Mixed in 1980

Chapter 450: The Curse is Really Dirty
"Nan Hong agate is easy to buy. You can find plenty in any antique and collectible street. I don't know if they have it in Guilin, but if not, you can buy it online."

Hearing this, Lu Yan suppressed a laugh. Chen Yanyin had been wearing this same red agate bracelet, worth over a million yuan, when they went to Mentougou Zoo before.

If your sister-in-law really believes this, and goes to the antique market to find the same one, she will either be scared off by the price or be taken advantage of and end up paying for a fake.

Seeing that her sister-in-law was going to visit the antique market later, Lu Yan didn't point it out. It was good for her sister-in-law to suffer a loss; she was too wicked and deserved to learn a lesson.

As they chatted, evening soon arrived.

Lu's mother and Lu Yan started cooking, Cao Ning sat still, and Chen Yanyin stood at the kitchen door, responsible for providing emotional support.

They don't do any work, but they give off a different vibe.

Chen Yanyin has truly learned Zhao Yuanyuan's skills. It doesn't matter if she can do the work; what matters is whether she can charm people. Zhao Yuanyuan relied on charming people and enjoyed a life of happiness for most of her life.

Zhao Yuanyuan was delighted that her daughter was going to Guilin.

Twenty-five years old is not young, but it's not old either. It's the prime age for marriage. If you wait any longer, you'll become an older female PhD, which will be the hardest for her to get married.

Everyone has read Lu You's biography. His eldest and second eldest sons have met him in person and have a good impression of him. If there's anything they're not satisfied with, it's Lu You's eldest brother and sister-in-law.

"Won't the girl be bullied by Lu You's sister-in-law if she goes to Guilin?"

"My daughter is lazy, not stupid. When have you ever seen her suffer a loss? Even when the second son tricks her, she always manages to get her revenge," Chen Fan teased.

Zhao Yuanyuan smiled, "That's true."

He stretched and said, "Once the girl gets married, only Xiao Wu will be left. Now that she's starting graduate school, it's about time she found a suitable partner."

Chen Fan scoffed, "Xiao Wu isn't in a hurry. He's fickle and only dates girls for fun. Let's wait until he settles down."

"Actually, I do have someone in mind."

"Who is it?" Chen Fan asked curiously.

Zhao Yuanyuan raised an eyebrow: "Who do you think it could be?"

Chen Fan frowned: "Don't overthink it. Jing Shu treats him like a younger brother."

"What younger brother? Are they related by blood?"

Zhao Yuanyuan sat down next to her husband: "Jing Shu has taken care of Xiao Wu since he was a child and can also keep Xiao Wu in check. Don't you think it's a good match?"

Chen Fan pondered for a moment: "That makes sense. Jing Shu grew up at home and has excellent character. Why would she be interested in Xiao Wu?"

"They treat Xiao Wu like a younger brother."

"Don't think about it. It's not realistic. Don't interfere recklessly. If you cause any trouble, it will affect the relationship between the two children."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuanyuan finally gave up.

If the two children were interested, that would be fine, but it's obvious that neither of them has thought about it that way. Pushing them forward recklessly will only make them feel awkward.

Xiao Wu was indeed as her husband said, her mind was not settled. Zeng Ali was not in a hurry and said more than once: "She is not mature yet, let's see in a few years."

Just as I was pondering this, Xiao Wu came over and called me to dinner.

In Guilin, Yanshan Town, the Lu family had already prepared dinner. Chen Yanyin wanted to help by serving the food, but Lu Yan stopped her and wouldn't let her do any work.

Cao Ning watched from the side, feeling uneasy.

My mother-in-law is so biased, and so is my sister-in-law. It wasn't like this when I first married into the family. She always avoided doing chores. How could she not be allowed to do anything?
Once seated at the dining table, the difference became even more pronounced. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were extremely enthusiastic towards Chen Yanyin, while she herself felt dispensable and had little presence.

Cao Ning gritted her teeth inwardly, but kept a straight face and chatted casually. Before long, the conversation turned to marriage again.

"Mom, you'd better treat Yanyin better from now on. She doesn't need a dowry, and the family is even giving her a dowry. You can't find anyone like her even with a lantern."

The moment the words left his mouth, the whole family's expressions changed drastically.

Are you here to cause trouble? It's not like Chen Yanyin is throwing herself at someone. If she has a bad temper, someone might just throw the soup in her face.

Lu's mother gritted her teeth, about to scold her, but Chen Yanyin spoke up first: "Sister-in-law, you don't understand. In our hometown, if the groom asks how much the bride price is, he will definitely get beaten up."

"There's such a saying?" Cao Ning asked in surprise.

Chen Yanyin nodded solemnly: "Girls from Fujian are precious. When it comes to marriage negotiations, you can only talk about how much betrothal gift and how much dowry you will give. Asking for a bride price is disrespectful. If things don't go well, the two families might become enemies."

"Isn't it just another way of saying it?"

“Sister-in-law, it’s different. In our hometown, we say that the betrothal gifts represent the groom’s respect and sincerity towards the bride. It’s a ceremony to establish the bride’s status as the mistress of the house.”

At this point, Chen Yanyin slightly raised the corners of her mouth: "The bride price is different. In my hometown, it's said to be very unpleasant. I'm too embarrassed to say it. You can ask someone who knows about it later."

"But one thing is certain: in our area, the dowry is quite large, so it's not considered a loss. It's the bride's family supporting their daughter and giving her confidence."

"By the way, sister-in-law, how much dowry did your family prepare for you? I'd like to take a look and ask my parents to prepare it later. It can't be too little, or we'll lose face."

As soon as he finished speaking, the whole family looked at him strangely.

Lu Yan almost burst out laughing. Her future sister-in-law was really eloquent, hitting her sister-in-law right where it hurt. What dowry did she have?
The bride price is 38 yuan, and the dowry includes three cotton quilts!

Her family didn't spend a penny on buying a house, decorating it, or buying a car. Last year, when her younger brother got married, her older brother even had to give him a subsidy.

Cao Ning was speechless and could only stammer, "My family isn't well-off, so we didn't prepare much. Just do what you think is best." Chen Yanyin said "Oh," and then added, "Then there's no problem. I'm just worried that if we give them too little, they'll lose face. In our hometown, that would be a real laughingstock."

Instantly, Cao Ning felt that the food had no flavor.

This girl's values ​​are very abnormal, different from mine, yet she's so confident that I can't even refute her.

After finishing her meal, she called her husband to return to the city.

On the way, she grew angrier and angrier, and couldn't help but yell, "Tell me, what does she mean by that? Is she showing off that her family is rich?"

"Pah, it's selling goods at a loss!"

"They said their courtyard house was several acres in size, but who knows if that's true? They also said their family sells jade, but they only wore an agate necklace. They don't look like they're that rich."

"I'd like to see how much agate is worth."

As he spoke, he took out his phone, opened Taobao, and searched for "Nan Hong" (a type of agate). He couldn't help but laugh; it was indeed nothing valuable.

Only a few hundred or a few thousand!
Looking at the pictures, they look quite nice; I could buy one and wear it myself.

As I scrolled down to search, I suddenly realized something was wrong. The prices varied greatly, ranging from a few hundred or a few thousand to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, and even millions.

Just like jade, you have to look at the quality.

Cao Ning opened a search engine and looked up the value of Southern Red Agate, which gave him a general understanding: the most expensive ones cost over ten thousand yuan per gram.

By comparing the colors, even those who don't understand can roughly tell that the Southern Red Agate bracelet in Chen Yanyin's hand, even if it's not the top grade, is at least second-tier, with a price of over ten thousand yuan per gram.

"Rich people, they really know how to put on an act."

Spitting out, Cao Ning gave up on buying Southern Red Agate. He couldn't afford the expensive ones, and he didn't like the cheap ones. It wasn't interesting anyway. If he ran into Chen Yanyin, that would be a real joke.

Just as I was about to close the search software, I suddenly remembered that Chen Yanyin had mentioned twice today that betrothal gifts and bride price were different, so I decided to search for them.

"A betrothal gift is for marrying a wife, while a bride price is for taking a concubine!"

"What the hell does Chen Yanyin mean? Demanding a bride price is tantamount to selling her daughter off?"

"Are you calling me a concubine?"

"You bastard, your mouth is so foul. Fine, this isn't over. Once you marry into this family, I'll be your match. Just you wait..."

From the town to the city, the cursing never stopped.

Lu Yan was also curious about this statement and asked Chen Yanyin about it before going home. Chen Yanyin awkwardly touched her nose and said, "Sister, this... is a bit impolite, let's not talk about it."

"It's okay, it's not about me."

"If I tell you something, you can't get angry. It's just me teasing my sister-in-law, it has nothing to do with you."

"Go ahead and tell me, let me have a laugh too."

“In ancient times, betrothal gifts were used for taking concubines. It was a sum of money given to the woman’s parents to buy her out entirely. It was literally selling their daughter. However, the definition is different now.”

"Pfft..." Lu Yan burst into laughter.

He stopped after a while: "You're something else. If your sister-in-law gets curious and searches online, she probably won't be able to sleep tonight."

On the way back, Lu Yan said to her husband, "My future sister-in-law, wow... she's really something. Not only is she sweet-talking, but she's also a master at teasing people."

"You know how difficult your sister-in-law is; I didn't get the better of her at all today."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuedong nodded: "After all, she comes from a big family and handles interpersonal relationships perfectly. My sister-in-law is far inferior."

“Their family is rich, so they have a lot of confidence. Whatever they say, they are always right. Just that alone is enough to keep their sister-in-law completely under their thumb.”

“That makes sense,” Lu Yan nodded.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Not only is he good at handling interpersonal relationships, but he's also a very good person. He knows how to be filial, and he'll treat your parents well in the future."

Li Yuedong agreed: "Tell our parents to treat that girl well. They'll have to rely on Xiaoyou for their old age; they can't count on their older brother."

Inside the Lu family's room, Lu's mother frowned deeply: "My eldest daughter-in-law is really outrageous. She came here today specifically to sabotage things and can't stand to see Xiao You doing well."

Mr. Lu took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag: "It's really outrageous. It's only because Yan Yin has a good temper that she's like this. If it were anyone else, she would have ruined everything. She's doing something inhuman."

"And the eldest brother too, he doesn't dare to say a word. This kid is useless. He has no manly spirit at all. It's infuriating to look at him."

Lu's mother smiled bitterly: "Today I finally understand. In my old age, I can't count on my eldest son and his wife. As for my eldest daughter-in-law..."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but sigh: "She's just thinking about sucking our blood. When she gets old and can't work anymore, there won't be any blood left for her to suck. Can we still expect her to be good to us?"

"I dare not count on it!" Mr. Lu said, smoking.

He slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "We can't let the eldest son's wife suck blood anymore. We also need to help Xiao You. We have to treat everyone equally."

"Also, prepare more money. Although Yan Yin won't ask for much dowry, we can't treat her badly. Buy her more hardware; it will look good and make her look good."

(End of this chapter)