Liu Xiaocui entered the ward without any prelude and asked Xu Ping directly, "What's going on between you and that Dongzi?"
Xu Ping looked up at her in surprise.
Without waiting for her to answer, Liu Xiaocui continued, "You'd better have nothing to do with him, otherwise I'll ask your father to break your legs. Do you know that his mother threw all our things out? We haven't owed a penny of rent, but they kicked us out just like that!
That's not all. In front of half the village, she called us toads wanting to eat swan meat! Ugh! Isn't it just a shabby house in the countryside outside Beijing? My homestead is much larger than hers. Am I showing off?
I'm telling you, this isn't over yet. Your foot is injured, and you can't work anyway, so just stay in the hospital for a few more days. If you have any discomfort, get it checked out. Anyway, there's no hope of getting back together after this falling out, so just stay in the hospital until she comes to apologize to us in person."
This is the best form of revenge Liu Xiaocui could think of along the way.
"Mom, have you seen Brother Dongzi? What did he say?" Xu Ping and Liu Xiaocui asked after they finished speaking.
"Brother Dongzi, Brother Dongzi, you're calling me so affectionately," she said, then looked at her eldest daughter suspiciously: "You're not really into that boy, are you?"
Xu Ping opened his mouth, but finally denied it quietly: "No."
"It's better not to. I'm telling you, Mom absolutely doesn't agree with you dating him. Just look at how stingy his mom is. If you're really blind and set your sights on her son, you're definitely going to have a rough time. Do you know how easy it was for Mom to raise you? Just wait, Mom will ask someone to introduce you to someone who knows how to care for others. He's a thousand times better than her son."
Xu Ping frowned, she knew what her mother meant, because the betrothal gifts in Beijing were small, and an average family could marry a wife with only 10,000 to 18,000 yuan. Moreover, the bride's family would not keep the betrothal money for themselves, but would add a considerable amount for their daughter to take as a dowry. Her mother had hinted before that she would not agree to her marriage without a betrothal gift of 100,000 yuan.
Xu Ping has 100,000 yuan, but that's all she has. It's all the income she's earned from second-hand recycling over the years. She keeps the money tightly in her postal savings card, and no one knows about it except her.
No one knew what she was thinking at the time, but she concealed her income. It was probably because she was a left-behind child in her childhood, and then she was finally able to live with her parents, but she became a dropout. She had no household registration and was still the nanny for the whole family. Her shoes were sticking to her feet and her socks were full of holes, but her mother acted as if she didn't notice and never took the initiative to buy her new ones.
So she quietly saved up such a sum of money. She made her parents think that these were just small things, just enough to earn money for food. After all, if picking up rags was so profitable, why did the world look down on rag pickers? Couples like Xu Daming and Liu Xiaocui would never lower themselves to picking up rags.
?
Time seemed to have fast-forwarded. Xu Ping became pregnant before marriage, and both sets of parents opposed the marriage. While Xu Ping was injured and hospitalized, Dongzi was hired by his mother through connections to take a business in Xinjiang. He didn't even have time to go to the hospital to say goodbye to Xu Ping, and he was gone for four months.
During this period, Xu Ping's pregnancy could no longer be concealed. Liu Xiaocui was furious and insisted on taking Xu Ping to have an abortion. After going to the hospital for a check-up, it turned out to be twins. Xu Ping had been waiting for Dongzi to come back, so she was even more reluctant to have an abortion.
The relationship between mother and daughter became unprecedentedly tense, and even alarmed the police and grandparents, uncles and aunts in their hometown.
After everyone's persuasion, Liu Xiaocui decided to take a step back and asked someone to make an appointment with Sister Wang for a talk. After several appointments, Sister Wang ignored her. In the end, an ultrasound report worked.
Only then did Sister Wang realize that Dongzi, this little bastard, had given her a grandson. Even though she was still reluctant in her heart, she was not such a cruel person. She said that she would ask Dongzi to come back as soon as possible to discuss the marriage.
Agree. When Liu Xiaocui asked for a 100,000 yuan betrothal gift, Sister Wang was already prepared. She asked her how much of the 100,000 yuan she wanted Xu Ping to bring back? How much would she give as a dowry?
Liu Xiaocui said that every place has its own customs. In their place, they would hire a daughter to make two quilts, a washbasin, a thermos, pillowcases, bed sheets, quilt covers, etc., and give them to Xu Ping as a dowry.
He avoided the subject and didn't mention money.
Pressed by Sister Wang, she said that raising a daughter was not easy. There were two children in the family who were in school, and four elderly people to take care of. Their income was limited, and they really could not afford to buy more dowry for Xu Ping.
Sister Wang endured it again and again, and asked again whether the Xu family wanted to keep all the 100,000 yuan betrothal gift. Liu Xiaocui said yes.
She had already thought about how to spend the money. With 100,000 yuan, they could demolish the collapsed house in their hometown and rebuild it. With the rest, they could buy a second-hand van. She could go to Nanhua Market to transport goods for people and take on some part-time jobs. In a few years, when her second daughter gets married, she could receive another dowry. Together with what they had saved, they could buy an apartment nearby for their son. In the future, her son would be a city dweller, and no matter whether he went to school, worked, or got married, he would be no worse than others. They, as parents, would have done his best for him.
"This is the first time I've seen someone selling his daughter so confidently. You also said that every place has its own etiquette. In our place, the bride price is 8,000 to 20,000 yuan. I'll give you the highest standard - 20,000 yuan. You can keep this money for yourself, and you can decide on the dowry. Before Xu Ping marries in, your family has to leave Huairou. You should keep some distance between the in-laws." Sister Wang said with a stern face.
"How can that be possible?" Liu Xiaocui refused.
Let's not talk about the fact that 100,000 yuan was reduced to 20,000 yuan, which is absolutely unacceptable. Let's just talk about the latter. "Huairou is so big, and it's not your home. How can we bother you with anything?"
The couple have been in Beijing for more than ten years and have been living in Huairou. They are familiar with everywhere here, including work and friends. How could they give up easily? She also thinks that Sister Wang's request is quite unreasonable.
The marriage between the two families fell into a new round of tug-of-war.
"Twenty thousand is twenty thousand, I'll give you the remaining eighty thousand." Xu Ping's belly was getting bigger and bigger, and her mood was getting worse and worse. Since she became pregnant, not only had she lost contact with her husband, her father was cold and violent towards her, her mother scolded her every day, and her sister also said and did not say that she was a disgrace to her sister. She felt like she was about to collapse at any time.
Liu Xiaocui felt that Xu Ping was fooling her. How could she make up for the 80,000 yuan?
She said angrily, "If you can come up with it, come and show me your love."
Xu Ping immediately went out, took out 80,000 yuan and placed it in front of his parents.
Now, getting married is even more difficult.
When Liu Xiaocui learned that the money was saved by Xu Ping, she did not feel compensated. Instead, she thought that Xu Ping had easily taken out 80,000 yuan, and he might have another 80,000 yuan.
Eventually, all of Xu Ping's money went to Liu Xiaocui and Xu Daming. Liu Xiaocui even said she wanted to take Xu Ping to have an induced abortion, saying, "From now on, Mom will support you."
The eldest daughter was incredibly lucrative, having saved so much right under their noses. The couple had been drifting in Beijing for years and had barely managed to save 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. The daughter was still young, and Dongzi had been gone for half a year. Her mother-in-law was a wicked mother-in-law, and that family wasn't a good match. Liu Xiaocui had decided to have her daughter have an abortion, let her develop her career for a few years, and then return home to find an honest young man to marry.
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