The groom, Mr. Wang, was unable to pick up the bride due to leg problems, so his cousins went to fetch her.
We had already told the bride's family that Wang's family might not be able to go to the bride's house to pick her up due to his family's circumstances, and the bride's family didn't think it was a big problem.
So right now, Old Wang and his wife are at home, receiving guests and waiting for the wedding procession to return.
Weddings on Guangming Road are usually held in the evening; the wedding ceremony and the evening ceremony are only suitable for the ceremony at dusk.
The bride's family doesn't live too far away, so there's no need for the wedding procession to go there in the early morning. They can still make it back for lunch if they go in the morning.
The bride is coming back now, and the banquet will start in the evening.
The Wang family was quite generous with the wedding banquet, hosting a total of six tables. Even Chen Suwen, a neighbor whose relationship with the Wang family wasn't particularly good, was invited.
Of course, only Chen Suwen and Zhou Qingyun from the entire Zhou family came to the wedding banquet; the others did not come.
Neither of the neighbors from Guangming Road brought their families. These days, everyone has a hard time, and there's no need to make a wedding feast so expensive that it bankrupts the host.
Chen Suwen didn't have high hopes for the feast at today's wedding banquet. The Wang family was quite generous, but it wouldn't be as extravagant as the banquets decades later.
Putting everything else aside, Chen Suwen could tell that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family looked very unhappy, which was obviously because of the issue of the bride price.
When she got married, she didn't have a temporary job or a dowry of 300 yuan. She only had a dowry of 88 yuan, and she couldn't even think about having a job.
How could she possibly accept such a generous dowry from her brother-in-law's wife?
She didn't overturn the banquet table, which was a gesture of respect to the Wang family.
"Try to tone down your expression, try to look cheerful and happy," the eldest son of the Wang family quickly reminded his wife when he noticed her pale face.
Wang's eldest daughter-in-law rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think I can be happy?"
She looked at her husband with a troubled expression. "Tell me yourself, how much dowry did you get when you married me? And look at your brother, how much dowry did he get when he got married?"
"How can I be happy when a country girl's bride price is higher than mine?"
The thought that she was inferior to a country girl made Wang's eldest daughter-in-law feel uncomfortable all over, and she wanted to get angry.
The eldest son of the Wang family held her hand and whispered to comfort her, "Alright, don't be angry. Didn't I give you a three-round radio and a ring back then? Your wife didn't get one."
Yes, after the Wang family gave their future daughter-in-law a temporary job and 300 yuan, that was it—the three turns and one sound.
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family had some things back then, although she only had a sewing machine and a watch, and no bicycle or tape recorder, but it was still quite good.
Wang's eldest daughter-in-law looked at her wrist; it was the watch her husband had given her when they got married, and she was still wearing it.
She stared at him intently for a few moments, then took a deep breath to suppress her dissatisfaction. "When will we separate the family? My uncle is married now, shouldn't we separate the family by now?"
The eldest son of the Wang family looked at her intently, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Do you think Mom and Dad will separate the household? With my younger brother in his current state, what will he do if they separate? Will he rely on his wife's salary to support the family?"
"Then what do you mean? Does that mean that even though my uncle is married, we're expected to support him and his wife?"
"Alright, alright, now is not a good time to separate the family. Be careful not to make Mom angry."
Wang's eldest daughter-in-law knew, of course, that her mother-in-law was not someone to be trifled with, and that her younger brother-in-law was her mother-in-law's precious darling, her most beloved youngest son, and she would never easily give him away.
Wang's eldest daughter-in-law also twitched the corners of her mouth. How did she end up marrying into this family in the first place?
She glanced sideways at the man beside her.
Oh right, I was fooled by this guy's face and his sweet talk. After I married into the family, I found out that my mother-in-law liked to nitpick and favored my brother-in-law. By then, it was too late.
"Don't hold a grudge. Your brother's wife is supposed to take care of him after she marries into the family. Do you expect her to wash his clothes and clean his room?"
"When his leg flares up, are you willing to massage him or soak his feet?"
After Mr. Wang became lame in his lower leg, it would hurt when the weather was bad, so he would soak his feet several times a week.
These chores used to be done by his mother, but now that he's married, his wife should be doing them.
The eldest son of the Wang family meant it very clearly: if his younger brother doesn't get married, eventually his wife will have to take over.
Wang's eldest daughter-in-law frowned slightly upon hearing his words, clearly indicating that she was also unwilling to serve her brother-in-law.
There's a difference between men and women. She's his sister-in-law, not his wife. Doing these things is really too 'ambiguous,' and she doesn't want any gossip to spread.
The couple whispered among themselves in the corner, with the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family barely suppressing her displeasure that her sister-in-law's dowry was higher than hers.
"What are you two doing? Come and help! Can't you see everyone's working so hard they barely have time to breathe? All you do is stand there with your eyes open and watch others work. Don't you two have hands?"
Liu Lifen caught a glimpse of her eldest son and daughter-in-law squatting in the corner talking, and she immediately became displeased.
She was so busy that she couldn't wait to send the bride to the bridal chamber and wished her grandson would be born tomorrow.
These two seem to have a lot of free time; don't they even know how to lend a hand?
However, she still considered that today was her youngest son's wedding day and did not get angry, otherwise the wedding banquet would not be able to proceed and she would become a laughing stock for everyone.
When the eldest son of the Wang family heard his mother's call, he stood up, pulled his wife up, and went to help.
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