"Mom, you can just tell my wife about anything; I'm going to help my dad wash the dishes."
"No, you need to know what I'm about to say as well." Zhou Xiulan glanced at the kitchen and urged, "Old Liang, stop washing for a moment. Come over here so we can talk to the children about a few things."
"I'm almost done." Liang Zhendong replied, holding a rag and wiping his hands as he walked out. "What is it? I'm busy here!"
Zhou Xiulan found the gift list from today's banquet, opened it to the last page, and handed it to Yan Mo. "Daughter-in-law, this is the gift list from today's banquet. I'm taking it out to show you. Your father prepared one hundred tables for today's banquet, though they weren't all full—there were about ninety tables. Half of them were our family's relatives and friends, and the other half were your maternal family's relatives and friends. However, the gifts from your side are all included in the list your parents brought."
Yan Mo thought her mother-in-law was asking her for money. After all, her parents had collected the monetary gifts, and the cost of the banquet was covered by her parents-in-law. She quickly stated her position: "Mom, I'll go ask my parents for the money when I return to my maternal home tomorrow. Since you paid for the banquet and my parents collected the monetary gifts from my side, my parents should also pay for half of the banquet."
"No, no, no, daughter-in-law, you misunderstood my meaning." Zhou Xiulan hurriedly explained, "My meaning is that the monetary gifts from our two families weren't mixed together; each side collected their own. I'm not asking you for money; I'm just clarifying things for you. The ninety tables were your father's responsibility to pay for—if he doesn't pay for his son's marriage, who will? Don't take this to heart, and don't go back and ask your parents for this money; it would make the Liang family look like we don't know how to be sensible. Moreover, we have the three-day return to the maternal home tradition here; if you go back tomorrow to ask for money, people will laugh at us. The reason I took out the gift list is to tell you that our family collected over 200,000 in monetary gifts today, and your father and I decided to give this money to you two."
Yan Mo subconsciously glanced at Liang Qingzhou. She wasn't going to accept the money anyway, and if Liang Qingzhou tacitly agreed, she would just give the money to him after accepting it. She wouldn't occupy the position of his wife, so naturally, she wouldn't enjoy the benefits of being his wife.
Liang Qingzhou frowned and said, "Mom, you paid for the banquet, and those people came to the wedding banquet out of respect for you and Dad. You will be the ones who have to return those favors in the future. So, we won't take this money."
Yan Mo felt that made sense and echoed, "That's right, Mom. This money is for you and Dad, and you'll be the ones returning the favors later. Qingzhou is right; we won't take this money."
Yan Mo had called out Liang Qingzhou's name without his surname, which didn't bother her, but Liang Qingzhou felt a bit distracted.
Zhou Xiulan wore a face full of gratification. "You are both good children. However, this gift list doesn't just contain favors for your father and me; it also includes those from Zhouzhou's classmates and friends. This portion of the favors needs to be returned by you two."
"Then just give them that portion of the money, and that will be that," Liang Zhendong said concisely.
"That makes sense." Zhou Xiulan flipped through the gift list, which made her feel dizzy, and she threw it directly to Liang Qingzhou. "Son, look at it yourself. Write down the money from your friends and classmates, and Mom will count it out for you."
As she spoke, she took out a bulging bag containing the monetary gifts collected today.
Yan Mo was a bit confused. Is everything divided so clearly in the Liang family? She looked at Liang Qingzhou and saw him focused on flipping through the gift list. Without looking up, he called out to Yan Mo, "Come over and help me calculate. I'll report the names and the amounts, and you register them."
This way, they could quickly calculate the total amount, and his parents could hear it too—even a son must keep clear accounts with his parents.
"Oh." Yan Mo followed his instructions and sat beside Liang Qingzhou. Whatever amount Liang Qingzhou reported, she added to the calculator on her mobile phone.
More than ten minutes later, a total of 36,000 appeared on her mobile phone.
Zhou Xiulan didn't hesitate and immediately counted out 36,000 from the bag and handed it to Yan Mo. "Mom is giving this money to you. Now that you and Zhouzhou are married, his money is your money in the future."
Yan Mo found it hard to refuse. Since Liang Qingzhou calculated the amount himself, at worst, she would just give the money to him when she returned to the room.
After the contract expires in a year, she didn't want to have any financial entanglements with Liang Qingzhou.
"Alright, we've finished talking about our business. You two must be tired today, so go back and get some rest early."
Yan Mo felt as if she had been granted amnesty and scurried back to the bridal chamber.
Fortunately, this room had a private restroom, so Yan Mo didn't need to go out to wash up.
After washing up, Yan Mo came out of the restroom and saw that Liang Qingzhou had also returned to the room.
She walked up to him and handed over the 36,000. "This money is for you. After all, they are your friends and classmates, and you are the one who has to return the favors."
Liang Qingzhou didn't take it. "You keep it."
Yan Mo insisted, "Our marriage is only a contract. When it expires in a year, I don't want to have any financial entanglements with you."
Liang Qingzhou glanced at Yan Mo and casually took the money. "Fine."
Seeing him accept it, Yan Mo felt a sense of relief.
She had slept too much in the afternoon, so she wasn't a little bit sleepy now. Yan Mo looked at the two suitcases she had brought from her maternal home. She remembered that one suitcase contained the 288,000 dowry her parents had given her, and the other contained the 288,000 betrothal gifts Liang Qingzhou had given when he came to pick her up.
She couldn't keep this money either. She opened the suitcase containing the betrothal gifts, counted it once, and piled the money, not a cent missing, in front of Liang Qingzhou: "This is the betrothal gift your family gave; I'm returning it to you now."
Liang Qingzhou was slightly stunned. His gaze fell on the pile of money in front of him, and then he slowly spoke: "Fine."
Next, Yan Mo opened the other suitcase. "My parents also gave me a 288,000 dowry. I'm telling you about this money. Although I don't want your betrothal gift and I won't give you my dowry, I feel you should know about it."
"Mm."
It seemed there was nothing else to say. She prepared to close the suitcase, but she unexpectedly saw a strange gift bag inside. She thought it was some gift her mother had prepared for her.
She opened it and saw black fabric inside. Yan Mo didn't know what it was, but when she took it out, she discovered it was lingerie—the one Zhao Luoluo had chosen for her. Suddenly, Yan Mo's face burned, and she felt flustered and at a loss.
In her fluster, she hurriedly stuffed the lingerie back into the gift bag.
Unfortunately, Liang Qingzhou had seen her entire set of actions.
The corners of Liang Qingzhou's mouth lifted, and he went to wash up.
When he returned, Yan Mo had already turned off her bedside lamp and was pretending to sleep.
Liang Qingzhou turned off the light as well. The surroundings were instantly plunged into darkness, and the room was so quiet that they could hear each other's breathing.
Sure enough, because she had slept in the afternoon, she wasn't sleepy at all in the evening.
Yan Mo lay on the bed, staring out the window. Her mobile phone screen flickered on and off on the bedside table. Only after she heard the sound of steady breathing behind her and was certain that Liang Qingzhou was truly asleep did she carefully take her phone, hide it under the covers, and secretly scroll through it.
Only then did she see that her wedding with Liang Qingzhou seemed to have been posted online. In the comments section, some people recognized her as the ex-girlfriend who had blocked Zhang Zheng's wedding car that day. There were both kind and nasty comments.
Although she didn't care about these things, she was still afraid that her parents would see them and worry.
Suddenly, she saw Zhang Zheng's comment: "It's this woman. Her name is Yan Mo. She demanded betrothal gifts from her ex-boyfriend, and when that failed, she turned around and married someone else. She is just a gold digger."
She hadn't been sleepy to begin with, and now she was even less so.
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