Chapter 440

Anyway, since they didn't have an overt falling out on the surface, she just pretended to be muddled and acted like she didn't know anything as usual.

The Liu family's situation was middling, not too poor to starve but not affluent either, and the whole big family lived together.

The story started from yesterday afternoon.

second sister-in-law suddenly showed up at her door, saying she had saved up some money herself and wanted to buy a house, but was short of money, so she wanted to borrow some from her.

When she had opened up her shop two years ago, she had borrowed a few hundred yuan from her, which she still hadn't paid back yet.

If it had really been 300-500, she would have lent it to her, but she immediately asked for 5,000 yuan.

She did have that much money, but after that conversation with An Zhiqing last time, half of the family savings lent out was a big deal, so no matter what she had to consider carefully and discuss it with her husband.

After thinking it over, she refused. As a result, second sister-in-law immediately changed her face, saying she could borrow 2,000-3,000 yuan, and said the tailor shop was doing good business and she had earned half the money for a house these last two years, she just lacked a few thousand at the moment. She wanted to borrow it from her first, and would pay her back after the new year when she earned money.

Speaking to this point, refusing would hurt feelings, so Liu Ling took out 2,000 yuan for her.

But then she immediately heard that eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law had gotten into a fight, and her own mother had even been pushed over and hurt her leg and went straight to the hospital.

When Liu Ling went, she found out it was still about the house.

Originally everyone's lives had been the same, and relations were intimate.

Liu second sister-in-law opened a tailor shop and also earned some money selling clothes, eldest sister-in-law was a bit unhappy in her heart about it, but she could endure it, she never said anything about it openly.

And now, she suddenly wanted to live in a new house, still in those newly developed buildings in the city center, even the smallest ones cost over 20,000 yuan per unit.

At breakfast she heard they were going to reserve a house, and if not for Liu Ling lending 2,000 yuan, plus borrowing from her maternal home and piecing together from relatives and friends...

Liu eldest sister-in-law's mind went blank instantly - they were going to live in a new house, while she was still squeezing in this broken down house with her in-laws, which wouldn't even belong to her in the future.

This woman was prone to doing stupid things when impulsive. At one wrong word, she immediately started fighting, and even dragged Liu Ling into it.

After all, if not for Liu Ling's two shops, Liu second sister-in-law wouldn't have earned so much money either. But Liu Ling had helped her time and again without personally gaining any benefit, how could she not feel dissatisfied?

If told not to let Liu second sister-in-law buy the house, she would also feel unhappy in her heart, after all it was money she had earned. She had wanted to stop squeezing together with them for a long time, it was too inconvenient living together.

Now she was buying a house with money she earned herself, what business was it of others?

Of course, Xia didn't know about the Liu family matters.

After thinking it over, she booked a courtyard at Huasheng Hotel, with 20 large tables inside specially chosen for Sunday.

Pei Jing had also come back a day early, since he was the man of house after all, he had to be present for such an important occasion.

Xia also deliberately paid attention and noticed only Wen Qing brought his younger sister, and they gave a cash gift, but didn't see a sign of Liu Ling.

She went over to ask Wen Qing, "How come your mother didn't come?"

"Something happened at my maternal grandmother's place, my big aunt and second aunt had an argument and pushed over my grandma, she's in the hospital now. My mother has been going to the hospital every day and hasn't been to school for several days already." Wen Qing said.

Xia let out a shocked breath and waved Wen Qing over, "Then go on inside quickly, your grandpa and them are at that table inside."

This was a courtyard Huasheng Hotel had later expanded - after all the land they originally got was very big. Business became good so they utilized all the remaining vacant land and built a very large rear courtyard, which was further divided into several smaller courtyards, perfectly suited for hosting banquets.

Xia was taking advantage of being a major shareholder here, otherwise with the queues here she wouldn't have been able to book it at all.

Also because she hadn't planned it early, unlike Ying who had booked it a month in advance.

On such a happy day, Xia simply didn't want to think about things like that. She might as well pretend she didn't know.

The possessions at home had already been moved to the new house the last two days, they were going directly back there at night too.

Because she was happy, Xia drank two full glasses of wine. Sitting red-faced in the passenger seat, her whole body curled up there looking very petite.

The triplets and little six ran into the house as soon as they got out of the car. By the time Pei Jing was supporting her into the house, the children were nowhere to be seen.

In any case the room allocation had been taken care of long ago. They had been helping arrange their new rooms the past couple days, so since they didn't have school tomorrow, she might as well leave them be to play wildly on their own.

Pei Jing poured her a glass of honey water and fed it to her.

She rolled around on the soft big bed, mumbling "So hot, I'm going to be hot to death."

"See if you dare drink alcohol next time." Pei Jing sat down and pulled her into his arms, then stripped open her clothes for her.

"I won't drink again in the future, today... was because I was happy." Xia obediently stroked his chin with her hand, the hard stubble massaging her thumb pad ceaselessly, playing with gusto. Softly saying "I have a home now, you know? I have a home now."

Her gaze was hazy, she probably didn't even know who she was talking to, just repeatedly emphasizing this one sentence.

It was precisely because she had experienced loneliness that she especially liked lively bustle. Sometimes she would feel fortunate to have him, to have them by her side.

Even when the children caused trouble sometimes, even though raising children took a lot of effort, she had never regretted giving birth to these children.

Just occasionally waking up from sleep, she would have the illusion that her experiences were like a dream. Listening to the children's noise and clamor would let her feel that all of this was real.

No one understood better than those around her, this seemingly ordinary sentence, yet not knowing how much bitterness and hardship was contained within.

"Yes, you have a home now, our home." Pei Jing whispered by her ear.

Waking up, she felt an unbearable thirst.

Pei Jing asked her from the bedside "Still feel uncomfortable?"

"A bit upset stomach, also very thirsty." This was Xia's true feelings.

"Quickly go brush your teeth, I'll pour you a glass of honey water, Sister Zhang cooked congee in the kitchen." Pei Jing urged her.

The morning after drinking alcohol, there was a hard to describe taste in the mouth that even she herself found distasteful.

She regretted drinking with such abandon last night a bit, also felt a trace of lingering allure.

The aftereffects of drinking alcohol were very uncomfortable, but having just experienced that muddled feeling, it also made one somewhat addicted.

She probably understood why these men all liked drinking alcohol now.

When Xia went downstairs, not one of the children were seen.

"Chen Ze and them still aren't awake yet?"

"They went wild in the home gym last night after coming home, after washing up they still wanted to watch a movie. If not for me forcefully making them go to sleep, who knows if they'd still be messing around upstairs now."

Pei Jing explained. Indeed the house's design was very good, it was just with this, these children would probably go crazy now.

But Xia wasn't overly worried. At most it was intense interest at the start, after a period of time playing too much they would even find it tiring to go play, she reckoned.

Sister Zhang brought the congee over and set it down in front of her, also advising her to drink less alcohol in the future, drinking too much had no benefit other than discomfort.

Xia agreed and also said "Sister Zhang, this house is bigger with more rooms, cleaning up is also pretty troublesome. It'll be tiring for you these couple days. I'm already looking for people, when new servants arrive in the family later, you'll also have to watch over them more."

"Look for people? Is my work not good enough?" Sister Zhang panicked instantly. Although she was a domestic helper at home, her days passed comfortably. Leaving this place she feared she wouldn't find such good employers again.

"No, Sister Zhang don't misunderstand." Xia quickly said "You've done very well. I didn't mean to dismiss you either. Just the house is bigger now, also an outside garden needing care, just you alone wouldn't be able to handle sweeping and cleaning, so I thought to find another person to help out. If you know suitable people you can also refer them."

"You scared me. I thought I hadn't done a good job and you were going to fire me," said Sister Zhang as she wiped away some cold sweat. "If you're looking to hire someone, I actually have a candidate in mind. She's a distant relative of mine, a pitiful girl. Her mother passed away early, and her stepmother doesn't care much for the children from her previous marriage. Having a father or not makes little difference to her. However, she's very capable when it comes to housework, honed from a young age. If you think she'll work out, I'll go over tomorrow to discuss it with her family. They won't have any objections. Most importantly, the girl knows her place. She's honest and won't cause any trouble if she comes over."

"How old is she?" Xiao asked.

"She's sixteen. Don't let her age fool you, she's extremely capable with housework. Her birth mother passed when she was five or six years old. She's been doing chores ever since she was little. She is a bit quiet though and doesn't talk much..." said Sister Zhang.