Chapter 2979 Welcoming Guests
There was a constant stream of guests in front of the Song family's door. When Bai Shan and his friends arrived, most of the guests had already arrived, and they arrived at the last minute.
Mr. Song was originally meeting guests in the lobby, after all, he was the birthday man, while his children and grandchildren were standing at the gate to welcome the guests.
But as soon as Bai Shan and his companions' carriage arrived at the intersection, the servants arranged by the Song family early in the morning ran back to inform them, and Master Song personally went out to greet them.
The Song family is considered the richest family in Beihai County. They have a lot of land, so they know a lot of people.
Every year, many people came to his birthday party, including the village heads and wealthy families from some relatively wealthy villages. If Mr. Song invited this group, it would be difficult for him not to invite others. This year was particularly special, and he did not dare to show that the Song family was being suppressed.
So he invited the same people he had invited in previous years this year.
Everyone was puzzled, because everyone knew that Mr. Song's birthday was in August, but he celebrated it in June...
Although they said that they were busy last year and wanted to make up for it this year, they still felt something was wrong.
Seeing Mr. Song go out, many people stretched their necks to watch the fun.
When the carriage arrived in front of the Song family's gate, Bai Shan got off the horse first, then turned around and helped Zhou Man get off the carriage. Bai Erlang jumped off the carriage next to him, turned around and helped Mingda down as well.
After Yin Huo got out of another car, Bai Shan stepped aside and asked the three of them to go first.
When Master Song came out and saw them, he couldn't help but look up at Mingda and Bai Erlang standing in the front. However, he didn't dare to look any longer. He lowered his head after just one glance. He quickly stepped forward and knelt down to salute, "Greetings to the Princess and the Prince Consort."
Mingda was startled by his action and quickly raised his hand and said, "No need to be polite."
She turned her head to look at the eunuch beside her, who stepped forward to help her up and said with a smile, "Master Song, you are too polite. You are the birthday star today, so there is no need to be so polite."
Mr. Song nodded repeatedly, then turned to greet Bai Shanzhou and bowed sideways, saying, "It is a great honor for our Song family to have you two come. Princess, Prince Consort, Master Yin, please come in."
Bai Shan agreed with a smile, and the group followed Master Song inside.
As soon as they entered the gate, they saw many tables set up in the yard, and many guests stood up to look at them.
The Song family's house is actually not small, but there are many people living there, so there is not much open space. The banquet is divided into inside and outside, with male guests outside and female guests inside, completely separated.
Most of the children were inside with the female guests. It was quite a lot of people.
When Mingda and Manbao followed the women of the Song family to sit at the main table for female guests in the back, they saw that there were only two or three adults at a table, and the rest were all children. There were fourteen or fifteen people sitting at a table, and they couldn't help but look surprised.
She carefully sat down at the head seat, thanked Mrs. Song for the sweet wine, and couldn't help but whisper to Zhou Man, "Why are there so many people sitting at one table?"
Manbao took a look and whispered, "You want to know why there are so many children?"
Princess Mingda nodded repeatedly.
Manbao also glanced at the guests sitting in the room and said in a low voice: "Since we gave so much gift money, of course we should bring more people over to eat to make up for the loss."
Mingda: ...
Manbao said, "It's not good for adults to come too often, but it's okay to bring a few more children. Even though they are small, they actually eat a lot. If they eat as much as they want, they'll be almost like adults."
Mingda never thought about the problem of having to eat enough to cover the cost when attending a banquet.
She looked at Zhou Man suspiciously, "Is this true?"
If they also want to eat enough to make up for their investment, how much food do they need to eat to make up for their investment, and... "Isn't there a return gift?"
Manbao sighed and said, "It's different here than in the capital. Take you and the Song family, for example. You came to the Song family's birthday banquet this time and gave them a gift. Do you have to travel thousands of miles to send invitations to the Song family for your wedding in the future?"
Mingda shook his head, "...I don't lack this little return gift."
Manbao thought about it and felt that his example was inappropriate. He whispered, "The Song family is the richest and most powerful family in Beihai County. Look at how many people they invited this time. But if these families really have a wedding or funeral, they may not send a letter to the Song family."
"Why?"
"Because you know their family won't go."
She didn't know why, but it was like that. She tried hard to search through the limited time she had left, and finally found a suitable example. "For example, Mr. Bai and the Governor of Mianzhou, yes, that's Bai Er's biological father, your father-in-law."
Man Bao said, "I remember that Mr. Bai would attend the birthday banquets of various people at the Mianzhou Governor's Mansion every year, but Mr. Bai's family never invited anyone from the Mianzhou Governor's Mansion when there was something going on. At most, he would invite the county magistrate of our Luojiang County."
She said, "Look, Master Bai has given out so much gift money, and he hasn't taken it back once."
Mingda became thoughtful, looked at the people in the room, and said in a low voice, "So we have to eat it back!"
Manbao nodded vigorously.
Mrs. Song personally brought up a bottle of wine and said to Princess Mingda and Zhou Man, "Princess, my lord, this is some fruit wine we have in our collection. I'm not sure if it suits your taste. If you're not used to sweet wine, how about this?"
Mrs. Song's eldest daughter-in-law immediately stepped forward to change the cup in front of the princess, and together with her mother-in-law, carefully poured fruit wine into it.
Mingda felt a little uncomfortable. Mrs. Song and her daughter-in-law were both quite old, and she was not used to being treated like this by them.
Zhou Man smiled and said to them, "Let's all taste it. Leave it to the servants. Madam, please take a seat."
Mrs. Song then carefully sat down on the chair. She was also very uncomfortable and smiled awkwardly at the princess and Zhou Man. When she heard the call for the meal to start, she immediately said, "Hurry up and have someone serve the food, Princess. Our family specially bought a lot of sea fish from the seaside this time. You must try it. If you like it, we will send you a few more later."
Mingda agreed with a smile, but his eyes couldn't help but look ahead. He couldn't see anything through the door and the yard.
Mingda couldn't help but lower his voice and ask Zhou Man, "Aren't we going to celebrate the birthday?"
Manbao whispered, "We are here to celebrate your birthday."
Mingda: ...
Sure enough, she was greeted by Mrs. Song and her daughter-in-law the whole time, and she didn't see the birthday boy at all.
Mingda simply relaxed and followed the local customs, eating and drinking with Zhou Man, and chatting with the ladies at the same table. It was quite interesting to listen to them talk about weaving and dyeing and housework.
Halfway through the meal, most people were full and couldn't help but relax a little. They thought that although the princess was beautiful and arrogant, her voice would echo when they spoke to her, so they were not so scared anymore and began to ask about some things in the capital.
For example, how big is Beijing?
Mingda isn't one to brag; she'll just describe it as, "It's pretty big."
Man Bao, who was standing by, couldn't help but purse his lips and smile, and said to the others, "Just looking at the city gates, one of the gates in the capital is as big as four of those in Beihai County."
The ladies couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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