Liang Hui spending the astronomical bride price of 2,800 yuan to bring home a wife shocked the entire Liang family.
Except for Liang Haifeng, who worked as a lab technician in town, and Liang Dazhu, who worked at the forestry farm, everyone else in the Liang family had gathered for an emergency family meeting.
Zhao Chunhua was both furious and heartsick. In front of everyone, she cried and cursed while wiping away tears and snot.
“Oh heavens, this prodigal brat! Spending 2,800 yuan to marry a wife—does he think he’s some rich young master?!”
“I just asked around. This Yu Yao had originally been promised by her father to Old Zhang from the next alley for a 2,000-yuan bride price. But Laoxi snatched her away by paying an extra 800!”
“That money was supposed to help Third Brother get married! Now the family savings are emptied out—what are we supposed to use for his bride price?”
“I’ve never heard of a younger brother getting married before the elder brother. Absolutely beastly!”
…
Bang!
Liang Hui slammed the table and shot back without the slightest politeness.
“I used my own money to marry my wife. I didn’t spend your family savings. What are you panicking for? What are you wailing about?”
“And why should I, a cousin, be responsible for paying the bride price for Third Brother’s wife? Shouldn’t that be the job of his actual parents?”
The Liang family had never seen Liang Hui so sharp and aggressive before, nor had they ever seen him keep such careful accounts. Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
“Ahem.” Second Uncle Liang Mancang coughed and waved a hand. “Laoxi, sit down and talk properly.”
As Liang Hui sat back down, he snorted coldly.
“So you’re all just bullying me because I don’t have parents, huh?”
Zhao Chunhua nearly rolled her eyes again from being choked speechless by his bluntness, growing even more irritated.
“This morning I cooked you a good meal and treated you well! Before you left, we already agreed that the money would first be used for your third brother’s marriage. When it’s your turn, he’d help support you too!”
“And then you changed your mind the second you turned around. What kind of person are you?!”
What a waste of the oil pancakes she had specially made for him—she had even added an egg. Might as well have fed it all to a dog!
Seeing everyone’s eyes fixed on Liang Hui, Yu Yao gently tugged at his sleeve and spoke timidly.
“Second Aunt doesn’t seem to like me very much…”
As expected, Zhao Chunhua’s raging anger immediately shifted direction, exploding at Yu Yao.
“It’s all because of you, you little vixen! Weren’t you clinging to Third Brother before? And now you’re ruining Laoxi too! Why are you so obsessed with the men of the Liang family? Nobody else wants you, is that it?!”
Liang Hui’s face darkened, but before he could speak, Liang Mancang beat him to it by scolding his wife.
“Don’t spread rumors you heard from outsiders!”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire! If there were nothing going on, would people talk like that?” Zhao Chunhua rolled her eyes.
“Second Aunt, you’ve really wronged me!” Yu Yao looked utterly aggrieved.
In front of the Liang family, she explained,
“Liang Haifeng is my classmate. I only ever treated him as a friend. Later, he borrowed money from me and refused to repay it. I went to him several times, but he always made excuses and avoided paying me back.”
“Maybe because I urged him too many times, someone saw it and started spreading those rumors.”
At this point, she tugged lightly on Liang Hui’s sleeve again, looking every bit the obedient good wife.
“Husband, you have to believe me! Once I recover the debt, I’ll hand all the money over for you to keep.”
The Liang family: “……”
Yu Yao’s voice became even softer and sweeter as she gazed at Liang Hui with sticky affection.
“In our family, the man is the head of the household. I’ll definitely be your virtuous helper.”
—So marrying me is totally worth it. Don’t feel bad about your 2,800!
The corner of Liang Hui’s mouth twitched, but with perfect tacit understanding, he grasped her wrist firmly, looking every bit the united husband standing beside his wife.
Zhao Chunhua exploded again.
“What nonsense! Since when did Haifeng owe you money?! Slandering people with your mouth wide open!”
“If it’s slander or not, we’ll know once Liang Haifeng comes back and we ask him,” Yu Yao replied calmly and gently. “He’s not stupid. If he didn’t borrow money, of course he wouldn’t admit it.”
In other words, even if she were fabricating lies, she wouldn’t use such an easily exposed excuse.
“Don’t worry, wife. If someone really borrowed your money and refuses to pay it back, I’ll help you collect it.”
Liang Hui spoke while sweeping his gaze across everyone present. His tone carried a faint threat and warning.
“Trying to take advantage of my wife? I don’t care who it is—they can forget it!”
Zhao Chunhua could tell now that the borrowed money matter probably wasn’t baseless after all.
Immediately flustered, she stammered insistently that Yu Yao was lying and spreading rumors. For the moment, she completely forgot about pursuing the issue of Liang Hui spending 2,800 yuan on a wife.
Liang Mancang couldn’t help knocking his pipe against the edge of the table.
“Enough. Stop arguing.”
He shot his nephew a dissatisfied glance.
Then, seeing Liang Hui and Yu Yao still holding hands, he became even more displeased.
Pulling and touching each other in front of elders—what kind of behavior was that?
No wonder Zhao Chunhua disliked Yu Yao. She didn’t look like a proper woman at all.
“Laoxi, don’t misunderstand your second aunt. She’s actually doing this for your own good.”
“You’re young, strong, and handsome. Why worry about not finding a good wife?”
“There’s no need to spend 2,800 yuan marrying one! Your second aunt’s just used to being frugal and feels bad for your money.”
Liang Hui wasn’t buying it.
“Oh? She feels bad when I spend money marrying a wife. But if the money were used for your own son’s marriage, suddenly she wouldn’t feel bad anymore?”
Liang Mancang never expected his nephew to leave him absolutely no face in front of everyone. His face instantly turned bright red.
The eldest and second daughters-in-law wanted to laugh but didn’t dare. Their expressions became rather strange.
They all knew their parents-in-law favored the third son. Even if the two women had opinions about it, neither dared to speak up.
Who would have thought the first one to rebel would be the usually silent and taciturn Laoxi?
Grandma Liang wheezed for quite a while before finally managing to say a complete sentence.
“Since he was little, Laoxi has always been the most sensible, capable, and filial one. He’s contributed plenty of money and effort to this family.”
“I’m a medicine jar myself. If he hadn’t earned money to buy my medicine, I probably wouldn’t even still be alive.”
“Since he’s willing to spend this much money marrying a wife, it means he truly treasures her.”
“He arranged his own marriage himself, which saves us the trouble. That’s a good thing.”
“When the time comes, Third Brother and Laoxi can hold their weddings together. A double celebration—twice the joy.”
Grandma Liang shakily pulled out an oil-paper bundle and unwrapped layer after layer, revealing the private savings she had accumulated.
There were more than a dozen ten-yuan bills, some ration coupons, small notes, coins, and even a few expired grain coupons.
“Split this money evenly between Third Brother and Laoxi so they can buy some things for the weddings.”
As she spoke, she took out another bundle.
This one was wrapped in cotton cloth and layered several times as well.
In front of the whole family, she carefully unwrapped it layer by layer, revealing a blood-jade bracelet of exceptionally fine quality.
Zhao Chunhua’s eyes lit up. Before she could reach for it, Grandma Liang spoke again.
“This bracelet was left behind by Laoxi’s birth mother. Naturally, it should be passed down to Laoxi’s wife.”
Before Zhao Chunhua could erupt in outrage, another voice sounded even more urgently than hers.
“Wait! That bracelet can’t be given to Yu Yao!”