Chapter 30: What He Gave Was Never the Most, Only Ever More
But still.
There was no peak to the envy.
Only ever higher peaks.
A crowd of busybodies followed them all the way inside the Zhang residence.
It was only after they witnessed Huo Xiao taking out the gifts for each member of the Zhang family one by one that their mental defenses truly blew to pieces.
Seeing the woolen Sun Yat-sen suit meant for him, Zhang Aimin actually broke into tears.
He accepted it with trembling hands. “For… this is really for me?”
Lin Wan nodded with a smile. “Yes, Huo Xiao picked it out for you himself!”
Zhang Aimin wiped his tears.
His own biological sons had never bought him anything like this!
His biological daughter had cut all parental ties with him just to get married.
Yet his stepsister got married and bought him a woolen suit.
It was a woolen suit that many people wouldn’t even get to wear once in their entire lives!
Then, under everyone’s eager prompting, he slipped it on to try it for size.
Despite the blistering hot weather, amid the collective praises of the crowd, he actually couldn’t bear to take it off. If it weren’t for the fear of staining it with a foul sweat odor, he genuinely would have been completely unwilling to take it off.
Huang Guixiang’s eyes also turned red as she looked at the woolen Lenin suit in her hands.
She used to have one too; Old Lin had bought it for her. To buy her that Lenin suit, Old Lin had saved up for an exceptionally long time and had even risked his life making several trips to the black market to flip goods. Later on, he had lost his life while courageously performing a righteous deed. That Lenin suit had then been violently snatched away by his mother to give to his sister.
The two sisters-in-law were green with envy. However, with a gauze scarf in their hands, no one was displeased either.
The happiest of all was undoubtedly Zhang Hongqiang. He got a sailor shirt and a tin toy frog. Having put on the sailor shirt, he refused to take it off. In the end, it took two sharp slaps from Huang Guixiang’s feather duster before he reluctantly stripped it off.
Now, the Zhang family children, with a tin toy frog in each of their hands, became the absolute envy of every kid in the entire compound. A tin toy frog couldn’t put food on the table or clothes on their backs, yet it cost three yuan and an industrial coupon. Whose family possessed so much excess cash and coupons that they’d splurge on this for a child?
This partner of Lin Wan’s possessed far from ordinary financial backing!
Word was he came from Capital City. His parents and relatives were all cadres.
No, how on earth did Lin Wan manage to find such an incredible partner? It was completely against the laws of nature. Shouldn’t a male comrade look at a woman’s inner beauty when marrying a wife? Someone like Lin Wan only had a face to look at; in all other aspects, she truly lacked a single redeeming quality—lazy and wasteful. Her mouth was also sharp-tongued and unyielding.
Oh, now she possessed one extra merit—she had a job. And she was a permanent employee of the post office at that.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
So infuriating! Every single benefit had been entirely seized by her. It brought a profound sense of helpless defeat from trying to compare.
Damn it, good women eat chaff and wild herbs, while wicked women wear gold and silver!
Someone opened their mouth to say sarcastically, “Old Zhang, I heard your Zhang Qin got married too. How come we didn’t see her partner bring over any betrothal gifts?”
Not everything in the Zhang household was a cause for celebration. There were plenty of people who loved to twist the knife on another family’s joyous day.
The smile on Zhang Aimin’s face instantly faded upon hearing this. He didn’t know how to answer this question. The expressions of the two Zhang brothers also turned ugly.
People, after all, feared comparison the most.
A stepsister and a biological sister… who could possibly make peace with that?
Huang Guixiang’s smile remained as radiant as ever. “It’s the new society now, and freedom of marriage is advocated. We resolutely support the national policy.”
“Our family certainly can’t bring ourselves to do something like selling our daughter. Anyway, as long as Qinqin likes him and runs her own life smoothly and successfully, that’s all that matters!”
“Our Old Zhang doesn’t expect a single thing.”
“He only wishes for the children to be well on their own.”
“Alright, alright, the dishes at my house are about to get cold. You all should hurry back to eat your own dinners too!”
Whether Zhang Qin was well or not had absolutely nothing to do with her! As long as Wanwan was well, that was plenty! She wouldn’t allow anyone to disrupt the atmosphere of Wanwan’s wedding night.
Mm. Registering the certificate meant getting married. What else could the evening of their marriage be if not their wedding night!
Lin Wan handed out some candy to the neighborhood kids—a mix of fruit candy, creamy candy, and crispy nut candy. The kids were thrilled to pieces, and auspicious wishes spilled from their mouths without repeating a single phrase.
Finally, they closed the door and sat down to eat.
Previously, Bao Yan and Zhong Hongmei had been whispering behind Huang Guixiang’s back about her being wasteful, looking as though she wanted to empty out the entire family savings just for her prospective son-in-law. Who could have guessed Huo Xiao would be this remarkably generous? Then they didn’t have a single objection left.
Bao Yan even asked enthusiastically, “Will these dishes be a bit too few? Auntie Huang, how about I go scramble some eggs?”
“Scramble them!”
“Put in a few extra eggs.”
Huang Guixiang quickly stood up to fetch the eggs for Bao Yan.
By the time she returned to the table, Huo Xiao placed an envelope in front of her.
“Mom, this is the bride price for Lin Wan: 1,666 yuan and 66 cents.”
“It represents the wish for a smooth and prosperous lifetime together.”
This much!!!!
The entire Zhang family let out a collective sharp gasp. Good lord, a bride price of one or two hundred yuan was already considered very high. What kind of family background did Huo Xiao possess? A single layout amounted to one or two thousand?
Lin Wan had just raised her cup to drink water, and she practically spat it out the moment she heard him. She sprayed it all over the face of Zhang Hongqiang beside her.
Her eyes widened to the extreme as she asked, “Didn’t you say your eldest and second brothers gave 666 yuan and 66 cents for their weddings, and that you were giving me the same amount?”
Huo Xiao nodded. “Mm, that is the amount the Huo family provides. The extra one thousand yuan is what I added myself.”
He had seen Lin Wan flaunt the watch. He had seen Lin Wan indulge her mother in flaunting. So, taking advantage of the moment when they weren’t paying attention, he had slipped an extra one-thousand-yuan bearer savings certificate into the envelope.
His marriage to Lin Wan was something he had calculated. He was utilizing Lin Wan. In other aspects, he couldn’t offer Lin Wan any compensation, so he could only compensate her with money.
The mouths of the Zhang family members opened and closed, their brains completely buzzing.
Ahhh! What kind of wealth did Huo Xiao actually possess? Is he genuinely just a completely unremarkable driver?
Huang Guixiang was ecstatic beyond measure.
Hahahahaha! It had to be her daughter! Her daughter had claimed that Huo Xiao had fallen in love with her at first sight, loving her so intensely he couldn’t extricate himself, insisting on marrying her no matter what. Looking at Huo Xiao as a person, she was satisfied, but she had assumed her daughter was exaggerating. Huo Xiao looked polite to absolutely everyone. Yet within that politeness, an air of detachment was revealed everywhere. His sense of distance was exceptionally, intensely strong. He didn’t look like someone who could love a person to death at all. If anything, it would make far more sense for others to love him to death instead.
Huang Guixiang had assumed her daughter was just talking big, and as her mother, she simply hadn’t exposed her. But now, the facts were laid right before her eyes.
Where the money lay, that was where the love lay. How much money there was, that was how much love there was!
Huo Xiao looked freezing cold on the surface, yet he was willing to give a bride price of 1,666 yuan for Wanwan. He had even purchased highly expensive gifts for her family. He had given Wanwan an immense amount of respect. He had secured absolute face for Wanwan in the family compound and within the Zhang family.
After today, who would ever dare whisper behind Wanwan’s back that she was a dependent dragalong?
Guo Xuyang had appeared to dote on Zhang Qin to his very core, even going so far as to demand justice for her, fiercely rebuke her biological father, and completely buy out her family ties. But the reality was that Zhang Qin had severed all her safety nets. She possessed neither face nor substance.
Huang Guixiang wanted to cry. She felt an urge to burn paper for Old Lin again.
Huang Guixiang pulled the cash out of the envelope; a bride price absolutely had to be counted clearly right in front of everyone. This was Wanwan’s dignity.
The first and second branches of the Zhang family stared with absolute blankness. It truly was over 1,600 yuan. Plenty of people wouldn’t be able to save this much money in their entire lives!
Huang Guixiang handed the cash over to Lin Wan. “Wanwan, Mom won’t keep a single cent of this bride price money. Later on, Mom will arrange a dowry for you. Your father started saving up for you from the exact moment you were born…”
Huo Xiao had provided generously. As her mother, she also had to prop up the stage for Wanwan. She couldn’t let the Huo family look down on Wanwan.
It was just that Huang Guixiang felt a wave of anxiety in her heart. Old Lin had indeed been saving. It was just that the things he saved were all hidden at the Lin residence. She and Wanwan had been kicked out. There was no opportunity to go back and retrieve those items.
I have to figure out a way…
