"Bride Brice?" Lang, who was still resting, sat up straight when she heard Yu Dong ask this question. It wasn't that she didn't know that Yu Dong was marrying a new husband. However, she was still surprised when the latter asked her about the bride price, not because she thought it was weird but because she thought Yu Dong should have an excellent idea about it. She married three husbands before Fang Chi.
"Yes, Bride Price," Yu Dong knew that the question that she was asking was a bit weird when coming from a woman who had been married three times before her fourth one. But the truth was though she had three husbands, she had no idea what was needed and how to propose for marriage. The original owner was good for nothing, so her parents settled her marriage. Though it was said that Shen Li and the others married her, it was no different from being sold by their families. Mother Yu gave five kg of meat and a few silver taels to Shen Li and Ye Liu's family, and they willingly sent Shen Li and Ye Liu to the Yu household.
As for Chen Mi, he was bought from the human slave market, so he didn't even get a chance to have a good marriage, much less a bride price. Only mother Yu was kind enough to give him face by bringing him on a sedan chair and give him face as an official husband rather than just a bedmate.
All in all, it could be said that Fang Chi was the first one to whom Yu Doing was going to 'traditionally' propose to for marriage properly.
At dinner, she wanted to ask the same question from her husbands, but then she thought it would be a bit tactless of her to do so. In the end, even after her husbands went back to their rooms with a smile on their faces and their expressions a lot softer than before, Yu Dong still didn't ask them about it. Still, since she needed to propose, she couldn't ignore it either.
In the end, she came to Lang, who seemed to have a better idea.
"Well, it depends on the liking of the mer you are going to propose to, "said Lang scratching her head with a bemused expression on her face, "Let me ask Qian Qian what he likes the most."
Zhu Qian was just outside their room, and Yu Dong's voice wasn't small when she discussed the matter of bride price with his wife, so before Lang could call him. He walked inside the room on his own.
"When... When I married Lang, she gave me rogue and some face powder. These things are popular with the mers. And it's nice to give some jewelry as well. It's better to give a dainty bracelet or a hairpin because after getting married, mers need to tie their hair with a hairpin or hair tie to signify their married status. Because you are getting married, you should also gift a bright piece of clothing, probably red cloth. A mer needs to sew and embroider it to wear it on their wedding day... But you can also give chicken or pork. Lang gave me a rather chunky and fatty piece of pork to eat before our marriage, I never ate so much meat before, so I was quite impressed by it."
Zhu Qian's family had four mers and four daughters, so of course, he wasn't pampered by his parents. The jewelry and cloth that Lang gave him were the first things that solely belonged to him. Before that, all the things he owned were either hand-me-downs or shared between the four mers of the family. He was twenty-one when Lang came to propose to him, yet he never got the chance to eat so much meat! All the meat in his family was given to his sisters, and he only got bone broth if he was lucky enough to win against his brothers.
So he was pretty impressed by Lang's bride price.
Yu Dong heard Zhu Qian rattle off the things that the mers liked and felt her eye twitch, makeup? Well, the mers of this world were really pretty. They somehow managed to pull off the white chalky powder and pinkish rogue. Still, it was hard for her to even imagine the sight of Fang Chi, that handsome mer painting his face white and applying a generous amount of rogue on his face. It would be such a, what should she call it, a weird sight? This was the reason why she never bought makeup for her husbands either. Though Chen Mi could pull off that pretty-girl makeup look with his lovely face, it was horrendous to even imagine Shen Li and Ye Liu with their faces painted pure white.
There was no such thing as foundation or blending in this world. There weren't even any other options other than white to choose from. With his tanned skin and sharp features, giving makeup to Fang Chi would be ruining his aesthetic vibes.
As for jewelry, she could give Fang Chi some jewelry that wasn't a problem, and maybe she should buy some things for Grandma Fang as well. When she was in the modern world, one of her colleagues bought a few gifts for his mother-in-law when he went to propose for marriage. Because her colleague could win over his mother-in-law, his married life was very smooth sailing. Even his wife was a bit wary of bullying him because her own mother scolded her a lot for troubling such a good son-in-law. Every time the wife went to her maternal home after fighting or throwing a tantrum, her mother would instantly send her back to her husband.
Yu Dong didn't know whether or not Fang Chi would run off to his maternal home if they fought, but it was better to be safe rather than sorry. (she didn't have any idea how much this was going to help her tame Fang Chi's temper in the future)
So, the next day Yu Dong first visited Matchmaker Si. Among all the matchmakers, Matchmaker Si was the most reasonable. He was also the one who was initially supposed to bring another match for Fang Chi before the matter with Yu Dong escalated. There were six steps in the wedding process from ancient times. The first one was Na Cai, which comprised of proposing marriage to the bride or the bridegroom. (I have no idea whether I'm wrong or not. I searched a lot and only understood a little being a non-Chinese resident. If there is a mistake, do forgive me)
Yu Dong brought half a kilogram of fresh pork belly she hunted yesterday with a total of ten taels to Matchmaker Song. He would keep the gifts and bring her proposal to Grandma Fang.. Only after Grandma Song has exchanged her birth card with Fang Chi would Yu Dong bring the betrothal gifts to the Fang family.