"Wouldn’t that be inappropriate? After all, your cousin is getting married; you sisters can’t just stop interacting after that. Her marriage makes another connection, and then your second uncle’s family will no longer be your own."
Ms. Wang felt that her second brother’s family was being unreasonable. The whole affair with Wang Yunlian wasn’t Xiaxia’s problem. It was all said and done, and yet when this child’s family encountered issues, they didn’t even show up.
They were all notified, but while the eldest uncle’s family sent soone, the second uncle’s family didn’t. If you don’t show up, that’s fine, but not even letting us bring a gift is too much. To put it bluntly, even if the gift was not brought, it would have been fine to at least send a ssage. But no, absolutely nothing was said.
After thinking it over, Yang Chuxia said, "Since that’s the case, Mom, you can bring a dowry gift on my behalf to cousin. As for an official gift, I won’t participate. Her family had issues first, and she, as my elder, didn’t show up. Why should I go through the motions of giving a gift?"
Yang Chuxia thought about it; the wedding gift would represent her second uncle’s family, and any returning of the favor would co from them as well. But considering the current state of affairs between the two families, if her family had another issue, her second uncle probably wouldn’t show up either.
Of course, she didn’t care about the gift money itself. It just felt awkward, like trying to stick to soone who doesn’t pay any attention to her.
But contributing to the dowry was different—that was for her cousin, and any future interactions would be with her as well.
"That could work. When I go, I’ll bring it to her on your behalf."
"By the way, Mom, my second cousin is getting married, but what about Qian Xiaoqing? Is she married yet?"
Ms. Wang shook her head, "She’s not yet married. I heard that her father asked her to marry soone to replace her brother, but she refuses. Now, the matter is still unresolved."
"Why won’t she agree?"
"What else could it be? The man her father found for her is mute, the only son in his family. He’s never been able to find a wife due to his inability to speak. The idea was to use the sister to arrange a marriage in exchange, especially since that sister is quite a slick girl, who could have gotten married for her brother’s sake if it hadn’t been necessary. By coincidence, Xiaoqing’s older brother, being quiet and slow in his ways, also hadn’t been betrothed, so the two families thought of exchanging brides. But Xiaoqing absolutely refuses to agree."
This information ca from guests invited to dine, with whom she casually inquired and learned of the situation.
"It’s all because of your second aunt." Ms. Wang paused before continuing, "Originally, after Xiaoqing returned ho from your second uncle’s, there was already a marriage arranged for her. But she listened to your second aunt, went for a talent selection instead, and ended up losing the marriage bid. And now, this possible marriage exchange is with a mute."
Yang Chuxia didn’t really know what to say about Qian Xiaoqing; a few years earlier, she had her eyes on Mu Shaoling, but after getting a beating from her, she no longer dared to co to Yangshu Village. Yang Chuxia knew the girl; she wouldn’t have called off her engagent with her in-laws over just a few words from Ms. Qian of Wang Family if she had been steady.
So in a way, her current situation was partly her own doing.
After discussing serious matters, Ms. Wang stayed at the Yang Family’s place for a while longer. Only after playing with her grandsons who had just awakened did she finally go ho.
Yang Chuxia then instructed Ming Liu and others to start making New Year’s clothes for the sons in advance, as there wouldn’t be anything significant to attend to during the winter anyway.
The two ’buns’ were now over five months old. As they grew, Yang Chuxia began to notice that the boys’ appearances were starting to diverge. Lele resembled Brother An, while Yangyang looked very much like her.
"Little Lele, why don’t you like to smile?"
Upon hearing this, Lele calmly looked at her twice and continued to struggle with the wooden frog in his hands.
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