Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 129 - 117: The Dowry Incident

Chapter 129: Chapter 117: The Dowry Incident

On the day of Xu Wenhui’s wedding, Mrs. Liu invited the entire village to a feast at her house!

All the people that Mrs. Liu considered as sisters, and everyone from her natal family naturally attended. They treated it just like they were marrying off one more daughter, only from Mrs. Liu’s house this time.

Xu Wenhui was so touched that she was all in a tumult. She silently swore to herself that she would treat them with the respect and reverence of a real mother and sisters in the future.

The items for Xu Wenhui’s dowry prepared by Mrs. Liu and her natal family included oak beds, various desks and cabinets, Camphor wood chests (containing quilts, sheets, and seasonal clothes), jewelry boxes, money boxes, a dressing table, kang table, copper basin stand and others.

All these furniture pieces were produced by a furniture shop and were beautifully crafted and designed with a simple yet antique style, elegant yet posh!

Many people praised these furniture pieces, saying they would order similar ones when their own daughters got married!

All that furniture was prepared by Mrs. Liu’s natal family for the dowry.

Mrs. Liu herself prepared various kinds of porcelain: vases, tableware, tea sets, jars and others!

Gold and silver jewelry: a pearl wristlet, a gold head accessory set, and a silver head accessory set.

Ornaments: a kang screen of joy and a hanging screen of Guanyin granting a son.

A four-piece bedding set, all-season clothes, footwear, two high-quality silk cloths, two brocades, two fine cotton cloths.

There were also various daily necessities: a face wash basin, wooden bowl, copper basin, wooden barrels and more.

In private, Mrs. Liu also gave twenty taels of "bottom of the box" silver, and a pair of top-grade, jade green, round and translucent jade bracelets. These jade bracelets were bought and kept in a space by Xiao’er!

Such good quality items, bought from a shop, would definitely cost no less than a hundred taels.

With dowry and betrothal gifts included, Xu Wenhui’s wedding corresponded to twelve palanquins in total.

Many people didn’t understand why Mrs. Liu was so kind to this adopted sister, even though many of the larger items were prepared by Mrs. Liu’s natal family, it was only due to Mrs. Liu’s influence that they were prepared at all!

Mrs. Liu only discovered after seeing Xu Wenhui’s embroidery work that she was also Jingrui’s lifesaver.

When Jingrui was a child, he once fell into the river while playing by the riverside and was saved by someone. When Shen Chengyao rushed to look for someone to help, he only saw a female figure disappearing into the forest.

At that time, the river wasn’t deep and the current wasn’t rapid, but it was still enough to be fatal to that three-year-old child.

Seeing Jingrui lying motionlessly by the riverside, he was anxious and since there were too many girls of the same age in the village, he couldn’t identify the rescuer!

It seemed that the person had left quickly to avoid Shen Chengyao as her clothing was wet.

Later on, Jingrui woke up and mentioned that he accidentally fell into the river and a sister came into the water to save him. But when he was brought ashore, he fainted and thus couldn’t clarify on who the sister was. Considering that he was just a little over three years old back then and had seen the person while falling in water, it was understandable that he couldn’t identify that person.

However, he did manage to grab a purse from that woman. Later, Mrs. Liu took the purse around asking several women, but none claimed it to be theirs. Not long after, Xu Wenhui got married, and most girls about to get married would generally stay at home preparing their dowry, so she didn’t consider her to be the savior.

After they became family, she frequently interacted with Xu Wenhui because of making dolls and during a visit to her house, she saw the half-finished purse Xu Wenhui was working on. Feeling familiar, she produced the purported purse and asked, and at last confirmed it was her.

Mrs. Liu felt that the reason Xu Wenhui had no children after her first marriage was because she contracted a chill from rescuing Jingrui in the water all those years ago.

Because of this, they specifically took her to Doctor Luo to have her pulse checked, and only felt relieved after hearing that there was nothing wrong.

Both Mrs. Liu and Shen Chengyao were the kind who appreciated favors and reciprocated them. Once they learned about this matter, they planned to prepare a more generous dowry. If they weren’t worried that Mrs. Shen Zhuang would cause trouble if they gave too much, they would want to give even more!

But with some things, just because you are worried and purposely accommodating, doesn’t mean they won’t happen.

After sending off the guests, when the villagers had all finished their meal.

Shen Chengyao and Mrs. Liu were called to the main room of the old house, before either of them had a chance to greet, Mrs. Shen Zhuang directly asked, "Exactly how much dowry did you guys prepare for that damned girl?"

"It’s not really that much, those betrothal gifts already cost quite a bit."

"Bah! Who are you trying to dupe? ’Not that much’! Just those cabinets alone were not few, I have not seen any girl in the village who’s had a dowry that can compare to hers! That damned girl, who’s marrying for the second time, how is she deserving!"

"Those cabinets were prepared by my birth family! Not our problem!"

"Bollocks! Prepared by your birth family! Doesn’t my son have a share in that furniture shop? Using my son’s things to say they’re your birth family’s! Let me tell you, if you’re thinking of taking my Shen family’s items back to your birth family, don’t even think about it!"

"I didn’t. Over so many years, I hardly returned to my maiden home. Even for the annual family reunion, I haven’t given a single New Year’s gift. You know this, Mum." Mrs. Liu’s face paled, as this slander was quite serious.

In those times, if a woman was accused of secretly transferring her husband’s assets to her parental home, the family could get her divorced on serious counts!

"Mum, the kid’s mum isn’t that kind of person."

"What do you mean by that? Who’s stopping you from going back? Are you blaming me for not going back?" Hearing this made Mrs. Shen Zhuang furious.

"I didn’t mean that." With the money in her hands, not giving a thing, and pulling her face every time it’s mentioned while putting her child to work hard, how can she dare to go back!

"If you didn’t mean that, then why are you wearing such a look of deep resentment! Anyone who didn’t know would think I’m bullying you! Ungrateful wretch! Forget it, I’m not going to argue about this with you today, I called you here today over the matter of Yuzhu’s dowry. Tell me, exactly how much dowry have you guys prepared for Yuzhu!"

"Has Yuzhu been engaged?" Shen Chengyao asked, feeling puzzled.

"Can’t a dowry be prepared before an engagement? Isn’t it a tradition for girls to begin saving their dowry from the day they are born! You’ve even prepared 12 chests of dowry for an outsider, for your own younger sister, you should at least prepare 18 chests!"

"Brother, my dowry has to come with cabinets, a bed, trunks, a kang table, chairs and so forth all made with yellow rosewood pear, the same wood as the furniture set in your living room!" She had heard from her eldest brother, yellow rosewood is very valuable! Some yellow rosewood furniture can be worth a fortune.

Your brother will make a set of exquisite and elegant furniture for your dowry."

Shen Chengyao did not promise to use yellow rosewood, this wood is not abundant in the shop, even if there was, it’s already ordered by customers. And it’s not something you can buy if you want to. Good quality yellow rosewood is rare in the market. Just the other day, he heard from an older cousin, that a customer has ordered two sets of furniture, due to be delivered at the end of the next year, requested to be made entirely of yellow rosewood, and they are still sourcing for the wood!

An entire set of yellow rosewood furniture might not be possible, but one or two pieces should be doable, Shen Chengyao thought. After all, she was his own sister and he wouldn’t shortchange her.

"I also want ten sets of pure gold headpieces, twenty sets of silver headpieces, and ten pairs of gold bracelets, 100 taels of gold, pearls, and gems must also be included, and not less than ten bolts of silk, brocade, and cloud-patterned silk each, plus 50 acres of fertile land, a shop in the county, that’s what I plan to prepare for now, I will add more if I find it less later on."

Shen Chengyao’s face darkened as he listened. What did she take him for? And even talking about adding more later! Is she really his biological younger sister? Does she see him as her elder brother? She’s treating him like a sucker!

Mrs. Liu couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked at her younger sister-in-law. Although their family has become wealthier, they weren’t rich enough to spend without care. Especially since most of this money was earned by her child! She did have many kids, they should save some money for them!