This person is clearly a male protagonist in a female-oriented novel, yet he is excessively lucid.

After a month of meticulous preparation by Yu Chenzhou and his father-in-law Xiao Tianhe, the wedding, scheduled for a top hotel in Shanghai, is all set and awaits its auspicious date.

Yu Chenzhou's parents, Yu Changgui and Lin Guilan, arrived in Shanghai half a month in advance. Their reasons were threefold: first, to meet Xiao Yilin's parents; second, to help their son and daughter-in-law finalize the last details of the wedding; and third, to specifically receive the relatives from their hometown who were arriving one after another.

Xiao Yilin's mother, Song Shuwan, stayed with her pregnant daughter to rest and recuperate, and occasionally inquired about the reception arrangements, instructing Xiao Tianhe to take good care of the Yu family and their relatives.

Before they knew it, there was only one day left before the ceremony began. Waves of relatives from Yu Chenzhou's hometown were being picked up and taken to the chain hotel that Yu Chenzhou had booked.

While not top-tier luxury, it boasts an excellent reputation and comprehensive amenities in the local area. Each room is spacious and bright, and the toiletries are all from well-known brands.

However, this thoughtful arrangement did not please everyone; instead, it stirred up quite a few minor ripples among the relatives.

The first to arrive were Uncle Yu Changfu and Uncle Yu Chang'an. As soon as the two brothers stepped into the hotel lobby, they bumped into Mr. and Mrs. Yu Changgui, who were busy checking the list.

Lin Guilan hurriedly stepped forward to greet them, offering water and tissues. Yu Changgui also greeted them with a smile, but when their eyes swept over the gleaming marble floor and the room types marked with hefty prices on the wall, their faces instantly darkened like frost.

As Yu Changgui and his wife turned to greet other relatives, Uncle Yu Changfu immediately pulled his younger brother into a corner, his voice low but full of hostility:

"Look at this situation, the sunken ship has completely lost its way!"

Why not use their perfectly good ancestral home instead of coming to Shanghai, where land is incredibly expensive, to show off? What else is that but showing off?

He raised his hand and pointed at the price list, his dissatisfaction almost overflowing.

"According to the custom in my hometown, a wedding must be held in front of the ancestral home with a continuous banquet, and all the neighbors must come to offer their congratulations for it to be considered a grand occasion."

I didn't know many people here, and the money I spent could have built a house back home. It was purely a case of putting on a show, wasting money without a care in the world!

Uncle Yu Chang'an also frowned, adding a resentful remark:

"What's even more infuriating is that he didn't even think about choosing this date!"

It wasn't a Saturday or Sunday, nor a public holiday. I had to plead with my company to get three days off. Not only did they deduct my full attendance bonus, but I also have to work overtime to catch up on the work when I get back.

Why couldn't he choose a time when everyone is free to do it?

He's clearly only concerned with his own glory and hasn't thought about us relatives at all!

Aunt Wang Xiulian (Yu Chang'an's wife), who was standing nearby, nodded in agreement, her tone full of complaint:

"That's right! I also took leave from the factory. Not only did I lose my perfect attendance record this month, but I also have to switch shifts with my coworkers. When I get back, I'll be working for several days straight. It's really exhausting!"

The two women's complaints were overheard by Lin Guilan, who had returned to get the list. She paused, her smile instantly turning awkward, and quickly stepped forward to apologize.

"Chang'an, Xiulian, it's our fault for not thinking things through and causing you trouble."

"Shenzhou and Yilin chose this date after consulting the almanac, which said it was an auspicious day. In addition, Yilin was newly pregnant, and her in-laws were worried that the weather might be bad in the days to come and affect the baby, so they decided on this date."

"I'm sorry you had to take time off work to make this trip. When we get back, I'll have Shenzhou apologize to everyone."

Yu Changgui followed closely behind, waving his hand repeatedly to persuade him:

"We're all family, don't say such hurtful things."

The children meant well, but they're young and don't think things through. Please be understanding.

However, Yu Chang'an and his wife just pursed their lips and didn't say anything more, but their faces were still unpleasant, clearly they hadn't been appeased. Lin Guilan and her husband could only stand awkwardly to the side, feeling helpless.

The cousins, who followed closely behind, crowded into the elevator, each accompanied by their wives and children. The conversation had already inevitably turned to the topic of gift money.

Cousin Yu Chengang touched the two thousand yuan red envelope he had prepared in his pocket, his brows furrowed:

"Do you think giving 2,000 is too little?"

"Shen Zhou is doing so well now, he's having a wedding in Shanghai, all the guests will definitely be big shots. Won't we be laughed at for spending so little money?"

His cousin-in-law, Li Juan, tugged at his arm. The child in her arms, Yu Wenbo, was playing with the elevator buttons. She lowered her voice and added:

"That's right. I saw Liu Min, the cousin-in-law of Uncle Chenzhou, in the lobby just now. The red envelope she was carrying was thicker than ours. Who knows how much she gave as a gift."

"If we put these two thousand yuan on the table, wouldn't it make Chen Zhou lose face in front of his father-in-law and make us look stingy?"

Cousin Yu Chenliang pursed his lips, his tone uncertain. His wife, Zhang Yan, who was comforting their crying child, Yu Wenxuan, chimed in.

"I prepared two thousand, which I thought was a lot, but after hearing what you said, I'm starting to have doubts."

But we're just ordinary office workers with elderly parents to support and young children to raise. We can't exactly put on a show of wealth beyond our means, can we?

Zhang Yan gently patted the child's back and sighed:

"That's what they say, but they're all relatives. Everyone else gives more than us. It'll be so awkward if we go back to our hometown and meet each other again."

"How about we add some more? Three thousand isn't too bad."

Another cousin, Yu Chenjun, chimed in, his face full of helplessness:

"Spending extra money is a small matter. I took four days off to come here. My boss was furious and said that if I don't meet my performance targets when I get back, my bonus for this month will be gone."

Chen Zhou is the same; what's wrong with holding a wedding on a public holiday?

We wouldn't have to go through all this trouble, worrying about work, while he's enjoying himself in Shanghai, completely oblivious to our difficulties.

His wife, Zhao Mei, holding their quietly sitting child, Yu Wenhao, also sighed:

"That's right. I also took leave, and I have to ask the neighbors to take care of my elderly relatives. The more I think about it, the more troublesome it seems."

My cousin Yu Chenfeng, who had just had his wedding in October, also came over, his tone somewhat complicated:

"I got married last month. Shenzhou and Yilin came back to support me, but they were still a bit of a handful during the wedding pranks. I thought it would be easier for them to handle the wedding, but I didn't expect them to choose this date. I just finished my honeymoon and now I have to take leave again. My boss is starting to have complaints."

His wife, Lin Xiaoyun, quickly tugged at his arm and smiled apologetically at everyone:

"Don't say that. My cousin has his own difficulties. His wife is pregnant."

"It's good that we could come to offer our congratulations; any slight inconvenience is nothing."

Her tone was full of flattery, as if she was afraid of offending someone by speaking too harshly.

The group chatted amongst themselves, growing increasingly uneasy. They didn't even notice the elevator had reached their floor until a waiter reminded them to hurry out. The man frowned, calculating the amount of money to give as a wedding gift and complaining about taking time off work, while the woman, holding her child, muttered about social etiquette, her steps filled with unease.

Uncle Lin Shouyi and his cousins ​​were the last to arrive. The cousins' wives followed behind, carrying children and luggage. As soon as the bus pulled them to the hotel entrance, Lin Shouyi kicked the bus tire hard and complained angrily.

"Hmph, everyone says Yu Chenzhou has made it big, and his father-in-law is a big shot, but they just send us off in this beat-up old bus?"

He spat on the ground, deliberately raising his voice a few decibels, as if afraid that others wouldn't hear him.

"It only takes four hours by high-speed rail from our hometown to Shanghai, and a plane ticket doesn't cost much either. He can't even afford a few tickets and insists on making us squeeze into this slow and stuffy old train. He clearly doesn't respect us poor relatives!"

Cousin Lin Hao immediately chimed in, while his wife Liu Min wiped the dust off their child Lin Chen's face, her tone full of disdain and jealousy:

"Exactly! I heard that his car costs over a million, so buying us a few high-speed rail tickets won't make him poor."

My son, Lin Chen, gets carsick the whole way and vomited several times. If we had taken the high-speed rail, he wouldn't have suffered like this.

I think he's just become rich and forgotten his roots. He thinks we're not worthy of taking the high-speed rail and airplanes, and he looks down on people from his hometown from the bottom of his heart!

Another cousin-in-law, Chen Hong (Lin Qiang's wife), holding her sleeping child Lin Yu, also chimed in with her complaints:

"That's right. I told Lin Qiang a long time ago that Shen Zhou is different now, and he may not care about us poor relatives."

Look at this bus, the air conditioning isn't even working properly, the kids are sweating buckets. If he really cared, would he have arranged it like this?

Cousin Lin Qiang sighed and replied with a look of annoyance:

"It's one thing to be careless in planning, but the date was also chosen poorly!"

I asked the workshop for leave, and the foreman said directly that the orders were busy this month, and if I took leave, I would have double my salary deducted. This trip has cost me nearly a thousand yuan.

If he had chosen a national holiday like National Day or Mid-Autumn Festival, we wouldn't have had to suffer this ordeal and lose this money. Frankly, he's selfish, only thinking about the grand scale of his own wedding and completely disregarding the actual difficulties faced by us relatives!

Other cousins ​​and their wives joined in the commotion. The men scolded Yu Chenzhou for being stingy, snobbish, and immature, while the women felt sorry for the children suffering and complained about the poor treatment they received.

Upon hearing the news, Mr. and Mrs. Yu rushed over. Lin Guilan handed the children fruit while gently comforting them.

"Shouyi, Qiangzi, and everyone else, I'm so sorry for making the children suffer."

She pointed in the direction of the bus and explained.

"Chenzhou originally wanted to buy high-speed rail tickets for everyone, but we have a lot of relatives and the dates don't all fall together, so tickets are hard to get. A bus can pick us all up together, which will prevent us from getting separated."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all this trouble. After the wedding, I'll have Shenzhou give the children some small red envelopes as compensation for your hard work on the journey."

Lin Shouyi turned his face away, his tone indifferent:

"Sister, brother-in-law, I'm not trying to be mean, but if he really cared, he wouldn't have let us suffer like this."

Besides, why choose a perfectly good holiday and force everyone to lose pay and work? Isn't that just creating trouble?

Yu Changgui rubbed the hem of his clothes and whispered his advice:

"Shouyi, don't be angry. The children have their own difficulties. Yilin is pregnant, and her mother-in-law is worried about her daughter's health every day. There are many things she can't do without. For the sake of the children, please be more understanding."

But these words did not quell their resentment. The relatives continued to grumble, and Lin Guilan and her husband could only force a smile and greet them one by one, feeling extremely awkward.