"Mom, how much is the dividend?" Li Wenhui sat on the other side of the single sofa, kicked off her slippers, and crossed her legs under her buttocks.
"Your dad said it was five thousand."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Ding Qiunan, then glanced at Li Chu.
"Qiu Nan's mother, isn't this too much? I can't accept this!" Wang Yueyue hurriedly said.
She had just been told it was a bride price, but she thought it was just a few hundred yuan in dividends, so she figured she might as well take it.
But now that she hears it's five thousand, and judging from the looks of it, it's not just a one-time payment, there will definitely be more in the future, how can she accept that? What family gives betrothal gifts like this? She's never heard of it before.
“That has nothing to do with me. It was given to you by your father, Chu. It was a national award that he gave to you two.”
Li Chu waved his hand, stopping Wang Yueyue and Li Wenhui from speaking again.
"Yueyue, this is your betrothal gift. Your grandparents, parents and you all know about it. Just take it. Huihui, this is your dowry. You two don't need to say anything. Just save the dividends. If the family needs money, they will naturally come to you."
With that decision finalized, Wang Yueyue and Li Wenhui exchanged glances but ultimately said nothing more.
"Dad, why isn't mine?" Li Wenxuan, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up, and the first thing he asked for was something.
"Brother Xuan, what's mine is yours!"
Before Li Chu could say anything, Wang Yueyue spoke first.
Li Wenxuan reached out and touched his wife's hair, then said with a smile, "I was just joking with Dad."
"Dad," Wenhui spoke again.
"The shares you gave me are a bit too much. Let's give some more to my younger brother and sister-in-law."
"Sister, that was Dad's dowry for you. What's the point of giving it to us? Doesn't Yueyue have some here?"
"That's right, Sister Hui, I don't want it. I think this is too much."
"Alright!" Li Chu raised his voice impatiently, "Just take what's yours."
“Huihui, I know what you mean. You just want to get married. In my eyes, you and Wenxuan are the same. You are both my and your mother’s children. There is no distinction between men and women. As long as we are alive, neither of you needs to worry about the family property we have earned. After we pass away, the family property will be divided in half and will belong to you and your brother. No one needs to fight for it or refuse it. I’ve given it to you, so just take it. That’s all. Go back to your room.”
Seeing that their father was getting angry, Wenhui and Yueyue exchanged a glance, stuck out their tongues, and dared not say anything more. They stood up and walked out.
"Why are you still angry?" After the three children had all left, Ding Qiunan took her husband's hand and asked softly.
"It's not a matter of being angry or not. The children are all good children and haven't gone astray. I just don't want them to have any lingering resentment."
"No, you've raised them very well since they were little, and the three of them grew up together, so that kind of problem won't happen."
"I believe that too."
Why did you suddenly bring this up today?
"Sigh..." Li Chu sighed and said, "You know that our hospital's former head of surgery, Director Zhao, is no longer here, right?"
"I know, didn't you go to his house this morning?"
"His two sons almost came to blows over the small amount of inheritance left by Old Zhao, even before their father's body was cold."
"What? There's such a thing? I didn't hear a thing about it."
"Fearing the negative impact, Lao Du immediately issued a gag order."
"Is that why you said that just now?"
"Otherwise what? When have I ever said anything like that before?"
“Honey, don’t overthink it. People like Old Zhao’s son are a minority, and I believe our children won’t turn out like them.”
Is it too little?
Li Chu didn't know either, but in later generations, there were countless cases of brothers fighting each other, couples divorcing, and children being unfilial over a little family property. There were also quite a few cases of people fighting each other to the point of brain damage.
Especially in cities like Beijing, where land is incredibly valuable, even a tiny house costs millions of dollars. Who would be willing to give it up so easily?
But that old Zhao really knows how to save money. I don't know how much he spent, but he still has nearly 8,000 yuan in savings in his bankbook.
In an era when even a household with 10,000 yuan could make it into the newspapers, 8,000 yuan was a huge sum of money.
The steel mill allocated houses to retired employees, who could buy a small three-bedroom apartment of 60 square meters for around 2,000 yuan. You can imagine the power of that 8,000 yuan.
However, those two brothers and their wives really went too far. They started arguing even with the leaders present. No wonder Old Du was so angry that his face turned ashen.
“I know they won’t turn out like that. I’m just thinking that no matter what they do, we as parents must first and foremost treat them equally and never favor one over the other.”
“Of course!” Ding Qiunan leaned her head on her man’s shoulder and continued, “They are both my flesh and blood, how could I possibly favor one of them.”
She didn't want to continue the topic, so she changed the subject and said, "Sigh, it's such a pity that Yueyue wasn't having twins. Jiayuan always had two children."
Back during the Lunar New Year, she couldn't contain herself and had her husband take her daughter-in-law's pulse to see if Yueyue was pregnant with twins again.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as she hoped this time; Yueyue was only carrying one baby, which made her feel down for several days.
Li Chu was actually quite disappointed; who wouldn't want many children and much happiness?
They didn't know why, but ever since Wenhui and Wenxuan were born, she had never been able to conceive again, and Ding Qiunan had held a grudge about it for over twenty years.
Now that the son's generation has encountered this policy again, what can anyone do?
“There are advantages to having one as well. At least you don’t have to worry about not being able to hold them all, and you don’t have to be afraid that if one cries, the other will follow suit.”
"Pfft..." Ding Qiunan chuckled upon hearing this. She thought of Wenhui and Wenxuan when they were little. Those two would go hungry together and cry together. Luckily, she had someone to help her during the day and her husband at night, otherwise she would have been busy to death.
"But it'll be more lively at home with more kids. Think about it, six adults looking after one child. If they get along well, it'll be fine, but otherwise they'll probably fight over who should look after the child."
"It's alright, our family won't get involved in this issue. We have plenty of space at home, so we can have Junzi and Qiaoyun move in with us. Oh, and Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang can also live here, so we won't have to fight over it."
"Of course we'll fight over it. You want to hold the baby, and I want to hold the baby too."
Li Chu was at a loss. What could he do? He couldn't let his son and daughter-in-law violate the policy, because that would cause problems.
However, he had a solution: he would pick up his wife and take her to take a shower, avoiding the pointless discussion.
(Announcement: Dear readers, this is the first update of the day. The next chapter will be released at 11:00 AM. Thank you for your support and encouragement.)
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