The two families hid inside their houses, thinking they could avoid the crowd, but little did they know that their argument was drawing more and more people to the door.
To hear the gossip inside more clearly, everyone tried to keep quiet. Sure enough, the two sides were tearing each other apart, giving them a real treat.
Both sides were deadlocked and argued until they were hoarse, until finally they had to compromise.
"Anyway, we can't afford the dowry you're asking for, but since you don't want to stay at home, Zhou Xiaolan, then send it to us." Xie Shengnan stared at Zhou Xiaolan with a sinister look. If she's so shameless as to stick around like this, then she shouldn't blame her for being ruthless later.
"How could that be? I raised my daughter all these years, how could I just send her to your family for nothing?"
"If you can't afford the betrothal gifts, then borrow them. Every family goes through this. What? You think you can get something for nothing?"
As soon as Bai Ailian finished speaking, Xie Shengnan clapped her hands and laughed, "She's just a white wolf, an ingrate. Our family is Ping An. We used to treat her so well, but she's harmed us time and time again. If you can't bear to part with her, then you can keep her. Anyway, our family doesn't want to get involved with this scourge."
Zhou Jinfeng took these words to heart. Zhou Xiaolan was a troublemaker. She had caused a lot of trouble in the past year, squandering all the family's savings. Now she had caused them to lose so much money and lose face.
It seems this scourge needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later; it's better to harm others than to harm them.
Thinking it over, Zhou Jinfeng conceded, "The betrothal gifts must be given, but if you really can't come up with them all at once, I do have a solution."
"Tell us what your solution is. If it's too difficult, we're not willing to accept it." He Laicai just wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.
“You can write down an IOU and pay it back slowly when you have the money. With such a large family like yours, if you work hard for a year, you should be able to make about the right amount.”
It's okay if the betrothal gifts arrive late; Xiaojun won't be able to get married for several more years anyway.
Now that we've actually got our hands on the goods, our brothers back home should have something to say about them.
"How is that possible? Our family has already exhausted all our resources to find this temporary job for Ping An, and we are still in debt. We can't raise the money all at once."
Even if we were to write an IOU, we still wouldn't be able to pay it back. "You can't just write an IOU like that," He Laicai said without even thinking, and refused outright.
"You can't expect me to give my grown daughter away to your family for free, can you?"
"Your family has ruined our reputation. Don't you want to take responsibility for that?" Bai Ailian was furious. This wasn't acceptable, that wasn't acceptable. They had already given up so much, what more did they want?
Xie Shengnan, "What you're saying is interesting. What do you mean by saying that Ping An's reputation has been ruined by our family?"
Don't you know what kind of person your own daughter is? Does she even have a reputation anymore?
They made such a big fuss before, looking for people to marry them every day, but no one was interested. Now, if they want to shove some unwanted junk into their house, they'll have to see if she agrees or is willing to take it in.
The two families started arguing again as they were talking, and Zhou Xiaolan stepped forward and said, "Stop arguing, both of you."
"This was something Ping An and I came up with; they wouldn't let us discuss it."
That's one way to do it. The two families can have them go to He Ping'an's room to talk. Anyway, with them watching outside, nothing else is likely to happen.
"You drugged me, didn't you?" He Ping'an asked, his tone full of certainty.
“What’s the point of talking about this now?” Zhou Xiaolan didn’t answer directly. “Shouldn’t we be thinking about how to get out of this mess?”
Now that the whole city knows about it, dragging this out any longer will only do us harm.
He Ping'an said, "Anyway, nothing happened between us, so I'm not going to marry you. You'd better think of something else."
“You haven’t heard my solution yet,” Zhou Xiaolan said calmly, waving her hand to stop him from interrupting her. “Let me finish what I have to say first.”
Now that the two sides are arguing endlessly, do you think you can easily cover this up?
Besides, we've been working together very well before. If we keep this up, why shouldn't we build a fortune?
Zhou Xiaolan looked at their two rooms and said, "Your house is only so big. After your brother gets married, will you have a place to stay?"
He Pingan looked at the bunk beds behind Zhou Xiaolan. He knew all too well what was going on, but what could he do? The family's circumstances were what they were.
“If we get married, we can earn more money and rent a place outside. With our combined efforts, we can quickly build up our wealth. The dowry my parents mentioned won't be a problem.”
If you miss this opportunity, are you going to spend the rest of your life holed up in the living room?
In their area, many families have the eldest son getting married, and the younger children rush to the dining room to set up a bed. It seems the He family had the same plan.
As for housing allocation, I've heard about it for a long time, but it hasn't been implemented yet.
"You make it sound so simple. These days, it's not that easy to rent a house." He Ping'an was a little hesitant. After all, he had made money and tasted the sweetness of it before. He was reluctant to give it up all at once.
He knew the math: earning just one or two yuan a day would add up to several dozen yuan a month, which was much better than working a regular job.
When you think about it this way, it seems that the dowry that Zhou Xiaolan's family asked for is actually acceptable.
But when he thought about how this was Zhou Xiaolan's scheme, he didn't want to agree so readily. "I have a place to live here, why should I rent a place outside? Doesn't renting a place cost money?"
He knew better than anyone that his family was truly poor; the few dollars he had hidden in his pocket were the result of working from dawn till dusk these past few days.
But if he leaves home, it means the house will eventually go to his older brother, which he can't accept.
"Ha, do you think you won't have to move if you don't move now?" Zhou Xiaolan thought of the disdain in He's parents' eyes and didn't forget to add insult to injury. "We all live in the same courtyard, who doesn't know who? Your parents have always favored your older brother. Even though they are both their sons, they bought him a permanent job as soon as he graduated. And you? A temporary job is considered a huge favor. Only a fool like you can be so smug."
He Ping'an felt a little resentful, as his elder brother had always received better things than he had.
From childhood to adulthood, he basically used to collect his older brother's books and clothes, and now even their jobs are so different.
If my older brother gets married, there will definitely be no room for him in this room.
Seeing that he was wavering, Zhou Xiaolan pressed on, "Why don't they want you to get married? What family doesn't give a dowry when they get a wife? It's just that they're afraid you'll take up this room first, making it even harder for your older brother to find a wife later."
They're all their sons, why must there be a distinction between them?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
