877 Changing the Doors

Her impartial eldest aunt Xia Xiu, her strict mother Xu Lan, and this eldest brother who restrained her words and actions.

When she was young, she thought that Xia Xiu was a demon-like existence because Xia Xiu trained her using the same standards as the boys. She did not expect that when she trained under Xu Lan later, Xu Lan controlled her diet every day and constantly made her practice her basic skills in the training room. As long as Xu Lan was even the slightest bit dissatisfied, she would need to start all over again.

As she was surrounded by boys when she was young, she was also brought up like a boy. She spoke and talked like a boy and did not behave like a lady at all. According to what Xia Wen said back then, she looked like a human only if she did not talk.

Ever since then, Xia Wen watched over her all the time. As long as she did anything out of line, he would look at her with the sharpest glare.

"There's one more thing. I already had a discussion with Zheng Peng, but he's a person with a strange temper. He's not interested in money or anything like that. He's alright with whatever amount of money that we want to pay him. He only has one request and that is he wants to check out the children's aptitudes," Xia Wen said.

That was not what Zheng Peng said originally. Xia Wen had to beg him for a long time before he even agreed to come and take a look. He hated such troublesome things the most. If the children were unteachable, he would not do it even if Xia Wen wanted to pay him 1,000 dollars for a lesson!

He did not want to do such a laborious job!

"Then when will the teacher be willing to come by?" Qiao Mei asked.

"Anytime. If the children are free tomorrow, I'll ask Zheng Peng to come here tomorrow," Xia Wen said.

Qiao Mei nodded and said, "Let's do it the day after tomorrow. I'll get the children to do some revision tomorrow. Do you need them to prepare anything? Do they need to show off any talents?"

In her other life, Qiao Mei understood that some elementary school entrance examinations not only placed importance on the results, but also tested the children on their talents, speech, thinking process and socializing skills.

The cultural class was just the simplest stage. The interview after that was more important. She did not know whether she needed to prepare anything, given that there was still the parent interview stage!

She often heard complaints from her friends who were married and had children. Nowadays, going to school was not only a test for the children, but it also required the parents to put in a lot of work. Some schools even asked parents whether they could provide a bilingual learning environment for their children, and if they would have enough time to accompany their children as they grew up.

At one point, it made her very anxious and she did not want to get married and have children at all.

"There's no need. It's not like it's a competition. Just let the children handle it in a relaxed manner," Xia Wen said.

Qiao Mei slowly heaved a sigh of relief. She was very confident in these children.

She was really facing too many problems at the moment. Recently, Old Madam Fan had been coming to Li Gui's house frequently to smash on the doors and she would do it for the entire morning. The main doors of Li Gui's house had been in disrepair for a long time, so Qiao Mei had changed it to a big metal door with beautiful patterns on it. She had spent a lot of money on it!

Unexpectedly, Old Madam Fan came to smash the door day and night. None of the neighbors within a radius of 100 miles were spared and it was so noisy that no one could rest. It was still alright for the younger people who went off to work during the day, but most of the people living nearby were old people and they all had issues with their hearts and other parts of their bodies. Things could not go on like this.

Qiao Mei really could not be bothered to go head-to-head with Old Madam Fan. Therefore, she asked someone to change the main door to a solid wooden one overnight and installed an electronic doorbell outside. The doorbell would only be switched on when it was in use. It was very convenient.

As long as Old Madam Fan did not mind hurting her own hand, she could continue to knock hard. The sounds she made on the solid wooden door were much softer than on the original metal door.

If there was really no other way, Qiao Mei would bring these children to stay in the house a few streets away for a few days. Anyway, she had many houses. She did not believe that Old Madam Fan could accurately locate all her properties.

"The police still haven't dealt with the Su family's issues?" Xia Wen asked.

"We want to settle, but Old Madam Fan doesn't agree. She comes to cause trouble every day now. Let her be. Just treat it as if she's providing some entertainment for me," Qiao Mei said calmly.

Xia Wen looked at Qiao Mei's stomach and said, "If there's really no other way, you can go back to Mother's place to stay for a while. Her place has already been tidied up and the renovations are almost done. We originally want you to stay there after you give birth so that it would be easier for the doctor and confinement nanny to take care of you at home. It makes no difference if you want to go now."