"Grandfather, have you threatened Xiaobei before? Why does he run away whenever he sees you and find all kinds of reasons to stay away from you every time? Did you threaten him?" Qiao Mei looked at Qiao Qiang and asked curiously.

She felt that Qiao Qiang was a very kind and gentle old man, so why was Xiaobei so frightened that he kept running away? It must be because Qiao Qiang had threatened Xiaobei before, or because Qiao Qiang had something on Xiaobei.

In reality, only outsiders knew about Qiao Qiang's "other side". They just did not know what kind of expression he would have on his face when he looked at Qiao Mei's babies in the future. It was said that there was a closer bond between grandparents and grandchildren. So, if there were two generations in between, would that mean that the bond would be even closer and he would definitely dote on the children.

"I didn't threaten him. He's the deputy section head of the armed forces department and I'm just an ordinary citizen. How can I threaten him? You're such a joker. Didn't you tell me that you don't intend to install the phone line? Why have you decided to do it?" Qiao Qiang squinted his eyes and looked at the busy soldiers in the courtyard.

Now that he was old, his eyesight was no longer as good as before. It was difficult for him to see clearly and he had to squint for a long time before he could see things clearly.

"There are always calls from the capital. Also, Xia Zhe's unit has been very busy recently and he doesn't have time to write to me, so I thought it would be more convenient to install a phone. This way, you can also call the grandpas from the neighboring village and ask them out to play chess," Qiao Mei said with a smile.

Qiao Qiang pouted. He did not intend to call those old fellows!

The last time they played chess, one of them even cheated. The old man had clearly already placed down his chess piece, but when he saw that Qiao Qiang was about to win next, he quickly retracted their chess piece and said that he wanted to place it down again, that it was not set down properly because his hand had trembled.

He was so angry that he did not intend to go for the rest of the week.

"Grandfather, let's go back into the house. It'll take a long time for the soldiers to install the phone line. I'll go make some delicious food for them. Let's ask them to eat here tonight." Qiao Mei returned to the house happily and took out all the nice food in the house.

After killing three chickens, she took out the cured meat and pickled vegetables from the storeroom, as well as the vegetables that had been preserved for a long time. She wanted to cook a good meal for everyone tonight.

Not long after, the fragrance of food wafted from the chimney to the noses of the soldiers in the courtyard. This would be their first time trying Qiao Mei's cooking.

"Brother Xiaobei! This elder sister Qiao Mei is really virtuous. Smell the fragrance of the food. If my future wife is half as good as elder sister Qiao Mei, I'll be satisfied!" a soldier said with a grin.

"Isn't your elder sister Qiao Mei perfect!" Xiao Bei said with a sly smile.

"Of course! Elder sister Qiao Mei is perfect, so of course!"

Xiao Bei asked again, "Then is your elder sister Qiao Mei as beautiful as a fairy!"

"Definitely! Do you even need to ask! In the entire city, elder sister Qiao Mei is the most beautiful!"

Xiao Bei was so amused that he laughed loudly. He pointed at the soldier and said, "You shameless person! Back then, you were the one who said that she was fat and ugly and not as good as the pigs in your backyard! Didn't you say that!"

The soldier blushed. He did not remember saying such things. When had he ever said such things about Qiao Mei?

"Brother Xiaobei, you can't accuse me wrongly! When did I say such things! You're slandering a good person! You'll be punished with 500 push-ups!" the soldier shouted.

"I'm not spouting nonsense. Do you remember the young lady who came to deliver bean sprouts to the armed forces department?" Xiaobei said with a smile.

The soldier immediately realized that the fat girl from back then was elder sister Qiao Mei!

At that time, Qiao Mei had just gotten pregnant and had only lost a little weight. However,the amount of 50 pounds that she lost was a drop in the bucket for Qiao Mei, who was almost 300 pounds at that time.

The weight loss was not much at all. To people who knew Qiao Mei, she had indeed lost a lot of weight, but to people like these guys who saw Qiao Mei for the first time, she was still considered fat.

The soldier lowered his head in embarrassment. He deeply realized he had to pay a price for speaking without thinking and that it was his mistake. He should not have casually judged a person by their appearance.

That was an extremely humiliating and rude thing to say. He must apologize to Qiao Mei for this matter.

"Alright, alright. I'm just mentioning it. Everyone knows what kind of person you are. You were just careless back then. You just need to apologize. Everyone makes mistakes. Back then, I also looked down on elder sister Qiao Mei for being fat, so we have to work hard to make it up to elder sister Qiao Mei!" Xiaobei shouted out to the group.

"That's right!" Everyone's morale was boosted and they worked even harder.