Too Bad I Take Things Seriously

This enthusiastic demeanor made Qin Mu feel somewhat uneasy.

"Let me introduce you. This is my son, Wan Feizhang. Come on, call him Uncle Qin," Wan Zhongyuan said with a smile, pointing at the young man on the sofa.

"Dad, he's about my age. Are you sure you want me to call him uncle?" The young man's face was full of reluctance.

Wan Zhongyuan glared at him and snorted coldly. "What do you know? We live in a society ruled by law now. Learning some law from your Uncle Qin will benefit you for a lifetime." As he spoke, he gave Qin Mu another serious look, his expression very complicated. The case at Jin City Court these past few days... it's caused a sensation throughout the city. Of course, I know about it. And this case... Qin Mu was the one who stirred it up. Now every newspaper is lining up to interview him. Three thousand two hundred people, collectively convicted! Considering what he'd heard from the old folks at the nursing home about other "cases," Wan Zhongyuan no longer dared to put on airs in front of Qin Mu. People who know the law... they're truly terrifying.

"Ahem, Xiao Qin, the thing is, the reason I asked you over this time..." Wan Zhongyuan took a deep breath and began to explain. "My son here is twenty-seven this year, see. He's been seeing someone for several years, and recently they've been planning to get married. The parents met last month, and the other side demanded a bride price of 660,000."

"660,000?" Qin Mu's eyes widened slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched. God damn, 660,000! He had heard of extravagant bride prices before, but he had never seen one this extreme. In a third-tier county town, even a house only cost about six to seven hundred thousand. But for a marriage... has it really escalated to this extent now?

"Yes," Wan Zhongyuan said with a wry smile, sighing. "We also thought the bride price was a bit high, but the other party wouldn't budge an inch. They even said if we didn't pay the 660,000, the wedding was off."

"We had no choice but to grit our teeth, scrape together the 660,000, and transfer it to them."

"We thought that after paying the bride price, we could start preparing for the wedding. But then the other party suddenly raised the price, saying they needed 880,000 now, claiming it was luckier than 660,000."

Qin Mu: "..."

Listening to Wan Zhongyuan's story, Qin Mu found it increasingly absurd.

"Alas, what can I do? He's my only son," Wan Zhongyuan continued, his expression helpless as he glared despairingly at his son on the sofa. "So, I bit the bullet again and scraped together 880,000 to send their way."

Qin Mu: "..."

"Xiao Qin, you don't know their family. They're treating us like a sheep to be fleeced dry..." Wan Zhongyuan sighed and continued to list the other party's misdeeds. After he had scraped together the 880,000, the other party raised the price again, saying that for the marriage, they needed to make up the numbers of the thirty-six Heavenly Spirits and seventy-two Earthly Fiends, demanding 1,080,000, or she absolutely wouldn't marry!

The corner of Qin Mu's mouth twitched again, and he couldn't help but ask, "And then you bit the bullet again?"

Wan Zhongyuan paused, his old face flushing red. "I had no choice! I had already transferred 880,000, and my son here is so utterly besotted, he insisted on marrying no one but her."

"Dad, what are you talking about? How am I 'utterly besotted'?" Wan Feizhang, sitting on the sofa, immediately protested. "This is devotion!"

Wan Zhongyuan snorted and mocked, "Not besotted? Then why do you send her a 'good morning' every morning and a 'good night' every night? Not besotted? When she said in her Moments she felt like soup, you replied that you'd break your own ribs to make it for her? Not besotted? When she mentioned it was raining and she didn't have an umbrella, you drove dozens of kilometers to pick her up? Not besotted..."

Wan Zhongyuan went on and on, leaving Wan Feizhang red-faced and indignant, though he still refused to admit he was "utterly besotted."

"Ahem, back to the main issue," Wan Zhongyuan said, turning back to Qin Mu after chastising his son. "I did indeed bite the bullet again and scraped together 1,080,000."

"But after I transferred it, that family made another exorbitant demand. They said we needed to make it 1,680,000, as 168 symbolized even better fortune—'prospering all the way'..."

Qin Mu listened to the whole story and couldn't help but marvel. No wonder he's the deputy director of a nursing home; he really is wealthy. This astronomical bride price... it would have scared off most ordinary people long ago. In ancient times, the betrothal gifts for marrying a princess probably only amounted to a couple of million.

"Later," Wan Zhongyuan continued, "I decided this marriage negotiation was over and requested they return the bride price. But the other party outright refused." Finally, Wan Zhongyuan got to the crux of the matter, saying helplessly, "No matter what I said, they persistently refused to return the 1,080,000."

Wan Zhongyuan might be wealthy, but he wasn't a sucker. Other people getting married might pay a bride price of a hundred thousand, maybe two hundred thousand at most; his had ballooned to over a million. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. The attitude of that family was especially disgusting. First, they said no bride price, no marriage, and then they kept raising the price, creating sunk costs for him. That was how he had progressively transferred 1,080,000. If he had known from the start they would demand a 1,680,000 bride price, he would never have agreed!

"Xiao Qin, you're knowledgeable about the law. If you were in this situation..." Wan Zhongyuan looked at Qin Mu cautiously, seeking his advice.

Qin Mu frowned, mentally reviewing the articles of the Marriage Law and Civil Law. He found the regulations concerning bride prices.

Qin Mu then said, "Their actions... they aren't illegal."

That's right, Qin Mu thought. An exorbitant bride price doesn't constitute illegality, let alone a crime. The bride price is a folk custom, a tradition passed down through generations.