Happy family

Monday approached and Xia Biming made her way to her design company early in the morning. She named her clothing company after herself, Jade Atelier. She is immensely proud of her company; it is her baby after all. She poured all her passion and love into creating this brand, and with her hard work it has become one of the top brands in the country and even making its way to all of Asia and Europe.

Her assistant Lin Zhi was waiting for her at the door of her office and greeted her, "Miss Xia! It's so great to have you back! How was the business meeting in Europe? Did the deals go through?"

"Yes, Lin Zhi. Thank you, it does feel great to be back. The deals all went through smoothly. By the end of this year, we will have three permanent boutiques as well as six pop-up shop events. And now that this phase of development has successfully passes, I can work on designing the new autumn lines." Xia Biming gladly reported to her. "Ah, I can't wait until my name and brand are known all over the world."

Lin Zhi was extremely proud of her boss. She met Xia Biming in the last year of college as a business marketing major with a minor in fashion. They had two classes together that year and instantly clicked. They became very good friends. Lin Zhi came from a well of family, her parents worked for the government which uprooted her status to be in the higher levels of the middle class. She liked Xia Biming because of her genuine personality and the fact that Biming never looked down on her. Lin Zhi has been by Xia Biming's side all this time and they worked hard together. Biming actually gifted her a 3% share of Jade Atelier for her hard work last year.

"Zhi, do I have any meetings today?" Xia Biming asked Lin Zhi.

"Yes, you have one at 10 am with the shareholders to discuss your trip to Europe. And then you have a lunch meeting with your parents about your birthday party being held at the beginning of next month."

"Alright, thanks. Could you print me the reports of all the meetings I had last week for the 10 am meeting? Also have someone bring me a cup of peppermint tea, I need some refreshing." Lin Zhi quickly jotted all the little notes down on her notepad and walked out of the office.

Shortly, a secretary brought in a cup of tea for Xia Biming. She was busy organizing her sketches so she could gather her thoughts to start brainstorming for her new autumn collection. 10 am came by quick and she headed to the conference room with the shareholders. The meeting lasted until noon which by then she headed down to the parking garage to head out for lunch with her family.

They met at a high-class Chinese restaurant that served their food family style. The dishes here were all healthy, delicious, and expensive.

"My princess! You're finally here! Come, sit down next to your brother so we can eat and discuss what you want for your party." Xia Li Feng was extremely happy to see his only daughter. "Daddy knows he can't help your heart heal from that bastard fast enough, but daddy will try. Anything you want, I will get it for you."

"Dad, you need to stop spoiling her so much. She's grown and she needs to face the world. We all knew she was too good for that guy anyways. She just needed to see it for herself." Xia Huanting rejected while the ruffled his sister's hair.

"Don't mess my hair up, Ting! If you keep it up, I'll cry right on the spot and mom and dad will surely give you a good beating! Plus, I've already forgotten all about that scum. I'm ready to focus all my energy into my work." She was determined, and her brother could really see it in her eyes too. This brought a smile to his lips.

"Good. Let me know if he comes back to pester you, I'll always have my baby sister's back. I'll break his legs; you just need to tell me when." Huanting said as he placed some bok choy into his sister's bowl. Xia Biming leaned her head on her brother's shoulder and gave his arm a tight squeeze as an affirmation of their sibling bond. She then picked a piece of the braised pork and place a piece each into her brother's, father's, and mother's bowl. This was truly one happy family.

"Alright honey buns, we can multi-task. Let's eat while we talk about what you want at your birthday party." Momma Xia was beaming with such happiness. They continued to discuss what foods Biming wanted, the cake, the flowers and decoration. They even made a guest list on the spot as Mother Xia wrote it all down on her tablet. She wanted her daughter's birthday party to be the best.

She wanted to show off to all her friends and family that her daughter was the most outstanding girl. She also made a separate guest list that her daughter was not aware of, but the men were. This separate list had all the socialite families with eligible sons for marriage. Yes, she was planning to play matchmaker before her daughter fell for another detestable man.

Lunch ended after an hour and a half and they all went their separate ways. Mother Xia headed to the florist to place the order for the party. The men headed back to Xia headquarters, while Xia Biming went back to Jade Atelier. She spent the rest of the afternoon going to color wheels, patterns, and textures. Her fall line needed to be perfect. It would be the launching collection in Europe, which could make or break her standing there.

Her week went by just like that. Friday afternoon came by quick and Xia Biming had finished finalizing the textiles she wanted to use for her new collection. This was her process. She liked to feel and see what she was going to work with before she started sketching her ideas out on paper. This way, she could become one with the clothes. It was already 7 pm when she finished, and she felt her stomach rumblings. She skipped out on lunch because she really wanted to finish picking everything out.