```
"The Yan Family must provide a dowry of six hundred and eighty yuan, and the four big items: a television, a washing machine, a refrigerator, and a sewing machine—none can be omitted."
"Right, and Tiantian's job must also be settled. Although she didn't get into university, she is still a high school graduate!"
"Mom's right. Tiantian is only eighteen, while that son of the Yan Family is already twenty-three, a full five years older. If it weren't for the long-standing friendship between our two families, a beautiful girl like Tiantian could not possibly marry a soldier!"
"Exactly, the dowry and the job are both essential. Just because we're from the countryside, they shouldn't look down on us."
In a newly-built brick and tile house in He Family Village, about a dozen members of the He Family sat in the hall, the men silently either staring blankly in the corner or squatting at the door smoking.
The women, on the other hand, were chirping away incessantly.
