Friday was the auspicious day for delivering the engagement gifts.
Yang Heping and Yang Qing took half a day off from the electronics factory to go to the Meng family home. Both were dressed formally; Yang Heping wore a Zhongshan suit that clearly had some years on it but was clean and tidy, while Yang Qing wore a modern-style suit made at a tailor shop.
When the two arrived, they were once again carrying many gifts.
Over the past few days, Li Mei had also been preparing Meng Ruo’s dowry chests, including cotton quilts and duvet covers. The quilts had to be made at a place that fluffed cotton, and the covers were made-to-order at a tailor shop after Meng Ruo selected the patterns at a fabric store.
Li Mei had been working non-stop these past two days, busy not only with household chores but also with helping Meng Ruo prepare her dowry.
In any case, she had endured the exhaustion and paid the price; her only thought now was to ensure that nothing else went wrong so that Meng Ruo could be married off quickly. Once Meng Ruo was gone, the Meng family would be under her control.
On the day the engagement gifts were delivered, Zheng Wan didn’t go to work at the restaurant. She insisted on staying at the Meng house to watch the excitement. Li Mei wanted to scold her and send her away, but since it was a festive day, Meng Jun persuaded her to stop.
Looking at the bride price money Yang Heping brought over, it would be a lie to say Meng Jun wasn’t a bit envious. In fact, on the afternoon following his grand gesture, Meng Jun had regretted it. This was because Li Mei had shown him the receipt for the gold jewelry Meng Ruo bought: 2,100 yuan.
When others married off daughters, they received money, but his family was paying money out. Not only the money for the gold jewelry, but also for making the dowry chests, the cotton quilts, and the duvet covers—it all cost money. He would even lose money once the banquet was held.
The more Meng Jun thought about it, the more he regretted it, but for the sake of his pride as a man, he only dared to regret it in his heart and was too embarrassed to say it out loud.
While Meng Jun was smiling on the outside but feeling bitter on the inside, Zheng Wan was watching with a face full of envy.
3,800 yuan! They gave 3,800 yuan just like that—these Yang family people were truly generous.
However, as much as Zheng Wan coveted the money, she wasn’t that envious. What’s 3,800 yuan? In the future, if she married You Che, her daily pocket money could be 3,800 yuan.
And those three pieces of gold weighing about twenty grams—there was nothing to be envious of there either. If she married You Che later, she could buy as much gold as she wanted. She could be like the people on TV, wearing a dozen gold bracelets on one hand and over a dozen necklaces and collars around her neck. At that time, she didn’t know how many envious looks she would receive.
After the Yang family finished delivering the engagement gifts, Zheng Wan hurriedly ran to the kitchen to talk to Li Mei.
“Is the delivery over just like that? Is Meng Ruo really going to marry out so smoothly?” Zheng Wan’s tone carried a hint of jealousy and indignation.
Li Mei looked at her strangely. “What, based on your tone, are you saying you’re reluctant to let her go?”
“Isn’t it good that she’s marrying out? It saves her from staying in the Meng family and opposing me,” she said.
Since the last time she tried to force Meng Ruo to marry her cousin and Meng Ruo had a huge argument with her, the girl seemed to have changed her personality. Her tongue had become so sharp that Li Mei had been unable to win an argument with her several times.
Not only was her tongue sharp, but she also seemed much more clever than before. Therefore, her current thought was that it was for the best if Meng Ruo married out early, regardless of who she married.
A married daughter is like spilled water; from now on, she would be the one in charge of the Meng family, and Meng Ruo would have no say in it. Besides, she heard from Big Sister Zhou next door that Yang Qing wasn’t a good person either. When Meng Ruo married into that family and fought with him until the house was in chaos, wouldn’t it be nice to watch the drama from the sidelines?
“I’m not reluctant to let her go,” Zheng Wan muttered softly.
“If she marries out sooner, won’t her room be cleared out for you sooner?” Li Mei glanced at her and said, “You’re not thinking straight.”
It wasn’t that Zheng Wan wasn’t thinking straight, but rather that her current feelings were a bit complicated. On one hand, she hoped Meng Ruo would marry out smoothly so that, as Li Mei said, her room would be available. On the other hand, she didn’t want Meng Ruo to marry out so easily. After all, according to the original plot, Meng Ruo was supposed to stay unmarried, causing trouble in the Meng family until she was finally kicked out by Meng Jun. Now that Meng Ruo was marrying successfully, she didn’t know if it would affect her own future.
After the engagement gifts were delivered, Yang Qing mentioned the matter of registering their marriage certificate to Meng Ruo.
“My household registration book was sent to have my name changed. I expect it will take a couple of days before we can go register,” Yang Qing said.
“Name change?” Meng Ruo asked.
Yang Qing only gave a soft hum in response and didn’t offer an explanation for the reasons behind his name change. Consequently, Meng Ruo didn’t ask. Since he didn’t want to say, there must be a reason, and she felt they weren’t yet familiar enough to pry into such personal matters.
A few days later was the weekend. Meng Ruo took advantage of the holiday to drag Li Mei to a shop to look for a wedding outfit. Bringing Li Mei along was, naturally, so that she would pay. In a few more days, once she moved out after the wedding, she wouldn’t be able to “fleece” Li Mei anymore, so she had to take this opportunity to do so as much as possible.
Li Mei was, of course, perfectly aware of Meng Ruo’s little scheme. Initially, she was unwilling to go, saying she had no time because she had to clean the house. At that moment, they had just finished breakfast, and Meng Jun was still sitting in the living room drinking tea.
Meng Ruo then said toward Meng Jun’s direction in a tone that was neither too loud nor too soft, “Auntie Li, that old bracelet my mother left behind—where did you say you put it last time?”
Li Mei hurriedly dropped the broom she had just picked up, intending to cover Meng Ruo’s mouth.
Meng Ruo dodged nimbly and flashed a fake smile. “Auntie Li, are you going to accompany me to look at clothes or not?”
Li Mei was so angry she was both gritting her teeth and huffing. “I’ll go, I’ll go!” she said.
Fearing Li Mei might back out later, Meng Ruo quickly passed the word to Meng Jun. “Dad, Auntie Li said she’s going to accompany me to look at wedding clothes in a bit.”
Meng Jun smiled while drinking his tea. “That’s very good.”
“I didn’t expect that now that you’re about to get married, the relationship between the two of you is getting better and better,” he remarked emotionally.
What Meng Jun loved to see most was family harmony, as he strongly believed in the saying “a harmonious family brings prosperity to all things.” He felt that if the family was harmonious, his restaurant business would also get better and better.
Listening from the side, Li Mei rolled her eyes in silence.
In this era, trendy couples getting married involved the woman wearing a bright red wedding dress and the man wearing a suit. At this time, wedding dresses were just starting to become popular and styles were limited. Meng Ruo looked around and didn’t see any style she liked, so in the end, she chose a red dress. Then she went to the shoe store next door and bought a pair of red high heels.
Naturally, Li Mei paid for everything. While Li Mei was paying, Meng Ruo was even sweetly thanking her from the side.
Coincidentally, the owner of the shoe store knew Li Mei and knew she was Meng Ruo’s stepmother; the owner even smilingly praised them for having a relationship as good as a biological mother and daughter.
Meng Ruo laughed and asked, “Is that so?”
Only Li Mei, upon hearing this praise, had a darkened face. She muttered in her heart: This little vixen who eats people without leaving even a bone—mother and daughter indeed. It’s enough that she hasn’t eaten me whole.
After Yang Qing finished changing his name, the two agreed to register their marriage certificate on Wednesday morning.
When the two arrived at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Meng Ruo asked casually, “You changed your name? What name did you change it to?”
“I changed it to You Che,” he said.
Meng Ruo had only asked in passing and wasn’t particularly interested in what name he had chosen. When Yang Qing said the new name, Meng Ruo nodded without it even registering in her mind.
After she finished nodding, she suddenly froze.
“You Che?” Meng Ruo looked at him in shock and asked, “Which ‘You,’ and which ‘Che’?”