novelno Chapter 98: Each Has Their Own Methods
Chapter 98: Each Has Their Own Methods
"Did you hear? Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou's mother-in-law came to him demanding the bride price for her daughter!"
"What? Weren't we supposed to be visiting our pregnant daughter? How did it turn into asking for a bride price? But it's not surprising, what kind of marriage doesn't include a bride price? Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou's wife is still so young. By the way, how much is she asking for?"
"Eight hundred!"
"Wow! Is her daughter made of gold? Asking for 800 yuan right off the bat? 800 yuan could marry a college graduate!"
"That's right! It's understandable if you asked for three or five hundred, but you're asking for eight hundred! If it were any other family, they couldn't come up with eight hundred even if they scraped together everything they owned!"
"They probably dared to say that because they knew that Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou was an officer with a high salary."
"Regardless of the salary, it should be based on the market rate. We can't let her mess up the market rate. What if my son follows suit when he gets married? Besides, who in our compound doesn't know how Yuan Juan married Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou? How could her mother have the nerve to ask for a wife like that?"
"Did Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou give it to him? Did his mother agree?"
"It's not that easy to give it away. There will definitely be a dispute. His mother-in-law said that if he doesn't give a bride price, she will take her daughter back to remarry and even abort the child. She's so cruel!"
"Tsk! The Zhou family is in for a rough time with in-laws like this."
The day after Aunt Yuan asked for a bride price, the news spread throughout the entire compound at an alarming rate.
Even the leaders in the military heard about it and called Zhou Lei over to give him some instructions, telling him to handle his family affairs properly and not to cause any unsightly trouble.
Zhou Lei is in a gloomy mood. Now, whenever something happens to his family, his superiors call him in for a talk, which is not a good sign.
It's obvious, even the leaders think that nothing good ever happens in his family!
He certainly didn't want to give any dowry, but he wasn't exactly stingy either. He wanted to give less, maybe two or three hundred, to go with the flow. But his mother-in-law disagreed and kept bringing up his unfortunate father-in-law.
When he talked to Yuan Juan, she said she couldn't make the decision and that she didn't want it anyway. She said if she wanted it, she would have asked him for it long ago.
Thinking about all this, Zhou Lei sighed, and regret welled up in his heart once again.
His mother-in-law didn't come earlier or later, but just when he was about to send Yuan Juan back to her hometown. It's likely that Yuan Juan sent a telegram to her while she was at home taking care of her pregnancy.
And then there was the time she suddenly fell down...
He recalled the things his mother had said to him behind his back.
"What kind of mess is this?!"
……
The Zhou family's dowry dispute attracted Comrade Wu Yufen's attention.
If this happened to someone else, they would have run as far away as possible and wouldn't have bothered with it; at most, they might have come to see the spectacle.
Comrade Wu Yufen was different. She kept her duties in mind. Even though Yuan Juan had tricked her twice, she rushed over as soon as she heard that the Zhou couple were getting a divorce.
After she arrived, the first person she looked for was Aunt Yuan.
"We were born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze. Building a family is about mutual consent. How can we let a couple divorce over a dowry! Your thinking is unacceptable! I need to teach you a lesson!"
Knowing that she was a junior staff member and her husband was a regimental-level cadre, Aunt Yuan treated her with considerable respect. "Leader, this dowry isn't what I wanted. It's mainly my husband and my in-laws. What can I, a woman, do? Why don't you go to my hometown and give them a lecture?"
Wu Yufen: "...Comrade, these days we talk about gender equality. You're Yuan Juan's mother, you have the right to make decisions! How can you let men and your in-laws lead you by the nose? Your current actions are affecting your daughter and son-in-law's relationship and destabilizing Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou's rear!"
"I don't understand what you're saying. All I know is that if I don't get the bride price back, my husband and in-laws won't let me off easy. If my son-in-law truly cares for my daughter, he should give me the bride price."
Aunt Yuan continued to use the same words she used to shut down the Zhou family to shut down Wu Yufen. No matter what Wu Yufen said, it was all based on what my husband said and what my parents-in-law had told me, so not a single word of Wu Yufen's words came to fruition.
After talking to her, Wu Yufen then spoke to Yuan Juan, saying, "We can ask for a bride price, but we have to be realistic about what we can afford! We can't let your situation disrupt the atmosphere of our entire compound! As a military spouse, you have to be like Yuan Xiu, a strong military wife. You need to be progressive in your thinking and not just listen to your parents."
Yuan Juan didn't understand any of this talk about power. She asked, "Sister-in-law, didn't you say last time when you were advising someone that there are no wrong parents in the world? You also said that young people should respect the elderly and care for the young, and not just think about their own comfort? Now I'm listening to my parents, how am I wrong?"
Wu Yufen: "..."
"Auntie, what are you thinking? Should we give the bride price or not? Not giving it is definitely not an option. If we do give it, how much are you planning to give? Let's come up with a plan and have a proper discussion. We can't keep making a scene like this; it will affect Xiao Zhou. You're the head of the household; you need to come up with a plan!"
Aunt Zhou: "I'll say it again, if she wants to divorce my Shitou, I'll wholeheartedly support it!"
"You're just saying that in anger! If she really did abort the child, would you be willing to do that?"
Of course she couldn't bear to part with it. If it weren't for the baby in her belly, she could go wherever she wanted!
Who would want her as a daughter-in-law?
……
Of the five people living in the Zhou family's house, only Aunt Yuan was unaffected by the bride price. She ate and drank as usual. Aunt Zhou resented her and stopped selling meat for several days in a row, and there was no meat in the dishes. So she deliberately sighed and complained when everyone was cooking, feeling sorry that her daughter was pregnant and couldn't even get a decent meal.
The next day, Zhou Lei borrowed meat ration coupons from someone.
After buying the meat, Aunt Zhou didn't let the mother and daughter cook it. She cooked it herself and put the meat in Yuan Juan's bowl separately for her to eat alone.
If Yuan Juan were given to her mother, Aunt Zhou would have something to say. She deliberately stood at the door and said, "You're pregnant, and we're out of meat coupons. We even borrowed these from others. There's only so much of it, and we can't bear to eat it ourselves, but we're saving it for you. Your mother feels sorry for you, how could she possibly eat it? Don't you think so, in-law?"
Aunt Yuan swallowed hard, her mouth watering. "Yes, I won't eat it. I'm keeping my daughter and grandson in mind."
Aunt Zhou snorted coldly.
Such incidents have occurred many times in the Zhou family. The two mothers go back and forth, each with their own methods. Apart from the disagreement over the bride price, they are evenly matched in their ability to create obstacles for each other.