Xia Zhe sighed deeply and said, "Actually, I don't hate her at all. I just don't know how to get along with them."
"That's very normal. After all, you didn't grow up by their side, so it's inevitable that you feel unfamiliar with them. Even though I grew up by my parents' side, it's not like I know how to get along with them. It's not your fault, so you don't have to blame yourself," Zhuang Hua comforted him.
"What do you think I should do?" Xia Zhe asked.
For a moment, Zhuang Hua did not have any good ideas as well. His relationship with his family was not as tense as what Xia Zhe had.
Zhuang Hua pondered for a moment and said, "Then… how about you tell sister-in-law? See if sister-in-law has any good ideas? Women know women better. How can a rough man like you know anything about their unhappiness?"
Zhuang Hua's cousin was the one who told him these things. A woman's thoughts were unfathomable. It was entirely possible that she would be sad for a whole day just because she did not have any nice shoes to match her clothes.
Since Xia Zhe did not know what to do, the person who started something must be the one to end it. After all, Xu Lan was sad because she was worried about Qiao Mei. The final outcome of this matter still depended on what Qiao Mei did. Otherwise, Xu Lan would always feel worried about Qiao Mei.
He just did not know if Qiao Mei was willing to reconcile with Xu Lan. Even though Xu Lan suddenly came to her senses before Qiao Mei left, she had ignored Qiao Mei most of the time during this period of time when they were in the capital and had looked down on her daughter-in-law.
"I'll try." After saying that, Xia Zhe returned to the phone booth and dialed the number of the village phone after some hesitation.
"Hello, this is Foshan Village. Who are you looking for?" Zhao Liang asked.
"Uncle Zhao, I'm Xia Zhe," Xia Zhe said.
Zhao Liang's eyes lit up. He had been thinking about Xia Zhe for the past few days!
When Qiao Mei and Xia Zhe first got married, he had mentioned Xia Zhe to his wife when they were chatting casually. At that time, they had never met Xia Zhe and knew nothing about him at all. They both felt that Xia Zhe was an unreliable person who let the pregnant Qiao Mei manage so many things alone and even made her go to the capital to look for him on her own.
It was only after meeting Xia Zhe this time that his opinion changed completely.
Zhao Liang had hurt his waist from doing farm work recently, but there were still so many things at home that he had to do. There were also many things in the village that he needed to deal with. It had been difficult for him to cope.
When Xia Zhe found out about it, he volunteered to help Zhao Liang with the farm work at home. It only took him a day to finish Zhao Liang's one week worth of work. Zhao Liang was older and his stamina could not keep up, so he was not as strong as the young man who could work much faster.
Xia Zhe did this to repay Zhao Liang for taking care of Qiao Mei and Qiao Qiang all this while, and also for taking care of Zhang Wei during this period of time.
Zhao Liang's impression of Xia Zhe also soared. He felt that he should not have been so prejudiced against the young man previously.
"Xia Zhe, are you at the army unit yet? Did you have a smooth journey? Your auntie and I are both thinking about you! However, we don't know how to contact you. I have been thinking of asking Qiao Mei tomorrow," Zhao Liang said happily.
"Uncle Zhao, I've reached the army unit. There were no issues along the way and everything went smoothly. I'm calling this time because I have something to discuss with Qiao Mei. I wonder if it's convenient for Uncle Zhao to get Qiao Mei to answer my call?" Xia Zhe said awkwardly.
Zhao Liang readily agreed to Xia Zhe's request. Xia Zhe could not tell anyone his phone number so they agreed that Xia Zhe would call Zhao Liang again after half an hour.
As soon as he hung up, Zhao Liang rushed out to look for Qiao Mei. Just as he was about to leave, he bumped into Wang Qin, who had just returned from a trip outside.
"Oh my, Brother Zhao, what's the rush? You're in such a hurry that you don't even look where you're going," Wang Qin complained as she rubbed her shoulder that was hurting from the impact.
"I'm really sorry. I'm in a hurry to go out and do something. I'll apologize to you when I come back!" Zhao Liang drove off on his three-wheeled vehicle before he even finished speaking.
Wang Qin looked in the direction that Zhao Liang had left in puzzlement and muttered, "How strange. There's nothing serious going on today. Where's he going in such a hurry?"
She did not think too much about it and went into the office to work on the work points and accounts for this week.
"Qiao Mei! Are you at home! I have something to tell you! Are you at home!" Zhao Liang rushed into the courtyard to look for Qiao Mei.
Qiao Mei walked out of the house and said, "What's wrong, Uncle Zhao? What's the matter?"