The 70s Novel: The Supporting Character Just Wants to Lie Down-Chapter 135: Wedding Invitation Delivered—To Go or Not

The Wang family has been very busy recently, rushing to the town’s supply and marketing cooperative every Sunday to prepare wedding items for Wang Pandi. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

That day when the Yang family came to discuss the wedding date, they offered the bride price as promised during the matchmaking— a bicycle, a sewing machine, plus 88 yuan as a cash gift.

Moreover, Yang Zhigang had already bought a watch for Wang Pandi, so the bride price was indeed quite substantial. In fact, no one had heard of any girl in the nearby area receiving such a generous gift for a wedding.

The Yang family was generous, and the Wang family was not stingy either. Over the past year or so, Wang Pandi had saved some money, and the cash gift given by the Yang family was left untouched by Liu Yulan, leaving a significant sum for the dowry.

As for the dowry preparations, items like pots and pans, bed linens, spittoons and child buckets, water kettles, and dressing mirrors—whatever could be arranged, Liu Yulan had all prepared.

On the last Saturday of October, when Yang Zhigang went to pick up Wang Miaomiao, he also stopped by Liu Yufeng and Liu Yuxiang’s homes to deliver invitations.

Whether or not to send an invitation to Liu Yufeng’s place was a point of discussion at home, but they finally decided to send it. After all, regardless of how Sun Xiuli was as a person, Liu Yufeng had been very kind to Liu Yulan. His years of secretly giving her money showed that he cared a great deal about her.

The invitation had already been sent; whether they would attend was up to them.

Unknown to them, the invitation caused another major family conflict in Liu Yufeng’s home over the issue of gift money.

When the invitation arrived at the house, Sun Xiuli naturally saw it. She didn’t want to go and opposed Liu Yufeng going as well, not wanting him to spend any more money. "How much do you plan to give as a gift? I’m not paying for it. You’d better not be foolish, giving whatever you have. Your money doesn’t grow on trees, you know. At least when you give to a beggar, you get a thank you. Giving to them, ha... it’s a waste, going out with no return..."

"This is normal social interaction. If you don’t pay, who will?" Actually, Liu Yufeng didn’t expect her to pay. He had saved up some private money over the past half-year and initially planned to just go himself, using his own savings to send the gift.

Yet, Sun Xiuli insisted on bringing the issue to the forefront, speaking with such disdain.

Annoyed, Liu Yufeng’s temper flared up. "Whether you go or not is up to you, but the gift money can’t be lessened by a penny. I’m the breadwinner of this family, and you should manage things well. If you can’t handle it and embarrass me in these social interactions, why should I hand over my monthly salary? I might as well manage it myself."

"What do you mean by that?" Sun Xiuli wasn’t having it, immediately jumping up. "I’ve worked hard taking care of everything over the years, and I don’t get a word of appreciation? You say this now, what are you trying to do?"

Liu Yufeng shouted irritably, "What do I want to do... give me the gift money, I don’t want to argue with you."

At this moment, Liu Jian Country returned with his wife Wei Xiaoling and their five-year-old son. Earlier this year, he was finally allocated a house and moved out, usually visiting with his wife and child for meals on Sundays.

Unfortunately, today’s meal hadn’t been prepared yet.

"Dad, Mom, stop arguing. What is it this time?" Liu Jian Country asked calmly, used to the scene before him.

Sun Xiuli directly tossed the invitation onto the table. "What else could it be? Your poor aunt from the countryside is marrying off her daughter, sending over an invitation and expecting me to give a gift? No way!"

"You’re simply unreasonable. So what if they’re from the countryside? Even if they’re poor, she’s still my sister!" Liu Yufeng was so angry that his blood pressure shot up.

"Enough, Dad, stop yelling, you’re scaring Guodong." Liu Jian Country harbored some resentment towards his father, feeling partial toward his mother. He couldn’t bear to see his father yell at his mom over an outsider.

Liu Jian Country calmly stated, "Mom, Dad, don’t fight. It’s just a little bit of gift money... I’ll pay for it."

"Are you stupid? You’re paying, but your money isn’t money either. You’re just throwing it away knowing it’s a loss..." Sun Xiuli sat down angrily, "Anyway, I don’t agree with it. If it needs to be paid, let him pay since he has private money."

"Alright, Mom, it’s not that much." Liu Jianmin comforted Sun Xiuli and continued, "Since we’re giving it, we can’t lose out. We have to get our money’s worth. When the time comes, our whole family will go."

"What?" After thinking it over for a while, she immediately endorsed her son’s sneaky strategy and made a bolder decision, "Yes, everyone should go. We’ll even bring Hong Xia’s family along. After all, you two have never been to your aunt’s house. Now that you’re grown, it’s time to visit your elders."

Hmph, giving some gift money and going with a table full of eight people, in any case, they wouldn’t lose out.

Sun Xiuli had it all planned, how they’d feast and recoup their costs.

Liu Yufeng listened in disbelief, speechless. "You guys..."

"What about us? Are you saying I’m wrong?" Sun Xiuli grinned at him triumphantly, as if having won a battle, her chin raised high.

Liu Yufeng looked at her smug expression, which infuriated him. He shook his hand dismissively. "Unreasonable." Yet, in his heart, he contemplated wrapping a large additional red envelope for the newlyweds on that day.

Time quickly passed, and soon it was November 11th.

Early in the morning, Liu Yufeng’s family met up with Liu Yuxiang’s family at the station, boarding the bus with a dozen people heading to Huang Village, Red Star Town.

As they found the village, they coincidentally saw Yang Zhigang leading the procession to pick up the bride. A small car led the way, followed by several bicycles and an ox cart.

"The groom is here..."

The scene on the Wang family’s side was bustling. The Liu family members couldn’t squeeze in and had to stand on the edges.

Yang Zhigang entered, bowing to Liu Yulan and Wang Baoxing, promising to treat Pandi well with all his heart in the future.

The Wang couple was very satisfied with this son-in-law, so naturally, they didn’t make things difficult, agreeing with a wave to let their daughter marry him.

Yang Zhigang stepped into the room, scooped up the bride sitting on the bed head and strode out, unable to wipe the grin off his face. Wang Miaomiao followed closely, as she was the bridesmaid today. They got into the small car, leading the procession.

Then, a group of lads rushed forward to move things. The bicycle and sewing machine were loaded onto the ox cart; following them were bearers carrying the dowry, with several lads riding bicycles as an escort.

Relatives and friends followed behind, the line stretching long.

At this moment, Liu Yulan also saw Liu Yufeng and Liu Yuxiang, and hurried forward to invite everyone inside.

"Well, sister-in-law has struck it rich, huh? The extravagance of this wedding for marrying off a daughter... tsk tsk..." Sun Xiuli couldn’t help but sourly comment, seeing that their days seemed much better than she had imagined.

"Mom, say less." This time, before Liu Yufeng could get angry, Liu Jian Country spoke up to stop her, apologizing, "Sorry, my mom is just candid. Congratulations to Aunt and Uncle."