Chapter 485 Blocking the Way
If you were to inquire about Han Zhaosheng, who works at the Transportation Bureau, near the Shandong Guild Hall, people might not know him.
But if you ask about the Han family, the "Five Golden Flowers," everyone knows them.
The Han couple had five daughters in a row, never having seen a son. Ironically, all five daughters were quite successful, becoming teachers.
Therefore, the Han family was quite famous in the Shandong Guild Hall area.
Han Manxue has four older sisters, the eldest of whom, Han Manyun, is a few years older than Sheng Xiping.
These days, girls get married early, so Han Manxue's eldest son is already fifteen this year.
The four daughters of the Han family have all gotten married and started their own families, and most of them now live in the county town.
Today is the engagement day of the youngest sister, and all four older sisters will definitely have to bring their husbands and children back.
The children playing in the alley were Han's grandsons. Most of them had seen Zhou Qingyue before, so as soon as they saw Zhou Qingyue and the others carrying things into the alley, they immediately ran into the courtyard to tell them.
Therefore, Han Zhaosheng had no idea that the person in front of him was the deputy general manager of Gangcheng Company, who was often mentioned by their bureau chief and even Secretary Guan, and who had come to invest in building a factory.
Before the Lunar New Year, Sheng Xiping gave Zhou Qinglan 20,000 yuan, which was saved for Zhou Qingyue to get married.
Zhou Mingyuan is the director of the Forestry Bureau, so given his position, he naturally can't act as ostentatiously as the Sheng family.
"Brother Han, sister-in-law, this is our eldest son, Qingyang, and this is our eldest daughter-in-law, Chen Jie. They are in the army and only came back at the end of the year."
"Come, come, come inside, sit down and talk. It's so cold outside, let's not stand in the yard." Han Zhaosheng and his wife greeted the Sheng family with smiles and invited them into the house.
Zhou Mingyuan smiled broadly, making his stance clear.
Most people in Northeast China do not discriminate against women; men and women are treated equally and have equal status. However, people of Han Zhaosheng's generation still value the continuation of their bloodline from the bottom of their hearts.
Zhou Qingyang and his wife, and Sheng Xiping and his wife, all came forward to offer New Year's greetings and gifts to Han Zhaosheng and his wife.
Sheng Xiping didn't care about any of that, and just smiled and exchanged a few polite words with Han Zhaosheng.
Zhou Qingyue and Han Manxue fell in love on their own, and nowadays people don't follow so many rules, so the Zhou family didn't invite a matchmaker today.
Han Zhaosheng and his wife stepped forward and shook hands with Zhou Mingyuan and Wang Chunxiu respectively, greeting them warmly.
How can you not be envious when you see other people's sons are so successful?
The Han family's house also had a south-facing kang (heated brick bed), so as soon as you entered the outer room, there were two stoves, one on the east and one on the west.
"We only have two sons, and naturally we want to give them the best within our means."
In addition to the four essential engagement gifts, the Zhou family prepared four sets of winter and summer clothes and shoes for Han Manxue, and also gave her a dowry of 1,001 yuan.
No matter the time, people will always have a deep respect for soldiers.
Han Zhaosheng looked at Zhou Qingyang and nodded approvingly.
Han Zhaosheng and his wife were naturally pleased, but they still had to be polite with each other.
"Oh dear, Brother Zhou, Sister-in-law, what can I say? This bride price is the highest I've ever heard of in the whole county."
Even without gold jewelry, this dowry of 1,001 yuan is considered top-tier in the local area.
If it were like the Sheng family, where they presented a complete set of gold jewelry for their son's engagement, the higher-ups would probably send someone to investigate immediately if the news got out.
"Oh, Brother Zhou, Sister-in-law, Happy New Year! You've come all this way, you must be tired. Come in and sit down, it's warm inside."
Han Zhaosheng had never met Sheng Xiping; he had only learned about the Zhou family from Zhou Qingyue.
Zhou Qingyue, although he has a somewhat carefree personality, is very disciplined in his work and has never used his brother-in-law's status or wealth as an excuse.
Han Zhaosheng looked at the Zhou family members and was filled with emotion.
"Hey, hey, good, good, Happy New Year. Look at this young man, he looks so spirited, especially in his military uniform, he's so adorable."
When his future father-in-law inquired about the Zhou family, Zhou Qingyue said that his brother-in-law used to be a worker at a forest farm, but later resigned to go into business. He didn't mention anything else.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Wang Chunxiu presented the engagement gifts prepared by the Zhou family.
"Once the two kids return to the provincial capital, I'll tell them to hurry up and find a place to live. If we can buy one, we'll try our best, no matter how big or small, it'll be our own home."
Therefore, the Han family was quite surprised to see the Zhou family bring out these betrothal gifts.
Don't worry, brother. I've already had the furniture made for the child's wedding. The appliances have also been prepared and will be shipped to the provincial capital along with the furniture.
After praising the Zhou brothers, Han Zhaosheng turned around and praised Sheng Xiping.
Upon hearing the children's commotion, Han Zhaosheng and his wife hurriedly put on their shoes and got out of bed, leading their daughter and son-in-law to greet them.
"Your son-in-law is quite good-looking, and I heard he's in business, right? Wow, that's impressive, the young man is promising."
The Han family home is a small courtyard with three rooms. At this moment, Han Manxue's four older sisters and their husbands are busy in the kitchen.
At first, Zhou Mingyuan and his wife refused to accept the money no matter what they said, but Zhou Qinglan had to use a lot of persuasion to convince her parents.
Everyone entered the east room and sat down. Han Zhaosheng also invited his four daughters and sons-in-law over to greet Zhou Mingyuan and his wife.
"Brother Han, Sister-in-law Han, Happy New Year!" Zhou Mingyuan and his wife greeted them warmly with a handshake.
When the Zhou family came to discuss the engagement, the Han family did not make any specific demands regarding the bride price, only saying that the Zhou family could arrange it as they saw fit, and that a token amount would suffice.
"Brother, you are so lucky. Both of your sons are so successful, and your daughter is even more outstanding. She was among the first batch of college students after the resumption of the college entrance examination."
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