Xia He and Tan Jing stared at Qiao Mei with bated breath, waiting for her next sentence.
“I won’t rent it to your family,” Qiao Mei said firmly.
Xia He nodded in satisfaction and pursed her lips so that Tan Jing would not notice how happy she was to hear that. If Tan Jing was not there, she would be laughing her heart out and would not have to hold it in with so much difficulty.
From the start, the Tan family had been very rude to Qiao Mei. Jiang Yi went one step further and even tried to seize what they wanted by force. If Qiao Mei had not been smart enough to deflect the issue, her properties would probably have been snatched away by those wolves from the Tan family.
“Qiao Mei, do you mean you don’t intend to rent it out anymore or you don’t want to rent it to our family?” Tan Jing suppressed her anger and asked again. She still could not believe that Qiao Mei was only targeting them.
Qiao Mei repeated, “Yes, I just don’t want to rent it to your family. I recently bought two more houses and I intend to rent them out as well. But I don’t intend to rent any of them to your family, not even to your relatives.”
Tan Jing smacked the table and shouted, “Qiao Mei! Don’t go too far! My family will pay rent! Why don’t you want to rent it to us! We’re all family! Won’t you feel more at ease if you rent it to us!”
“At ease? I don’t feel at ease at all. I don’t even know if this house will still be mine in the future. It’s easier to raise the devil than to lay him. Besides, it’s hard to say if your family is made up of devils or demons. I really don’t want to invite trouble for myself. Just let me have some peace and quiet,” Qiao Mei said as she touched her stomach.
As Tan Jing looked at Qiao Mei’s huge stomach, the anger inside her was like a fire that burned her heart and pierced at her nerves. All kinds of incidents from the past surfaced in her mind.
“She’s an infertile hen! Can’t even lay eggs! She can’t even manage to get pregnant. It’s such a pity since her husband is such a nice man!”
“That’s right! The Xia family is such a good family and it’s such a great thing to be able to climb up the social ladder. What a waste of the chance!”
“She should just get a divorce quickly! Let me marry Xia Wen and I’ll bear his children! I’ll give him as many as he wants!”
“…”
The neighbors’ mocking laughter echoed in Tan Jing’s mind, as if it was going to shatter all her remaining rationality in the next second. She wished she could make Qiao Mei’s unborn babies disappear from her sight right now. Only then would Xia Wen pay attention to her again and the Xia family would treat her well. She wanted to be the only daughter-in-law of the Xia family’s eldest son.
Xia He watched as Tan Jing’s eyes slowly turned red and she stared intently at Qiao Mei’s stomach. Xia He instinctively felt that something was wrong and quickly got up to stand in front of Qiao Mei so that she could block Tan Jing’s view. She would not let any member of the Tan family hurt Qiao Mei deliberately.
She had felt regretful about not being able to protect Qiao Mei well at the hospital. If she had been quicker and sharper, Qiao Mei might not have been traumatized yesterday.
Currently, as long as there was any sign of trouble, she would be on high alert, worried that Qiao Mei would get hurt again. She would rather be overzealous in her reaction than run the risk of Qiao Mei getting injured.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, we’ve already told you what you want to know. You can go back,” Xia He said sternly.
As Tan Jing looked at Xia He’s gaze, she became even angrier. They were a family! Why were they looking at her as if they were guarding against a thief?
“Why won’t you rent it to our family! Tell me! How did our family offend you! If you don’t give me a reasonable explanation today, I won’t leave!” Tan Jing shouted and pointed at Qiao Mei, who was behind Xia He.
Tan Jing was not to be outdone. She put her hands on her hips and said to Xia He, “What’s wrong with my family! Tell me! After talking for so long, neither of you can point out any of my family’s faults. You’re the ones who’s quibbling! Just say that you don’t feel like renting it to my family! There’s no need to slander my family!”
Slander? There was no need for them to do so. The Tan family was already infamous. Everyone who lived near the Tan family knew what kind of people they were. Those who knew both the Tan family and the Xia family all said that the Tan family was the Xia family’s bloodsuckers and that it was amazing that the Tan family had not wiped out the Xia family after so many years! Yet now the bad guys were here to complain about being wronged.