Chapter 59 The Banquet

With less than a month left, only four wooden cabins for guests to stay at the agritainment business have been built, and six more are still under construction. However, other infrastructure, such as flower beds and vegetable gardens, have already been planted, the paths have been paved with pebbles, and there are pavilions for guests to rest.

The two-story teahouse had already been cleaned up, and the signboard had been changed to "Delicious Food Place". In the meantime, Song Yushu could only move some odds and ends over with the mother and her two children.

She intended to promote her restaurant, so she would occasionally mention the new location of her restaurant during casual conversations with other customers, and invite them to come and celebrate.

These guests naturally nodded in agreement, but whether they would actually go was another matter.

With the lease term drawing near, Song Yushu explained the situation to all his customers in the last few days, then closed the shop, packed his things, and moved in.

It took five trips to get all the goods over. When Manager Zhu wanted to go and see what was going on, he only saw an empty courtyard.

"If you don't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences. If you had sold me the recipe in the first place, things wouldn't be like this," Manager Zhu sneered at the shop entrance before leaving.

"We won't open for business for the next few days. I've already spoken with our regular customers. We'll reopen in three days and have a big banquet then," Song Yushu said as he finished packing and began renovating the backyard.

"It's a shame to leave such a big yard empty," said Mother Wei. She found some bamboo to make supports and planted some fruits and vegetables along both sides of the wall. Song Yushu dug a small pond next to it, planted some aquatic plants, and put a few small fish in it. In this way, the yard became more lively.

The banquet will be held in three days. It is unclear how many people will come, but Zhou Chengyu's classmates and teachers from the academy, as well as the children from the orphanage, will definitely be there. As for the other guests, there probably won't be many, since the location is indeed a bit out of the way.

Song Yushu planned to prepare plenty of ingredients, including several pots and a barbecue grill, so that they could be self-sufficient and enjoy the fun of a picnic.

The play areas and facilities for them are still being prepared. For the children, Song Yushu had two slides built over the treehouse, several swings were hung up, and even rocking horses and coin-operated cars were prepared.

For young men like Zhou Chengyu, Song Yushu set up a small shooting range and a small fishpond for them to fish in.

It's a pity that the greenhouse where they planted fruits and vegetables is not open yet, otherwise it would be great to let them pick their own vegetables and have a picnic. Only the flowers in the flowerbed are in full bloom.

On the day of the banquet, Song Yushu and Wei's father went to the orphanage early to pick up some children. The orphanage was afraid that Song Yushu would not be able to take care of them all, so all the children who came were seven or eight years old and were already sensible, totaling more than twenty.

Xiao Jiu was naturally among them. After getting off the carriage, she led the children over to help Song Yushu wash vegetables.

"Go have fun! I invited you here today so you can have some fun and don't have to do any work," Song Yushu told them to go in and enjoy the farmhouse first.

As Xiao Jiu and her friends approached the wooden door, they were pleasantly surprised to see a lush green space inside.

"You can all play with those toys, but be careful and don't damage them, understand?"

"I heard you!"

Hearing their impatient voices, Song Yushu waved his hand and told them to go in and have fun.

Wow! A treehouse!

"And there's a swing!"

"Wooden horse! And lots of flowers!"

"So beautiful!"

The children at the orphanage had never seen such a fun place before. When they saw the play facilities prepared by Song Yushu, they found it difficult to choose which one to play with first.

Seeing someone climbing towards the treehouse, they ran after them.

Song Yushu would occasionally ask Xiong Erni to check on them. Seeing that they were already having fun, he asked Xiong Erni to watch over them and teach them how to play on the slide, in order to prevent any accidents from happening.

"Mother! We've come with the teacher!" Zhou Chengyu was followed by a group of students who quickly bowed and greeted Song Yushu.

"No need for formalities, I'm already very happy that you've come to join in the fun," Song Yushu greeted them and immediately asked Zhou Chengyu to take them to the farmhouse.

Xue Huai'an, along with several teachers, also came over to greet Song Yushu.

The teachers, including Xue Huai'an, couldn't just go in and have fun like the students. They delivered the congratulatory gifts, said a few words of congratulations, and then went inside.

"No need, we'll have hot pot, barbecue, and grilled fish today. We can prepare these quickly. Please come in and have a seat, gentlemen," Song Yushu said, then washed all the ingredients that would be cooked in the pot and neatly arranged them on plates.

Xue Huai'an had no choice but to go inside with the other teachers to wait. Once inside the farmhouse, they found the layout quite interesting.

The area inside is quite large, with several paths paved with pebbles on the ground. These paths connect the flowerbeds on the west side, the vegetable sheds on the east side, and the treehouse in the middle of the area. Rows of bamboo are planted along the edges of the area to serve as a fence.

Although the vegetables in the vegetable garden haven't grown yet, the flowers in the flowerbed are in full bloom.

A group of children were playing near the wooden house, and their laughter could be heard from time to time.

"This place has a certain wild charm. The wooden house is even built in the tree. If I'm not mistaken, the other wooden house is for people to stay overnight. If I could stay for a few days, it would be very relaxing!"

"That's right! We teachers spend all day watching those mischievous monkeys. Being able to come here and relax for a few days is a great comfort!"

“That’s easy. It’s less than half an hour from the academy. You can bring your family here during the students’ ten-day break each month.”

Several old scholars strolled leisurely inside, hands behind their backs. When they reached the thatched pavilion, they found a chessboard on the wooden table. They immediately realized it was there to help them relax, and they were quite pleased. They drank tea and played chess, enjoying themselves immensely.

"If you don't want to play chess, you can go fishing over there. The fish you catch are just right for grilling," Aunt Zhong, who had been called by Song Yushu to introduce the farmhouse to the teachers, reminded them.

Xue Huai'an got up to look and sure enough, there was a fishpond not far away, with a pavilion built next to it for shade.

On the other side, Zhou Chengyu was leading his classmates in shooting at targets. The academy did offer archery courses, but they weren't very good at them. However, Song Yushu had set up prizes for them. The difficulty of the targets varied depending on their placement, but the more difficult the target, the richer the prize.

For example, the prizes for targets closer to the target are potted plants, while those further away are a basket of eggs, a hen, and so on.

This energized the group of young men, who eagerly rushed forward to shoot at the targets.