Upon hearing this, Liu Xia's mother's expression immediately softened, and she went to help him up. "We're doing this for Xia's own good. We don't need to prepare the 'three turns and one sound' (referring to a set of three-turn doors and a set of four-turn doors), just a radio will suffice. As for the other things, they'll be fine. You two will have to figure it out yourselves when you start living together."
Chen Wei was helped up from the ground by her. Hearing what she said next, he was even more dumbfounded. Why did she want another radio?
"No, this is too much."
Yang Chunhua's vision went black again. What exactly did they want? She was already feeling the pinch at the 88 yuan dowry, and now they wanted a radio too?
Their demands are getting increasingly outrageous, reaching exorbitant levels.
"Ah Wei, this bride price is meant to make Xiaoxia look good. Are you willing to let her suffer?"
Liu Xia had wiped away her tears and stopped crying. She didn't say anything when she heard her mother's words. They just wanted to suck her dry and didn't consider what would happen if she married into the Chen family after they had drained them dry.
But what could she do? In order to get them to help her put on this show, Liu Xia agreed to let them ask for a bride price.
The original plan was for her to pretend to bring Chen Wei over, then have an argument with him, and during the argument, there would be a slight scuffle, and then his brother would barge in from outside, pretending to have caught them red-handed.
Chen Wei had no choice but to comply.
Unexpectedly, Chen Wei was more sensible than they thought, and actually started tearing at her clothes. Now the situation was more favorable to them. How could her mother and brother, who were like ravenous wolves, possibly satisfy the original dowry? Now they wanted to ask for a radio as well.
"I don't want Xiaoxia to suffer, but, but..."
Yang Chunhua pinched her palm hard, forcing herself to suppress her disgust and feigning pitifulness, "Mother-in-law, we're about to become in-laws, so there are some things I don't need to hide from you anymore."
When the previous daughter-in-law got divorced, she took most of the family's money. The son couldn't bear to part with his two grandsons, so he took leave to go to Northeast China to try to bring them back. This resulted in the already meager family being drained of even more money.
Our family is almost facing famine. If we give the bride price and buy a radio, we'll have to borrow money from outside.
"We have to borrow money to pay off this 88 yuan dowry. When will we ever be able to pay it all back, let alone buy a radio?" Chen Wei couldn't bear to lose face anymore and kept nodding.
"Mom is right. If two people are going to live together, they have to be careful with their money. Xiaoxia, why don't we just forget about this radio and buy it when we have more money later?"
The original plan was just for the bride price. Liu Xia thought that getting the money would be enough. But when his mother mentioned the radio, his eyes lit up. He never expected it could be like this.
“You wouldn’t even buy one for your wedding, how can you expect to buy one later? You’re just trying to fool my sister. No way, this radio is a must, otherwise we can forget about it.”
His face had an expression that said, "If you don't agree, I'll send you to the police station and have you shot."
“Our family is really in trouble right now. The radio and the ticket cost at least 70 yuan. Who can afford to buy one without even blinking an eye?” Yang Chunhua saw that her son was already dressed. “How about we add 20 yuan to the bride price and we don’t need the radio? Otherwise, we can’t afford the money and we can’t hold the wedding.”
Anyway, quite a few people know that you two were dating before, so I'll just say it's young people meeting up to do some shady things in private.
The two old women argued back and forth, neither willing to give in, and quarreled for a long time over this or that amount. In the end, they settled on a dowry of 110, and asked for nothing else.
"Alright, it's settled then. The matter of your marriage should be settled sooner rather than later. You two can come to our house to propose the marriage the day after tomorrow."
What could Yang Chunhua do? She could only agree.
After helping her son home, many neighbors upstairs and downstairs saw the mother and son in such a miserable state. They exclaimed in surprise and asked if something had happened.
Yang Chunhua waved her hand sharply with a dark expression and went straight into the house without saying a word.
Back in the house, she sat on a chair, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. She had really suffered a loss today, and her head was throbbing with anger. Chen Wei grimaced as he sat on a stool, reaching out to touch his swollen face. The thought of being able to propose marriage in a few days made him grin foolishly.
Although the process was somewhat tortuous, it can be considered a blessing in disguise.
Hearing her son's silly laughter, Yang Chunhua felt a wave of dizziness. Without a word, she stretched out her foot, took off her shoe, and slapped it directly into his mouth.
Chen Wei was grinning foolishly with his mouth open when his mother smacked him with the sole of her shoe. He was so startled that he froze on the spot, almost thinking that the two of them were still in that small house and were being smacked by Liu Xia's mother with the sole of her shoe.
"Ptooey, ptooey, Mom! What are you doing? Why are you hitting me?"
Despite the physical pain, he covered his head and ran a few steps away.
"Why did I hit you? Did a pig eat your brain? You didn't see through such an obvious trap today, and you still have the nerve to laugh like an idiot."
"If I weren't afraid they'd actually take you to the police station, I wouldn't care about you at all. Now they're demanding over 100 yuan as a bride price. Where are they going to get that money?"
She was so angry her heart was aching.
"...Mom, I was wrong about this. I shouldn't have acted like a hooligan after drinking a little. I'm sorry to Xiaoxia and to you. But since it has already happened, I have to take responsibility. After I marry Xiaoxia, I will definitely treat her well and try my best to pay back the money."
"You, you, you! I'm just asking you one question: where did this empty house come from? How is it such a coincidence that you haven't even done anything yet, and her brother and his men caught you so easily?"
Outraged, she pulled out a broom from the corner and chased after him, beating him mercilessly. If this kid hadn't been a fool who got caught in a drunken act, Yang Chunhua would never have admitted to this trap, even if it meant her death. What a tragedy! What a tragedy!
This family is no good. This vixen is actually going to enter their house. Yang Chunhua will definitely not let her have an easy time from now on!
Because he had to borrow money for the bride price, Chen Wei couldn't even take the day off to recover from his injury. His mother kicked him in the butt and forced him to go to work.
When the people in the factory saw him like this, they all suppressed their laughter and asked him what happened and how he got beaten up like a pig's head.
Chen Wei waved his hand dismissively, saying, "I fell down while drunk last night."
That's ridiculous! He was obviously beaten up, but since he doesn't admit it, everyone can only pretend not to care.
The custom here is that wealthy families prepare a basket of red eggs and some brown sugar pastries when proposing marriage, while even the poorest families will buy a few pounds of pastries from the supply and marketing station.
Yang Chunhua was so angry these past two days that her teeth were aching, and she didn't want to spend the money. So, at the appointed time, she went to propose marriage empty-handed with her son, her face dark.
Before leaving, Chen Wei asked his mother several times, "How can I go empty-handed? I need to prepare something for Xiaoxia." His mother gave him a few disapproving looks, but in the end, he had no choice.
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