Chapter 133 Nie Family
Standing at the familiar yet unfamiliar place at the entrance of the village, Xiao Nie was dazed.
I haven't been back for more than a year. The village seems to have changed, but also seems to have remained the same.
Their village is far from the town and is relatively backward. Looking around, most of the houses in the village are red brick and tile houses, with a few adobe houses scattered around.
The two of them didn't bring much luggage this time. Zheng Benming was holding a few gifts in his hands. He weighed them lightly and said hesitantly, "Xiaofeng, this is my first visit. Did I bring too little?"
Xiao Nie took a deep breath and said, "That's enough."
No matter how much her parents took, it was not enough. As soon as she took the baby back, her sister-in-law took it back to her own parents' home. Xiao Nie laughed at herself and thought, if that's the case, then there's no need to waste money.
"Remember what I told you, be firm." Looking at the woman running towards him, Xiao Nie reminded her again.
Before Zheng Benming could nod, a woman with a tanned face ran over and said, "Xiaofeng is back! You're finally back."
The woman ran forward and first glanced at Xiao Nie's hands. Seeing that Xiao Nie's hands were empty, her face suddenly turned bad. She said unhappily, "You haven't been back for more than a year. When you came back, you didn't even bring something for your parents, and your nephew."
"I came back as soon as I received your call. I don't have time to spare." Xiao Nie said lightly.
Nie's mother was unhappy, but then she thought that this time she asked her daughter to come back not because of anything, so she suppressed her unhappiness.
"Xiaofeng, I asked you to come back this time because your aunt introduced you to a guy from the next village. His family is quite well-off, living in a two-story Western-style house. All the family members work in other places and are very wealthy."
Mother Nie kept on nagging and didn't notice that there was a man next to little Nie.
Xiao Nie rolled her eyes to the sky. Her mother actually turned a blind eye to such a big guy like Zheng Benming.
Xiao Nie interrupted his mother and said, "Mom, I have a partner. Stop talking about blind dates."
"Look, this is my boyfriend, Zheng Benming." Xiao Nie pulled Zheng Benming's arm.
"Hello, Auntie. I'm Xiaofeng's boyfriend."
Mother Nie's face immediately fell. She looked at Zheng Benming's cloth shoes and the frayed sleeves, curled her lips, and it was obvious that he was a poor guy.
"Where is home?"
"What are you asking on the way? Go back quickly."
Mother Nie snorted, turned around and walked away. When she met villagers on the way and asked about it, she simply said, "A distant relative came. Little Nie ran into them when he came back, and they came in together."
The villagers didn't understand why, so they didn't ask any more questions.
Xiao Nie's home is a red brick and tile house with two floors. The first floor is for living and the second floor is for storage of miscellaneous items. Looking at this house, Xiao Nie felt complicated. When she first went to work, her home was still a mud house. After she started working, she sent money back regularly every month, and then she built this house.
Ironically, the house was built, but there was no room for her. There were three rooms on the first floor, a kitchen, and one room for her parents, brother and sister-in-law, and younger brother. Her room was on the second floor, and there was an old wooden bed in the utility room.
In her mother's words, since she's just coming back to stay for a few days during the New Year, it doesn't matter where she stays.
Xiao Nie blinked her eyes and took a deep breath. Fortunately, she now had a clear understanding of her so-called family.
After entering the house, Nie's mother called Nie's father over loudly, and Nie's brother and sister-in-law also came out when they heard the voice.
"I'm back, I'm glad I'm back."
"What's good about it? You brought back someone you don't even know where he came from." Mother Nie glared at little Nie several times.
Zheng Benming hesitated for a moment and placed the gifts he had bought on the table. "Uncle, aunt, this is my first visit, so I'm sorry for the disrespect."
Mother Nie snorted, and her expression softened a little.
Xiao Nie's brother and sister-in-law seemed quite friendly. The sister-in-law hurriedly boiled water and poured tea for Zheng Benming. She poured a cup of tea and said in broken Mandarin: "Drink tea, drink tea."
"Thank you, thank you." Zheng Benming quickly took it and stood there awkwardly.
Xiao Nie straightened his back and wrote, "Dad, Mom, I came back this time to bring Zheng Benming back to show you. We have decided to get married."
"Marriage, did I agree?" Mother Nie's eyes widened.
Father Nie tugged at her sleeve, and Mother Nie reluctantly asked, "Then how much dowry can his family give?"
"The village next door gave 60,000 yuan. I don't agree to anything less."
"Mom, are you marrying off your daughter or selling her?"
Mother Nie glanced at Little Nie unhappily and said, "I gave birth to you, I'm your mother, I can do whatever I want, that's what I should do."
Fearing her daughter would become estranged from her, Nie's mother tried to make amends, saying, "At least the people in the neighboring village know everything about you. If anything goes wrong, your family can back you up, right? Where is this from? We won't be able to find it when the time comes."
"Auntie, I'm from Guangdong Province." Zheng Benming understood and said quickly.
When she heard that he was from Guangdong Province, a gleam of light flashed in Nie's mother's eyes. Guangdong Province is good, and people in Guangdong Province are all rich.
As soon as she saw her mother's expression, Xiao Nie knew what she was planning and said calmly, "His family is just like mine, from the mountains of Guang Province, and he works in the same place as me."
When she heard that he was just a poor worker, Nie's mother became unwilling again.
"No matter what you say, I have already decided on him. It's useless for me to say anything." Xiao Nie said in a firm tone.
Mother Nie was furious: "Alright, I want 60,000 yuan for the betrothal gift, not a cent less."
"No, his family is very poor. I asked, and the most they could give was 16,000."
This was decided by Xiao Nie herself. Zheng Benming's money will be hers in the future. Giving it to her mother would be like throwing meat buns at a dog.
"Sixteen thousand, that's a huge difference! No, break up with him and marry someone from the next village."
Mother Nie was unyielding. She glanced at her daughter, whose face was ashen, and softened her tone: "Xiaofeng, I'm doing this for your own good. His family is so poor. How can you expect to have a good life in the future?"
"Is the family in the next village okay?"
"Why not? At least his family is willing to give 60,000 yuan as a betrothal gift. That means they are wealthy and they like you, so they are willing to pay so much."
Xiao Nie snorted and laughed: "Why, you're going to give me all the 60,000 yuan in betrothal gifts as a dowry?"
"How is that possible? That's for your younger brother to find a wife." After saying this, Nie's mother looked at Nie's half-smile, as if her neck was being strangled, and she didn't know what to say.
Brother and sister-in-law Xiao Nie, who were quite enthusiastic just now, turned around and went back to their room when they heard about the betrothal gift of 16,000 yuan. Before leaving, Sister-in-law Xiao Nie took away the tea that Zheng Benming had not had time to drink.
Zheng Benming looked at his empty hand, smiled awkwardly, took it back and put it in his pocket.
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