Qiao Mei looked at Xia He and laughed loudly. "What are you thinking about! How can I do something illegal? I just want the Shao family to be obedient and not cause trouble everywhere. It's not what you think. Do you really think of me as such a ruthless person?"
Xia He did not know if Qiao Mei was ruthless or not, but when the Shao family members woke Xia Fan and Xia Xing up, the look in Qiao Mei's eyes was murderous indeed.
"That's good..." Xia He heaved a sigh of relief and continued, "You say you want the Shao family to be obedient, but what's the difference between that and Eldest Brother wanting the Tan family to be obedient back then? Unless Xia Xing marries someone else, there won't be any positive outcome."
"We'll see. The Shao family might not be as insensible as you think. What if they become obedient after this matter?" Qiao Mei said.
After dinner that night, Xia Wen was going to leave Qiao Mei's place and return to Xu Lan's house. After Qiao Mei found out about Xia Wen's situation, she tried to persuade Xia Wen to stay with Qiao Qiang in the backyard part of the house. Since Xia He was also staying here now, the more the merrier.
However, Xia Wen felt that it was not a good idea. Given that Xia Zhe was not at home at the moment, it was not appropriate for him to stay here. Qiao Mei did not insist. After sending Xia Wen off, she returned to the room with Xia He to rest.
Early the next morning, Deng Fan brought the architectural plans to show Qiao Mei. She had felt that the first draft of Deng Fan's design was not perfect enough and still lacking something, so she had repeatedly asked Deng Fan to modify it.
"Brother-in-law, why are you here so early? Didn't I tell you that there's no hurry?" Qiao Mei stood in the courtyard and said with a smile.
"I must treat the assignment you give me seriously. Otherwise, what if your elder sister skins me alive?" Deng Fan said with a laugh.
Qiao Mei turned around to look into the room and at Xia He, who was still sleeping. Last night, she tossed and turned a lot when she was sleeping and kicked Xia He to the floor at one point. During the later part of the night, Xia He had gone to sleep on the recliner outside. If Qiao Mei had not woken up in the middle of the night and realized that Xia He was not next to her, Xia He would have caught a cold after sleeping outside the entire night.
"Let's talk in the study. She's still sleeping." After saying that, Qiao Mei brought Deng Fan to the study. As soon as he entered, he realized that there was now a bird in the study.
"Since when do you like to raise birds? Is this... a pigeon?" Deng Fan asked as he looked at Qiao Mei in puzzlement. Other people would usually raise beautiful birds like parrots, but Qiao Mei had a pigeon, and a single one at that.
"Oh this! A friend gave it to me. I find this bird quite interesting, so I asked him for it," Qiao Mei said with a laugh.
When Coocoo heard what Qiao Mei said, it silently turned its face to the other side. Qiao Mei was lying! This woman had clearly kept it here against its will!
This time, Deng Fan had prepared three sets of architectural plans. Each one was of a different design. He did not have much confidence in what Qiao Mei had requested of him the last time. What he usually did was only interior design and he had never tried designing such a big factory. He was afraid that any mistake he made would delay Qiao Mei's plan.
"Take a look at which one of the three versions you like. If you don't like any of them, I'll go back and redo it," Deng Fan said seriously.
"You... you're really responsible. These must have taken you a long time ," Qiao Mei said as she looked at all the markings on the plans.
"Not really, not a lot of time. Take your time to look at them. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me. Or you can just circle them out on the plans and I'll make the changes," Deng Fan said.
Qiao Mei could not bear to directly make modifications on the plans! They looked like pieces of artwork. If she put any markings on them, she would feel as if she had tainted the artwork.
She was very satisfied with all three designs. She could tell that Deng Fan had put in a lot of effort and thought of many details that she had overlooked. In the end, she chose the design which had a layout that was easier for everyone to move around.
"Let's use this one. I also want to build a glass-covered garden at this location. A small one will do. There's no need to make it too grand," Qiao Mei said as she pointed at a corner.
"Sure, no problem. Then when do we start work? When do we start buying the materials?" Deng Fan said.
"No hurry, no hurry! You can rest for a few days before we start!" Qiao Mei said immediately.