The two families had not begun discussing the marriage just yesterday or today.
Even the wedding date had already been set.
Let alone for the young couple themselves—when both families sat down together, the matter of buying a house was not something that could be changed with a single sentence.
After thinking it over, An Songlin had to agree with his father.
But if they didn’t touch the money prepared for buying the wedding home, then forget about savings—even whether they could hold on to the homestead land in the village would become uncertain.
“Your idea really isn’t bad,” An Jianping said slowly, “but we need to plan even more carefully before we… discuss it again with the in-laws.”
“But,” An Jianping paused as he spoke.
He looked at his son seriously before continuing,
“Songlin, if we truly negotiate this with the Xuan family, your May Day wedding date may have to be postponed.”
The moment his words fell, before An Songlin could react, Bi Lizhu shot to her feet.
“No! Absolutely not!”
An Jianping frowned slightly and quickly pulled at his wife, helpless but firm, motioning for her not to get so agitated.
After all, it was late at night.
If she started shouting like this, by tomorrow morning people would already be gossiping about the couple arguing the previous night.
Bi Lizhu pressed her lips together and unwillingly sat back down under her husband’s pull.
But before anyone else could speak, she lowered her voice and emphasized again,
“Jianping, Songlin’s wedding date absolutely cannot be postponed.”
“Right now, even though invitations haven’t been sent yet, you know as well as I do that anyone even slightly close to us already knows their wedding date.”
“If we suddenly delay the wedding for no clear reason… not to mention our own side, even the in-laws wouldn’t agree so easily.”
“After all, the Xuan family is probably in the same situation as us—anyone close to them likely knows the date too.”
“Lizhu, I’m only saying it’s a possibility. I’m not saying it will definitely turn out that way,” An Jianping quickly tried to calm her again.
But Bi Lizhu wasn’t foolish. Restless, she stood up again, paced around the room twice, then frowned tightly.
“The moment you bring up not buying a house, whether the wedding gets postponed or not—is that really something our family can decide?”
“Jianping, you know it too. No matter how understanding the in-laws may be, this is something they probably can’t compromise on so easily.”
Her words left An Jianping with little room to argue.
That was why, over the past few days, in addition to inquiring about information, he had been especially troubled.
Finally finding a chance to speak after his parents finished, An Songlin hurriedly interjected,
“Dad, Mom, what I mean is… we could first discuss temporarily not buying a house.”
“The houses we’re looking at now either have poor locations, are too far from schools, or don’t have very convenient transportation.”
“In fact, in the entire Rongdi area, the only elevator apartment complex currently being sold is Hongye Grand Court.”
“So we’re choosing Hongye Grand Court not because it’s especially suitable for us, but because compared to other complexes, it’s the least unsuitable.”
Bi Lizhu gradually calmed down and carefully considered the feasibility of her son’s proposal.
But deep down, she still wasn’t very inclined to agree.
An Songxiang discreetly shot her sister a look, signaling her to pay attention to their mother’s expression.
An Songyu felt a little helpless as well.
Still, she gently shook her head at her sister, signaling her not to speak.
An Songxiang pursed her lips but didn’t actually say anything.
After all, even though their parents favored their son, they had never exploited her as a daughter.
So, when it came down to it, among the entire An family, the person who could most flexibly use cash at the moment was probably An Songxiang, who had just started working two years earlier and had never been required by her parents to hand over even a cent of her salary.
That was also why she knew clearly that among her peers and classmates, very few families prepared a brand-new home specifically for marriage.
And she had never raised any objections to her parents emptying out their savings to buy her brother a new house for his wedding.
But now, the situation felt different.
“Actually, it wouldn’t be a problem for my brother to buy a house right now,” An Songyu said, looking at the deeply troubled family and speaking up anyway.
Everyone, their emotions complicated, turned to look at her.
Especially Bi Lizhu.
She had felt all day that her second daughter was a bit strange.
Every time she opened her mouth, what she said brought shock after shock to the family.
“I mean… when I was at the hotel, I think I heard people mention that buying a house isn’t limited to paying in full—there are mortgages too?”
Mortgage loans?
The overly novel term caused a range of reactions among the An family.
An Songlin, who had been feeling conflicted all along, suddenly felt as though the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.
“Yes, yes, yes! Home loans—I think they already started being implemented a couple of years ago.”
“Dad, don’t you remember? When the newspapers reported on it back then, so many people in our work unit were discussing it.”
“But at the time, everyone was basically calling it foolish.”
“After all, welfare housing was still a thing back then!”
Hearing An Songlin put it that way, An Jianping and his wife also reacted.
No wonder—it wasn’t unfamiliar to them after all.
They’d just forgotten where they’d heard about it.
Thinking this, everyone instinctively looked at An Songyu again.
An Songyu spread her hands helplessly and said,
“I’ve heard of mortgages, yes, but I don’t know the specifics.”
If this were later on, not to mention An Songyu—even a random person could probably talk about it in detail.
But this was 1999, and exactly how mortgage policies were implemented…
Only after bringing it up did An Songyu realize she didn’t actually know when such policies had begun.
Fortunately, someone in the family really had heard of it.
“That’s easy to ask about. It’s too late today—tomorrow I’ll go ask around,” An Jianping said decisively.
In fact, because of his daughter’s suggestion, even more ideas had begun forming in his mind.
The next day, the An family continued to stay busy.
But this time, everyone had a very clear goal.
When the family gathered again that evening, it wasn’t just An Jianping— nearly every family member had found out something about mortgage loans.
An Jianping had even learned more.
But when the family was together, he didn’t say anything yet.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when An Songlin mentioned taking his fiancée back to Jiang Village, that An Jianping privately called his two daughters aside.
“A-Yu, A-Xiang, I’m planning to move both of your household registrations back to the village.”
(End of this chapter)