Chapter 28 Buying a House
Lin Yuhan is indeed a good trading partner. Sometimes Ning Xuan can't even name specific things. For example, if she wants to eat dessert, she can't think of many specific kinds. She will just say something like cake, dessert, or tiramisu, durian mille-feuille, etc.
When Lin Yuhan arrives at a dessert shop, she thoughtfully scans the variety of desserts in the shop and shows them to Ning Xuan so that Ning Xuan can choose. Sometimes, when Ning Xuan doesn't have time to look at the selections carefully, Lin Yuhan will take the initiative to buy a few more items.
When she goes to the supermarket or buys things online, sometimes she sees something that she thinks Ning Xuan might need, and she will ask Ning Xuan or just buy it for her without finding it troublesome at all.
For example, if any good dramas, variety shows, or novels come out in modern times, Lin Yuhan will take the initiative to download them for Ning Xuan. In any case, because of Lin Yuhan's thoughtfulness, Ning Xuan's life has really become much more comfortable.
Lin Yuhan quickly decided to buy a house.
She still remembered the time her former landlord made her move out overnight, and at that time she gained a very deep understanding of the phrase "living under someone else's roof".
Even though the apartment she's renting now is much better in terms of environment and conditions, she knows that she's still living under someone else's roof, and she could have to move again at any time because of some other conditions imposed by the landlord.
Ning Xuan immediately contacted a real estate agent to view apartments. If possible, she wanted to buy a large, single-level apartment so that she could live comfortably and spaciously.
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While Lin Yuhan was looking at houses everywhere, Ning Xuan attended a wedding. The bride was He Yuting, and the groom was Zhou Weimin, the youngest son of the scorekeeper.
Zhou Weimin is two years older than He Yuting, and he is 25 years old this year, so the Zhou family is actually very anxious.
Originally, they were going to arrange a marriage for their youngest son, but then some educated youths came to the team, and the youngest son went to watch out of curiosity and immediately took a liking to He Yuting.
However, He Yuting had just arrived and didn't have a good impression of the locals. She also didn't want to stay in the countryside any longer, so when Zhou Weimin tried to show her his affection, He Yuting turned him away.
Originally, the Zhou family was not willing to marry a sent-down youth as their daughter-in-law. Apart from being a little fairer and cleaner than most people in the village, she couldn't do any work and didn't look like someone who could bear children easily. Why would they marry her and treat her like an ancestor?
However, to their surprise, the other party looked down on their son. Zhou Weimin's mother even wanted the scorekeeper to use his power to settle personal scores, but Zhou Weimin stopped her, so He Yuting did not suffer "retribution".
He Yuting didn't agree, so the Zhou family thought Zhou Weimin should look at other people, other educated youth would be fine too, but Zhou Weimin refused. He felt that since He Yuting wasn't married, he still had a chance.
So later, when he couldn't resist his parents' wishes and went to a matchmaking event, he would try to sabotage it.
After this happened several times, Zhou Mancang and his wife were worried that it would ruin their son's reputation, so they dared not arrange any more matchmaking for him.
However, Zhou Mancang and his wife also made an agreement with him, allowing him to be willful until he was 25. If he hadn't won He Yuting's heart by the time he turned 25, he would have to seriously consider a match and not try any more tricks.
Zhou Weimin, who was originally 25 years old this year, was starting to feel disheartened when He Yuting still ignored his advances. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better, and He Yuting agreed to give it a try with him.
Zhou Weimin was overjoyed and couldn't wait to marry her.
After talking for a while, He Yuting could feel that Zhou Weimin really cared about her, and finally agreed to marry him.
However, He Yuting had another requirement: the bride price. She didn't require all three items ("three turns and one sound"), but at least two of them were necessary.
A 36-legged woman needs at least a bed, a wardrobe, and a dressing table, plus two new outfits, and an additional 200 yuan.
When Zhou Weimin heard these requests, he was also in a dilemma, but he liked He Yuting so much that he didn't refuse her directly. However, since he couldn't guarantee anything, he said he would try his best to find a way.
When Zhou Mancang and his wife heard He Yuting's conditions, they slammed their fists on the table. "Is she marrying a wife or an ancestor? How can our family afford such a high dowry?"
Zhou Weimin's mother said directly, "I don't agree, we don't want this daughter-in-law!"
Zhou Weimin knelt down before the two men. Although they were angry that their son was not living up to his potential, they also genuinely loved him, so they relented. They said they couldn't meet this request and asked He Yuting to compromise.
They tried to get a sewing machine, which would be quite practical. They could also provide the furniture, which they had prepared a long time ago; all they were missing was a dressing table.
Finally, there's the money. 200 yuan is too much. Let's cut it in half and say 100 yuan. They can grit their teeth and borrow some more, and they can still come up with the money.
When He Yuting heard that the Zhou family hadn't directly refused and had instead discussed a compromise with her, she thought for a moment and said that she could accept a dowry of only 50 yuan, but she wanted a sewing machine and a watch as her bottom line. If they didn't agree, she wouldn't marry him.
He Yuting was adamant, and Zhou Weimin seemed determined to marry no one but her, so Zhou Mancang and his wife had no choice but to grit their teeth and agree.
So during this period, Zhou Mancang and his wife were begging people everywhere to find tickets for sewing machines and watches. In the end, they managed to buy the watches through the black market, but they bought the sewing machines at the commune department store.
This wave of debt has emptied the elderly couple's savings and left them with over 100 yuan in debt.
Because of this, Zhou Weimin's two older brothers and their wives also made a big fuss, but in the end, Zhou Mancang suppressed it.
However, Zhou Weimin promised that he would take responsibility for the famine he caused, and then his eldest and second daughters-in-law each promised to make him a new set of clothes next year, and the family quarrel finally ended.
Ning Xuan looked at He Yuting, who was dressed in new clothes and looked quite good, and noticed that she was wearing the same watch that Ning Xuan had produced. She thought to herself that the Zhou family was really generous and hoped that He Yuting would cherish her love-struck husband, Zhou Weimin, and live a good life with him.
This time, all the former educated youth from the original educated youth settlement came to the banquet. Since they are considered the bride's "family" here, the gifts they gave were the same as those given by the bride's family. Everyone chipped in to buy the gifts, and He Yuting received face cream and a pair of towels.
He Yuting was actually quite unhappy because she felt that the fact that everyone didn't give Zhou Weimin a fountain pen was a mockery of her for marrying a country bumpkin.
If Ning Xuan knew what she was thinking, she would only say that if she was so good at imagining and analyzing other people's motives, it would be really tiring. No matter how well she married, she would still have the ability to make her life miserable.
And that was indeed the case. After He Yuting married into Zhou Weimin's family, she was only close to Zhou Weimin. Her relationship with the rest of the family was very tense. Before He Yuting married into the family, Zhou Weimin's two sisters-in-law were just secretly competing with each other. But as soon as He Yuting arrived, the two of them shook hands and made peace, forming a united front against He Yuting.
The Zhou family would argue over trivial matters every day, causing chaos. Not long after, Zhou Mancang and his wife couldn't take it anymore and separated the family property from their three sons.
That's a story for another time, of course.
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