Chapter 1
I was my parents' only child. They gave me the best education and all their love, but they disapproved of my boyfriend's family background.
But when it came to discussing marriage, he surprisingly agreed to all their high demands without hesitation.
I was excited and got straight to wedding planning. Then, on our engagement day, my boyfriend Theo Ramsey hit me with a surprise. He pulled out a thick stack of digital vouchers and started calculating.
He mumbled, "You're from Soeulain, right? The government gives newlyweds 500 in wedding vouchers here.
"My hometown's Loriwand. Our community offers a 20K bonus for first marriages.
"After the wedding, if you transfer your info to my household and we're in the same community, that bonus goes up to 40K.
"Plus, there's childcare support: 4K for three kids and 30K in waived daycare fees."
Theo paused, tapped on his calculator for a while, then said, "Your parents want me to come up with 100 thousand. With all these benefits added up, it comes to 94.5K.
"I'll chip in the extra 5.5K. Sounds pretty reasonable, right?"
I was so mad I laughed out loud. I canceled the engagement right then and turned the whole thing into just a family dinner.
Later, Theo actually showed up with the full 100K, ready to get engaged.
My husband, Asher Davenport, said, baffled, "He thinks 100 thousand is enough to marry you? Then what's my million supposed to be?"
*****
The more I listened, the more my head spun.
My parents' frowns only deepened with every word.
There were ten of us at the table, and honestly, except for Theo and his folks, everyone else looked seriously ticked off.
My eldest uncle, Sean, couldn't hold back anymore. "None of us gets what you're talking about. What's that got to do with our demands?"
Theo, my fiancé, pulled out a thick stack of printouts from his bag, right then and there.
He casually passed one out to everyone at the main table.
I took mine with a half-smile and gave it a quick look.
Holy shit.
So those vouchers he was talking about all had strings attached. One had to spend a certain amount before one could use them.
The requirement for Soeulain's wedding vouchers was to collect eight vouchers, each with a face value of 250 dollars. Each voucher deducted 62.5 dollars, for a total discount of 500 dollars.
The household registration incentive required one to transfer their personal documents locally first and then purchase land to build a house.
The childbirth subsidy was one thousand dollars per kid. One only got the full 4 thousand if one had three kids.
My relatives at the table stared at the printout, and the more they read, the more their faces fell.
To my surprise, Theo's mom, Ivy Ramsey, stood up, looking all smug. "The government's really rolling out the red carpet for us now, encouraging marriage, pushing for more kids, and finally letting us bask in their generosity.
"Otherwise, getting our kids married these days would be next to impossible."
My second uncle, Zane, snorted, waving the paper in his hand, "Getting married is tough for you guys? Bullshit. You're only putting up 5.5 thousand, aren't you?"
He turned to Theo and said, "Theo, I remember when you first visited us last year. Not to mention anyone else, Audrey's parents each gave you 5 thousand as a gift. Zane, our wives, and I all did the same.
"That was 30 thousand right there, and now you're only putting up 5.5 thousand for the wedding?
"And I heard from Audrey that you want our family to double the demands to 200 thousand. Are you sure you're here to get married, or are you just here to rip us off?"