"It's Zijun. Oh, I haven't seen you eating at Lao Shi's for a long time. My Xiaobao has started working at the subway company and is very busy every day. He and I often talk about you..."
This shoe-shining lady, Aunt Zhang, actually knew Xu Zijun and they were even chatting.
The two of them were not very far apart, but Zhang Fan felt something was a little weird. While eating, he was polishing someone's shoes. How could these two seemingly unrelated things be put together?
But whether it was Xu Zijun or Aunt Zhang, they both thought this was very normal, and the person having their shoes shined also didn't think it was strange.
Fortunately, the egg fried rice tasted good and the pickled vegetables had a unique flavor, so Zhang Fan felt that everything else could be ignored.
"Working on the subway, that's pretty good. Xiaobao has always been very sensible, so you don't have to work so hard. When he gets married, you can just help take care of the grandchildren at home..."
Xu Zijun seemed to be very familiar with the situation of Aunt Zhang's family. It turned out that Aunt Zhang and her family had once rented Xu Zijun's house.
I lived there for many years.
At that time, Xu Zijun and Xiaobao were about the same age, but Xiaobao had always been more sensible and obedient than Xu Zijun, and seemed to have good grades as well. Later, according to his family's arrangements, he moved to a new place and rented a house to study.
The opportunities for the two families to meet became fewer and fewer.
When we met here, we started chatting enthusiastically.
"How can we be so lucky? Xiaobao is sensible and works in the subway, earning a good salary, but compared to the current housing prices, the pressure is really great. Our family worked hard to collect 500,000 yuan and bought a small apartment, but the house has not yet been delivered. Xiaobao has a girlfriend who is from our hometown, and the girl's family wants a dowry of 300,000 yuan, which we haven't settled yet..."
Zhang Fan was eating a skewer of barbecue. When he heard about the betrothal gift of 300,000 yuan, he was shocked.
Although he is rich and does not worry about money, he knows what a dowry of 300,000 yuan means to an office worker.
If a person's salary is 5,000 yuan, he or she will have to save for five years without eating or drinking to have 300,000 yuan. However, after deducting the rent, water, electricity and transportation expenses, it is considered very frugal if one can save 1,000 or 2,000 yuan out of the 5,000 yuan.
But in Jiangcheng, a salary of 5,000 is the norm, and that’s not even the minimum wage.
By this calculation, a family with a slightly poorer financial situation may need more than ten years to save up 300,000 yuan. Then, getting married involves not only gifts, but also wedding photography, engagement banquets, red envelopes, etc., which are so cumbersome that they can make people collapse.
All of these things cost money. Taking into account the 300,000 yuan dowry, it would cost at least 500,000 yuan to get married.
This does not include the house and car. No wonder Aunt Zhang polishes shoes for people here for ten yuan per time. How many times does she have to polish shoes to earn back the money?
"With such a high betrothal gift, doesn't Jiangcheng have a rule where the man buys the house and the woman furnishes it as a dowry?"
"Hey, they are locals. They don't like my family's conditions. They go to my hometown to find a wife. There, the dowry is just a few beds and luggage, and the betrothal gifts are all given to the girl's parents. They say it's not easy to raise a daughter..."
Aunt Zhang sighed, feeling extremely helpless. She bent over to polish people's shoes and tried very hard to solicit business. She had to bend down for a long time before she could get ten yuan.
"But it's not easy for your family to raise Xiaobao. I remember that you saved money to send Xiaobao to a cram school and looked for a good teacher for him. It also cost a lot of money..."
"Hey, there are more men than women now, what can we do? The girl has a younger brother, and if she doesn't agree, my little treasure is almost 30 years old. If we drag it on, I'm afraid he will be single. No matter how difficult it is, the family can just endure it..."
Aunt Zhang sighed, her face filled with indescribable sadness. It was really too difficult.
Her family is just an ordinary family, and they don't favor boys over girls. Anyway, they responded to the country's call and only gave birth to one child. Later, when they couldn't make money in their hometown in the countryside, they came to Jiangcheng to work.
They started renting Xu Zijun's house, and the family worked diligently, always wanting to save money to buy a house of their own, but the house prices always rose much faster than their income.
As they watched house prices rise every year, they were unable to buy a house of their own. It was only after Xiaobao started working that they managed to mortgage a small house after taking out a 30-year loan.
Even after paying the down payment, they still have to repay more than 8,000 yuan every month, which is really too difficult for their family.
The local people are not happy with their family's situation. The bride price for girls in their hometown is extremely expensive, and everyone is like this. They have no room for bargaining. Either they agree, or they go their separate ways!
On one side is her son who is getting older, and on the other side is the high bride price and mortgage. Aunt Zhang and her husband come out to polish shoes after work.
Because business was good and there were a lot of people at Lao Shi's place, Aunt Zhang polished shoes for people here and did quite well in one night. At least she could supplement the family's income, so she worked very hard.
"Zijun, let me clean your shoes for you. It's free. Auntie will clean your shoes for you. You are a good child!"
Aunt Zhang finished her work, and someone over there paid with his mobile phone. He quickly took out a WeChat QR code hanging on his chest to receive the payment. When he saw Xu Zijun, he thought of helping him polish his shoes.
It's free, and it's a token of my appreciation. Xu Zijun's family was really nice to them at the beginning.
Otherwise, the two of them wouldn't have been so polite when they met today.
"Okay, Aunt Zhang, let me wipe it for you. My shoes are dirty..."
Xu Zijun hesitated for a moment, said it openly, then took out his cell phone and scanned it at Aunt Zhang's chest as she bent down to wipe the dust off his shoes.
Then the payment WeChat will be displayed.
Xu Zijun recalled that when she was little, she often played with Xiaobao and had meals at his house. Although they had not been in touch much over the years, the memories of one's childhood are the most beautiful.
After thinking for a while, he entered ten thousand yuan and chose to pay directly!
Over there, Aunt Zhang was happily polishing Xu Zijun's shoes and didn't realize that such a large sum of money had been received on her phone.
"Zijun, have you found a wife? All your family members are gone, so you should find someone who shares your ideals with you. Then you will have more relatives. If your parents were still around, they would definitely be as happy as I am..."
Aunt Zhang mentioned Xu Zijun's deceased parents, which made Xu Zijun's nose sore, but he lowered his head and didn't want to say anything.
I feel a little sad. If his parents were still alive, they would probably do what Aunt Zhang did and use up every last bit of their strength for their child.
And there are so many people like Aunt Zhang.
Zhang Fan, who was standing aside, looked at the wrinkles on Aunt Zhang's face. She was still happily polishing Xu Zijun's shoes, and suddenly something happened to him!
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