Chapter 4: Unwilling to be sold again, she plans to get the marriage certificate tomorrow...
At this time, the bride price was usually given to the bride's parents by default. Few parents who loved their daughters would give it all to her. Sure enough, as soon as Ji Wei finished speaking, everyone else frowned. She didn't give them a chance to speak and said directly, "I gave you all the bride price when I married Xie Fei. This time, I want to keep it for myself."
"You're making it sound like your family didn't prepare a dowry for you, sister. That's not right of you. You're not even married yet, and you're already siding with outsiders." Ji Shengzhou's tone was full of displeasure.
Ji Wei chuckled lightly, her tone full of sarcasm: "So, for the past two years, I've handed over my entire monthly salary to Mom, and how have you treated Lulu and me?"
Seeing that she was repeating the same thing over and over again, Zhou Xiuzhen also became displeased: "Weiwei, Congcong only said one thing about Lulu. Have we been short of food or drink for Lulu these past two years? Why are you so fixated on this?"
In her past life, Ji Wei couldn't sever ties with her family of origin. She felt that although her parents loved Ji Shengzhou more, they also gave her love, such as allowing her to study at a teacher's college. At that time, she thought that if they had been a little meaner and crueler to her, perhaps she could have cleanly and decisively cut ties with them. Later, they repeatedly broke her heart and disappointed her, so now she no longer cared about that pitiful love. She said calmly, "You know how you treated Lulu. There's no point in saying these things now. If you insist on taking the bride price, then I won't go through with the marriage."
"Ji Wei, what exactly do you mean? Explain yourself!" Seeing her pulling Lulu back to her room, Ji Dahai shouted at her sharply.
Ji Wei turned around and calmly looked him in the eye: "It doesn't mean anything. I've been sold out by you once, and I don't want to be sold out by you a second time. Do you understand?"
After speaking, Ji Wei ignored the various noises behind her and directly pulled Lulu to their room. It was called their room, but it was actually a storage room on the first floor that had been converted. She rubbed her temples; she had really been foolish before.
"Mom, are we really going to move to your school tomorrow?" Even with the door closed, Lulu could still faintly hear Ji Dahai's angry voice outside, and she was a little worried.
"Of course you don't want to?" Ji Wei looked down and met her gaze.
"I'm willing," Lulu hurriedly shook her head.
"Mom was wrong before. I thought it wasn't good for you to be alone in the office while I was teaching, so I let Lulu stay with Grandma. Can Lulu forgive Mom?" Ji Wei asked cautiously.
“I know Mom is doing this to earn money to support me, and I don’t blame her,” Lulu shook her head, indicating her understanding.
Ji Wei's eyes started to well up again. Children are so innocent. She must have disappointed Lulu a lot in her past life for Lulu to say those things later.
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After leaving the restaurant, Gu Chen'an was still in a state of excitement, constantly muttering, "Teacher Ji is going to be my mother, that's wonderful."
When he said it for the twentieth time, Gu Zhiyuan couldn't help but ask, "Do you like her that much?"
“Yes, Teacher Ji is a very nice person. Dad, you will like her in the future too.” Gu Chen’an looked at his father earnestly. What he didn’t say was that Teacher Ji had his mother’s scent. He knew from a young age that the woman he called “Mom” didn’t like him. When he was little, he would try to please her, but later he realized that no matter what he did, she would not like him, so he stopped trying to please her.
He also remembered that when Teacher Ji found out he hadn't eaten lunch, she shared her lunch with him. He also knew that Teacher Ji had specially invited that woman to the school. Later, when he fell down, Teacher Ji helped him up and he smelled her fragrance, which was exactly the same as the scent of his mother that he had smelled in his dream.
Gu Zhiyuan's greatest regret in life was towards Gu Chen'an. He and Fang Qing had only met three times before getting married. If he had known from the beginning that Fang Qing was forced into marriage by her family, he would never have agreed to it. From the moment Gu Chen'an was born, Fang Qing constantly complained to him about how difficult his family was to get along with. When he suggested moving with his military unit, she refused. Until Chen'an was three years old, she proposed bringing him to Wu'an, saying it was closer to the city and more convenient. Gu Zhiyuan was responsible for communicating with his family to get them to move to Wu'an Town. At that time, he also noticed Fang Qing's aversion to him, and he made efforts. Every time she complained to him about how hard it was to raise a child alone, he began preparing for his demobilization. Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned from his demobilization, Fang Qing filed for divorce. For Chen'an's sake, he tried to persuade her to stay, but Fang Qing's attitude was firm, and he could only let go. The only saving grace was that after Fang Qing moved with Chen'an to Wu'an Town, he started saving a portion of his money each month so that he wouldn't be left with no savings after the divorce.
Seeing the smile on Gu Chen'an's face, he also raised the corners of his lips, glanced down at the time on his wrist, and then said gently, "Then go back and get some sleep. We need to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things tomorrow."
Since the reform and opening up, although there have been more and more vendors selling things, people are still used to buying things from supply and marketing cooperatives.
“Okay, then we’re going to buy lots and lots of things.” In little Gu Chen’an’s heart, his teacher Ji deserved the best. Gu Zhiyuan saw the smile on his face, and at that moment, he was incredibly grateful that Ji Wei was willing to marry him.
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The Ji family runs a small shop, which is usually the last to close in the neighborhood, but tonight they closed the door early. Ji Cong, who is used to being a tyrant at home, was clamoring to watch TV. Li Shuhui glanced at her in-laws, whose faces were grim, and whispered, "Behave yourself!"
"Dad, does my sister mean she's not going to give you the bride price?" Ji Shengzhou asked tentatively.
"Alright, stop making things worse. Your sister has a point. She gave us the dowry she received when she got married before, so let her keep it this time. They still have to raise a child." Zhou Xiuzhen was thinking ahead. Although they both had a child, they still needed to have another child of their own, otherwise the couple wouldn't be able to work together in the future.
“She earns a little over three hundred a month, and Gu Zhiyuan probably earns about the same. How could they be short of money?” Ji Shengzhou couldn’t help but say, thinking about how his and Li Shuhui’s salaries were getting lower and lower each month.
“Your sister finally agreed to remarry, so don’t cause trouble now. We’re all family. If you’re in trouble, do you really think she’ll just stand by and do nothing?” Zhou Xiuzhen glared at him. She loved her son, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love her daughter at all.
"We're not going to visit until tomorrow. The wedding is still a long way off, what's the rush?" Ji Dahai gave them a disgruntled look and didn't tell them what he was thinking before going to bed.
The next morning, Ji Wei didn't get up early to make breakfast for the whole family because she felt sorry for Zhou Xiuzhen. Instead, she slept in with Lulu.
Li Shuhui, on the other hand, was taken to the market to buy groceries by Zhou Xiuzhen early in the morning. When they returned, Ji Wei was taking Lulu to prepare to go out.
"Weiwei, where are you going?" Zhou Xiuzhen asked, puzzled.
“Lulu wanted to eat Aunt Tie’s steamed buns, so I took her to Aunt Tie’s house for breakfast,” Ji Wei explained.
"We cooked some porridge at home, so buy a few more and we can all eat it together." Today was her special day, and Zhou Xiuzhen wasn't going to make things difficult for her.
Ji Wei didn't say anything, but just reached out her hand. Li Shuhui, who had been feeling aggrieved since last night, finally found an opportunity and deliberately raised her voice, saying, "Sister, you're too calculating. You even have to ask Mom for money to buy a steamed bun for the family."
"Mom, others may not know, but don't you know too? I give you my entire monthly salary. I have enough money to buy Lulu a steamed bun, but how am I supposed to pay for so many other things?" At this point, Ji Wei really wanted to slap herself twice. What on earth had been going on in her head before?
"Here, go buy it." Zhou Xiuzhen took out ten yuan from her bag and gave it to her. After Ji Wei left with Lulu, she suddenly remembered that Ji Wei hadn't given her her salary for this month. She had said a few days ago that her salary would be paid a few days late, but it still hadn't been paid. Zhou Xiuzhen suddenly had a premonition that Ji Wei wouldn't give her her salary like before. Realizing this, she turned around and glared at Li Shuhui: "Shut up. You know in your heart whether you've taken advantage of me or not these past two years."
After leaving the Ji family's convenience store, Lulu tugged at Ji Wei's wrist and whispered, "Mom, it's okay if I don't eat the steamed buns."
"Is Lulu worried that Mommy doesn't have money? Don't worry, I was just lying to your grandma." Ji Wei smiled and comforted the little one, but in her heart she was already slapping herself twice. She really didn't leave herself any way out.
"Really?" Lulu looked at her with some suspicion.
"Of course it's true. Let's go eat some steamed buns." Steamed buns taste best when they're fresh out of the steamer and piping hot. The mother and daughter ate at the breakfast shop before bringing five steamed buns home.
Before they could leave, the Gu family father and son, along with Aunt Wang, had already arrived. Gu Chen'an ran towards them with a big smile: "Teacher Ji, little sister!"
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Ji Wei asked him.
"I've already eaten," Gu Chen'an nodded.
"Would you like some more?" she said, taking a steamed bun from the plastic bag and handing it to him, then to Aunt Wang and Gu Zhiyuan in turn, adding, "Auntie Tie's steamed buns are delicious, you should try some!"
Li Shuhui, who had been waiting at home for them to come back with steamed buns, gritted her teeth and then looked down at Ji Cong next to her. Ji Cong quickly stepped forward and said, "Auntie, I want to eat steamed buns too."
"I saved one for you, and one for your grandma." Ji Wei said, handing another bun to Zhou Xiuzhen. Seeing that she immediately gave it to Ji Shengzhou, she calmly looked away.
With matchmaker Aunt Wang around, things were much easier. Ji Wei glanced at the things on the table, frowned, and looked at Gu Zhiyuan. Why buy so much? It's such a waste.
The gifts Gu Zhiyuan brought pleased the rest of the Ji family. Now, seeing Aunt Wang bring up the wedding, Ji Dahai began to put on airs: "Although Weiwei is remarrying, her circumstances are far superior to others, so the dowry and such..."
Before he could continue, Ji Wei interrupted him, saying, "Aunt Wang, this isn't the first time for Gu Zhiyuan and me. We got married with the intention of building a life together, so we've discussed it and decided that we don't need the dowry or banquet. We'll just get our marriage certificate tomorrow and have a meal with our families."
The other party involved, who had just learned that they were getting their marriage certificate tomorrow, noticed that everyone else was looking at them. He slowly got up and walked to Ji Wei's side, saying, "I'll listen to her."
A note from the author:
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[Stand-up rabbit head] continues to drop little red envelopes, mwah!
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