Chapter 2287: Are You an Abusive Partner?
Chapter 2287: Are You an Abusive Partner?
Xia He nodded politely. She turned around and muttered softly to Qiao Mei, "Is there
something wrong with this person? Just now, she was still staring at us fiercely. What's going on now?"
"She's probably trying to get close to you," Qiao Mei said.
Before the Xu family members left the house, Xu Tian had instructed Liu Xiao to be more polite to Qiao Mei. Otherwise, he would beat her up until she was paralyzed! He would make her lie in bed for the rest of her life!
"I heard that you even went overseas for a period of time. You're really amazing. Are you used to life overseas? What's it like compared to life here?" Liu Xiao asked curiously.
Before coming here, Xu Ba had probably told the Xu family all the information about the Xia family. It should not be difficult for them to find out about this.
"It's not too bad. I just try my best to make a living overseas," Xia He said.
"How can that be! It's already very impressive to be able to go overseas!" Liu Xiao continued with the flattery.
Xia He shook her head and said, "It's not as safe as the capital. There are small gangs which will go around causing trouble. Once it gets dark, we don't dare to go out for fear of getting into trouble."
Before Liu Xiao could say anything else, Xu Cai looked at Xia He in disbelief and asked, "Is that true? I thought people always say that it's very nice overseas?"
"Of course not. Every place has its good and bad sides," Xia He said.
Xu Cai had always dreamt of going overseas. Ever since the university had slots for exchange students, she had worked hard in her studies and strived to go overseas to study like what Qiao Mei did. She did not expect the world outside was not as wondrous as she had imagined and her dream was immediately shattered.
Li Gui hid in the kitchen for a long time. She was actually a little resistant to interacting with the Xu family members. After all, her last experience had been very unpleasant. She did not expect Old Madam Xu to chase after her and even entered the kitchen to accompany her. In the end, she cooked a lot faster than usual.
"Come, come, come! Let's eat!" Old Madam Xu walked in with a few dishes.
The restaurant's waitstaff were all around to help. After they served the dishes, they left the room. Li Gui was worried that the Xu family would cause trouble, so she had closed the restaurant today and there were no other customers.
Everyone was silent and Qiao Mei also sat quietly to observe the Xu family's attitude. Old Madam Xu quickly said, "Liu Xiao, don't you have something to say to Qiao Mei?"
Liu Xiao gritted her teeth. She picked up her glass and stood up. "Yes! I want to apologize for what happened last time! I'm sorry, Qiao Mei! I was too impulsive last time! Please forgive me!"
Qiao Mei did not say anything, nor did Xia He and Xia Wen do anything. Li Gui stood behind Qiao Mei and thought of many things from her past.
Back then, after she married Zhang Qian, she had a very tough life. The people in that factory always bullied her and even wanted to force her to leave the factory. There was once when she kicked up a fuss and made the entire factory know about this matter. At that time, that person stood in front of her and apologized again and again.
Those people were just trying to manipulate her kind heart. After she accepted that person's apology, that person continued to bully her.
Qiao Mei was right. If one was too weak, one would always get bullied. How could Liu Xiao absolve herself of how she treated Qiao Mei with just a glass of wine? That would be letting them off too easily!
Seeing that Qiao Mei and the others were unmoved, Liu Xiao stood there awkwardly and looked at Xu Tian and Old Madam Xu. Old Madam Xu glared at her fiercely and she immediately became more animated. She put down the wine glass and started to slap herself forcefully. Each slap was very loud and her face was already swollen after four slaps.
Li Gui could not help but say, "Stop hitting yourself!"
Liu Xiao did not dare to stop. What Li Gui said did not count. She could only stop when Qiao Mei said so. Otherwise, she would receive even worse abuse and beating at home.
Qiao Mei observed Liu Xiao carefully. She had less strength in her left hand compared with her right hand. It did not seem like she was doing it on purpose, more like her left hand was injured.
She quietly gathered her energy into a thread and slowly let it approach Liu Xiao. The moment it touched Liu Xiao, Qiao Mei understood why Liu Xiao was so afraid of Xu Tian and Old Madam Xu.
"Alright, you can stop," Qiao Mei said.
"Yes... Thank you for forgiving me... Thank you..." Liu Xiao said weakly.
Qiao Mei looked at Xu Tian, then turned to look at Xu Ba and asked, "Do you have any bad habits?"
"Our Xu Ba definitely doesn't have any! He doesn't smoke, drink or gamble!" Old Madam Xu quickly spoke up.
"Oh~ Then do you hit women?" When Qiao Mei said this, she looked at Liu Xiao. Xu Tian and Old Madam Xu immediately understood what she meant. How did Qiao Mei know that Liu Xiao had been beaten up?
Xu Ba immediately said, "Of course not! I've never hit anyone!"
Xu Hang and Xu Cai did not show any reaction, so it seemed that what Xu Ba said was true. After all, these two children could not hide anything that they were thinking and were not as sneaky as Xu Chun.