Chapter 298: Can you prepare a private banquet?

For several days in a row, Zhao Xiaojing followed Su Yuchen to visit various families to pay New Year's greetings during the day, eating and drinking for free. Returning home at night, she played cards and mahjong with Su's father and mother, and relived the intermittent Spring Festival Gala that she had watched due to the chaos in Dong Mei's house on New Year's Eve. Before going to bed, she listened to Su Yuchen mumbling about the legendary stories he had met with relatives during the day. Before going to bed, she resisted the strong sleepiness and entered the virtual space to practice cooking skills on the wood stove for 5 minutes, which was 7.5 hours in the virtual space. Her life was so fulfilling.

We play like this until the fifth day, when it is time to welcome the God of Wealth.

The village started setting off firecrackers early in the morning. The two woke up early and were told by Su's mother to open all the doors and windows of the house. They also lit a string of firecrackers in the yard and watched the firecrackers explode from the yard to outside the gate, making crackling sounds. Then, under Su's mother's command, they began to clean from upstairs to downstairs until the entire yard was clean and all the garbage was thrown away. Only then did Su's mother start to make breakfast.

This is the "pouring of dirt" that every household in the village does. It is a homonym of "Po Wu" (breaking the fifth day of the lunar year). The fifth day of the lunar year is also called "Po Wu", which means cleaning, pouring out dirty water, throwing away garbage, and driving away bad luck.

Breakfast was Yuanbao dumplings that had been wrapped long ago and frozen in the refrigerator. Su's mother called out to everyone to eat a bowl, which represented welcoming the Yuanbao from the God of Wealth and receiving good fortune.

Although Zhao Xiaojing had heard of similar customs and had symbolically forwarded pictures of the God of Wealth on WeChat Moments at home before, this was the first time she had celebrated it with such a sense of ritual, and she couldn't help but laugh while eating.

In the morning, Su's father was sent to work in the fields again. Less than half an hour after he left, he hurried back and stood at the door with three people, calling Su's mother.

Su's mother ran to the door. After they talked for a while, Su's mother opened her mouth and shouted at Su Yuchen who was watching TV in the main room.

"What's the matter?" As Su Yuchen went out, he saw his parents and the two sons and one grandson of the 90-year-old grandmother in the village standing at the door. Five pairs of eyes were staring at him, and he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, can Xiaojing prepare a banquet?" Su's mother seemed a little nervous.

"Of course! She's been asked to do wedding banquets at big restaurants. Why?"

"Then call Xiaojing out." After they looked at each other, Father Su spoke.

"You Calabash Brothers are here to save grandpa, yet you're still shouting one by one!" Su Yuchen curled his lips at the mysterious look on his parents' faces, turned around and shouted Zhao Xiaojing into the house.

The villagers believe that one cannot visit others on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Others open their doors to welcome the God of Wealth, and if you go to someone else's house you are stealing their wealth. Therefore, none of them intended to go into the house, but instead called people out one by one.

After Zhao Xiaojing responded and went out, the seven of them stood together at the gate of the yard. Finally, there was no one left in the house. Su Yuchen burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Father Su asked curiously.

"There are exactly seven, and the last one is Calabash Brothers!" Su Yuchen pointed at Zhao Xiaojing.

Su's father and mother laughed out loud, Zhao Xiaojing looked confused, and the other three looked at the person who came out and then looked at each other.

"Will this work?" The grandson among the three looked to be in his thirties or forties and couldn't help but ask.

Father Su looked at him helplessly, hesitant to speak, then turned to look at Zhao Xiaojing hesitantly, "Xiaojing, can you cook for a banquet?"

"What kind of banquet, how many tables, how many people per table, what are the standards?" Zhao Xiaojing didn't answer quickly, but asked carefully.

The eldest of the three was about the same age as Su's father. Zhao Xiaojing's question actually softened his expression, and he hurriedly took another step forward. "For the ninetieth birthday banquet, we'll have a buffet, and we'll need to prepare forty-five tables of food. The exact number will depend on tomorrow's schedule. We'll have about twelve people per table, divided into three rounds, with about a dozen tables per round. Can you do it?"

"Forty-five tables for tomorrow's birthday banquet?" Zhao Xiaojing frowned. "I can definitely make it, but time is running out. I'm afraid I won't be able to prepare all the ingredients. I wonder if there's a market in the village today? Do you have a menu decided?"

"Are you sure you can do it? Little girl, we have 45 tables for the birthday banquet. Ninetieth birthday is a big birthday. This is not the time to play around and show off!" The grandson, who felt Zhao Xiaojing was unreliable as soon as he saw her, questioned again.

"Hongliang!" The eldest son turned around and scolded his grandson, then tried to soften his expression and looked at Zhao Xiaojing. "They have prepared all the ingredients, and the menu has been decided in advance. Now the most urgent thing is to find a chef to take charge. Don't worry about anything else."

"It's like this, Xiaojing." Father Su saw that the others hadn't come up with a plan for a long time, and worried that Zhao Xiaojing still didn't understand the situation, he turned around and explained, "Their birthday banquet was scheduled long ago. Originally, it was for Chef Xie's team in town and a relative from Fujian Province.

The relatives were just there to help, to make the old lady happy, and to add icing on the cake by preparing two or three special hometown dishes for each table.

Chef Xie's team is the main force. They specialize in buffets in the town. The chefs who cut the vegetables and prepare the side dishes, as well as the ingredients, are all provided directly by them.

Originally they had prepared all the ingredients, manpower, and tableware, but Chef Xie's mother suddenly passed away in the middle of the night yesterday. She called to say she couldn't come, and everyone was anxious, but since it was a matter of life and death, there was nothing they could do.

Chef Xie has also looked for other chefs to help, but during the Chinese New Year, most people either don't have work or are having family reunions, so Lao Wei and the others have to ask their own chef relatives for help. As for the ingredients and manpower, Chef Xie and his team had already prepared them and can continue to provide them.

Their team had Chef Xie as the head chef, and Chef Huang as their sous chef. If they'd added their relatives, the two chefs would have been enough. But Chef Huang wasn't the primary chef, and since the relatives had come to celebrate the old lady's birthday, it wouldn't have been a good idea to use him as a chef, and he wouldn't have accepted the money. Furthermore, their dishes were slightly different from ours, so the boss tentatively sent them the menu and asked. The relatives said they weren't experts in the dishes Chef Xie's team had prepared, but the dishes were already ready, so it was too late to make changes.

They came to me for help, and I thought, since you own a restaurant, I decided to ask you.

Zhao Xiaojing nodded. After Father Su's explanation, she finally understood. Now she didn't have to worry about the ingredients or manpower. She only needed to worry about cooking.

"Can I see the menu?" After Father Su said so much, the three of them looked anxious. Zhao Xiaojing looked directly at her eldest son and asked.

"Hongliang, call it out quickly!" The second son waved his hand hurriedly.

The grandson took out his cell phone from his pocket, played a photo of the menu, stared at Zhao Xiaojing with a frown, and handed the phone over.

Zhao Xiaojing glanced at him calmly, then lowered her head to look at the menu carefully.