The unusual lawsuit, reported by Chinese media in late December, sparked significant debate about the boundaries of fairness in relationships.

According to court documents, He and Wang, both from Heilongjiang, became engaged through a matchmaker. The couple later moved to Hebei province to manage He's family's malatang (spicy hotpot) restaurant. However, after six months of living together and running the business, conflicts arose.

The man in Heilongjiang province, China, sued his girlfriend to court to reclaim betrothal gifts because she ate too much. Illustrative photo: *Zonglan News/SCMP*.

Speaking to local television, He angrily claimed his fiancee only chose easy tasks and consumed too much food. "She ate every day, so much that we didn't have enough ingredients left to sell to customers," He stated. His family also supported calling off the engagement, believing their future daughter-in-law had changed her character.

After the breakup, He filed a lawsuit, demanding Wang return 20,000 yuan (approximately 74 million VND) in betrothal gifts he had given. Notably, he also itemized a detailed list of "dating expenses" totaling 30,000 yuan (over 110 million VND), which included money spent on pantyhose and underwear given to his girlfriend.

In court, Wang fiercely rebutted her ex-fiance's calculations. She questioned, "When you voluntarily bought those personal items for me, weren't you happy? I was your girlfriend, after all."

After deliberation, the judge rejected the demand to reclaim the 30,000 yuan in dating expenses. The court ruled these were voluntary expenditures, providing emotional value to both parties during their affectionate period, and not debts.

Regarding the 20,000 yuan betrothal gift, the court applied provisions of China's Civil Code. Accordingly, betrothal gifts must be returned if the parties have not registered their marriage, or if they have registered but have not genuinely cohabited. Therefore, the court ruled that Wang must return one-half of the betrothal gift. Both parties accepted this outcome.

The incident later went viral on Weibo, attracting millions of views. Most comments criticized the man's meticulousness. "If you're going to calculate down to every bowl of noodles and pair of underwear, it's best not to get married; just hire staff," one netizen commented. Others congratulated the woman for escaping a marriage with such a pragmatic husband.

Minh Phuong (According to *Zonglan News/SCMP*)