100: Chapter 100 Shen Muyan Shows Off Boyfriend Photos, Shen Family Underlies Engagement Worries

In the evening, Wang Jie ruthlessly dismissed the two flashy young girls, giving each of them 200 yuan.

The two young girls left happily with the money.

Tang Luochuan couldn't stop him from coming over to his house for a free meal.

Meanwhile, Zhu Jianhua was sitting at home, feeling very unhappy.

He had given Meng Fanyi 40,000 yuan to buy a necklace. But his family's money didn't just blow in on the wind; the demolition payout hadn't arrived yet.

He had spent a lot on the bride price, booking the banquet, wedding planning, wedding cars, and so on. Even before collecting any wedding gifts, he had already spent over 300,000 yuan.

And this 40,000 yuan was the last of his savings.

He was working hard in Shanghai, and his monthly salary of 20,000 yuan was decent.

But the cost of living in Shanghai was high. Being in his twenties, his expenses were inevitably high, so managing to save any money at all was not bad.

It was just that Zhu Jianhua was gradually realizing that Meng Fanyi's spending was simply too high.

During their WeChat chat last night, she had hinted, intentionally or not, that she had seen some other woman using cosmetics that cost thousands.

Buying clothes that cost thousands of yuan per piece, going to Western restaurants that cost 800 yuan per person, and deciding where to go for holidays.

She even wanted to learn to play golf—what kind of family background did she have to treat golf as a casual hobby?

Wouldn't it be better to go fishing in a wild creek?

Every sentence avoided talking about money, yet every sentence was inseparable from it.

Zhu Jianhua did the math in his head; after calculating everything, it would cost at least 400,000 yuan a year.

However, he still held a sliver of hope that perhaps he could change her and make her realize the importance of family.

Let her... be content with what she has! Hopefully, she could understand.

...

Gusu City.

The Shen Family was also bustling with activity at this moment.

Tomorrow was the day of elder brother Shen Muqing's engagement.

Actually, the elder brother was originally supposed to be named Shen Muqing, but when registering, the staff member took the easy way out and just wrote it as "Muqing".

Having used it for so many years, they were too lazy to change it.

"Brother, do you think this photo is handsome? Can I use it as my wallpaper?"

Shen Muyan held up her phone, the screen prominently displaying a photo of Tang Luochuan.

Since returning this time, many matchmakers had been scrambling to introduce her to prospective partners, but she had flatly refused them all, stating outright that she already had a boyfriend.

Upon hearing this, her family was naturally incredibly curious.

Her mother, Liu Aiyuan, was the first to urge her to show a photo of her "future son-in-law." After looking at it, she was immediately satisfied:

"This young man looks really upright and handsome. Is he your classmate? You two are quite a good match."

Her father, Shen Kai, also nodded repeatedly, fully approving.

Only the elder brother, Shen Muqing, thought it was fine at first, but he couldn't stand his younger sister constantly bringing up her boyfriend every three sentences since she came back, showing off in front of him every day.

Once or twice was novel, but after too many times, he just felt a headache.

Now that Shen Muyan was asking if he was handsome again, he subconsciously thought that his younger sister was secretly mocking his own looks.

"Do whatever you want." Shen Muqing sat to the side, silently peeling garlic.

"Oh, come on, help me look, I even want to set it as a rotating wallpaper."

"Isn't that disgusting?"

"At least he's better looking than you!" Shen Muyan huffed, leaning back on the sofa triumphantly with her bare feet.

The atmosphere in her family was always relaxed and harmonious. Her parents never favored boys over girls, and they doted on their youngest daughter to the bone, almost never letting her lift a finger with household chores.

Shen Muqing was honest and kind, willing to work hard without complaint, and had spoiled his younger sister since they were children.

"Is my sister-in-law coming over for dinner today? I haven't met her yet." Shen Muyan suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, Shen Muqing's eyelids drooped, and his speed at peeling garlic increased: "Oh, she's coming for dinner tonight... It's a good chance for you to meet her. We're going out after the engagement... She was wondering if you wanted to go too?"

"I'll go! Of course I will. Why wouldn't I?" Shen Muyan sat up straight immediately: "I was just thinking, when there's time later, I'll ask Luochuan to come over, and we can all go out together! A big family is so nice."

"Yeah..." Shen Muqing replied softly.

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.

Shen Muyan didn't understand: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... She's almost here, I'll make a call to see where she is." Shen Muqing stood up immediately, took out his phone, and went outside to make a call.

Shen Muyan also felt it was strange; why had her brother and parents stopped talking mid-conversation?

To put it simply, the Shen Family had encountered a common problem in marriage: the issue of the bride price.

The bride price is something that can be high or low.

In some places, 2 million yuan isn't much, if both sides are wealthy families.

In some places, 100,000 yuan is considered an astronomical figure, and adding in the difficulty of buying a house and a car makes it hard to afford.

This is also why some young people don't want to get married.

Often, during the dating phase, they have already given so much.

Years of expenses have been poured in, and then, at the time of marriage, another sum is added.

And many people don't realize that effort alone isn't enough; forced labor and voluntarily investing in oneself are not the same thing.

Outside the door, Shen Muqing was on the phone: "Jingjing... about the Moutai, how about we switch to something else? Drinking this at the engagement? And at the wedding too? It's too..."

Before he could finish, on the other end of the line, his girlfriend Li Wenjing was already shouting: "My best friend's wedding had Moutai! Moutai for the whole venue! I just asked you to put Moutai in a few private rooms and serve Wuliangye at the other tables! Why are you being so stingy?"

"It's not that... Wuliangye is over 1,000 yuan a bottle, and I... our local custom is to drink the ones that are around a hundred yuan a bottle. And that hotel, 3,800 yuan per table; the one my parents found for 1,600 yuan is also..."

"Forget that nonsense! Why should I? My friends all had glorious weddings, why should I have to settle when it's my turn? Do you even love me?"

"I love you, I love you... I never said I didn't, I just..."

"Shen Muqing, we've reached this point, why are you being so stingy? Are my requests excessive? Have I ever looked down on your financial situation? I'm just asking for a decent wedding, is that too much to ask?"

Shen Muqing took a deep breath and truthfully said: "It's just that I have a younger sister, you know. It's not that we can't hold the banquet! It's just that my parents also need to save some dowry for my sister."

"Save what? She's a girl, won't she just get married off anyway? How much more does she want to take?"

"Jingjing, what do you mean by that?" Shen Muqing's voice suddenly sank.

"What do I mean? Am I wrong?" Li Wenjing sneered on the other end of the line, "Your sister will be someone else's person sooner or later. By saving up for her dowry now, aren't you just taking the money from our wedding to subsidize her?"

"She is my own sister!" Shen Muqing started to lose his patience, "My parents have worked hard their whole lives. Is it too much to ask for them to hold a wedding for us and also save a little dowry for her?"

Everything had been going well before, but as soon as it came to the engagement, discussing the dowry, bride price, and banquet arrangements, problems emerged.

"Excessive? Am I being excessive?" Li Wenjing was even more unreasonable, "When my best friend got married, her husband bought a house outright and added her name to it, the bride price was 388,000 yuan, and the wedding was held in a five-star hotel! I've been with you for two years, have I ever asked for anything? Now I'm just asking for a few bottles of Moutai and a few decent banquet tables, and you're counting pennies with me?"