A common love story in China came into limelight when a personal relationship dispute reached the court and social media. A young man filed a case against his fiancee alleging that she ate too much and did not work properly. Not only this, the young man also demanded the return of the money he had spent. As soon as this matter came to light, a debate broke out on the internet and people started criticizing the young man fiercely.
According to South China Morning Post, this case is from Heilongjiang province of north-eastern China. Here a young man, whose surname is He, filed a case in the court against his fiancee Wang. Both of them were identified through a matchmaker and after some time both of them got engaged. After the engagement, the two moved to Hebei province in northern China, where he started working at a Malatang restaurant run by He’s family. Malatang is a popular street food in China, consisting of vegetables, meat and noodles cooked in a spicy broth. Wang continued working in this restaurant for about six months.
Youth’s complaint: more food and less work
Over time, He started becoming angry with his fiancee Wang. His allegation was that Wang only did small jobs in the restaurant and ate malatang every day. He even said that the food that was ready for sale was not enough to satisfy Wang’s hunger. Hay also claimed that his fiancee’s behavior had started changing, which was causing her family to be dissatisfied. To strengthen his case, He presented in court a list of all the things he had bought for Wang. This also included clothes, black tights, underwear and other personal items.
Demand for money and bride price
After the breakup, Hay made two demands from the court. The first is to get back the 30,000 yuan (about Rs 3.5 lakh) from his fiancee, which he had spent on her during their relationship. Second – The bride price of 20,000 yuan (approximately Rs 2.3 lakh) given at the time of engagement should be returned. Bride price is a traditional practice in China in which the groom’s family gives money to the bride’s family before the wedding as a sign of respect and acceptance. According to the SCMP, Wang vehemently denied all of He’s allegations in court. She said that Hay was overly careful with money and always reminded her that she was his girlfriend. Wang also raised the question whether He himself did not benefit from the goods purchased by He?
Court decision and social media reaction
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court rejected He’s demand of 30,000 yuan. The court said that this money was spent on personal and emotional things during the relationship, which cannot be taken back. However, in the bride price case, the court ordered Wang to return half of the 20,000 yuan. After the decision, both the parties expressed satisfaction and accepted it. This matter went viral on social media, where most of the people reacted sharply to the young man’s thinking and the argument like “overeating”.
