In the past, there were also betrothal gifts in the village, which were mostly rice, flour, corn, chicken, duck, goose and cured meat.
I've never seen a cart piled high like Hu Wenhua's before!
The news spread like wildfire through the village, and soon the dirt road was packed with people, all craning their necks to watch the spectacle.
Zhang Chunhua was extremely happy for the past three days, taking stock of her family's belongings every day.
As the matriarch of the family, and with Dazhu being the eldest son, she naturally lived in the largest room facing south.
The Fan family did not have much money before, but these three large brick houses were really bright and clean. The only problem was that there were too many brothers-in-law, plus two old men who occupied several rooms. They would have no room to live after having children!
But there's no rush. After they get married, we can build three thatched huts next door and move the three of them out to live there.
There was no silver, no pigs, sheep, ducks, geese, or rabbits, but fortunately, there were still three laying hens. Most importantly, the wedding brought a lot of congratulatory gifts!
Grandpa Fan gave us an old hen and twenty eggs, the old village chief's family, the Wu family, and the Xu family each gave us fifty eggs, and Hu Shuiqing gave us twenty eggs. Now we have so many eggs that we can't eat them all! We can't even count them every day.
Hu Shuiqing's congratulatory gift also included ten catties of rice and a piece of fine cloth, enough to make three and a half sets of clothes!
She had already planned it out: make a set for herself, a set for Fan Dazhu, and a set for her mother. With the remaining fabric, she would make a few pairs of cloth shoes for herself, plus the ones for her wedding. Everything she wore from head to toe would be brand new.
I'll save the ten pounds of rice to make rice porridge to nourish myself. I heard that Ding Jiajia is fair and tender because she eats rice and wheat flour. Once she dresses well and becomes fair and tender again, won't all the girls in the village be envious?
There was a commotion outside. Zhang Chunhua called out, "Sizhu, what's going on outside?"
Fan Sizhu, who was busy fetching water, replied reluctantly upon hearing this, "Uncle Wenhua went to the Ding family to deliver betrothal gifts."
The elder brother said that if he married Zhang Chunhua, she could cook, do laundry, do housework, and take care of their parents, which would make his life easier. Based on his understanding of Zhang Chunhua, he never thought she could do all of that, but he secretly thought that if Zhang Chunhua took over the cooking, laundry, and housework, he would be much more relaxed.
At least when I'm planting vegetables, I don't have to rush back to cook, and I don't have to frantically do other things while taking care of my parents.
I never expected that Zhang Chunhua would do nothing but cook!
Cooking was also for the sake of eating well; she would put whatever good food she could get her into her own stomach first, and the porridge at home was even thinner than he usually made.
She took all the money from making the toothbrush handles, claiming it was because they hadn't separated the family property.
His second and third brothers were even more dissatisfied than he was...
When Zhang Chunhua heard that Hu Wenhua was going to propose to Ding Jiajia, she smoothed her hair, which was wrapped in a thin cloth and had a silk flower inserted in it.
She had to go and see. The man from the same village had a betrothal gift that was less than her ten taels of silver, yet he was still trying to betroth himself. What could he possibly have as a betrothal gift?
She had inquired and found out that the Hu family had spent eight taels of silver to buy the Zhao family's mountain. With that amount of silver in the betrothal gifts, it would have been very prestigious. So why were they reluctant to give it to them?
There's also the new house. Yesterday, thirty or forty men from the village went out to haul bricks and tiles back. They'll even pay for the construction. But once Ding Jiajia marries in, she'll probably be just like her, with not a single penny left...
Oh, how could she be like me? I'm the lady of the house, while Ding Jiajia has her mother-in-law above her. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is bound to be a nightmare in the future.
Fan Dazhu returned from the toilet, leaning on his cane, and seeing the empty room, asked with a dark face, "Where is she?!"
"I went outside to watch the excitement," Fan Erzhu replied irritably.
Fan Dazhu's face darkened further, and he walked out without saying a word, leaning on his cane.
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