Chapter 450 Dowry
There were betrothals in the village before, mostly rice, flour, corn, chickens, ducks, geese, and bacon.
There had never been a cart as full as Hu Wenhua's!
People in the village spread the news, and soon the dirt road was crowded with people, all standing on tiptoe to watch the excitement.
Zhang Chunhua was extremely happy during these three days, and counted the family's belongings every day.
As the head of the family, Dazhu was the eldest son, so naturally he lived in the largest room facing south.
The Fan family did not have much money before, but these three large tiled houses were really bright and clean. The only bad thing was that there were too many brothers-in-law, and the two old men occupied several rooms, so there would be no room for the baby to live in the future!
But there was no rush. After they got married, they could build three thatched houses next to them and move the three people out to live.
There was no money, no pigs, sheep, ducks, geese, rabbits, etc., but fortunately there were still three old hens laying eggs, and most importantly, they received a lot of gifts for the marriage!
Mr. Fan Qi sent an old hen and twenty eggs, the old village chief's family, the Wu family, and the Xu family each received fifty eggs, and Hu Shuiqing sent twenty eggs. The family now has too many eggs to eat! They can't count them every day.
Hu Shuiqing also sent ten kilograms of rice and a piece of fine cloth as a gift, enough to make three and a half sets of clothes!
She has already thought about making a set for herself, one for Fan Dazhu, and another for her mother. The remaining cloth will make a few pairs of cloth shoes for herself, plus the wedding clothes, she will be completely new from head to toe.
There is only ten kilograms of rice, so keep it to make rice porridge to nourish yourself. I heard that Ding Jiajia is white and tender because she eats rice and white flour. When she wears well and becomes white and tender, she will envy the girls in the village to death!
There was a noisy noise outside, and Zhang Chunhua asked loudly: "Sizhu, what's going on outside?"
Fan Sizhu was working hard to fetch water, and he reluctantly replied: "Uncle Wenhua went to the Ding family to deliver the betrothal gifts."
The eldest brother said that if he married Zhang Chunhua and could cook, wash clothes, do housework, and serve his parents, he would feel relieved. Based on his understanding of Zhang Chunhua, he never thought that Zhang Chunhua could take care of everything, but he thought that as long as Zhang Chunhua took over the cooking, washing clothes, and housework, he would be much more relaxed.
At least when growing vegetables, he didn't have to rush back to cook, and he didn't have to rush to do other things when serving his parents.
But I didn't expect it! Zhang Chunhua did nothing but cooking!
And cooking was also for eating good food. She stuffed whatever good food she had into her own stomach first, and the porridge at home was thinner than what he had made before.
She even took away all the money for making toothbrush handles, under the pretext of not dividing the family.
The second and third brothers were even more dissatisfied than him.....
When Zhang Chunhua heard that Hu Wenhua was going to propose marriage to Ding Jiajia, she smoothed her hair, which was wrapped with fine cloth and had a silk flower inserted.
She had to go and take a look. A girl from the same village had a betrothal gift that was not as much as her ten taels of silver, and she was even imitating others to propose marriage. What could he have as a betrothal gift?
She had inquired about it. The Hu family spent eight taels of silver to buy the Zhao family's hilltop. It would be so face-saving to add this silver to the betrothal gift, but they were reluctant to give it.
There was also a new house. Yesterday, thirty or forty men in the village went out to bring back bricks and tiles. There were also wages for building the house. When Ding Jiajia married into the family, she was afraid that she would be like her, with no money left.....
Oh, how could she be like herself? She was the hostess, and Ding Jiajia had a mother-in-law above her. It would be terrible for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to get along in the future.
Fan Dazhu came back from the toilet with a cane, and saw the empty room. He asked with a dark face: "Where is she?!"
"She went outside to watch the fun." Fan Erzhu replied unhappily.
Fan Dazhu's face became darker, and he walked out without saying a word with his cane.
If his parents were not in urgent need of care and he had a crippled leg, how could he marry Zhang Chunhua, who was black, ugly, thin and poor!
This woman really doesn't know what's good for her!
Today he wants her to put herself in the right position in this family, and let her know that after the first three days, she, a woman, is not worthy of eating eggs and white rice, and she is not worthy of wearing fine cloth.
Seeing that his eldest brother left angrily, Fan Erzhu and Fan Sanzhu looked furious, and they quickly got up and followed behind with their canes.
They have been displeased with Zhang Chunhua for a long time! It's good to go and see the eldest brother teach Zhang Chunhua a lesson.
And Hu Wenhua actually learned from those rich families to offer betrothal gifts, which is really a joke. Let's see what kind of betrothal gifts he can show.
Fan Sizhu looked at the toothbrush handles and tools scattered on the ground, sighed, and picked them up silently.
The eldest brother said that it was disgraceful for him to do these things as the head of the family. The second and third brothers fished for three days and dried the net for two days. Zhang Chunhua did not do it when everyone else did. Why should she work hard to support the family alone... This family is getting worse and worse...
Zhang Chunhua walked fast, and when she arrived, the Hu family had already arrived at the door of the Ding family.
Because the Ding family needed a large area to dry medicinal materials, there was no yard. The cart was parked at the door of the main hall, and the villagers watched enthusiastically.
When the Ding and Hu families saw that the villagers were almost all there, they did not go in. They simply moved chairs and sat at the door to let everyone see the excitement - it was a happy event, and the more people there were, the more festive it was.
Wang Guifen and Feng Dayan saw this scene and were happy at the same time.
The Ding and Hu families were open and honest, so that the villagers would not have to come to them repeatedly to inquire and speculate in the future, which saved them a lot of trouble!
Today is the day when the Hu family comes to propose marriage, and most of the work is done by the man as a matchmaker.
Normally, it would be nice to read out the betrothal gift list in public, but firstly, the village is not that particular about it, and secondly, Feng Dayan is illiterate.
However, although Feng Dayan was illiterate, he had an excellent memory. He took Qin Yilin's hand and said happily: "The Hu family's betrothal gift is a sack of rice and a sack of flour;"
The crowd roared and burst into cheers.
Zhang Chunhua, who was on the outermost side, curled her lips when she heard the sound.
One sack of rice and one sack of white flour looked good. They were more than anyone else in the village had in the past, but they only cost one tael of silver to buy, which was still not as much as her ten taels.
What a trick.
She raised her head and searched ahead, and sure enough she saw a very familiar figure!
She squeezed past and shouted, "Dad."
Watching the lively occasion, her father is definitely there! And her father was never tired of watching the fun.
Zhang Tuzi was watching intently when he suddenly heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw his married daughter. He squeezed to the side to make a little space and waved: "Chunhua, come and take a look!"
Zhang Chunhua squeezed forward. People on both sides obviously had opinions, but in the end they didn't say anything.
Feng Dayan's voice continued: "There is bacon in this bamboo basket, two pounds each, ten pieces in total!"
"There are sausages in the bamboo basket over there, twenty pounds in total!"
"In the bamboo basket are pickled salted ducks and geese, twenty in total!"