Chapter 32: Record of Moving to the City in the 90s. 32

“As long as your parents value my daughter and don’t look down on her, then those old formalities like finding a matchmaker aren’t necessary.”

Things like the three matchmakers and six betrothal gifts¹, that truly mattered in ancient times. If you didn’t go through the whole process and didn’t get the written documents of the three letters, the betrothal letter, the gift letter, and the wedding letter, then it didn’t count as a marriage. The authorities wouldn’t recognize it, the clans and gentry wouldn’t recognize it, and neither the groom’s family nor the bride’s family would acknowledge the marriage.

But what era is this now?

This is an era where a marriage certificate says it all.

“A matchmaker isn’t important, and our family doesn’t need one.

So after the New Year, have your parents come directly.”

With Su Dakui making the final call, Yu Zexiu’s first meal at the Su family home came to a complete end.

After the eldest sister and second sister left with their children and families, Yu Zexiu was given a place to stay in the bedroom on Su Huandan’s parents’ side, while Su Huandan stayed next door in her second sister’s old room.

That night, after washing up, Yu Zexiu lay in bed in the dark, turning over in his mind how the wedding should be handled.

He wanted to give Su Huandan a grand wedding.

Su Huandan, on the other hand, wasn’t thinking about anything at all. She’d been run ragged all day, first rushing to catch a flight, then hurrying over here right after landing without even taking a break. After getting home, she still hadn’t been able to rest right away, and then the whole family had eaten, drunk, and made merry for ages. By now, she was truly exhausted, and the moment she lay down, she fell asleep.

As for Su Dakui and Jiang Chunhua, after coaxing their youngest son to sleep, the two of them still couldn’t sleep themselves and were talking quietly.

As the mother, she said, “You shouldn’t have stopped them from finding a matchmaker. The Yu family should’ve been made to understand that marrying our daughter wouldn’t be easy, that it’d take effort. If they had to put in effort themselves, then naturally they’d treasure our daughter more.”

“That’s twisted logic.”

“How is that twisted logic?”

“Weren’t your three older sisters all impossible to marry off without a thousand yuan back then? What kind of lives do you think your three older sisters ended up living?” Su Dakui wasn’t exactly looking down on his wife, but this was just the kind of mind she had. Her thoughts always jumped all over the place. She was no good to rely on for major matters, though she could handle the little odds and ends well enough. Her best quality was that she listened, and that was the only reason their life together had managed to muddle along.

“Go to sleep already. There’s no point talking to you. Just remember this, when you meet Xiao Yu’s parents, all you need to do is smile. Don’t say a single extra word.” After instructing his wife, Su Dakui began calculating the family assets in his head.

The building in Yuanyi Village definitely had to be given to the third daughter, but she was marrying into Beijing. Even if it wasn’t far, it still wasn’t the same city.

Over the years, Su Dakui had never kept money in the bank. Whenever he had some, he used it to buy property.

After getting a taste of the benefits that came with buying property, every house Su Dakui bought after that was within the bounds of the capital. By now, he had accumulated quite a few properties.

He had small courtyards, old-style tube apartment family housing², and had even bought two Siheyuans.

They weren’t big, just the kind with a single entrance courtyard.

No one knew about these properties except Su Dakui himself. Back then, he’d only thought of buying more houses, renting them out, living off the properties, and earning retirement money.

Now that he had a son, he was thinking about leaving them for his son instead.

But now that the third daughter had found a family like this, he truly worried that if her dowry was too modest, she wouldn’t live well.

So he still had to take out part of the Beijing properties and divide them among the three daughters. He had to treat them equally.

Only after deciding this did Su Dakui finally sleep soundly until broad daylight.

This wasn’t Yu Zexiu’s first time in Yuanyi Village, but it was his first time staying here for a few days.

Early in the morning, when he got up and walked out of the bedroom, he saw a strange young man carrying a lot of things, greeting his future father-in-law and mother-in-law while helping set out the table.

After the unfamiliar young man left, Jiang Chunhua explained to Yu Zexiu, “That was Xiao Wang just now, your Eldest Brother-in-law’s apprentice. He brings breakfast over every morning. Only in winter, though. When it’s not cold, we go over there to eat.”

It wasn’t just the Su family that did this. The Xiao family was the same.

As for lunch and dinner, they also ate at the eldest sister Su Huanzhu’s house more often than not.

Sun Jianbin had taken on more than a dozen apprentices, and he didn’t string them along either. He genuinely taught them cooking skills. Now there were plenty of people in the Sun family restaurant who could cook, so it wasn’t any trouble at all for the Su family and the Xiao family to eat over there.

Yu Zexiu thought to himself that with both families so thoroughly mixed together and still living in such harmony, the two brothers-in-law must really be decent men.

Breakfast was delivered by someone else, but lunch and dinner were cooked by the family themselves.

Su Huandan herself was someone who rarely entered the kitchen. In the past, she had been the youngest in the family, so no one expected anything of her. Now that she was practically about to get married, they expected even less.

So Yu Zexiu watched Su Huandan lying on the sofa, watching TV, waiting to be served.

Meanwhile, his future father-in-law and mother-in-law were both looking after his future little brother-in-law and bustling around. When Su Huandan wanted water, it was her father who handed the teacup right to her.

Yu Zexiu was stunned. Even though he had grown up in the Military Compound, he had never in his life been waited on at home to the point of having food and drink brought right to his mouth. Compared to that, Su Huandan was truly being served like a princess in her own home.

Good lord, so this was how Su Huandan had grown up in her parents’ home.

“Huandan? What do you want for lunch?”

His future mother-in-law had started busying herself in the kitchen right after breakfast. After working in there for quite a while, she still came out just to ask.

Su Huandan didn’t even raise her eyelids. “Do we have cucumbers? If we do, then just scramble some eggs with cucumber. I don’t really feel like eating anything else.”

Yu Zexiu was sitting on the single armchair off to the side playing with his future little brother-in-law, and casually peeled an orange for Su Huandan.

Then he noticed his future father-in-law, who was passing through the living room on his way to the outdoor balcony to get something, raise his brows. He seemed very satisfied by the sight of Yu Zexiu peeling an orange for Su Huandan.

Yu Zexiu understood. He completely understood.

The Su family treated Su Huandan like a princess themselves, and they expected him to treat her like a princess too. That was what they meant, wasn’t it?

At lunchtime, the eldest sister and second sister arrived carrying their children.

At the dinner table, Yu Zexiu truly saw it for himself.

The second sister didn’t even bother with her own son at first. She peeled shrimp for Su Huandan before anything else, and only after Su Huandan had eaten her fill did she look after her own child.

As for the eldest sister, the meat from the belly of the fish all went to Su Huandan, and all the chicken wings went to Su Huandan too. For the clear-braised lamb, the easy-to-chew ribs also all went to Su Huandan, personally placed in her bowl by the eldest sister.

This wasn’t some act they were putting on deliberately. It was a habit formed over a long period of time.

Su Huandan had grown up thoroughly doted on, and that was something Yu Zexiu had never imagined.

Next, they went to Eldest Brother-in-law’s and Second Brother-in-law’s homes for dinner and drinks.

There was a whole table full of dishes, and more than half of them were Su Huandan’s favorites.

Eldest Brother-in-law was quite drunk. Tugging Yu Zexiu along, he said, “Third Sister used to be the youngest in the family. She was especially sensible and obedient, and everyone doted on her. She was spoiled a little, so you’ll have to be more understanding with her in the future.”

What he said was plain and down-to-earth, but for a brother-in-law to speak to this extent showed that Sun Jianbin held no ordinary place in the Su family. He was a very close and trusted son-in-law.

Second Brother-in-law wasn’t drunk, though his face was red. After Eldest Brother-in-law finished speaking, he started rambling too. “Isn’t Third Sister still the youngest among the Su sisters now? She was raised like the apple of everyone’s eye. Xiao Yu, you haven’t spent much time with your father-in-law’s family yet, so you don’t know this, but in your father-in-law’s eyes, daughters and sons-in-law are the same. There isn’t a single son-in-law he doesn’t cherish.”

Yu Zexiu nodded seriously and drained the wine in his cup in one gulp. He understood now. The Su family treated sincere hearts with sincere hearts.

Otherwise, those two sons-in-law wouldn’t have had this attitude.

Translator’s Notes