He Guo looked at He Mei quietly and tried to think of a countermeasure. Li Xiu, who was at the side, did not say a word. She never had any say in these matters.

“Dad, do you know this woman Qiao Mei’s grandfather? I think I really heard my grandfather mention his name before.” He Mei asked as she pointed at the name on the paper.

He Guo leaned back on the sofa and tried very hard to recall this person. He suddenly thought of something and said excitedly, “I remember now! Your grandfather really seemed to have mentioned it before.”

In the early days, the He family was also part of the military. They were originally not in business but when it got to He Guo’s generation, all the children were all physically weak, so they were not able to enlist in the army as they wished. This resulted in most of them going into business.

“This Qiao Mei’s grandfather, Qiao Qiang, has some form of relationship with the Xia family. In the past, Qiao Qiang had saved the life of Xia Zhe’s grandfather, Xia Jun. Look at the timing. It’s likely that Xia Jun asked Xia Zhe to visit Qiao Qiang on his birthday,” He Guo said.

“Even if he went there during that period of time, how can everything happen after just one visit? If we count back the dates, she got pregnant around that time, didn’t she?” He Mei said as she looked at the dates..

“I’m guessing that Qiao Mei did something shameful and Qiao Qiang was in a hurry to find Qiao Mei a husband. Xia Zhe just happened to be there,” He Guo said after some thought.

When He Mei heard this, her eyes lit up and she said agitatedly, “That’s right! Xia Zhe might not even know about it! Or maybe Xia Zhe knew about it but had no choice but to agree because he wanted to repay the debt of gratitude!”

Yes! Xia Zhe must have been deceived. The truth of this matter must be made public!

“That must be it. Otherwise, why would Xia Zhe only send his new wife back and not come back himself,” Li Xiu echoed.

It was rare that He Guo only ignored her this time and did not reprimand her for talking.

“Leave this matter to me. I’ll get my subordinates to go to that village to gather information and bring that man back,” He Guo said.

Since the Xia family was still useful to him, he would give them another big gift.

Qiao Mei could not help herself from sneezing twice. She frowned and rubbed her nose.

“Who’s scolding me behind my back…” Qiao Mei muttered to herself.

After a good night’s sleep, Qiao Mei and Xia Fang decided to take a walk around the surrounding area. It was the weekend and Xia Fang wanted to accompany Qiao Mei to go out and have some fun.

After breakfast, the two of them went straight to the largest department store in the capital. It was the most well-stocked store with the widest range of products.

Qiao Mei only had eyes for the fabric department and ignored everything else.

There were all kinds of fabrics and materials of good quality, and Qiao Mei was dazzled by the selection.

“Aunt, choose a few fabrics that you like. I’ll make clothes for you!” Qiao Mei said.

“What? You want to make clothes for me?” Xia Fang was a little surprised. Even when she was young, only her grandmother would make new clothes for her. The rest of her clothes were all store-bought. There were very few people who could make their own clothes nowadays.

She had seen the clothes that Qiao Mei made and indeed liked them very much.

Today, Qiao Mei was wearing one of the maternity dresses that Xia Fang bought for her. It was a bright red dress that Xia Fang had bought for the joyful color. It looked especially stunning on Qiao Mei.

“I can’t wear the type of clothes that you young people like,” Xia Fang said.

Qiao Mei’s clothes were either maternity wear or slim-fit dresses. Xia Fang was already in her 40s and if she wore the same kind of clothes, people would point fingers at her.

It was not Qiao Mei’s fault. She had a good figure and so long as she altered her clothes a little and took it in at the waist, it would make her look curvy and eye-catching.

Qiao Mei originally did not want to dress so conspicuously. The Xia family was considered a reputable family in the capital. If she met someone who knew them and caught their eyes, she might get criticized and it would not be good if Xia Zhe’s mother, Xu Lan, got to hear about it.

Although Qiao Mei was not afraid of Xu Lan, she was still Xia Zhe’s mother after all. Qiao Mei wanted to make sure that she did everything right, and not put herself in a position where she could get reproached by others.

Before leaving the house, she had wanted to change back into something more muted, but Xia Fang told her to wear red while she was still a newly wedded woman, otherwise there may be very few chances to do that in the future. It would also make up for the fact that she did not get to wear a nice wedding gown when she got married.

What Xia Fang said really resonated with Qiao Mei, so she went along with it and wore bright red clothes most of the time.