Guo Er dared not stop them, and quickly told Da Wa'er to get to work, while he took his brothers to help. Knowing that Qin San Niang and the others were busy preparing the meal, he thought, "They don't know anyone, so let's go find the owner and see if there's anything we can do for them!"
How can we find it?
Dog Egg suddenly had a brilliant idea and clapped his hands. "I've got it! Why don't we just follow the smell? I just smelled a delicious aroma coming from next door, it's probably the kitchen!"
After saying that, he took the lead and walked to the next room.
Everyone sniffed the air. Wow, this smells amazing! This seems to be... meat? They usually eat sorghum cakes and sorghum rice and are already quite content, but to actually eat meat now? This trip was definitely worthwhile!
When the group found Qin San Niang by following the aroma, the braised duck was just coming out of the steamer! The aroma was very strong, accompanied by a burst of steam and a salty fragrance that wafted over!
Seeing them standing in front of the door, Qin Sanniang called out, "Guo Er, you're here! Come on, quickly help me set up all these tables!"
Just smelling that aroma made my stomach rumble. And seeing the plates of meat being ladled out of the pot, wow, this is just as good as a banquet at a fancy restaurant!
"Alright, we brothers will get to work right away!"
Hurry up and get everything ready, then we can eat! We can't wait, let's get to work! Delicious food is the best motivation!
Wang Guixiang and the others were a little surprised to see Guo Er and the others, but seeing that they were familiar with Qin Sanniang, they stopped looking at them.
Right now, they need to hurry up and put the food on the table, because quite a few people have come to the courtyard!
The dining table and tableware needed were definitely not enough if they only had the supplies from their own few households; they were all collected by the villagers.
Each household's bowls, chopsticks, tables, and chairs are marked, so there's no fear of them getting lost. After the banquet, if there are any leftovers, the host will pack them up to thank the family who lent them the bowls, chopsticks, tables, and chairs! This is a customary rule in the village for holding banquets.
Knowing that Qin San Niang was skilled in cooking, the villagers were happy to lend her their bowls and chopsticks.
Because the housewarming party was so grand, with more people than they had imagined, a total of eleven tables were needed, and there was no room in the courtyard! So, they set up six more tables in the open space outside the courtyard, one in the main room, and six in the courtyard.
Those in the main hall were naturally honored guests, including the village head, the master of ceremonies, He Yingyuan, and several elder clan elders.
As for the rest of us, we didn't want to sit with these people! How could we eat meat freely then? The people in the courtyard were mostly women, so they were taken care of by a few women, including Qin San Niang. The people outside the courtyard were the men of the village, who were taken care of by Gu Qingshan and Da Wa.
Seeing the sea of people, a dense crowd of heads, Wang Guixiang and He Xing, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, tacitly decided not to leave. Well, they should stay and help out, otherwise their few families alone would definitely not be enough!
Qin San Niang hadn't expected there to be so many people, so she simply hired them for twenty coins for half a day!
Although Guo Er and the others were her subordinates, she had invited them to the banquet, so naturally she couldn't let them do any work! After setting the tables, she let them go to the front to eat!
Hearing that they would be paid twenty copper coins for helping, Wang Guixiang and the others had no complaints whatsoever. Helping was their duty, and now they had even fewer grievances! They quickly began serving the dishes. This also allowed Liu to rest; everyone knew about her leg injury and that she couldn't stand for long.
A typical rural banquet consists of three cold dishes and three hot dishes, with at most two meat dishes among the hot dishes! However, Qin San Niang later changed the menu, considering the weather wasn't too hot, so she added two cold dishes, making the menu two cold, seven hot, and one soup. The cold dishes were cold tofu with scallions and cold purslane with minced garlic. The hot dishes were stir-fried spicy chicken, half a roast duck, stir-fried pork intestines, stir-fried liver tips with vinegar, braised pork ribs, stir-fried eggs with chives, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a shepherd's purse and egg drop soup.
Everyone only knew that the food was good today, which Wang Guixiang had mentioned when she served the cold dishes, but no one expected it to be this good!
Two cold dishes were served, and they were things they wouldn't normally make. The scallion and tofu salad had finely chopped scallions and a generous amount of tofu; surprisingly, it tasted sweet and delicious, though I didn't know what seasoning they used. Then there was the purslane, with minced garlic and what seemed like castor oil! Oh dear, this sour purslane didn't even taste like itself anymore!
The men took a bite and began to have doubts. Was this really purslane? Their purslane didn't taste like this!
As the dishes filed in one after another, and the names of the dishes were announced one after another, they were dazzled. Everyone felt that their eyes had been opened and their knowledge had been increased!
Enough said! Let's dig in!
Unlike the previous commotion, all you could hear now were slurping, panting, and pausing sounds.
Apart from a few people in the main room who were still praising each other, everyone else was shoving their cheeks and getting to work!
Even Sili Ren was surprised that this meal was like a typical farmhouse wedding feast. Had he come to the wrong place? The Zuixianlou restaurant in the capital was only this good! And the food wasn't even this fragrant!
After serving the last dish, Qin San Niang remembered her Drunken World, which she had taken out of the jar and packaged separately yesterday. Now she gave each table a small jar.
This liquor is distilled and has a high alcohol content. For the villagers who don't usually drink, it's easy to get them drunk. She didn't want anything to go wrong on such a lively day, so she only brought out a small jar. Of course, no one thought it was too little; it was still quite expensive! They rarely got to drink alcohol.
"Thank you all for attending our family's housewarming party. Here's a small toast to express our gratitude!" He Yingyuan raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp! The wine was fragrant, mellow, and refreshing, with a long aftertaste. It was a rare and excellent wine! He was surprised, not expecting that Madam Qin was not joking, but could actually brew such a fine wine.
Sili Ren and the others responded with smiles and took a sip as well! Upon tasting it, everyone could tell it was fine wine!
"What fine wine!" Si Liren exclaimed, somewhat astonished that it was brewed by Qin San Niang herself.
"This wine is called 'Drunken Red Dust,' made with peach blossoms as an ingredient." Relieved by the professional's confirmation, Qin San Niang breathed a sigh of relief; at least her efforts hadn't been wasted. She had followed the steps in the book, and honestly, compared to the fine wines in her space, this tasted rather ordinary, with room for improvement. However, perhaps because of the addition of water from her space, its sweet and refreshing flavor was indeed unique.
Village head Chen Sheng and the clan elders were all fond of wine. During festivals, they would only drink low-alcohol grain liquor. This was the first time they had tasted such a fragrant and mellow wine!
The older man was so drunk that he was moved to tears, marveling at how he could drink such fine wine and enjoy such a wonderful feast at his age!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com