You San Niang cannot speak and can only communicate using sign language. When Ruyi wants to chat with her, her husband or daughter usually acts as the translator.
Meng Daya stared intently at the egg in Ruyi's hand, swallowing hard. Although they occasionally got to eat meat while hunting, their family hadn't had eggs in a really long time...
It wasn't until You San Niang slapped her hard on the back that she snapped out of her daze and began translating, "Madam Cheng, my mother said thank you. Well, thank you too. We haven't had eggs in so long!"
"Good girl, take it." Cheng Ruyi knew that Meng Daya wasn't just greedy, but really too hungry, so she patted her head with some tenderness. Although the child looked tall, she was actually not very old, not even fourteen years old, which would be just a junior high school student in modern times.
Perhaps because they had indeed grown much closer during this time, the Meng family had completely let down their guard against Ruyi, so she obtained the information she wanted very easily.
You San Niang's father used to be a bodyguard, so he knew some martial arts. Later, the bodyguard company was shut down, so he took his wife and children to live in seclusion in the mountains and became a hunter. San Niang learned hunting and some basic skills under her father's influence.
Unfortunately, Third Sister's talent was average, and she didn't like martial arts when she was young, so she didn't learn the essence of her father's martial arts. She only managed to learn some basics. After she gave birth to her children, Daya's talent was even worse, and she only managed to learn some basics from her again. In addition, her youngest son was sickly, so it is estimated that the You family's martial arts will be lost.
After listening to the story, Cheng Ruyi felt that it was plausible. At first glance, it seemed to be a story that would happen in this era, but some details did not stand up to scrutiny.
But that doesn't matter. Her purpose wasn't to find out about other people's backgrounds; she just wanted to learn martial arts.
Unfortunately, You San Niang said that when they escaped, the house was burned down, and the martial arts manual left by her father was also burned to ashes. San Niang herself only learned palm techniques and did not know any lightness skills or other movement techniques.
Furthermore, Meng Daya demonstrated several moves of this technique called "Youlian Palm," which is a close-combat skill that emphasizes using internal force to force out true qi from the body to create a burning palm and injure the opponent.
It's a head-on style of martial arts, which isn't really suitable for her. Xu Cui could try practicing it, but it's probably a unique martial art of the You family, and they probably wouldn't teach it to others easily.
Although she didn't get the result she wanted, Ruyi didn't have time to wallow in self-pity, because before she knew it, the Cheng family's Lishan Villa was almost finished!
In the past few days, Ruyi hasn't stayed at the villa every day. She usually just comes to check on things to make sure there are no problems before leaving, because she's been busy preparing for the housewarming party in a few days.
Their family wasn't a famous or wealthy one, so they didn't need to host a large number of people. However, they had quite a few relatives, friends, and familiar neighbors, plus people she had been dealing with in her business dealings. All of them combined were definitely not people she could easily handle.
Speaking of relatives, neither Cheng Yan nor his wife had any family members. Cheng Ruyi's deceased husband had married into the family and had severed ties with his original family at the time of his marriage. They had not had any contact with them for many years. All things considered, the only relatives they could call Lin Xiaoman's family were Lin Xiaoman's family. According to etiquette, an invitation would definitely be sent to the Lin family, but whether they came or not was none of their business.
There were many other friends and neighbors, including the Wei family, the Zhang family, the Sun family, and the Yang family, etc.
Also, considering that we will be dealing with the people of Lishan Village frequently in the future, we must invite the village chief's family as well. Then, we can invite a few more households that live relatively close to the Cheng family. We don't know the other people in the village, so there is no need to spend money on entertaining them.
Of course, Manager Huang of Zhiwei Restaurant is indispensable. As for the Zhou family, I doubt they would come even if you invited them. However, Cheng Ruyi will prepare a generous gift, which Manager Huang can then deliver.
If each table seats eight people, then it would require about eleven or twelve tables.
Considering that everyone attending was a familiar face, the housewarming banquet didn't need to be too fancy. The most important thing was that the portions were plentiful and the food tasted good. So Ruyi prepared eight dishes for each table, plus a main course and a dessert, which was just right.
"Ruyi, how are the meals for the housewarming party going?" Cheng Yan finally remembered this matter after dinner that day.
"It's almost done. I just finished making a list of guests for the banquet today, and I was just about to ask you to take a look!" Ruyi went back to her room and brought out a thick stack of papers. "After you confirm it, Father, we'll prepare to make the invitations tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yan picked up the list and checked it one by one, finding no problems. "Hmm, I think it's fine. Is there still time to make the invitations tomorrow?"
"There's still time. I've already discussed this with Liu'er. We've already chosen the style of the invitations. We'll send them to the Sun family bookstore tomorrow, and they'll be finished the day after tomorrow."
Ruyi then showed the menu to Cheng Yan and continued, "This is the menu. Our housewarming banquet is certainly not comparable to the banquet at Zhiwei Restaurant. It mainly consists of ordinary dishes for entertaining guests. However, I will refer to their banquet process and add a few exclusive dishes as a token of our sincerity."
Cheng Yan glanced at the dishes and found that he had never heard of them before. He couldn't tell what they were by their names. He figured they were probably his daughter's so-called creative dishes. However, he had confidence in his daughter's cooking skills. Any dish she had ever eaten before could be made perfectly.
"Well, you can decide on the dishes, but don't be too extravagant, just do what you can afford."
"Don't worry, Dad, it's just everyday food, not an exaggeration at all."
After everything was finalized, Ruyi began the procurement work without stopping. Since the required quantity was relatively large, and a large number of tables, chairs and tableware were also needed, she knew that there were many restaurants in the city that could handle these tasks, so she simply found a small restaurant that was relatively close to the South Gate and not expensive to take care of it.
As for why I didn't go to Zhiwei Restaurant, it's because of the price, and also because there's no need to bother others with everything. If you talk to Manager Huang about this, he might end up doing you another favor, and favors are the hardest to repay. It's much simpler and more convenient to have a financial relationship.
After several busy days, on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Cheng family's "Lishan Villa" was finally completed ahead of schedule!
After settling the wages, Cheng Ruyi gave each person an extra 100 coins as a reward for completing the work ahead of schedule. Everyone was naturally very happy, as this sum of money meant they could finally have a good New Year.
Many of them were employees, and after a period of time, they had all saved up enough money to enter the city. Several families pooled their resources and sent one person into the city to buy the necessary food and supplies. Then they continued to leave Huaishan County and head southeast. Many of them were headed to the capital.
After the villa was renovated, it needed to be tidied up properly, especially by adding various furniture and items, before it would look suitable for entertaining guests.
However, since the end of the year was approaching and considering that most people would be busy before the New Year, Ruyi only asked the employees to clean the house inside and out before leaving. They could talk about shopping after the housewarming banquet.
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, under a bright and cloudless sky, the Cheng family villa finally welcomed its first wave of official visitors.
The twelve tables fit perfectly in the first two courtyards, so Ruyi simply locked the gates to the back three courtyards. Although there was nothing inside at the moment, they were moving in in a few days and she didn't want to cause any trouble.
The housewarming banquet was scheduled for noon, firstly because the winter midday sun is plentiful, and everyone can sit in the courtyard with a few braziers lit so they don't feel cold; secondly, it would be convenient for everyone to return to the county town while it's still light out, and the road would be easier to travel.
At noon, guests carrying invitations began to arrive one after another. All eight members of the Cheng family stood together at the door to greet them, then led them to their table and immediately served them tea and melon seeds.
Before long, everyone had arrived. Cheng Yan was not good with words, so after a few brief remarks, he began to serve the dishes.
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