“What did you say? Our daughter’s blind date is Ye Xiaochen? Ye Xiaochen, who is the most famous contractor in our commune?”
Lin Carpenter came home after working for someone and was completely stunned when he heard his wife say that both families would meet at a restaurant in town tomorrow to discuss their daughter’s wedding.
“How long have they been seeing each other? How come I didn’t know anything about it? And when did they decide to hold the wedding?”
He was going to become a father in law?
His son in law was Ye Xiaochen, so would he ever have to worry about not having work again?
There would be more work than he could ever finish.
Wait, his son in law was a contractor. Why would he need to work anymore?
He could simply become a supervisor and collect money. He would do less work and earn more money. Had such a huge piece of good fortune really fallen right into his lap?
He simply could not believe it.
“How much did you drink? You’re already drunk.” Li Yunshu gave him a disdainful look. “Let me tell you, this Ye Xiaochen was introduced to Rongrong by our eldest sister in law’s cousin. He didn’t take a liking to Rongrong and instead took a liking to our daughter. Our eldest sister in law is furious right now.”
“That just proves our daughter is capable.” Lin Carpenter straightened his neck proudly. “What’s Huang Hongxia’s anger going to accomplish?”
“Shut your foul mouth. Do you really want to make things worse?”
Although what he said was true, men were simply stupid. Things like this could only be thought about in private, not said aloud.
“Heh heh, my son in law is Ye Xiaochen. Let them be jealous and envious.”
“You really must have drunk too much.” Li Yunshu was completely speechless at this man. “Tomorrow, both families will meet in town to discuss the serious matters. If you get drunk again and ruin our daughter’s big event, just see how I’ll deal with you.”
“I won’t, I won’t. I’m not stupid.” Lin Carpenter said, “Tell me, how much bride price should we ask for when our daughter gets married?”
“What do you think?”
Li Yunshu had been thinking about this for a long time too. Normally, the bride price commonly given in the village was six hundred, eight hundred, or twelve hundred yuan, but those were only the standards for ordinary families.
Who was Ye Xiaochen?
He was a contractor who could afford his own private car.
Twelve hundred yuan would definitely be too little.
It would have to be twelve thousand.
Good heavens, twelve thousand yuan. How much money was that?
Just thinking about it made Li Yunshu unable to stop smiling.
“No, raising a daughter isn’t easy, so we have to ask for a substantial bride price.” Lin Carpenter said, “Would six or eight thousand be appropriate? I’m telling you, with that money, we could build a two story Western style house. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about finding a wife for Haitao anymore.”
Listening to the figures her husband was throwing around, Li Yunshu thought he really had no idea how things worked.
“Do you know how much money he gave your second sister in law and third sister in law as meeting gifts today?”
“How much?”
“One hundred yuan each, one hundred yuan for each of them.”
“That much?” Lin Carpenter suddenly said, “Wait, why did he give them meeting gifts? He hasn’t even formally come to our family yet.”
“They happened to be here at the time. Ye Xiaochen said he didn’t know they would be here and hadn’t prepared any gifts, so he gave them one hundred yuan each. It broke my heart.”
“My heart would hurt too.” Lin Carpenter said, “I go out and do carpentry work for people and can earn four or five yuan a day. One hundred yuan would take me so many days to earn.”
“Then what else did he give us?”
“There, that pile.”
“Canned fruit, malted milk, milk powder, and fruit.” Lin Carpenter looked over the gifts. “It seems to add up to only a little over one hundred yuan.
What’s wrong with the way Ye Xiaochen does things?”
The main family had only received a little over one hundred, while the two aunts had received two hundred between them.
“He gave Xiaoman a gold ring.”
“What?”
“A gold ring.” Li Yunshu was full of envy. “Our Xiaoman really is lucky. Look at me. I’ve been married to you for twenty years, and what have I gotten?
You haven’t even bought me a copper thimble.”
“That isn’t the same. He’s a contractor.” Lin Carpenter was finally convinced. “I heard gold is selling for fifty or sixty yuan a gram these days.
A gold ring must weigh at least a few grams, right? Then it would be worth two or three hundred yuan.”
“More than that. The gold ring is very big and wide. It’s almost as thick as my thumb.”
“Then it must be worth four or five hundred yuan.”
“Exactly. This Ye Xiaochen really is rich.”
“I approve of this son in law.”
“Look at you.”
“Are you any different?”
The husband and wife looked at each other and laughed.
This time, Xiaoman had really made them proud!
Lin Xiaoman was listening to her parents from outside and shook her head with a bitter smile.
As expected, money could solve many problems.
Just listen to her parents. They had never cared whether Ye Xiaochen had good character or a good temper. The only thing they cared about was money.
Then again, wasn’t she only interested in his money too?
She was very satisfied with the ring he had given her today.
It had enough gold in it.
Normally, this could be called jewelry. In an emergency, it could be called reserve wealth.
In her previous life, when she had arrived in this era, the price of gold had risen to more than five hundred yuan per gram.
Lin Xiaoman suddenly thought of something. Once she married Ye Xiaochen, she would not worry about anything else. She would just ask for money to buy gold jewelry. She would definitely save up an entire chestful of it. Then, when he eventually had a third child, a fourth child, and a fifth child, she could simply live her life guarding her gold.
So she was satisfied with this marriage too!
“Mom, I’m hungry. Aren’t we eating yet?”
“You were born to be a starving ghost.” Li Yunshu glared at her son. “All you know how to do all day is eat, eat, eat. Yet I never see you growing any taller. You should learn from your sister.”
“What about my sister?”
“Your sister? She’s capable. She found you a rich brother in law.”
“Sis, you’re only eighteen and you’re already getting married?”
Lin Haitao was stunned. “Isn’t that a little early?”
“What’s early about it? Plenty of girls in our production team get married at eighteen.”
“According to the Marriage Law, men have to be twenty two and women twenty to get married. My sister can’t even get the certificate yet.”
“That’s why they’re holding the wedding first and getting the certificate later.”
“That soon?” Lin Haitao could not help looking his eighteen year old sister up and down. “Sis, don’t tell me you’ve gotten pregnant? Otherwise, why are you in such a hurry to hold the wedding?”
“You little brat, what kind of thing are you saying?” Li Yunshu slapped her son on the shoulder. “Your sister is marrying Ye Xiaochen.”
“Who?”
“The richest contractor in our commune, Ye Xiaochen.”
“You mean the Ye Xiaochen who has his own private car?”
“That’s right, him.”
“Then that’s great. Sis, when are you holding the wedding? Don’t worry, your little brother will definitely see you off to your husband’s home.”
Lin Xiaoman could only smile bitterly at her brother’s words.
As expected, people from the same family really did belong together. Every single person in this family only cared about money and not the person.
The moment they heard it was Ye Xiaochen, they agreed without hesitation.
They practically wanted to pack her up and send her straight to the Ye family’s doorstep right now.
Her cousin really had seen things clearly. She had almost become someone who sacrificed everything for her younger brother.
Lin Xiaoman took a deep breath and forgave them for having their heads turned by money. After all, she had the same blood flowing through her veins. They were all greedy and selfish.
In this life, she would make sure she had a great deal of money in her own hands and live her life well.
She could not rely on her mother’s family. As long as they stopped trying to cling to her, that would already be a blessing.