SFTD -Chapter 289 A 500-Thousand-Yuan Bride Price

At five in the afternoon, Mother Lu, fully dressed up, came downstairs holding Little Loli’s hand. Honestly, Mother Lu’s sense of style was impeccable.

Little Loli wore a creamy-white dress. Her curly flaxen hair was pinned with a pearl rabbit-ear hair clip, and on her feet was a pair of white Mary Jane heels. With just a touch of makeup, the little demoness had instantly transformed into a princess.

Of course, that was only as long as she kept her mouth shut.

The second she started talking and snapping at people, her true nature would immediately be exposed again.

The moment she came downstairs, she spotted Zhou Hai sitting in the living room. He was still wearing a beige-checkered polo shirt with a white base, paired with jeans, calmly holding a teacup while reading the newspaper as steadily as a mountain.

Beside his feet, Pork Knuckle lounged lazily in the sunlight.

The relaxed image of one man and one dog immediately irritated Little Loli. She stomped over toward Zhou Hai.

“Zhouzhou, why haven’t you changed clothes? You’re not seriously planning to attend the wedding banquet dressed like that, are you?”

Mother Lu also looked Zhou Hai up and down.

“It really is a bit too casual. If you don’t like wearing suits, at least change into a dress shirt and slacks. After all, the groom’s father is both your Uncle Lu’s colleague and friend. Their relatives and friends here in the southeast aren’t many, so we should help them keep up appearances.”

Hearing that, Zhou Hai quickly stood up.

“Alright. I remember I still have some clothes here. I’ll go look for them.”

Lifting her skirt slightly, Little Loli immediately followed Zhou Hai upstairs.

“I’ll help you pick something out!”

The two walked to the westernmost bedroom. It had once been a guest room, and Zhou Hai had stayed there for a while before the Lus moved to America.

Opening the walk-in closet, they found quite a lot of clothing still inside.

Little Loli picked out a sky-blue dress shirt for Zhou Hai, along with matching pants and a tie.

Without even looking closely, Zhou Hai grabbed them and went into the bathroom to change.

A short while later, he came out.

Little Loli carefully looked him over from head to toe before nodding in satisfaction.

“It would be even better if you changed your hairstyle too. I don’t think you need to hide the scar near your eye—it looks cool and manly. You could just switch to a different pair of glasses to cover it a little. How about we go pick new glasses tomorrow?”

Zhou Hai glanced at her.

Seeing Little Loli clutching his arm and pouting while acting spoiled, the words of refusal somehow got stuck in his throat.

He wanted to raise a hand and ruffle her hair, but after thinking about it, he stopped himself.

He had been away for a month. Little Loli probably just wanted to be close to him.

Zhou Hai sighed softly.

“Alright. Whatever you want.”

Little Loli clenched her fists in a triumphant victory pose, making Zhou Hai laugh helplessly.

“Okay, stop acting cute. We should hurry downstairs. Mother Lu and the others are probably getting anxious waiting for us.”

Little Loli immediately grabbed his arm.

“Let’s go!”

Zhou Hai paused for a second.

The only person who had ever linked arms with him like this was Lu Xi.

Little Loli sensed the stiffness in his body immediately. She glared at him and puffed out her cheeks.

“The more I tell you to hurry, the slower you get! Mother Lu and the others are going to be late!”

Zhou Hai shook his head, forcing himself not to think too much about it, then hurried downstairs together with her.

The four of them got into the car and headed toward the hotel hosting the wedding banquet.

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The wedding banquet was being held at the extravagantly luxurious Regent Grand Hotel.

After parking the car, the group hurried inside. It was already close to seven in the evening.

Mother Lu glanced at the time and let out a small sigh of relief.

“Good, good. There are still fifteen minutes before it starts. At least we’re not late. That would’ve been awkward.”

Just then, the sightseeing elevator gave a ding and stopped. The four quickly stepped out.

But the scene outside the banquet hall was unexpectedly chaotic.

Arguments filled the air. Several people were pulling and shoving each other.

On one side, the bride sat on a sofa in her wedding gown. No matter how the groom tried to pull her up, she refused to move.

The sight left Father Lu and Mother Lu completely bewildered.

Just then, Father Lu noticed another professor from Southeast University passing by. He quickly grabbed the man’s arm.

The man looked startled at first, but then relaxed when he recognized him.

“Professor Lu, you’re here!”

Father Lu nodded toward the noisy crowd.

“Professor Xu, what’s going on? Isn’t this supposed to be a wedding? Why are they fighting?”

Professor Xu leaned closer and lowered his voice.

“I only just heard about it after coming out here too. The bride and her mother suddenly demanded more bride price money, saying what was given wasn’t enough. They said Vice Principal Zhang’s family is from out of town, and even the villa they live in was assigned by the school—they don’t actually own a house themselves. They said if the couple moves out in the future, they won’t have enough savings, so they’re demanding another five hundred thousand yuan in bride price as security for the bride’s family.”

Professor Xu clicked his tongue.

“That horrible mother-in-law even said if they don’t get the money, there’s no need for the wedding anymore. Since the couple hasn’t officially registered their marriage yet, separating now wouldn’t count as a second marriage. As for the baby in the bride’s belly, she said they could abort it anytime, and the Zhang family didn’t need to think about keeping it.”

Mother Lu stepped closer, clearly overwhelmed by the amount of information.

“They didn’t already give bride price money before this?”

Professor Xu was obviously a gossip enthusiast and had already learned the full story.

Smacking his lips, he covered his mouth with one hand and secretly raised three fingers with the other.

“How could they not give any? With that mother-in-law’s personality, do you think she’d settle for less?”

Father Lu looked utterly confused at the three fingers.

“Thirty thousand?”

Professor Xu rolled his eyes in disbelief.

“Thirty thousand? What are they, beggars? It was over three hundred thousand at least! I heard they already paid more than that. My guess is they paid too easily, so now the bride’s family is trying to squeeze out even more.”

Father Lu sucked in a cold breath.

Mother Lu also raised three fingers.

“That’s vicious. More than three hundred thousand still isn’t enough? Isn’t that basically selling their daughter? And why didn’t they settle this beforehand? Causing a scene at the wedding banquet humiliates everyone involved!”

Professor Xu shook his head.

“They probably figured the groom couldn’t make the decision himself, so they deliberately brought it up during the banquet. I heard this couple only knew each other for less than four months before getting pregnant and rushing into marriage. Everything happened way too fast.”

Zhou Hai suddenly remembered something Lu Xi once said: ‘a riot of red and purple, plus a patch of green, and something that won’t move.’

Apparently, even those old bride-price standards were already outdated now.

Still, the amount being demanded was truly terrifying.

Just then, the situation ahead suddenly escalated.

The bride’s mother grabbed the bride, trying to drag her away.

The bride seemed reluctant, but still stood up and followed along.

Soon, the group headed toward the elevator where Zhou Hai and the others were standing.

The groom stopped his own parents from following after them. Then he suddenly shouted loudly:

“Zhang Huihui, don’t leave just yet. I have one question for you. If I don’t give this extra five hundred thousand, are you really refusing to marry me?”

The bride’s mother immediately looked hopeful, as though she sensed things were turning in her favor. She secretly poked the bride’s arm.

The bride pursed her lips and turned back toward the groom.

“Yes. I’m listening to my mother. I just want some security. The five hundred thousand must be transferred right now before we get married. I’ll wait downstairs for ten minutes. If you don’t transfer the money, then there’s no need for this wedding today. And from now on, we’ll go our separate ways.”

The bride’s mother stepped forward and gently touched the bride’s stomach.

“Ziliang, think about the baby in Huihui’s belly! It’s not even two months old yet. Can you really bear to abandon your own child?”

Many young people gathered around the groom, probably mutual friends of the couple.

Especially the bridesmaids and groomsmen—they all tried persuading him.

Vice Principal Zhang even reached toward his pocket, seemingly preparing to take out a bank card.

But the groom suddenly stopped his father.

Then, with unprecedented determination, he shouted toward the bride:

“There’s no need to wait ten minutes. I can tell you my answer right now. There will be no extra five hundred thousand in bride price. And as of today, everything between us is over.”

The bride and her mother stared in disbelief.

But they had already pushed things too far. There was no room left for reconciliation now.

In a burst of anger, the bride’s mother shook off her husband’s arm, waved to all their relatives and friends, grabbed the box containing the gift envelopes, and grandly led her entire group downstairs.

Moments later, the lobby that had just been filled with tension and shouting suddenly fell silent.

Father Lu pulled Mother Lu forward, wanting to comfort Vice Principal Zhang.

After all, a wedding banquet of this scale must have cost a fortune, and now his son’s wedding had turned into such a disaster—it was infuriating.

But before they could even reach them, the groom suddenly stepped back two paces.

He grabbed the bridesmaid standing beside the best man and pulled her directly in front of him.

“Zhusha, I know you like me. Only now have I truly realized what kind of person Zhang Huihui is. I don’t want to say anything else. You’ve seen clearly what happened between us. Since the wedding banquet has already reached this point, I don’t want to cancel it. Will you marry me?”