had occasionally told her what they did, but she did not know anything else. The only one with all the details was Xia Wen.

"Should we tell eldest brother about this? After all, it's considered eldest brother's family matter. I don't think it's good for us to make any decision in private," Xia He said hesitantly.

"Let's not tell eldest brother first. If the Tan family is willing to stop what they're doing, let's just pretend that nothing happened. Eldest brother doesn't seem to be doing well recently, so it's better not to cause trouble for him," Qiao Mei said as she rubbed her temples.

She had been sleeping a lot recently and could sleep for a long time every day. The energy that the bangle gave her had also decreased a lot. It no longer looked as lustrous as before.

It was very likely that the energy was about to be exhausted. She must continue to look for new jade and find new "portable air-conditioners".

Qiao Mei took out a small green bottle from her pocket and put a drop into the tea bowl. The entire house was instantly filled with the fragrance of pine trees, making one feel refreshed.

Qiao Mei had previously sent 500 pounds of seeds to the capital. The postal rules set a limit on the package size and each package could not exceed 50 pounds. At the time of delivery, Xu Lan was the only one at home. When she saw so many packages, she was stunned and thought that Qiao Mei had brought everything from her house in the village.

She quickly called the guards at the gate and asked them to help carry the packages into the house.

Although it was not a lot of seeds, Qiao Mei intended to let Li Gui try to sell them first and see if she could succeed. When spring came, she would buy a piece of land in the capital and they could grow the crops on a bigger scale.

By the night, Xia He could not hold back. She secretly went to the public phone booth at the entrance of the alley to call Xia Wen.

"Hello? Eldest brother, is there anyone beside you?" Xia He covered the phone receiver and asked softly.

"What's wrong? What happened to you?" Xia Wen asked nervously.

Xia He seldom made calls to Xia Wen throughout her entire life. She would usually contact Xia Fang if something happened.

"Qiao Mei won't let me tell you, but I still think you should know that the Tan family came to look for Qiao Mei today and said that they wanted to rent her house," Xia He said.

Xia Wen sighed resignedly. He had thought that the Tan family would beat a retreat in the face of difficulties and he did not expect them to go straight to Qiao Mei. He had promised Xu Lan earlier that he would not let Qiao Mei be hurt because of the issues in their family, but now it seemed that he had broken his promise.

"What did Qiao Mei say?" Xia Wen asked.

"She asked the Tan Family to sign an agreement. If they can't fork out the money for rent, they will need to use their assets as collateral. The Tan family has beaten a retreat for now," Xia He said.

"I'll handle this matter. Make sure Qiao Mei stays at home in peace first. Let me know if the Tan family comes again," Xia Wen said.

Xia He briefly explained the results of today's physical examination and what she had encountered before hanging up. The moment she turned around, she saw Qiao Mei standing behind her and looking at her with a grin on her face. It seemed like she had been waiting there for a long time.

"Erm... the weather is quite good... I just came out for a walk. Yes! Just taking a walk!" Xia He looked around awkwardly.