“Auntie, since you want a bride price so much, I’d also like to ask how much dowry you’re planning to give me?” Xu Qingning felt it was necessary to argue with Jiang Yumei about this matter. In any case, she had already accepted the bride price, and she would absolutely not give it to them.
"Dowry?" Jiang Yumei was surprised that Xu Qingning would mention dowry. She paused for a moment and then said casually, "Your father and I will treat you equally, just like your sister."
"Equal treatment?" Xu Qingning seemed to have heard a joke. She walked over and sat down next to Yang Yuelan, and asked Jiang Yumei in a calm tone, "My sister said before that I also have a share of the jewelry that Grandma left her?"
"Qingning, you're getting more and more outrageous. How can you have the nerve to ask for the things your sister's grandmother left behind?" Xu Jianguo felt it was very embarrassing to say these things in front of the Zhao family. He suppressed his anger and said, "Let's talk about the dowry in private."
This girl is becoming increasingly estranged from him.
Make him lose face in front of his in-laws.
“Dad, the bride price is just as important as the dowry. The bride price can be discussed openly, so why does the dowry have to be discussed in private?” Xu Qingning knew that Xu Jianguo was a conciliatory person. If he said it would be discussed in private, it meant that it wasn’t much. If it were a lot, he would definitely show it off in public.
She remembered Tang Wenya's dowry, which, including the new washbasins and thermos flasks, was worth only thirty yuan in total.
Of course, she didn't know how much Jiang Yumei subsidized behind the scenes, since she didn't get any of it anyway.
"Qingning, in our hearts, you and your sister are the same." Jiang Yumei forced a smile. "What is rightfully yours, your father and I will naturally give you."
She knew Xu Qingning was stupid, but she didn't expect her to be this stupid, favoring her husband's family even before the marriage.
She doesn't even know what kind of person Zhao Jingyu is. If she suffers any injustice in the future, she can forget about going back to her parents' home to cry and complain.
"If Auntie says that, I know the dowry must be quite large." Xu Qingning smiled. "How about this, there's no need to talk about it privately. I don't want the dowry, and you shouldn't mention the bride price anymore."
She asked Xu Jianguo for fifty yuan and took a sewing machine with her, saying privately that they would definitely bring up these two things.
After offsetting each other, she won't get a single point.
They might even have to pay out of pocket.
"Qingning, you said it yourself, so don't complain later that we didn't give you a dowry." Jiang Yumei looked at Xu Qingning's smiling face and felt a tightness in her chest.
She kept staring at Xu Jianguo, but Xu Jianguo didn't utter a sound, he just kept smoking.
"As long as you don't bring up the bride price, I will absolutely not mention the dowry." Xu Qingning had a clear understanding of the situation, so of course she didn't care about the dowry; she only cared about the benefits she could hold onto.
Yang Yuelan understood Xu Jianguo and Jiang Yumei's intentions and felt even more sorry for Xu Qingning. She got up, poured her a glass of water, and said in a low voice, "Have some water. We can discuss things slowly."
She knew that the dowry in Jiaodong City was usually a pig's leg and sixty yuan, and her son was giving quite a lot in order to marry his wife as soon as possible.
If Xu Qingning hadn't asked, she would have been willing to give Xu Jianguo and Jiang Yumei another share, since she couldn't just marry someone else's daughter for nothing.
But it seems Xu Qingning intends to keep the bride price for herself and doesn't want to give it to her parents.
As the parents-in-law, they couldn't really say anything; they had to listen to their daughter-in-law.
"Thank you, Mom." Xu Qingning took the water and drank it in small sips.
Zhao Jingyu then spoke in a lukewarm tone: "Uncle and Aunt, Qingning and I are having our wedding banquet tomorrow. We hope you can come and have a meal with us and join in the fun."
“I want Qingning to come home with us tonight according to wedding customs, and then marry into our family tomorrow.” Xu Jianguo looked at Zhao Jingyu and said with mixed feelings, “Our two families don’t live far apart. If she moves in early, people will laugh at us.”
Getting married means leaving the bride's family home.
What kind of behavior is this?
"I respect Qingning's wishes." Zhao Jingyu didn't mind these things; if Xu Qingning was willing to go back with them, he wouldn't stop her.
Anyway, we've already got the marriage certificate.
Xu Qingning is now his rightful wife.
"Dad, I've settled in here and I'm not going back." Xu Qingning didn't want to go back to climb the top bunk, and she didn't want to be scolded by Xu Jianguo. She didn't care about wedding customs either, as long as she was comfortable.
Besides, they came to ask for a bride price, not to take her home.
A child without a mother has no home.
"Since you're unwilling to come back with us, then so be it!" Xu Jianguo's face darkened, and he got up and left.
"Jianguo, wait for me." Jiang Yumei followed, but her arrival was as good as nothing. Xu Jianguo had really raised this daughter for nothing.
"Father-in-laws, please come early tomorrow." Zhao Futang didn't say anything, and together with Yang Yuelan, they politely saw the two to the front door.
After seeing Xu Jianguo and Jiang Yumei off, the elderly couple began tidying up the room next door, preparing to go to sleep. They had come two or three times before and stayed overnight.
Zhao Jingyu was at sea for more than half a year. During his two-month vacation after returning home, he did not cook at home and ate out the whole time.
It's clear he rarely goes into this room; it's basically the same as it was when they last left.
They came in a hurry this time, and the quilts hadn't been aired out yet. The bed was also a bit damp, so they just made do and slept there for one night.
Xu Qingning had just gone back to her room and lay down when Zhao Jingyu came in. He lit a candle, took a basin to the yard to wash up, and then took off his shoes and went to bed.
"Are you going to sleep here tonight?" Xu Qingning sat up, looking at him warily, like a cat whose territory had been invaded.
She assumed he would find somewhere else to sleep tonight; there must be somewhere to stay in their courtyard.
"This is my room. If I don't sleep here, where will I go?" Seeing her looking like she was facing a major crisis, Zhao Jingyu lay down without a care. "We already have a child. What's the big deal about sleeping together?"
Hearing him say that, Xu Qingning had no choice but to move over and make room for him.
There was only one pillow and one blanket on the bed.
When she left, she only packed her luggage and didn't take her pillow or blanket. The pillow and blanket she's using now belong to him.
Ladies first; he's a grown man, he can't very well fight her for the blanket.
Seeing that she was comfortably covered by his blanket, Zhao Jingyu got out of bed, rummaged through the closet, found a pillow and a towel, and lay down next to her.
Xu Qingning breathed a sigh of relief, wrapped the blanket tightly around herself, turned over, and faced away from him. Perhaps because she had slept too much during the day, she couldn't fall asleep no matter how much she tried, and the presence of another person next to her made her feel very uncomfortable.
Zhao Jingyu wasn't asleep either. Seeing her tossing and turning, he rested his head on his arm and said, "Tomorrow morning, I'll have my mom go with you to buy some daily necessities and decorate the room. After all, it's a wedding banquet, so hanging up some red silk would look nice."
"Give me the money!" Xu Qingning reached out from under the covers. These expenses should have been paid by him anyway; she couldn't touch the two hundred and fifty yuan in her savings.
Oh my god, it was exactly 250! This number really annoyed her.
We need to get Zhao Jingyu to fill in some more for her.
Seeing her asking for money so confidently, Zhao Jingyu was somewhat amused and exasperated. He got up and took a black wallet from another drawer, placing it in her hand: "All my money, food coupons, and meat coupons are here. You can take them and spend them."
"How will you receive your salary from now on?" Xu Qingning weighed the heavy wallet in her hand and placed it under her pillow.
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