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b"Your aunt won't come back. She has settled down in the factory! Don't mention her to me. It gives me a headache when I mention her." After Aunt Liu said this, she felt a dull pain in her head. She rubbed her temples back and forth with her hands.

"But I miss my aunt. She hasn't bought me any delicious food for a long time. I want to eat roast chicken!" Xiaohu said he missed his aunt, but actually he was thinking about the delicious food Zhou Lin bought for him.

"My dear, don't think about food all the time. We have to tighten our belts now. Otherwise, we won't be able to afford even meat dumplings during the New Year." Aunt Liu lost Zhou Lin's support and Zhou Xuan's salary. She felt that life was much tighter.

"No! I just want to eat roast chicken! I'm drooling at the thought!" Xiaohu said as he pulled Aunt Liu and went out to buy roast chicken.

"No. Xiaohu, a roast chicken costs several dollars. Let's wait until the New Year to eat it. It's only two weeks before New Year's Eve. I'll buy you a lot of delicious food!" Aunt Liu counted the time on her fingers.

"No! Eat now! I can't sleep if I don't eat."

"What do you want to eat? Do you want roast chicken?"

Zhou Lin came in carrying two roast chickens. Xiao Hu had a very sharp nose and could smell the aroma of the roast chickens immediately. He ran towards Zhou Lin excitedly.

...

...

"Aunt! You finally came back!" Xiaohu stepped forward, took the roast chicken from Zhou Lin's hand, put it on the table, and couldn't wait to tear open the brown paper.

The aroma of roast chicken instantly hit Xiaohu's face, and he pulled off a big chicken leg and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Delicious! So delicious!" Xiaohu's eyes were filled with tears. He wolfed down the chicken leg as if he hadn't eaten for a long time, wishing he could swallow it in one gulp.

Aunt Liu was drooling at the sight, but when she saw Zhou Lin looking at her, she frowned again and said, "How dare you come back? I thought you didn't recognize me as your mother anymore."

"How can that be possible? Even if I hide to the ends of the earth, I can't change the fact that you are my mother. Xiaohu, get your grandma a chicken drumstick."

"Grandma, let me give you a chicken wing. I want to eat the other chicken leg." Xiaohu was reluctant to give the chicken leg to his grandma, so he tore off a chicken wing and handed it to her.

"Good grandson. Grandma doesn't want to eat it. It's all yours!" Aunt Liu looked at Xiaohu eating happily and didn't care whether she ate it or not.

"You came back today because you have something to talk to me about, right? Tell me what it is?" Aunt Liu saw that her daughter had a very good attitude after coming back this time and even bought food for the family. She felt that her daughter must have something to talk to her about.

"It's nothing. I just haven't been back for a long time and wanted to see you and Xiaohu. I heard that my brother and his wife moved out?" Zhou Lin walked around the house and found that his eldest brother and his family had already moved out.

"Don't mention them to me. If you have nothing to do, help me with some work. I've had severe back pain lately." Aunt Liu said as she carried out a pile of dirty cotton clothes from the house, wanting Zhou Lin to help her take them apart and wash them.

"Washing clothes, right? No problem." Zhou Lin returned to her room with a pile of dirty cotton clothes, sat on the bed and began to unpack the clothes.

If it had been the same as in the past, Zhou Lin would have thrown the coat back to her in disgust, but she didn't expect him to be so obedient today.

The more Aunt Liu thought about it, the more strange it seemed to her. She followed Zhou Lin into her room, leaned against the door frame with her hands in her sleeves, stared at Zhou Lin and asked, "Did you do something wrong? Why are you acting so abnormal today?"

"What could I have done wrong? Mom, can't you just think positively?" Zhou Lin said with a slight smile on her face.

Aunt Liu suddenly looked shocked and slapped her thigh and said to Zhou Lin: "You didn't have a child with that boy! Oh my God, I can't afford to lose face like this. You, an unmarried girl, actually did such a shameless thing! Aunt Liu took out a broom from behind the door and threw it at Zhou Lin."

Zhou Lin's eyelids twitched, and she immediately jumped up from the bed. She dodged Aunt Liu's attack.

"Oh my! What's going on! How could I do such a thing!" Zhou Lin blushed. Her mother was just making blind guesses.

"No, then why are you smiling like that? I thought you were doing something shameful behind my back." Aunt Liu put down the broom when she heard that Zhou Lin was not pregnant.

"Zhou Lin, are you really not planning to get married? Will Nie Fan agree to be your boyfriend?" Aunt Liu thought of urging him to get married again.

"What can I do if he doesn't agree? You're asking for 2,000 yuan as a betrothal gift, but who can give it to him?" Zhou Lin lowered his head, concentrating on unravelling the stitches on his cotton jacket.

Aunt Liu asked for 2,000 yuan in betrothal gifts because of Zhang Hui's instigation. Now Zhang Hui and she are separated. She is no longer holding on to the 2,000 yuan.

"Two thousand is a bit much. How about I lower the gift price?"

Seeing her mother relax, Zhou Lin immediately raised her head and asked, "How much will it be reduced to?"

Aunt Liu thought about it, stretched out her hand and flipped it three times.

"One thousand five hundred yuan is not a small amount! Mom, why do you want so much dowry? Are you saving it for Xiaohu to get married?" Zhou Lin thought his mother had thought it through, but he didn't expect her to be so greedy.

"I can't keep it for myself. You and Nie Fan can both earn money, so why are you reluctant to spend it? As long as Nie Fan pays 1,500 yuan for the betrothal gift, I won't ask for your money anymore. How about it?" Aunt Liu had made a careful calculation. She wanted to get the money first and then refuse to acknowledge it later.

"No. You can come to me if you need money in the future. I can give you pocket money at a fixed time and amount every month." Zhou Lin was afraid that her mother would regret it after asking for the money, so she didn't agree to her request at all.

"I don't agree. You have to give a betrothal gift!" Aunt Liu pouted, looking very dissatisfied.

"I will give you the betrothal gift. Is it okay according to the current market price?"

Zhou Lin came back this time just to discuss her marriage with Nie Fan. She wanted to have a good discussion with her mother again, hoping for a happy outcome.

"What's the market like now? Televisions, motorcycles and sewing machines?" Aunt Liu started to make up stories.

"Mom! I was talking to you nicely. Why are you talking nonsense?" Zhou Lin complained angrily when she saw that her mother didn't say a single serious word.

"How could I talk nonsense? This is my request, not a penny less. If you want to get married during the New Year, you have to do as I say." Aunt Liu was determined to get the money.

"Is there no room for negotiation on this matter?" Zhou Lin stopped what he was doing and asked his mother.

"There's no room for negotiation. You can only do as I say." Aunt Liu turned her head to the side, not looking at Zhou Lin's gaze.

"Okay! Then you just wait to get paid!" Zhou Lin picked up the dirty clothes in his hand and stuffed them into his mother's arms, then pushed his mother out of his room.

"You don't want to wash anymore! Hey, why did you lock the door!" Aunt Liu was driven out of the room by Zhou Lin. She returned to her room carrying a pile of dirty cotton clothes.