Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 195 - 63: One in a Million_1

Chapter 195: Chapter 63: One in a Million_1

"Ten thousand and one?" Yan Fei looked at his father, Yan Wenhai, in surprise.

He, Ma Chao, and Heizi had just bought a cart full of piglets together, about forty of them all squeezed tight. They essentially bought up all the piglets in the town market that day.

They had taken a detour to the Cattle Market while carting the piglets back home. As they arrived home, they saw that his parents and younger brother had returned.

His parents had specifically taken a few days off to come back and arrange for his proposal. However, anticipating the fact that their son had nearly taken care of everything in just two days, they looked disappointed. The parents aware they did not fulfill their parental commitments in this matter were noticeably downcast.

It was not until they learned that Old Xu had asked Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan to decide on the Bride Price themselves that they finally heaved a sigh of relief. Immediately, Yan Wenhai, in front of everyone, decided on the amount of the Bride Price: ten thousand and one yuan.

Hence Yan Fei’s earlier surprise. According to Yan Fei’s original notion, based on the amounts he typically heard for other families’ Bride Prices, many were around one or two thousand, with most families not even spending three to five thousand on the entire wedding. Offering five to six thousand should certainly suffice, who would ask for as much as ten thousand? At least in Sancha River, Yan Fei has never heard of any gift of ten thousand yuan as a Bride Price.

Not only does Yan Fei think so, Xu Xiaoyan, who had been blushing and keeping her head down without uttering a word, is too astonished to say anything as well.

Even Yan Fei’s mother, Lin Xiumei, shares the same sentiment: ten thousand yuan, at this time, is beyond a tally of how much, tossed into those poverty-riddled mountain villages, it could buy several brides — Sancha River may not be very prosperous, but there are also some brides who, willingly accepting half a sale and half a marriage, came over besides speaking in foreign accents.

"Yes, one in ten thousand!" Yan Wenhai affirmed resolutely, disregarding Lin Xiumei’s nudge from the side. "The people of Old Yan Family, we ought to command respect at all times!"

"Fine then! Earlier, I only bought some piglets. I wanted to buy cattle! But I went a bit late and didn’t find suitable ones. Just the profit from selling the liquor is not enough..." Yan Fei spoke somewhat relievedly.

"You don’t need to worry about that! You go buy the cattle as you intend. This isn’t a money issue for you to bear, rest assured, we will foot this. I can’t have people saying that I, Yan Wenhai, don’t care for my son that I even let him foot the Bride Price, where would that leave my face afterwards?" Yan Wenhai promptly cut off Yan Fei’s words.

Both Yan Fei and Lin Xiumei stared at Yan Wenhai. Seemed like the matter of their son independently choosing his bride hit him hard, even someone mild-mannered as him is standing firm.

"We will take this as final, we can officially propose her hand tomorrow, discuss the engagement. The banquet dates can be left undecided for now, we can also hold the celebration when the admission notice arrives, a double blessing." Yan Wenhai spoke with an unmistakable tone of certainty.

"Actually, Uncle Hai, there’s no need for that much money. My dad might just be saying this as a jest, you know him. Just give the Bride Price according to norms, he won’t find more excuses to oppose." Xu Xiaoyan, as shy as a new bride meeting her in-laws for the first time, finally gathered the courage, she voiced her own opinion.

"And don’t worry about it, this amount isn’t much..." The rest of the three almost simultaneously intervened her, each more confident than the last.

After saying this, the three of them began to smile, feeling slightly embarrassed.

After the laughter, Yan Fei said to his dad, "I have money. Mom, you persuade him. I have the money myself, and I don’t need any from you. I have enough on my own. You can ask Xiao Xing, we sold cattle together just now and made over ten thousand. The profits we make every day from selling liquor are enough to cover everyday expenses, so we’re not lacking."

"All of you stop talking, I’ve already made a decision and won’t change it. Everyone listen to me this time; nothing else anyone says matters." Yan Wenhai’s stand was unexpectedly firm.

Lin Xiumei, watching Yan Wenhai, appeared to suddenly understand her husband’s inner thoughts. Smiling, she patted Yan Fei on his head: "Fool, your dad and I should have been the ones handling all of this. You’ve already handled everything yourself. If you don’t even let us give the Bride Price, how will we face your grandparents in the future..."

He was in the middle of laughing when suddenly, his eyes reddened: "You were like that when you were little and we didn’t know how to handle it. Your grandpa insisted that you live with him, making us feel as if we failed as parents. We thought we’d let you spend the summer holidays alone at home, so you’d come back to us after experiencing hardships, but... it turned out differently. Our son grew up before our eyes and no longer needed his parents..."

"Eh, why are you speaking about this now? We were discussing important matters. What’s this about? Hurry and wash your face." Yan Wenhai stared at Lin Xiumei, who started to tear up during their conversation and, irritated, quickly cut her off.

Lin Xiumei wiped away her tears, forcing a small smile with somewhat teary eyes and patting Yan Fei’s head, said: "Alright, enough of this talk. You must continue studying well when Xiao Xing goes to university. Don’t just pay attention to pigs and cows, making money is a slow process, and you still have us!"

She looked at Xu Xing, jokingly adding, "Otherwise, who knows if you’ll still be suitable for each other in the future, don’t expect us to put in a good word for you..."

At her words, Xu Xiaoyan immediately blushed and stammered, "Aunt Lin, what are you talking about..."

Upon hearing her title, Lin Xiumei paused, then broke into a cheerful smile: "See? Now I’m Aunt Lin. You even used to call me sister-in-law!"

Seeing that Xu Xing’s face had turned red all the way to his neck, Yan Wenhai glared at Lin Xiumei: "Is that how you should speak? Go wash your face now, aren’t you embarrassed at all? Do you behave at all like an elder?"

Lin Xiumei had been a bit emotional earlier, but now that she had calmed down she didn’t take his words lightly. She retorted, "Hey, Comrade Elder Yan, are you trying to act tough today? Once was enough, but a second time? Are you trying to take advantage of me?"

The so-called Comrade Elder Yan lost his earlier assertiveness at her words, merely snorted and didn’t say a word.

Seeing that his parents were back to their old selves and the room’s atmosphere had returned to normal, Yan Fei felt slightly relieved.

Truth be told, the way his parents had been behaving made him feel unnerved. He could handle the attention of countless people on the streets, unfazed by their inquisitive stares. However, his mother’s sudden emotional outburst had left him feeling at a loss. Thankfully, his mother’s emotions swelled and subsided quickly. If it had continued for long, he might have wanted to escape.

With his mom’s sudden change in mood, he could no longer talk about his determination to pay the bride price himself. Wanting to avoid the awkward tension, he called Yan Chao, who had been messing around with several dogs outside, to join them inside. With a playful kid around, the atmosphere couldn’t help but lighten up.

Since his parents were taking care of everything, he didn’t have to worry about anything else.

By the afternoon of the next day, the situation was smoothly resolved. Given the circumstances of these two families, along with the symbolic ten thousand dollar bride price putting the negotiations to rest, the so-called bargaining was just an occasion for the parents of both parties to get together and chat over a meal.

There were just some minor details to arrange after that. From Yan Fei’s perspective, these were simple tasks, but everyone around him was so restless that it made him act anxious too. Otherwise, everything he said would be criticized as not being carefully considered and cause a headache.

Thinking that as they were already on leave, his parents chose to stay for two more days at Yan Fei’s place before taking his younger brother back with them. They weren’t going back to work but to continue visiting friends and relatives during their vacation.

Only after they had departed did Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan breathe a sigh of relief. Being around elders all the time was somewhat uncomfortable, especially for Yan Fei who was already tired of all these matters. If not for the nightly relief he got from free flights in the sky, he would have been driven mad by concerns of whom to invite and how to do so.

As soon as his parents left and matters regarding the engagement were settled, Yan Fei could finally devote all his energy to his greatest responsibility: buying cows, raising pigs, and patiently waiting for the unearthed dinosaur fossils.