Chapter 797 - 797 Wheelchair
797 Wheelchair
“Elder brother… what is this? A bicycle?” Zhang Qin stood and looked at the wheelchair as she asked curiously.
Zhang Wei scratched his head while looking puzzled. This was the first time he had seen such a thing. A mechanism with two wheels should be a bicycle, but how should one ride such a bicycle? It was really strange since there were no handlebars or pedals.
“This is…” Xia He was about to explain.
Zhang Chao suddenly said, “A wheelchair.”
Xia He looked at the young Zhang Chao in surprise. When she was at Zhang Chao’s age, she did not know anything at all. She definitely did not expect him to recognize a wheelchair. Wheelchairs were not very common nowadays and were only used by more well-to-do people.
“Younger brother, don’t talk nonsense…” Zhang Wei was so frightened that he quickly tugged at Zhang Chao. Before they came to the capital, Li Gui had asked him to take good care of his younger siblings and not cause trouble for Qiao Mei.
“He’s right. It’s a wheelchair.” After saying that, Xia He picked Zhang Miao up and carefully placed her on the wheelchair. She even showed them how to use it.
Zhang Wei finally relaxed his nervous expression. Xia He looked at the quiet Zhang Chao and asked, “How do you know it’s a wheelchair?”
Zhang Chao first looked at Zhang Wei and only dared to speak after Zhang Wei let him speak. He said, “Elder sister… brought back a lot of books previously… I read them by myself… If there are words I don’t know, I’d look them up in the dictionary… This thing looks exactly like the picture in the books…”
Xia He gave Zhang Chao a thumbs up and praised him. It seemed that Qiao Mei had educated these children very well. They were all very polite.
When she was still living with the Kong family, the children downstairs would play crazily in the courtyard every day. They did not greet her when they saw her and even played pranks and threw mud at her.
Everyone walked into the house noisily. Tan Jing and Xia Wen hurriedly came out to welcome them. Tan Jing, who was still gloating over Qiao Mei’s misfortune, was stunned to the spot when she saw Qiao Mei’s round belly. No matter how Xia Wen called out to her, she did not react.
Xia Wen had no choice but to pull her to the door and greeted everyone with a smile. He introduced Tan Jing to everyone, but she was in a daze and did not say anything. She did not even nod in response.
Qiao Qiang did not care about these minor details. He was more concerned about meeting his old friend, Xia Jun. However, Xia Jun had an important meeting in the army today. Even though he had already retired, he was still an outstanding soldier. The army still needed him to be an advisor for many issues.
“Hello, Grandpa Qiao. I’m Xia Wen. I don’t know if you still have any impression of me. My father and grandfather are not at home today. They’ll be back tomorrow and they’ll meet up with you then. Let’s just have a casual meal today. I hope you don’t mind,” Xia Wen said to Qiao Qiang apologetically.
Qiao Qiang patted Xia Wen’s shoulder. The child who used to be as thin as a little chick had now grown up to be so handsome and charming. He looked really different now.
“You’ve changed quite a bit. You look much healthier than when you were young. Do you still get sick often nowadays?” Qiao Qiang asked.
“Grandpa Qiao, thanks for asking about me. I’m much better now and don’t get sick so often,” Xia Wen said.
Everyone entered the house in a grand manner. When they were all seated at the dining table, Tan Jing was still standing at the door in a daze, staring fixedly at Qiao Mei’s stomach.
Xia Wen looked at her a few times but she did not notice anything. In the end, Xu Lan said unhappily, “Tan Jing, why aren’t you coming over here yet?”
“I’m sorry!” Tan Jing quickly walked to the dining table and sat down.
After everyone was seated, Liu Fen brought out the last dish, which was steamed fish. They usually cooked braised fish at home. Knowing that Qiao Qiang was coming today, she specially made a dish that was lighter in flavor. She did not know if it suited Qiao Qiang’s taste.
“All the dishes are here! Come, come, come! Let’s eat!” Liu Fen said with a smile.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks together. After taking a few bites, they realized that Qiao Mei had only been eating rice and drinking chicken soup. She did not touch any of the other dishes.
“Mei Mei, try this. This is your favorite braised pork ribs. Your second aunt-in-law woke up early and went to the supply and marketing cooperative to queue up to buy the freshest ones!” Xu Lan picked up a piece of pork rib and put it in Qiao Mei’s bowl.
Qiao Mei hesitated for a moment and said with an awkward expression, “Thank you, mother.”