They got married on the 12th day of the 12th lunar month, and Xuemei went to work as usual on the 11th. Xuemei planned to take all four days off this month, taking two consecutive days off on the 12th and 13th, and then take the remaining two days off when the village distributed grain and slaughtered pigs. I heard that the village was going to prepare pig-slaughtering dishes again this year.
When Xuemei came back from get off work in the afternoon, Qingya and her two siblings had also returned from their exams and were borrowing tables, chairs and benches for tomorrow's banquet in the village.
Han Chen set out to the commune to queue up at dawn this morning and bought a pound and a half of meat, two pounds of large intestines, and two bones. Going early meant buying better meat, as at least one pound of the pound and a half of meat was pure fat.
After Han Chen returned with the meat, he went to the county town again and bought a pound of fruit candies and White Rabbit milk candies, and also bought two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes.
After dinner in the evening, Liu's mother called Xuemei into the room and said that she had something to explain to her.
After entering the room and closing the door, Liu's mother took out a box and asked Xuemei to open it.
After Xuemei opened the box and looked at the jewelry and bracelets inside, Liu's mother spoke up, "This is the dowry your grandmother gave me. It contains two gold hairpins, two gold rings, and two jade bracelets. I plan to leave the two bracelets to your two younger brothers' wives. You and Qingya will each get a gold ring and a gold hairpin. Choose which style you like, and the rest will be for Qingya."
Xuemei closed the box, took Liu's mother's hand and said, "Mom, this is what Grandma gave you, keep it for yourself. You forgot, I have it too!"
Mother Liu patted Xuemei's hand and said, "That's different. What's yours is yours. This is what I give you. Your grandmother passed it down to me for the sake of inheritance. Otherwise, what would we do with these things after a hundred years? Come on and pick one! This is also a token of my love, so don't refuse!"
After Liu's mother finished speaking, she opened the box again. Xuemei took out a gold ring and a gold hairpin from it and put them in her own space.
Just as Xuemei finished, Liu's mother took out another sum of money and handed it to Xuemei. Xuemei looked at Liu's mother in surprise and asked, "Mom, why are you giving me money all of a sudden?"
Mother Liu stuffed the money into Xuemei's hand and said, "This is a dowry I'm giving you privately. It's one hundred and twenty yuan. Just you and Han Chen know about it. Don't tell anyone else. Tomorrow, your father and I will only give you eighty-eight yuan as a safe deposit!"
"Mom, no. I've told you about Han Chen's savings before. The dowry you and Dad prepared for me is already enough. Which girl in the village doesn't envy me?" Xuemei refused sincerely.
Liu's parents prepared two quilts, a mattress, and a bed sheet for Xuemei. As for furniture, they prepared a desk, four chairs, and two wooden boxes, each 40 centimeters long, wide, and 30 centimeters high.
The wooden box can be used to store quilts, cotton-padded clothes and other clothes. Liu's father also specially asked his second uncle Wang Weimin to make a one-piece wardrobe.
Both wardrobes in the one-piece wardrobe are 60 cm long, wide and 1.2 meters high. One of the wardrobes has only one piece of clothing with a clothes-drying pole inside, which is specially used for Xuemei and Han Chen to store clothes that are easy to wrinkle, such as shirts. The other wardrobe is divided into three compartments, making it look like three drawers. The lower drawer is used for shoes, and the upper one can be used to store daily clothes, one for Xuemei and Han Chen respectively.
All these pieces of furniture have a total of twenty-four legs, which is considered a very heavy dowry in the village. If the two wooden boxes were not without legs, the total number of legs would be thirty.
As soon as Qingya and her two siblings saw it, they all fell in love with the one-piece wardrobe. There was a chest of drawers in Liu's mother's room. This one-piece wardrobe was also described by an educated youth who went to the countryside from Wang Weimin's village and asked him to make a wardrobe. Wang Weimin made such a one-piece wardrobe based on his own understanding and ideas.
But it was a bit expensive because it took time and materials to make. Apart from the educated youth who wanted one, no one else wanted it. They all thought it was too expensive. When Liu's father asked Wang Weimin to make furniture, Wang Weimin went to see the place where the educated youth lived. Liu's father then decided that he didn't want the chest of drawers and wanted this one instead.
All this furniture cost almost fifty yuan. Besides that, Liu's mother also made a new cotton-padded jacket for Xuemei and Hanchen, even though Xuemei paid for the fabric. Add to that the eighty-eight yuan Liu's mother mentioned, and the total would be at least one hundred and forty or fifty yuan, more than Li Quanfang spent on marrying his wife.
Mother Liu said slowly, "Xuemei, listen to me. Over the years, two-thirds of our family savings have come from you. When you got the Ganoderma lucidum as a child, not only did we pay off the debt owed to your grandparents, but we also saved over three hundred yuan. Later, by using your space, we made quite a bit of money over the years. Over the past year or so, since you've been working, you've also contributed one hundred and fifty yuan to our family..."
Before Liu's mother could finish her words, Xuemei interrupted and said, "Mom, we are a family, how can we be so clearly divided? If you say that, how can you and Dad raise me for so many years?
You provide for my food, clothing, and schooling. My brothers and sisters are far more helpful than I am. They've been chopping more wood and earning more work points since they were little. Much of the pork I eat comes from their pigs. Our family works together to make our lives better. Our savings are all our hard work, accumulated through our collective efforts.
Mom, you can't spend all your money on me just because I'm getting married. I have a job and I make money much faster than you and dad!"
When Liu's mother heard Xuemei's words, she felt both moved and proud. She and Liu's father had been very successful in educating Xuemei.
Mother Liu wiped her eyes and continued, "Xuemei, I'm very happy that you think so. I know this is the result of our family's efforts.
To tell you the truth, our family savings are now over 600 yuan. After discussing with your father, we believe that you make the greatest contribution to the family. However, considering your three younger brothers and sisters, your father and I plan to take out 260 yuan from the family savings as a dowry for you.
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