"She said the betrothal gifts aren't much. For locals like us, which family isn't worth millions or tens of millions? If the betrothal gifts are too little, we can't even hold our heads up in front of relatives. And she even said she doesn't require a new house, so asking for more in betrothal gifts is entirely reasonable. After marriage, where won't there be expenses? She also said if she has a child, she won't be able to work for a while. If she doesn't have some money on hand, how can she feel at ease? Mom, I think she has a point."
Zhou Shou also felt that his mother's previous words had some sense. It was indeed necessary to marry his current girlfriend as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Zhu Xin really decided to sue, his girlfriend would definitely be gone. He wasn't young anymore. If he broke up again and had to find someone new, wouldn't he be past thirty before he could get married? Therefore, in a rare show of support, he spoke favorably of his new girlfriend, hoping to persuade his mother to accept her.
"She talks a good game, saying locals are worth millions or tens of millions. But aren't those millions or tens of millions tied up in houses? How much actual cash do they have on hand? You're already speaking up for her before you're even married. After marriage, won't you forget your mother after marrying your wife?"
Needless to say, Hu Lin was still unwilling. She knew very well that her son had no savings, and the betrothal money would definitely have to come from them. The wedding banquet and other miscellaneous expenses would likely also fall on them, totaling at least four to forty-five hundred thousand, if not fifty. Although their family had some savings, it was less than a million. And she didn't dare to rely on her son's meager income for her old age. If they spent so much at once, she worried about not having enough for her retirement or for major medical expenses.
Just as Zhou Shou was about to say something else, Zhou Ling, who had been sitting aside and hadn't spoken, finally couldn't hold back. He slammed the table hard and said with great dissatisfaction, "Enough, don't always complain about the high betrothal gifts. Do you still expect things to be like they were in the past, where people just packed a quilt and got married? Look at how old your son is this year; he's already twenty-eight, and exaggerating a bit, you could say thirty. Do you think your son is some kind of hot commodity? Will he still be sought after after thirty? If it weren't for you previously looking down on that Zhu Xin, you might already have had a second or third child by now. Isn't this current girlfriend someone you helped pick? Now you're picking flaws again. Do you want him to be a bachelor forever, or what? If you think the betrothal gifts are too high, then negotiate. What else do you want?"
"Do you think I'm not anxious! But don't you think about how much twenty-eight thousand is? Your monthly salary is only ten thousand. Even if you don't eat or drink, it would take over two years to save that much. You say it so easily, but what about living life later? I'm doing this for the family!" Hu Lin also slammed the table forcefully at this moment, stating her reasons indignantly. This made Zhou Shou feel a bit awkward. After a brief argument, Zhou Shou quickly tried to mediate, wanting them to stop quarreling. As for the outcome, it was naturally that his father and mother soon shifted the focus of the conversation to him, criticizing him for not studying hard, being poor at finding a partner, having too low a salary, and not knowing how to save money. Now, when it came to finding a partner and getting married, they, a couple over a hundred years old, had to worry about it. Then, Zhou Shou, not to be outdone, retorted, saying things like, "If you hadn't broken us up in high school, I might have been married and had children with a certain classmate back then, and we wouldn't have these troubles now." The family of three ended up arguing amongst themselves. In the end, Hu Lin still felt that twenty-eight thousand for betrothal gifts was too high. She told Zhou Shou to figure out a way himself, and if necessary, repeating the "raw rice to cooked rice" scenario again was an option. The betrothal gifts must be reduced to within twenty thousand. Preferably ten or eight thousand. Otherwise, he would have to figure out the excess himself. Zhou Ling eventually agreed to this decision.
...
Meanwhile, Ding Yun, after spending some money to hire an agency, managed to get all the company's business licenses processed within half a month. Immediately after...
She received a message from the young Zhu Lingyun. Zhu Lingyun was saying that her family's cellar had been dug, and now she wanted to get some grain. However, she felt too embarrassed to directly ask for grain, so she just sent a message saying that her family's cellar had been dug. She didn't know how to proceed after that. Fortunately, Ding Yun understood what she meant and didn't let the young Zhu Lingyun worry for too long. She quickly replied, asking how much the cellar could store and what items she wanted. As long as it was daily necessities, she could provide them. As for books and technological products, she was sorry. Advanced knowledge and future technology could too easily alter the trajectory of fate. Food and drink, once consumed, were gone, and their impact was relatively small compared to knowledge.
The young Zhu Lingyun didn't dare to make any excessive demands. She only stated that her family's cellar could store about two thousand catties of grain and expressed hope for some coarse grains. If that wasn't possible, even some rice bran and bean dregs would suffice. These two items, which would be used to feed livestock in the future, could also save lives during difficult times. Seeing this, Ding Yun immediately knew that asking further would yield no more requests. It would be better to decide based on the cellar's capacity and simply buy some from the market. So, she quickly replied, "I understand. I'll make the decision for you later. However, I don't have that many things on hand right now, so you'll have to wait a bit, about two hours. I'll trade with you within two hours at the latest."
After sending the message, Ding Yun closed the Chrono-Secondhand Trading System and immediately hailed a taxi to go to the wholesale market. After browsing, she eventually bought five hundred catties of rice, five hundred catties of flour, five hundred catties of cornmeal, along with a hundred catties of loose rapeseed oil, a hundred catties of cured and preserved meats and sausages, a hundred catties of millet, a hundred catties of beans like soybeans and mung beans, and a hundred catties of noodles and vermicelli. Finally, she also bought five hundred catties of bean dregs, so they would have something to eat that was more substantial. After the purchases were made, Ding Yun had the vendor deliver everything to a small warehouse she had recently rented. This was the shipping warehouse she was preparing for selling skincare products. Since she hadn't started on the skincare products yet, it was fine to store these items temporarily. After an hour and forty minutes, the goods finally arrived at her warehouse. Next, Ding Yun put all those items into the trading interface and selected the young Zhu Lingyun for the transaction.
Meanwhile, the young Zhu Lingyun, who had been waiting for a long time in another time, or rather, had been waiting for over an hour, immediately placed the other stamp she had prepared into the trading interface and selected cash on delivery. As the transaction was completed, Ding Yun's previously exchanged trading currency was completely depleted. She would have been able to trade twice more, but Ding Yun had previously spent three hundred trading currency plus a hundred trading currency for shipping fees to buy a secondhand household robot. So, naturally, the trading currency was now zero. Whether she would continue to charge using merit points or luck, or directly use currency, would depend on whether she could earn enough currency to exchange for one thousand one hundred trading currency with the remaining forty mermaid pearls.