Zhao Qinglan and the others went back to the snack shop to get some things and then hurried to the family quarters.
When they returned, Mrs. Sun quickly pulled her second daughter aside to give her a long list of things to keep in mind for her wedding the next day.
The sisters all agreed not to tell her that Zhao Laoda had come.
Wu Mei also came to help. Actually, the house was almost cleaned up, and there wasn't much else to do.
Zhou Jingsheng's parents are both deceased. Since joining the army, he has saved most of his allowances, except for a small amount that he spends.
For this marriage, Ms. Sun suggested that a dowry of one hundred yuan would be sufficient, as the dowry in the city was generally one hundred to two hundred yuan at that time.
The fact that my daughter won't have her parents-in-law anymore has both advantages and disadvantages. There will be no one to help take care of the child, and the young couple won't have to support their elderly parents either.
It's no use taking too much of the bride price; she's not after her daughter's bride price anyway.
However, for the sake of sounding auspicious, Zhou Jingsheng's aunt went back and discussed it with her husband, Zhou Hai, and in the end, Zhou Jingsheng gave 188 yuan as a bride price, which was considered both lucky and pleasant to hear.
In addition to the bride price, Zhou Jingsheng also used the money he had left to buy Zhao Qingzhu a women's watch. In addition to the bride's clothes, the furniture and other items they bought for their home also cost a lot of money.
However, Zhao Qingzhu's dowry was also quite considerable.
Zhou Jingsheng bought a watch, and Zhao Qingzhu gave a sewing machine as part of her dowry; a sewing machine was a big-ticket item these days.
If a girl had such a large item as part of her dowry when she got married, she would be incredibly proud.
Besides what Zhao Qinglan bought herself, there were also several new quilts and blankets, red basins, towels, thermos flasks, wooden boxes, etc., that Sun Shi bought for her daughter, as well as gold jewelry that Zhao Qinglan bought and a radio that Zhao Qingju gave to her sister.
Wu Mei was astonished when she saw the dowry that had been displayed.
This is still the real big house that wasn't displayed in the open, also because it was too conspicuous. Zhao Qingzhu told Zhou Jingsheng about it in private.
Even so, Zhao Qingzhu's dowry was considered quite impressive by today's standards.
According to custom, the bride's dowry is sent to the groom's family on the day before the wedding and then displayed for the groom's relatives and friends to see.
Sure enough, not long after Zhao Qinglan and the others returned, Sun Shi, after instructing her daughter, called out that it was time to "send the dowry".
Li Huai, Zhao Qinglan, Wu Mei, and several other people who were called in to help, together lifted all of Zhao Qingzhu's dowry onto their arms.
Next door, Zhou Hai and his wife, along with their entourage, were also waiting at home.
Although it was close by, the fact that all the dowry was transferred over still shocked the people waiting at the Zhou family's side.
After all, when they were next door, many things were kept inside the house, so even when they passed by the outer gate, they didn't see much.
Some people couldn't help but sigh that Zhou Jingsheng was lucky.
Seeing the bride's generous dowry, Zhou Hai and his wife were naturally happy for their nephew, Zhou Jingsheng.
When the two families were discussing marriage, someone even asked about Zhao Qingzhu's job.
When people learned that Zhao Qingzhu was doing small business in the city with her mother and sister, some looked down on her.
He frankly stated that doing business is so hard, yet one can only earn a little money.
Even though Zhao Qinglan added many big items to her home because of the improved profit-sharing conditions, people thought it was all because Li Huai benefited from his family's influence in the capital, and they didn't think it was because of Zhao Qinglan at all.
Now that we see that Zhao Qingzhu's dowry conditions have far exceeded the 188 yuan betrothal gift she offered, we know that they may have underestimated her income from doing business.
Some people even asked the question bluntly.
"How can you go into details about something like this?" Zhao Qinglan laughed it off, saying that things were still manageable.
"How can they afford such a generous dowry? It must be unique in this area." The more Zhao Qinglan tried to hide it, the more curious those people became. They felt that these women must have made a lot of money, which was why they dared not let outsiders know.
This has led some to think of Yang Qingmin and his wife, who have already been expelled from the party.
Regardless of what others speculate, Zhao Qinglan's family is now completely focused on Zhao Qingzhu's marriage.
The most important thing today is to send out the dowry and show it off.
After finishing these tasks, Mrs. Sun breathed a sigh of relief.
After that, if there were any guests willing to come, we would sit down, eat something, and have some fun.
The house only gets really lively once the children get out of school.
That evening, Zhao Qingzhu took a good bath at her sister's house and then slept with her sister, younger sister, and mother.
Li Huai went to sleep with the children again.
The mother and her daughters lay together and had a heart-to-heart talk.
"Big sister, thank you so much. If you hadn't brought me out, I wouldn't be living like this now," Zhao Qingzhu said from the bottom of her heart.
Zhao Qinglan laughed.
“I can bring you out of here, but you have to live up to your own potential. What’s past is past. From now on, live a good life with Jingsheng.”
“Your sister is right, Qingzhu. Although Jingsheng’s parents are gone, Political Commissar Zhou and his wife are your elders. Look how busy they are with your wedding now. You should treat them with respect in the future.”
"I know, Mom."
"Second sister, you're married now, and I'm the only one left in the family," Zhao Qingju suddenly said with emotion.
Mrs. Sun glanced at her youngest daughter. "Don't worry, after your sister's wedding, Mom will help you find a good match."
"Mom," Zhao Qingju said shyly.
Because they had to get up early the next day, the mother and her daughters didn't stay up too late and went to sleep quickly.
When there's a happy occasion in the family, everyone gets up earlier than the last.
Everyone wore festive new clothes, including the children.
The third child has just learned to walk, but he's not very steady yet. His older siblings are helping him, so the adults don't have to worry about him.
After a quick breakfast, guests started arriving at our house.
Because Zhao Qingzhu and her daughters had almost no relatives or friends in this area, but the wedding couldn't be too quiet.
Fortunately, they got married at Zhao Qinglan's house. Li Huai notified his comrades with whom he had a good relationship, and Zhao Qinglan also notified some of her colleagues.
The couple are usually generous and don't like to take advantage of others, so no one thinks they invited them just to get more congratulatory gifts.
Zhao Qingzhu had already put on her wedding dress early, and her older sister Zhao Qinglan personally did her hair and makeup.
Zhao Qinglan didn't wear much makeup in her previous life, but perhaps because she had more experience and knowledge, she was able to achieve more.
After her sister's wedding date was set, she started studying makeup in front of the mirror and even bought more cosmetics for the purpose.
What we don't have here, we also have some that Tuo Weihong sent to her from the capital.
As for Zhao Qingzhu's wedding dress, it was also quite different from what everyone had seen before.
Zhao Qinglan wanted her younger sister to look beautiful on her wedding day, so she specially ordered two nice dresses for her.
One was a long red dress, and the other was a simple Chinese-style cheongsam.
She didn't know how long she had searched before finding a master craftsman to make these by hand.
Zhao Qinglan had her younger sister try on both dresses. Actually, Zhao Qingzhu liked both of them, but in the end, they both chose the red dress.
When everyone saw the newly dressed bride, they were all amazed and couldn't help but praise how beautiful she was. Some children even lingered in front of Zhao Qingzhu and wouldn't leave.
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