Chapter 981 Too Stubborn



Xu Lan and the others had already had breakfast. They did not know what time Qiao Mei would get up, so they kept the food warm for her. It was definitely not as delicious as when it was just cooked, but at least it was warm.

"Qiao Mei, are you… going back today?" Xu Lan said as she looked at Qiao Mei wistfully.

Qiao Mei slept fairly well last night, but she still preferred to go back to the courtyard house. She had many memories of Xia Zhe there and it made her feel more secure.

She still remembered that scene when Xia Zhe went home to look for her. Her heart was filled with anticipation and she just wanted to wait for Xia Zhe at home.

"There are still many things at home that I need to deal with. If you miss me, I'll come back and stay with you for a few days after I'm done," Qiao Mei said with a smile.

"That's good! But… don't blame us two elders for being long-winded. Please reconsider the matter of staying at your aunt's hospital. We'll wait for your decision," Xu Lan said worriedly.

Qiao Mei nodded and then she suddenly thought of something. Only Xu Lan could help her with this matter.

"Mother, do you know any good helpers? It's good enough as long as the person knows how to cook and clean up the house. After the babies are born, we'll find another person who's good with taking care of children," Qiao Mei said.

Usually, if a family heard that their daughter-in-law wanted to hire two helpers at home, the mother-in-law would definitely be furious. The family had spent so much on betrothal gifts to get a daughter-in-law, not an ancestor they needed to place on a pedestal.

However, Xu Lan was not an ordinary mother-in-law. As long as it was something that Qiao Mei wanted, Xu Lan would get them for her, even if what she wanted was the stars in the sky. She would even be worried that Qiao Mei would get pricked by the pointy tips of the stars and would grind them down before handing them over to Qiao Mei.

"I can't help much with this matter. I'll have to leave it to your second aunt-in-law. She interacts with those people often and she knows the situation. Otherwise, our current helper can go over and take care of you and we'll find a new helper," Xu Lan said.

Liu Fen agreed to help without any hesitation and said enthusiastically, "Leave it to me! I'll definitely find you the best helper!"

The helper at home had worked for Xu Lan for more than 10 years now. She was more like a member of the family than the hired help. Sometimes, Xia Jun would even invite the helper's entire family over for dinner.

Qiao Mei thought that it would be too much to ask the helper to go over to her place just because she made a request.

"There's no hurry. We can take our time to look for one. The helper at home should stay here and take care of Mother," Qiao Mei said.

After breakfast, Xu Lan started to pack up the things for Qiao Mei to bring home. She had even already prepared diapers for the baby. She was concerned that the repeated use of the diapers would hurt the babies' skin, so she bought the best fabric to make the babies' diapers. She had prepared at least 60 pieces for now.

In the beginning, Xu Lan had thought about forking out 1,000 dollars to make enough diapers for them to be disposable. She wanted to use each piece only once so that there was no washing required. They would throw it away once it was soiled. Liu Fen rejected this idea after she heard it, saying that 1,000 dollars could be someone's entire savings. The fact that Xu Lan wanted to use that amount of money to make disposable diapers for her two grandchildren was really too extravagant.

The things that Xu Lan bought for the children were arranged in stacks all over the house. There was so much that it was even possible for them to rent a shop outside and open a maternity shop.

Many things were new products and even many women who had given birth had never used them before. Xu Lan was concerned that these things would cause discomfort to Qiao Mei, so she specially bought more and found other women to help her try the products.

"I have prepared all these for you. Take a look and see if there's anything else you need. If there's anything you don't like, I'll go and buy new ones," Xu Lan said.

"Mother, there's no need to treat the two children so delicately. Just treat them like other children and don't dote on them too much. Otherwise, they'll become too weak and fragile," Qiao Mei said.

"I just want the best for them. When my children were young, I didn't spend much time with them. Now that they're all grown up, they don't need me anymore. I actually don't have much experience raising children, so I want to give them the best things. Looks like I'm doing it the wrong way," Xu Lan said.

Qiao Mei went forward and held Xu Lan's hand as she said, "What are you talking about? Xia Zhe even told me before that you're the best mother! He also said that he would be filial to you and would call you more often. He's just too stubborn. He misses you, but he won't say it out loud."