I'm back in 1990

Chapter 403: How to Pay the Wedding Gift

A few days later, Zeng Jiahua went to his aunt's tobacco and sundry shop again.

His aunt found it strange when she saw him arrive and asked, "You haven't already completed all the formalities, have you?"

Auntie thought Zeng Jiahua had already completed the resignation procedures.

"It won't be that fast. It will take some time for the approval to be processed. In addition, there will be a handover, auditing, and a whole host of other things to do."

"Oh, by the way, give me a pack of cigarettes. I'm out of cigarettes."

After saying that, Zeng Jiahua saw that his aunt didn't move, so he took a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from the counter, which made his aunt glare at him with displeasure.

Zeng Jiahua completely ignored his wife's stern look and asked, "Where's Mom?"

"He went home to feed Big Stick and Little Stick, he should be back by now."

As soon as she finished speaking, Grandma came in from outside.

"Jiahua? What brings you here at this hour?"

Upon seeing his elderly mother, Zeng Jiahua immediately told her why he had come.

"Mom! My second sister wrote to say that Zou Jin is getting married next month and wants us to come to Chang'an for the wedding banquet."

Upon hearing this, Grandma couldn't help but sigh, "Zou Jin is getting married?"

Zeng Jiahua laughed and said, "I did the math and Zou Jin is already in her mid-twenties. It's a good time for a woman to get married, and her age is just right."

"Does your older sister know?"

"I called my eldest sister, and my second sister also wrote her a letter. My eldest sister asked me to ask you what to do?"

Grandma hadn't seen her second daughter, Zeng Liping, for many years and still missed her very much. Although she would occasionally complain about how heartless and ungrateful her second daughter was, all her dissatisfaction vanished when she learned that her granddaughter was getting married.

"What should we do? Of course we should go. You, Jiazhen, your older sister, Yandong, and me, Xiaochuan, Xiaohong, and Xiaoxia, ask them if they want to go. If they're too busy with work, then forget it."

Zeng Jiahua readily agreed: "I understand, I'll call my older sister in a bit."

When Huang Xiaochuan returned home that evening, he learned about the matter, but he really didn't have time to go. If he asked for leave, he would have to find someone to cover his class, but the economics teachers were all old men, and Huang Xiaochuan was embarrassed to trouble them. Besides, he hardly had any contact with this cousin, so it didn't matter whether he went or not.

However, since it was Grandma who was going, Huang Xiaochuan had to take full responsibility for the trip.

Huang Xiaochuan discussed it with his grandmother and said, "Grandma, I won't go. I'm busy teaching my students, and besides, it wouldn't be good to take leave so soon after starting work!"

"Going to work is the priority. You stay home and focus on your work. Your parents and I will go!"

"How about this? I'll arrange your round-trip plane tickets."

When Grandma heard this, she thought Huang Xiaochuan was going to charter a plane again, and she was so scared that she quickly grabbed Huang Xiaochuan's hand.

"You're chartering a plane again? No way, that's such a waste!"

Huang Xiaochuan smiled and comforted his grandmother, "This time we won't charter the plane; I'll buy you plane tickets."

Grandma still disagreed: "You don't need to buy it. Just let your uncle handle it. Don't always worry about us. Just take care of your own things."

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Seeing his grandmother like this, Huang Xiaochuan didn't insist anymore. In any case, domestic flights don't take long, and it would take at most three hours from Shanghai to Chang'an.

However, if you choose to take the train, that would be a nightmare. It will take almost two days to travel, with all the clattering and rattling. If you have a sleeper berth, it's fine, but if you have a hard seat, your butt will be flattened from sitting.

When Yu Xiang returned home that evening, she also learned about this and was very curious.

"Why do I rarely hear you talk about your second aunt and cousin?"

Huang Xiaochuan flipped through an evening newspaper and casually replied, "To be honest, I've only seen them a few times, and I've forgotten what they look like."

Seeing that Yu Xiang seemed dissatisfied with his answer, Huang Xiaochuan put down the newspaper.

"My second aunt went to Chang'an for work transfer not long after she married my second aunt's husband. After that, she almost never came back. This is not a joke, but a recommendation for the treasure book "1990 I'm Back":

Or maybe I wasn't there when she went back to Suzhou; anyway, I didn't see her many times.

"Didn't you grow up in Suzhou? How could you not remember what your second aunt looked like?"

"Hi! When I was in Suzhou, my second aunt had already gone to Chang'an. To be honest, I only knew her from photos. Isn't that funny?"

"So what does your second aunt's husband do?"

"Oh! I heard it's a job at an aircraft manufacturing plant, but I don't know exactly what it entails."

"What's going on here? Logically speaking, she's your second aunt, you should know all this, right?" Yu Xiang was a little confused.

Huang Xiaochuan protested, "What does this have to do with me? This is a matter between my uncle and my mother. They rarely talk to me about these things, so I know very little about it."

After learning some details, Yu Xiang stopped pressing Huang Xiaochuan for answers. It would be pointless to ask anyway. Besides, such relatives were quite rare. It was normal for distant cousins ​​to lose contact over time, but this person was her mother-in-law's sister! Yet her mother-in-law had never mentioned her before. There must be a story behind this.

Grandma had insomnia again tonight. As she gets older, she sleeps less, and it's even harder to sleep when she has something on her mind. Last time she had insomnia because she was going to Hong Kong, but this time it was because of her second daughter.

Grandma couldn't help but recall the past.

When his second daughter was a teenager, for some unknown reason, she not only led soldiers to ransack his home, but also publicly announced that she was severing all ties with her family. This action deeply hurt him, and even his eldest and third sons disliked her.

Later, as the country entered a period of normal development, the second daughter met her second son-in-law, and the two hastily married and went to Chang'an. More than 20 years have passed, and she has hardly returned.

The last time my eldest grandson got married, my eldest daughter invited her back. I thought we could meet again, but she didn't come. I don't know if it was because she was embarrassed about the past, or for some other reason.

Moreover, she didn't reply to the letters her two nieces wrote to her when they got married; instead, she sent back two money order slips, which truly shows her cold-heartedness.

This time, however, she did know to invite me, her sister, and her brother to her daughter's wedding. She's finally become more sensible. But what should I say when we meet? How much should I give my granddaughter and grandson-in-law in a red envelope?

The old lady is conflicted again.

After finally welcoming her eldest daughter and son-in-law, the grandmother pulled her younger son and his wife together to discuss how to give the betrothal gifts.

The old lady had money; her grandson, Huang Xiaochuan, had given her over 100,000 yuan in total, and she couldn't refuse it! But the old lady didn't have many places to spend money, so she saved it all up. In addition, her son and eldest daughter would give her some money during holidays, so the old lady could easily pull out 200,000 yuan now.

She originally intended to use the money to help her younger daughter-in-law open a shop, but her precious grandson bought everything, including the goods and the shop, without letting his uncle and aunt contribute a single penny. Naturally, she couldn't use the money herself.

When his elderly mother asked about this, Zeng Jiahua didn't rush to speak, but first looked at his eldest sister, Zeng Lijuan.

As expected, Zeng Lijuan spoke up: "Logically speaking, we should give back the same amount she gives us. But after thinking about it, let's do this: double the amount she gives us. After all, Xiaochuan will be inviting her to his wedding in the future. If we give her more, she will have to give back more, which will just add to her burden."

Grandma nodded. What her eldest daughter said made sense. There are certain rules to follow when it comes to social interactions. Generally speaking, it's a give-and-take principle. If the relationship is close, you can give an extra gift privately, depending on your ability.

However, given the relationship between the three siblings, it's unlikely that the eldest and youngest will give them any extra money privately; they probably haven't forgotten what happened in the past.

Sure enough, before the old lady could speak, Zeng Jiahua agreed, "Eldest sister is right, I'll listen to eldest sister."

At this moment, Zeng Lijuan said to her elderly mother, "We are ours, and you are yours. We won't object if you want to give us more."

Zeng Lijuan, who now has millions of yuan in the bank, is much more generous than before. She doesn't care about her elderly mother's meager savings at all, especially since she has a younger brother who will inherit everything her mother will have in the future. So she might as well be generous.