Chapter 574

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

In the blink of an eye it was around eight o'clock in the evening, and Du Xiaojuan returned to the rental house after getting off work early.

The house they had bought earlier had not yet been cleaned up; they planned to move in after their wedding on New Year's Day, so for now they were still living in the rental house.

"I'm back."

As soon as Du Xiaojuan opened the door and came in, Wang Dashan took the initiative to come over and take her bag.

Du Xiaojuan changed her shoes, entered the living room, and said:

"No time to lose, call my dad right now."

Wang Dashan asked:

"What should I say?"

Du Xiaojuan said:

"Just say you scraped together money for several days, really couldn't gather 188,000, only managed to scrape together over 100,000... no, only managed to scrape together over 100,000, and ask him if he can be flexible and lower the bride price a bit."

Wang Dashan knew that negotiating with Du Xiaojuan's father like this would definitely mean being looked down on by Du Guoqing, which would make him lose face, and he happened to be someone who cared very much about face.

But for Du Xiaojuan, he was still willing to make a sacrifice, overcome his psychological resistance, and do as Du Xiaojuan said.

As expected, as soon as he dialed Du Guoqing's phone and explained the situation,

Du Guoqing immediately criticized him without mercy:

"Dashan, you can't do this. You're a man after all. My daughter is so beautiful, so gentle and virtuous. A bride price of 188,000 is actually not much. You can't even scrape together this bit of bride price money. How can I rest assured handing my daughter over to you?"

Wang Dashan's face was full of embarrassment, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Du Guoqing said again:

"I heard Xiaojuan say you used to be a soldier. A man who was a soldier should have some backbone. How can you ask me to lower the bride price? You should figure out a way to scrape together the bride price money yourself. You must not let me look down on you!"

Wang Dashan glanced at Du Xiaojuan beside him.

Du Xiaojuan said softly to him:

"Just tell him you've been working very hard and scraping together money very hard, and ask him to be flexible."

Wang Dashan said to Du Guoqing:

"Uncle, I've been working very hard lately. I've borrowed everything I can borrow. Can you be flexible? Xiaojuan and I are truly in love."

Du Guoqing said coldly:

"I don't care about you. Anyway, the bride price has to be that much."

Du Xiaojuan said softly to Wang Dashan again:

"Ask him if you borrow online loans to pay the bride price, whether he's willing."

"Uncle, can I borrow some online to make up the bride price?"

Du Guoqing said coldly:

"I don't care where you borrow from. Anyway, as long as 188,000 ends up in my hands."

Wang Dashan gave a dry laugh and couldn't help asking:

【37 "Then this bride price money, Uncle, will you give it back to us?"

"Then will you return this bride price money to us, Uncle?"

Du Guoqing said:

"The bride price money stays with me first. After you get married, if you need money in the future, I'll give it back to you."

Hearing this, Wang Dashan felt Du Guoqing was reasonable enough:

"Alright, I'll do my best to gather it."

At this moment, Du Xiaojuan beside him said softly again:

"Tell him we'll go back next Saturday to give the bride price, then bring out the household registration booklet to get the marriage certificate first. Ask him if that's okay?"

Wang Dashan asked as Du Xiaojuan instructed:

"Uncle, I'll go see you and Auntie with Xiaojuan again next Saturday. When I pay the bride price then, can Xiaojuan and I get the marriage certificate first?"

Du Guoqing said:

"Pay the bride price first, then we'll talk. The marriage certificate is secondary."

"Oh, oh, alright, that's it for now. Goodbye, Uncle."

After hanging up Du Guoqing's phone, Wang Dashan said to Du Xiaojuan:

"Your dad said he'll give the bride price money back to us later."

Du Xiaojuan instead sneered disdainfully:

"If you believe his nonsense, you're naive. As for this bride price money, once it's in their hands, it's like a meat bun thrown at a dog—gone and never coming back!"

Du Xiaojuan knew her own father too well, so she dared to say this so definitively.

Wang Dashan, on the other hand, didn't care:

"If they don't give it back, then they don't. Anyway, we're not short of this bit of money."

Du Xiaojuan said:

"If they don't give it back, we can't just let it go. Otherwise they'll think we're easy to handle. So even if it's just for show, we have to fight for it then."

Wang Dashan smiled wryly, speechless:

"Is that necessary? That would cause so much internal consumption, and it would make your relationship with your parents even worse."

Du Xiaojuan said:

"Don't you understand yet? I deliberately wanted to sour my relationship with them, best to the point of never speaking again until we're dead. That way, I can focus on my career with peace of mind."

Wang Dashan was stunned.

Thinking back carefully to Du Xiaojuan's series of operations toward her parents, she indeed seemed to have the intention of deliberately ruining the relationship.

Although Wang Dashan understood Du Xiaojuan's approach—after all, she hadn't received fair treatment in her original family, and it was only natural for her to harbor hatred—

still, Du Xiaojuan was perhaps too cold-blooded.

After all, they were her own father and mother.

Now that she was making big money, not telling her own father and mother was one thing, but she even deliberately hid her marriage from them, pretending to be poor, not wanting them to know she was doing well.

"Actually, now that you have such financial strength, if you communicate well with them, maybe the relationship could be eased. If money can repair family ties, then spending some money isn't really such a big deal, is it?"

Wang Dashan chose his words carefully and cautiously offered this suggestion.

But Du Xiaojuan said:

"When I needed family affection most, they didn't give it, so what do I need family affection for now? Besides, judging by my understanding of them, if they knew my financial situation, wouldn't they come suck my blood every few days?"

Du Xiaojuan continued:

"Don't think I'm cold-blooded; isn't what I'm doing all for the sake of our future family? Anyway, on my parents' side, just listen to me and you'll be right. Likewise, on your parents' side, whatever you want me to do, I'll listen to you."

Wang Dashan sighed helplessly:

"Fine, fine."

Du Xiaojuan then said:

"You go take a shower first. I'll call my dad. I want to pick a fight with him."

Wang Dashan smiled wryly, not knowing what to say.

He went back to the bedroom to get clothes, then went to the bathroom to shower.

Just as he took off his clothes and turned on the shower,

the sound of Du Xiaojuan and her father quarreling came from outside.

"Yes, the man I found doesn't have much ability, but he loves me. As long as he loves me, he believes. Why are you so unreasonable? Dashan has no money—can't we ask for a little less bride price? Now Dashan says he wants to borrow online loans to pay the bride price. If he ends up in debt from online loans, how are you expecting me and Dashan to live afterward?"

As soon as Du Xiaojuan opened her mouth, she fired questions at her own father like a string of cannonballs.

Du Guoqing on the other end of the phone, however, spoke lightly:

"How you live after marriage is your own business! Anyway, not a single cent of the bride price can be less, otherwise don't even think about taking the household registration book to get your marriage certificate! I'm demanding such a high bride price from your man, isn't it all for your own good? Du Jianmei, I've practically raised you for nothing. You ungrateful wretch, eating from the inside while crawling out—you haven't even married over yet, and you're already siding with outsiders!"

Hearing these words from Du Guoqing, Du Xiaojuan not only didn't feel sad, but instead laughed out loud.

She had originally been wondering whether her series of operations was too cruel.

Now seeing her own father's attitude toward her, she felt her previous operations were absolutely right.

She went along and proposed her condition:

"If you insist on such a high bride price, then after I get married, I'll never go home again!"

Du Xiaojuan said coldly.

"If you don't come back, then don't. A married daughter is like water splashed out. I never expected you to come back after marrying anyway!"

Du Guoqing also said coldly.

Du Guoqing thought he had Du Xiaojuan under his control, little knowing that he had been led by the nose by Du Xiaojuan all along, and he was completely unaware.

……