Chapter 109 Good Luck
When Su Qin heard Ye Shuyi say this, she left the kitchen with peace of mind.
There are some rules to follow when celebrating the full moon.
In the morning or two days before, the child’s grandmother will take the child to get a haircut, commonly known as the “full moon head”.
Guests often bring gifts such as longevity locks, new clothes, and toys for the baby. The bride's family also brings glutinous rice mushrooms, fa gao (a soft, fluffy orange pastry that sounds like "get rich"—I'm not sure how to describe it), and zongzi (rice dumplings). Some even bring chicken and rooster meat. Guests of lesser ties to the family are often offered cookies, candy, and fruit, along with a red envelope. Fruit is usually apples or oranges, symbolizing peace and good fortune.
The host will also prepare red eggs and share them with everyone.
To make red eggs, just dye boiled eggs red. You can do it by wetting red paper with water and smearing it.
The main meal of the full moon banquet is in the evening. There is also a lunchtime banquet, but there are not so many guests. It is not until the evening that all guests are called together and all the main dishes are served.
Since it was a family dinner, the banquet was not big, but the food was delicious and had auspicious meaning.
The dinner starts at 6pm sharp.
The waiter put away the fried peanuts, pistachios, jiaozi and dried longan that were provided for the guests to satisfy their cravings, wiped the table and set up the chairs, and covered them with red disposable plastic film.
There are stools at two tables, with red plastic stools, and three tables with wooden benches.
The first dish served was fried noodles, which were served with onions, diced meat, shredded carrots, diced ham, etc., sprinkled with chopped green onions, and were very fragrant.
The children loved this dish and stretched out their hands to grab some noodles. However, they were not very familiar with using chopsticks and the noodles fell apart.
The noodles are long, so the adults will help them put them in the bowl to prevent them from falling on the table.
This is the appetizer, and the next dish to be served is the boiled chicken, which symbolizes good luck and fortune.
White-cut chicken is a classic example of "chicken that tastes like chicken." The meat is very firm, the skin is attached, and there's not much fat in the middle, making it easy to separate the skin and meat with chopsticks. The bones are a bit blood-red, but this doesn't affect the well-cooked and delicate texture of the meat.
Pick it up and add some sauce. It is fresh, salty and fragrant, tender and smooth. Just looking at it makes you drool.
There is a rule when eating chicken at a banquet: you cannot take the chicken head unless you are the host.
The third dish is steamed fish, which symbolizes abundance (surplus). The fish is steamed with a mellow and delicious juice. Guests can't wait to pick up the boneless meat from the fish belly and dip it in the fish juice to eat with rice.
Then, the choy sum named as Cai (Cai) Yuan Guang Jin was served, as well as the roast duck with honey, fried squid with snow peas, a bowl of diced sausage with millet and peas (this needs to be scooped with a spoon, children will love it, the millet is corn), taro braised pork, etc.
There are ten dishes and one soup, perfect for a smooth sailing. The soup is a five-fingered peach and pork bone soup, which nourishes the spleen and moistens the lungs.
Generally avoid counting four dishes.
When the first few dishes arrived, a young man arranged them in a row, prompting the adults around him to slap their hands with their chopsticks: "Who taught you to arrange dishes like that?"
No one would teach a child to serve food like this.
The child doesn’t understand, he just thinks it’s easier for him to eat if arranged this way.
He was beaten because, firstly, he did not consider that other people also needed to eat, and secondly, arranging the food in that way was unlucky, as it was quite similar to the way offerings were placed during worship services.
He starts crying when he is slapped on the hand, and the adults feel a little embarrassed, so they quickly and crisply tell him to stop crying.
Several elderly ladies at the table were not surprised and said happily that this is how children are!
Another child was not eating seriously and stuck a chopstick into the rice, so he was ordered to stop.
This is also unlucky.
Here, no matter what you do, you must have a good intention.
After Hong Huayu's family worshipped the gods, Su Qin began to distribute red envelopes to everyone at the table.
If someone is invited but cannot come, red envelopes will be given to the relatives who come to take back to the other party.
The amount of the red envelope will not be particularly large, just for good luck.
After dinner, the guests will leave one after another. The host will put some rice in a red bag, add a red envelope (the guest gave it when they arrived, the host takes a small amount and returns the rest) and put it in the bag the guest came in with. The host will also take some cookies and fruits, leaving the rest untouched. This bag is for the guest to take away.
Along with this bag, there are also various plastic bags - if you can’t finish the food during the meal, you can take it home and pack it up to avoid waste!
The child also walked away with the unfinished drink in his hand, smiling.
Oh, and you also need to take away all the bones and leftovers. You can feed them to your cats and dogs at home.
The host also encourages you to pack up leftovers, otherwise your family will have no time to eat!
When saying goodbye, the host will definitely see you off personally and ask you to visit often in the future.
After Ye Shuyi served the dishes, she also started eating.
The chef's table was reserved for the banquet, and no one touched it.
After eating and drinking, she and the servants cleared the dishes and swept the floor.
Because of the disposable red plastic film, it is easier to clean the table, and there is no need to wet the tablecloth with hot water to wipe the table.
Why hot water? Because hot water removes oil and gas.
After cleaning up, Hong Jiahao handed over a large package: "Ms. Ye, thank you very much. We are very satisfied with the dishes for this banquet!"
The other guys also received it.
The amount should be different.
"You're welcome! As long as you're satisfied." Ye Shuyi took it with a smile.
At 11:30 in the evening, Ye Shuyi finally returned home.
I'm so tired today.
She didn't quite understand the rules of the full moon banquet, so she had to ask her father to find out some precautions.
The next day, she went to Mong Kok and met He Yue again.
"Shuyi!" He jogged after her.
What a fate.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"No, just walking around."
"Then let's go together."
The street doesn't belong to Ye Shuyi alone, so you can't chase her away.
After walking a few steps, He Yue took the opportunity to bring up what happened the day before yesterday.
"How much do you know about what happened that night?" he asked guiltily.
"What's the matter?" Ye Shuyi pretended to be confused.
He Yue was unsure, so he just spilled the beans, hoping Ye Shuyi would forgive him for being so honest.
"That Xuzhou said I was pursuing you because of him. Did you hear about that?"
"Oh, I heard it." Now that she had said it, Ye Shuyi did not hide it.
"Huh?" He actually heard it, and he hurriedly explained, "That's exactly how it was at the beginning."
"I used to be a bit...romantic. The other day, when Xuzhou and I came out of the bar, no, the night, I happened to see you enjoying the breeze by the river."
"Xuzhou said, 'You look hard to catch from behind.' I said, 'I can catch you...'"
"Oh." Ye Shuyi said lightly.
He Yue glanced at her secretly and said, "Are you angry? I apologize to you."
"It's okay, I'm not angry." Because she never takes it seriously.
"I really like you now." He Yue's words sounded very sincere.
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