Zhou Sheng sat in his wheelchair and slowly peeped out from the bedroom door. When he saw Xia Zhe, tears welled up in his eyes. His health had been very poor recently and he almost could not make it through the last winter. If not for Qiao Mei coming to visit him from time to time, he would probably be long gone by now.
"Xiao Zhe! Come here!" Zhou Sheng shouted weakly.
"Grandpa Zhou, what happened to you?" Xia Zhe asked Zhou Sheng with a slight frown.
"It's nothing... I'm just getting old. Everyone has to go through this eventually. It's fine," Zhou Sheng said.
"Grandpa Zhou, you still have to play with my children. Don't you want to see Xia Fan and Xia Xing grow up?" Xia Zhe said as he held back the tears in his eyes.
Zhou Sheng looked at the courtyard as if he was imagining Xia Fan and Xia Xing playing there. He did not know if his body could hold on until then.
Qiao Qiang and Zhou Sheng chatted inside the house. Xia Zhe went home and rummaged through the remaining bottles of medicinal wine in Qiao Mei's study. Back then, Qiao Mei had left him three bottles of golden medicinal wine. He had used one bottle and still had two bottles left, but the medicinal effect of the golden liquid was very strong. Qiao Mei had once told him not to use it unless absolutely necessary.
It was a good thing to eat ginseng often, but if one overdosed on it, it could turn out to be fatal! nove.1B(1n
Xia Zhe finally found a small bottle of green medicinal wine in Qiao Mei's small cabinet. Xia Zhe opened it up and tasted it to make sure that it was the right type. After considering it for a while, he decided to give it to Zhou Sheng. However, he did not hand it to Zhou Sheng directly but passed it to Zhou Sheng's housekeeper.
"Grandma, I know that you're really good to Grandpa Zhou. I also know that you've worked hard to take care of Grandpa Zhou all these years. This is my family's medicinal wine. I'd have to trouble you to put some into Grandpa Zhou's water every day. This is good for his health," Xia Zhe said.
The housekeeper's surname was Lan and she had accompanied Zhou Sheng for most of his life. She had held a torch for Zhou Sheng for a long time and he was aware of it, but he still had Wu Min in his heart, so he did not want to let her down. Grandma Lan knew about his feelings, but she still chose to accompany him her whole life.
She was willing to do it out of love. Just like how Zhou Sheng had waited for Wu Min his entire life, she also waited for Zhou Sheng throughout her entire life. However, she was more fortunate than Zhou Sheng. At the very least, she could be with the person she liked every day. Zhou Sheng would never have that chance again.
"We can't accept such a valuable gift," Grandma Lan said.
Grandma Lan knew about Qiao Mei's "divine medicine". Qiao Mei had also given some to Zhou Sheng previously. After he finished it, they were too embarrassed to ask Qiao Mei for more. Qiao Mei was a very busy person and it had probably already slipped her mind. Furthermore, whenever Qiao Mei came by, Zhou Sheng did not want to let her in because he did not want her to see how weak he was now.
"Take it. I'll get someone to send some over regularly. Grandpa Zhou is like my grandfather. I'm not around in the capital often, so just take it as me doing my best to be filial to him," Xia Zhe said seriously.
Grandma Lan nodded and accepted the medicine which Xia Zhe brought. After Zhou Sheng saw Xia Zhe, he seemed much better and his complexion also looked more rosy. Xia Zhe and Qiao Qiang had lunch with Zhou Sheng before leaving.
In the afternoon, Xia Zhe went to Qiao Mei's factory with a gift for her. When he was in the mountain area, the troops had found a very beautiful stone. His comrades told him that it was a piece of beautiful jade which would definitely turn out to be very beautiful once polished by a craftsman.
Xia Zhe knew that Qiao Mei liked such things, so he shamelessly asked his comrades to let him have it. The price was to treat his comrades to all their meals for an entire week.
When Xia Zhe pushed open the door to Qiao Mei's office, his expression turned dour. It was obvious that the flowers inside had been sent by someone else. This was because he knew that Qiao Mei liked sunflowers and all these colorful flowers in front of him were nothing that she liked.
"Xia Zhe!!!" Qiao Mei jumped up from the chair excitedly and ran into Xia Zhe's arms. Xia Zhe caught her steadily.
"Little girl, are you attracting unwanted attention again?" Xia Zhe said as he pretended to be angry.
Qiao Mei said smugly, "Why? You're allowed to have so many rotten romantic encounters outside, yet other men can't woo me?"
Xia Zhe reached out and slapped Qiao Mei's backside forcefully. As she tried to dodge him , she kept rubbing against his body. He had been celibate after she became pregnant, so it was hard for him to stay calm as she did that.