Perhaps because she was afraid that the breakdown of the talks would affect her mood for the meal, or perhaps because she believed that she would have the energy to argue only after she had eaten, Li Jing did not mention the betrothal gift during the meal. Her words were all insincere and without any substance.
If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either. Lin Xiaoman chose to eat first. After all, food is innocent and cannot be wasted.
The waiter brought up the dishes one by one.
After three rounds of drinks, tea and food, the dishes on the table were almost gone.
Li Jing put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth with a tissue. She had obviously finished eating. Lin Xiaoman, who had also finished eating, took two more bites of vegetarian dishes and then put down her chopsticks.
"Mother-in-law, please eat more. If these dishes are not enough, let Xiao Yang order a few more." Li Jing smiled politely.
I have to say that this person's surface work is done very well.
"That's enough, that's enough. It would be a waste if you order more." Lin Xiaoman waved her hand to indicate that she didn't need any more. "I'm already very full. I can't eat any more."
"What about you?" Li Jing asked the other three.
The three of them agreed that enough was enough.
"Now that everyone has finished eating, mother-in-law, let's talk about the two children." Li Jing sat upright, and even though this was at the dinner table, she looked like she was attending a parent-teacher meeting.
Lin Xiaoman nodded and waited for her next words without saying a word.
"I'm a straightforward person. I say what I think and I like to be open and honest. If I say something unpleasant, I hope you don't mind, mother-in-law."
"Don't worry, mother-in-law. I won't worry about it. Marriage is such a big thing, so of course we have to discuss it carefully."
"Well, let me tell you, we are an ordinary family. After buying a house, we don't have much money left at home. We are still relying on our next salary to pay for the wedding banquet, so we won't pay the betrothal gift."
Li Jing went straight to the point, expounding on her own position and the local situation with a condescending attitude. "Mother-in-law, when people here get married, if you're an only child, there's no such thing as whether you should marry or not; you just get married. In better families, the bride's parents will prepare a house and a car for their daughter. In ordinary families, the man provides the house, the woman provides the car, and they also decorate the house. The elders of both families contribute money and effort to create the material foundation for the young couple, allowing them to form a new family.
"Mother-in-law, let me think about it. You only have one daughter, Xinyi. She will definitely take care of you in your old age. She can't possibly ignore you, right? So, whether she's married or not, isn't it the same? She's not a married daughter, so there's no such thing as a betrothal gift."
Li Jing gave a long and well-reasoned speech.
Regarding her words, Lin Xiaoman could only say that they made sense at first glance.
Thinking about it carefully, haha, isn't it just because she dislikes them because they are from other places and they are poor! In the final analysis, Li Jing just looks down on them, and looks down on her daughter-in-law, Shen Xinyi.
In the future, after Li Yanying separated the two, because of Shen Xinyi's depression, Li Yanying also inquired about the situation of the Zhou family. Later, Zhou Yang married a local only child. It is said that the woman was a teacher at the same school as Li Jing, and her family also lived in a villa. She was wealthy. The Zhou family reportedly gave a full 280,000 yuan in betrothal gifts. It is said that the woman not only gave a house as a dowry, but also bought a Mercedes-Benz worth hundreds of thousands of yuan for Zhou Yang to drive.
After thinking about it carefully, Lin Xiaoman roughly understood Li Jing's psychology.
Zhou Yang and Shen Xinyi started dating in college. Logically, they should have gotten married as soon as they graduated, but the Zhou family never mentioned it, and it dragged on for four years.
Lin Xiaoman felt that the snob Li Jing must have secretly broken up the couple, but unfortunately, she didn't do it. She didn't want to force a breakup and ruin the mother-son relationship, so she kept dragging it on. Maybe they would break up after dragging it on for a while.
Unfortunately, they didn't break up and couldn't drag it on any longer, so they had to reluctantly agree to the marriage.
In Li Jing's opinion, this marriage was a case of them marrying above their station, and the Zhou family was just a condescending charity.
Since their status is unequal, there is certainly no qualification to be on an equal footing and no room for negotiation.
That's why Li Jing is like this, with a mentality of "If you want to enter my house, you must obey me, otherwise get out!"
"Xiao Yang, do you think so too?" Li Jing's attitude was unlikely to change unless her family became rich overnight. No matter how much he said to her, it would be nonsense. Lin Xiaoman turned his attention to Zhou Yang again.
Ever since Li Jing started talking about serious matters, Zhou Yang shrank his neck and quietly reduced his presence.
Now that Lin Xiaoman had called her name, she could only raise her head and look at Chen Xinyi first. She felt guilty and wanted to fight for it, but before she spoke, she unconsciously glanced at Li Jing's expression.
When Zhou Yang looked over, he immediately received Li Jing's sharp gaze with a hint of warning.
Before leaving this morning, Zhou Yang was lectured for over an hour. He didn't dare to say anything more and just avoided the question, "Auntie, I will definitely treat Xinyi well."
Coward!
Lin Xiaoman cursed inwardly. Chen Xinyi, who was sitting next to her, put her hands under the table and shook her arm slightly. That small gesture was obviously telling her not to embarrass Zhou Yang.
"Alright, it's just a formality anyway, so let's just follow your customs and forget about the betrothal gift." Lin Xiaoman didn't insist and instead asked, "Since there's no such thing as a betrothal gift, then we don't need to prepare a dowry here, right?"
"Mother-in-law, you still don't understand what I mean. There is no such thing as a betrothal gift or dowry for only children here. However, the elders of the two families jointly invest to provide the material foundation for the young couple to start a new family. After all, young people nowadays only work for a few years and have no financial strength at all." Li Jing said as a matter of course.
"I'm sorry, mother-in-law, I have little education and am uneducated, so I don't quite understand what you mean by joint investment?" Although he already understood it clearly, Lin Xiaoman still pretended to be confused and asked for clarification.
"My family bought a house, and this wedding room is for them to live in. Your family should be responsible for decorating it, right? Besides, now that they're married, Xinyi definitely can't live in the dormitory anymore. So, it's only right that they buy a car for their work convenience."
The man bought the house and the woman renovated it, but she didn’t add her name to the list!
This is fucking hooliganism!
Lin Xiaoman laughed.
Li Jing continued, her tone completely stating the reality, leaving no room for refusal. "Of course, I know it wasn't easy for you, mother-in-law, to raise Xinyi all by yourself. Xinyi has just started working, so we don't have any requirements. We just want a simple renovation that they can live in. As for the car, as long as Xinyi likes it, it's fine. She drives it anyway."
Li Jing didn't expect them to buy a nice car. She just didn't want her son to be too tired.
"Mother-in-law, I have no objection to buying a car for Xinyi, but it's inappropriate for us to pay for the renovation of your house, right?"
"It's not that my family has no money, and this wedding house is for them to live in." Li Jing said with an attitude that it was only natural.
Lin Xiaoman, who was too lazy to argue, called out his name again, "Xiao Yang, what do you think?"
"Auntie, I will work hard to make money and will never let Xinyi suffer!" Zhou Yang promised again.
Lin Xiaoman: Bullshit!
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