NOVPUBLin Lan decided to treat it coldly and think about it for a few days. At any rate, it wasn’t time to move up the classes yet, “I’ll discuss it with the teacher and check your grades before deciding,” She asked Dawang to go to head to school first and they would resume this conversation later.
Dawang then left.
After the children left, Lin Lan fed the dogs and tidied up the house. She found that if she didn’t go out to work, she would just do small things here and there in the house. And sooner or later, the entire day was practically over by then.
She fixed the placements and watered the vegetables in the courtyard in the meantime. While she was busying herself, Eldest Sister-in-Law Han came over and Lin Lan stopped everything she was doing to invite the older into the house for a seat.
Eldest Sister-in-law Han smiled and said, “We are a family, what is there for me to sit for? Let me help you put up the lentil rack.”
The lentils and cucumbers had to be put on a shelf and there was no bamboo in the area. They were tied with some wooden sticks, which meant that they were easily damaged by wind, sun, rain and other natural weather.
Lin Lan was not polite. She found some cotton firewood that had been soaked long ago, split the outer skin and used it as rope to repair the shelf with Eldest Sister-in-law Han.
The Eldest Sister-in-law said, “Is the Youngest Aunt really going to get married? I heard that we’re starting to discuss the dowry.”
Lin Lan kept her hands on her work and asked Eldest Sister-in-law Han to help her support her. She tied them up smoothly, “Whatever, there were regulations when the family was divided anyways. According to the current standards, if the four families join together to present a dowry, it would be fairly averaged.”
Eldest Sister-in-law Han nodded, “Why do I feel like something is wrong? They fell in love after 2 or 3 dates? How did she manage to fool him into it?”
Lin Lan burst into laughter, “Eldest Sister-in-law, it doesn’t matter how she fooled him into it. As long as both parties are willing to have one side be the aggravator and the other the bearer, their union is not a problem.”
Eldest Sister-in-law Han didn’t understand why that was a thing, “I’m just afraid that she would take advantage of the situation and ask for more things.”
In the village, when a girl was getting married, she usually wore a cotton-padded coat, brought a single shirt, two pairs of shoes and her own daily necessities. There was no need to take care of other things. At most, one could give a pair of red chopsticks, a sewing basket and a pair of scissors. If a quilt was to be included as well, then you would have to come from a wealthy family. After all, cloth and cotton tickets were limited at this time, so it wasn’t something that could be bought even if one had money.
Usually, the mother-in-law’s family would ask for the dowry, which included a quilt’s fabric and cotton as well as the bride’s new clothes and shoes.
At this time, the countryside naturally did not pay attention to a lot of customs.
However, some parents would give their daughters’ dowries to their sons. They would ask for quilts and clothing materials from the husband’s family but would not give them to their daughters. As a result, their daughters would be shamed on the first day after they get married. If they were to encounter a powerful mother-in-law, they might also be forced to sleep on an empty kang.
