Chapter 9 The Dowry
Liu Yuemei admitted to taking things back to her parents' house, but she did not admit to stealing things from the cupboard. "When I brought things back to my parents' house, they were brought by my man. Can't I respect my mother?" When pressed for questioning, Liu Yuemei became furious.
"Liu Yuemei, it seems that our family hasn't been separated yet, but I remember my mother said at the time that everything that had not been separated would be turned over to the public school.
Speaking of which, our family no longer needs to hand over food to the public.
Normally, you would ask us to hand over the pheasants and other things your children shot in the mountains to the father-in-law. But now it is your man who brought them. Isn’t your man your father’s and mother’s son? In this way, what will happen to this family?
Is it divided or not?"
Guan Chunhua thought she was a tolerant person, but now she really couldn't bear it anymore.
If we don't make a fuss out of this incident, I'm afraid this family will go further and further.
"Then what's the matter? The field you are planting belongs to the public, and the grain harvest from this land naturally belongs to the public.
My man is an outside apprentice and he worked privately, so why do I need to hand him in?"
Liu Yuemei said it with confidence.
After Guan Chunhua heard this, she sneered twice and turned to her father-in-law and mother-in-law:
"Dad, mother, brothers and sisters, is that true?
If what my siblings said is true, then why have all my family’s private properties been handed over over the years? Even my dowry was collected by you and my father.”
Guan Chunhua's words stirred up waves.
No matter how evil a mother-in-law is since ancient times, she would not dare to openly take away her daughter-in-law's dowry, otherwise she would be stabbed in the back.
The dowry of a daughter-in-law is the daughter-in-law's private house. This has been written in the law since ancient times.
If the mother-in-law of any family did this, the brothers from the mother-in-law's family would make a fuss and be beaten without any room to reason.
"You, what are you talking nonsense? Didn't you ask me to keep it for you? Where did I say that?" Tian Shi stared, and she must not admit this.
"Really? Then think of it as you keeping it for me, now I have to keep it by myself!"
For Guan Chunhua, it was a good thing that they were making trouble today. Normally, when the door was closed, she would be teased by this family.
Her husband was silent and would only ask her to endure it, but she couldn't bear it any longer.
Before Tian could react for a moment, Guan Chunhua had already called on several young men in the village to help:
"Everyone, it's all thanks to your help today. My mother-in-law was afraid that I would not be able to keep the dowry since I just got married.
Now that my mother-in-law has said it, it is only natural that I want to get those dowries back.
You have also seen that my house is bare-walled. It’s not that I don’t have a dowry, but those things are now in each room.
Please give me some help, and I, Guan Chunhua, will definitely thank you all in the future."
Guan Chunhua is also a cheerful lady in the village.
When she said this, Su Changping stood up first.
"I'll help you."
"Sister Chunhua, let me help you too."
At that time, many young men were following Guan Chunhua.
She pointed out where the furniture was, and these people moved it.
Guan Chunhua didn't take anything else except the furniture. She took out all the things in the furniture neatly and put them on the bed or in an empty space.
The Su family was very lively for a while.
When Su Qingkun saw this scene, his forehead hurt suddenly, and he looked at Su Aniu reproachfully.
Su A Niu looked confused.
What did he do wrong?
He didn't seem to have done anything, so why did dad look at him reproachfully?
"Ms. Liu, don't say anything. Go to your mother's house. If you don't take out those things, you won't come to our Su family anymore.
Our Su family can’t afford a wife like you who eats both inside and outside."
Su Qingkun knew that if he didn't come forward to say anything and allowed the eldest daughter-in-law to continue talking, the entire village would know about their family's partiality over the years.
Just because the eldest son is easy to fool, does not mean that the eldest daughter-in-law is also easy to fool. Now it is the dowry of the eldest daughter-in-law, and their family has no reason to withhold it.
"Mom, I still have thirty taels of dowry and a few silver hairpins. Can you return these things to me?"
After all the furniture was moved back to her house, Guan Chunhua came directly to Mrs. Tian and reached out for the dowry jewelry and silver.
In the past, it was the Su family and his wife who told her that their daughter-in-law was not allowed to have a private house. It was the same for every daughter-in-law, and she had to hand over all the dowry money and things.
At that time, she was a new daughter-in-law, and she still needed to be shameless. She couldn't get into a fight with her parents-in-law over money matters on their wedding night, as she was afraid it would not look good.
But now that so many years have passed and she can't even eat enough, Guan Chunhua feels that she can't bear it anymore.
No matter how long you endure, maybe the things in your dreams will come true.
The people in the village didn't know that Guan Chunhua's mother-in-law was so generous and actually gave her daughter thirty taels of silver as a dowry. They all looked at Tian.
A daughter-in-law who was given a dowry of only thirty taels was able to endure hardships and was capable. As a result, Mrs. Tian never said a word about Guan Chunhua outside.
Tian opened his mouth to deny taking the money, but Guan Chunhua seemed to expect that Tian would deny it and continued to speak:
"Mom, it doesn't matter if you forget about this. My mother also has a list of dowry. She was afraid that the nobles of the Su family would forget things too much, so she asked the matchmaker and father-in-law to sign it before putting it away.
If you forget, I don’t mind going to my mother’s house and asking my mother for the dowry list.”
These few words from Guan Chunhua made it impossible for Tian to deny them even if he wanted to.
Tian had to look at Su Qingkun at this moment.
This gave her thirty taels of silver, and her heart ached.
If I don't give it, I'm afraid the villagers will look at me as a joke.
I'm sure the news about their family will spread to the town.
What if word of this spreads to the town and the younger son is about to get married, and all the girls from good families will be scared away?
"Give it to her." Su Qingkun frowned and said through gritted teeth.
"Boss, my wife, I've given you the dowry, can you step aside now? If you have other things to do, wait until the theft at home comes to light!" Su Qingkun said warningly.
Guan Chunhua smiled slightly:
"It's natural. I still say what I said. We are all sons. You have to keep a bowl of water straight, otherwise the younger generations will imitate the same."
Although thirty taels of silver is not a lot, it is a valuable asset for his family who is very poor.
If it weren't for her three sons and one daughter, Guan Chunhua would have never wanted to be with Su Aniu.
Su Qingkun ignored Guan Chunhua's words and glanced at Mr. Tian lightly.
Tian took out her purse with an angry look on her face, and reluctantly took out thirty taels of silver from her purse and threw it at Guan Chunhua's feet.
Guan Chunhua didn't care, she was about to squat down to pick it up when Su Yun grabbed her.
"Mom, did my grandparents give dowries like this back then? Throw them on the ground and let the Su family pick them up? This is silver. If the amount is wrong, can Grandma admit it?"
Chapter completed!