Chapter 51: Lu Tong is Getting Married
Lu Tong's marriage had settled down not long after Lu Cheng Yu was betrothed with the Secretary General's sister-in-law.
Lu Lin was astonished when he heard who Lu Tong was going to marry.
"Li Ji? Widower Li from Big Wind Village?! Didn't Tang and Matchmaker Wang have a fight about this, this Li Ji is a widower, and he has a five-year-old son! How come Tang is willing to let Lu Tong be someone's stepmother? The situation must be really bad for Lu Tong."
Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "Most boys of marriageable age already got married last year, 3 taels of tax is no small amount, Lu Cheng Yu is an exception. Plus Tang asks for 20 taels as betrothal present, therefore, Lu Tong only has a limited number of options."
Li Ji was a widower with a son, but his family was pretty well-off.
With that being said, Lu Lin was still surprised that Lu Tong who was determined to marry an official in town, was willing to become someone's stepmother.
Chen Xiao Mi continued, "I don't think Lu Tong really have a say in this. In our village, wedding ceremony can be simple, you can just borrow an ox cart to pick the bride up, but Li Fang Yue seems to be very demanding on their wedding ceremony. I heard the Lus are throwing a grand wedding ceremony to fawn upon on Li Fang Yue and the Secretary General, they are even thinking about renting sedan chairs in town. And they need to prepare a wide variety of betrothal presents, the village girls' family would only ask for some daily necessities, but the girls in town would ask for jewelries and nice fabric."
The Lus had a lot of farmland, but they were not as well-off as the villagers thought. Chances were they needed to sell some farmland to cover the cost of the wedding ceremony, no villager would sell farmland unless they were driven desperate. Farmland was easy to sell, but it was almost impossible to buy them back.
So the perfect solution was use Lu Tong's betrothal present money to pay for Lu Cheng Yu's wedding ceremony.
Lu Lin showed a dry smile, "People in my hometown do the same thing, they are obsessed with big weddings and they are willing to borrow money to cover the cost, it looks like the obsession with big weddings is timeless."
"Yeah, I agree, I don't get it either. And I also heard Li Ji's mother is not that easygoing."
Lu Lin nodded, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Lu Tong. Lu Tong was someone who picked easy jobs and shirked hard ones, Lu Lin didn't think Lu Tong could do well as a daughter-in-law and a stepmother.
But on a second thought, Lu Lin felt like this didn't concern him. Even Tang, Lu Tong's own mother had no problem marrying her into such a family, he shouldn't feel so sad. Plus that Lu Tong wasn't a nice person in the first place.
Lu Tong always accused the host Lu Lin of something that he hadn't down when they were young, she would even blatantly make Lu Lin the scapegoat for something she had done, like she would steal an egg in the kitchen and say it was Lu Lin who did it.
Lu Tong sat in her room, feeling devastated about her fate.
She used to imagine her grand wedding ceremony all the time, in her imagination, she would marry well, she would sit in a sedan chair and become an official's wife, but the cold hard reality was she was going to become a five-year-old boy's stepmother, and her future husband was nothing but a villager... ...
But on the plus side, Li Ji's family seemed to be wealthy enough, they didn't even try to negotiate with Tang when they heard the betrothal present was 20 taels.
Lu Tong had also heard about Li Ji's tough mother, she couldn't help but think she had to have a son, otherwise that Li Ji would give everything to Li Ji and his first wife's son!
The more Lu Tong thought about it, the more perplexed and anxious she became, how she wished she could annul this engagement! But she knew that would be impossible, her mother was counting on that 20 taels to throw a big wedding for her brother!
Their entire family was occupied by her brother Lu Cheng Yu's wedding, it looked like no one had noticed that she was going to get married soon.
Lu Tong was heartbroken, but there was nothing she could do about it. She walked to Tang's room this day, trying to talk to her mother.
"Are you sure we need to buy a gold hairpin?" Tang and Lu Cheng Yu were talking when Lu Tong walked to Tang's door.
Lu Cheng Yu nodded, "I'm afraid so, mother. They want some decent jewelries."
"Does it have to be gold? I think a silver one will do." Tang still didn't give up.
"She is a lady from the town after all, I heard her elder sister has 80 taels, three gold hairpins and two pieces of brocade fabric as betrothal presents." Replied Lu Cheng Yu.
Tang sighed and said in a low voice, "But her sister married the Secretary General, of course we aren't as affluent as an official."
"I know mother, but we can't look too shabby, people will laugh at us! Plus Li Fang Yue's family is rich, I think her parents will prepare a handsome dowry for her." Lu Cheng Yu tried to change Tang's mind.
"But, son, we still need money to pay for the banquet, I don't think we have enough money." Tang sounded so frustrated.
Lu Cheng Yu observed her mother's facial expression for a while and said, "Well, we can sell some farmland as a makeshift plan."
Tang shook her head promptly, "But we've just sowed the seeds, selling farmland now sounds like a bad idea."
"Mother, I can buy more land for you after I become a Xiucai."
Tang let out a deep sigh.
Lu Cheng Yu ran into Chen Jing the other day, the two were sworn enemies after that farce at school.
Chen Jing said provokingly, "We are all Tongsheng now, you really should stop being so arrogant in front of me! Maybe I can become a Xiucai earlier than you considering how unlucky you are."
Lu Tong couldn't stand that insult, but he didn't want to have a fight with Chen Jing, so he just walked away in a huff.
But enough of that episode.
Tang squinted her eyes and said, "I have a better idea, Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin are rich, we can borrow money from them!"
Lu Cheng Yu shook his head, "No way! What if Chen Xiao Mi makes a scene on my wedding day?"
Lu Cheng Yu didn't want to have anything to do with Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin, he wanted to hide the fact that his family sold Lu Lin for 10 taels of silver from his future brother-in-law.
Tang gnashed her teeth, she really hated the idea of selling farmland.
Lin Xiu'er kept sighing in despair, too.
She didn't like the idea that Lu Cheng Yu would invite around 100 guests on his wedding day, she couldn't help but think about Lu Lin, they didn't spend a cent on Lu Lin's wedding, they married Lu Lin off on two pieces of door planks.
Lu An cast a glimpse at Lin Xiu'er with impatience, "Why do you mention that? Cheng Yu goes to school in town, of course he follows the wedding customs in town."
Lin Xiu'er countered, "Why doesn't he pass the exam and become a Xiucai like some of his classmates in town already? Our entire family has supported him for years, but he is still a Tongsheng! I say Lu Lin is way better than him! Lu Lin works hard when he was in this family, and he earned 10 taels of silver for us when he got married."
"Maybe Cheng Yu's fiancé can help us, she is the Secretary General's sister-in-law after all."
Lin Xiu'er sighed, "I certainly hope so, how many taels is Cheng Yu going to offer her as betrothal present?"
"Around 30."
"What! That's outrageous!" Lin Xiu'er was shocked to the core, "We are going to lose both Lu Lin and Lu Tong's betrothal presents?"
"And that's far from enough, we also need to prepare fabric and jewelries, maybe the total amount is 50 taels, more than 50 taels." Lu An sighed.
Grandfather Lu had asked Lu An to ask for three month of advance payment to help out, but Lu An had turned him down because he didn't want to leave a bad impression on his boss.
Lin Xiu'er suddenly felt the outlook for her future was so gloomy, this Li Fang Yue was the Secretary General's sister-in-law, chances were their entire family had to wait upon her.
'Tang alone is enough, and now a lady from the town!' Lin Xiu'er wanted to scream!