Just as Ding Xiuping was about to take it, Master Wang said again, "Everyone, pick up your bowls! But it's a deal, once you pick up your bowl, you can't put it down. If you put your bowl down, it means you're full and it's time to get off the table!"
Ding Xiuping had no idea that she was being played; she thought that this was the usual rule at important people's dinner parties.
She hurried to take the bowl from her young apprentice's hand.
Unexpectedly, the bowl had already been steamed in the large pot of rice by the apprentice for a full ten minutes, and it was so hot that it was impossible to hold it up.
The moment Ding Xiuping's fingers touched the rim of the bowl, they were almost scalded.
But she held back her tears and didn't put the bowl down so she could eat the beef.
Shen Guoliang understood, cleared his throat while holding the bowl, and said, "This is a rare occasion, let me say a few words first!"
Everyone held their bowls and listened to him.
Shen Guoliang first recited a quote, and then began to tell everyone the history of Dingjiatun, from official history to unofficial history, and then to strange tales.
This lecture lasted ten minutes. 123
Ding Xiuping kept turning her bowl between her hands, but everyone acted as if they didn't see it, their eyes all focused on Shen Guoliang.
Finally, Shen Guoliang finished speaking, picked up his chopsticks, and put a piece of ribbonfish into Su Ruyi's bowl: "Eat quickly, the food is getting cold!"
Everyone picked up their chopsticks.
Ding Xiuping immediately picked up her chopsticks and reached for the beef.
Unexpectedly, her chopsticks collided with Jin Dachun's chopsticks in mid-air, and one of them fell to the ground.
Jin Dachun hurriedly said, "I'm so sorry! I'm getting old, and my hands and feet aren't as nimble as they used to be. Hey you, come here, get this... this young comrade another pair of chopsticks!"
Master Wang and his apprentice, who were not supposed to sit at the table, quickly replied upon hearing this, "Coming, coming!"
But no one moved.
Ding Xiuping only had one chopstick in her hand, so she could only hold the steaming hot rice and wait there.
A full minute passed before she turned around and saw that Master Wang and his apprentice were standing there, but no one was offering her chopsticks.
Moreover, everyone's chopsticks were aimed at the bowl of beef, and by then, the beef was almost gone.
Ding Xiuping stood up, holding back her tears: "No need to trouble the chef, I'll get the chopsticks myself."
"You've finished eating so quickly? Young man, you don't eat much!" Chef Wang said with a forced smile.
The apprentice immediately snatched her rice away: "That's right, comrade, you're not eating enough! How can you not eat properly?"
Ding Xiuping stood there dumbfounded after her rice was taken away. Blisters had formed on all ten fingers of both her hands.
She was stunned: "I...I haven't eaten yet!"
The young apprentice said, "You've already left the table. Our custom here is that leaving the table means you've finished eating!"
Ding Xiuping stared at her grinning apprentice for a few moments, then couldn't hold back any longer and turned to run away.
"Hey! Young comrade, don't go! Is it because Old Wang's cooking isn't to your liking? How about this, I have some dry rations in my car, I'll have my bodyguard get you a couple of pieces?" Shen Guoliang added with a forced smile.
Hearing the uproar and laughter behind her, Ding Xiuping rushed out of the courtyard.
Shen Guoliang sighed, "Dr. Su, your fifth sister-in-law is really shameless!"
Jin Dachun put the last piece of beef into Su Ruyi's bowl, then picked up the bowl and poured the broth over his rice: "Stingy! This girl is pitiful, but she's a good-for-nothing! Let's not talk about her anymore, come on, eat your food!"
Su Ruyi ate her meal quietly.
She never imagined that the fifth brother she had rescued with such great effort, the fifth brother she had raised in her space for so long, would be turned over by her twice a day without fail...
When he woke up, this was the unexpected outcome.
However, that's not all.
As the group was finishing their meal, Su Tie dragged Ding Xiuping in and rushed up to Su Ruyi, demanding, "Ruyi, did you do this?"
He showed Su Ruyi Ding Xiuping's blistered fingers.
Su Ruyi stood up without saying a word.
No one spoke.
Su Tie was like a raging lion, gripping the edge of the stone table with both hands: "What are you eating? How can you bully people like this?"
He clearly wanted to flip the table, but he didn't manage to.
He didn't know that Jin Dachun knew he had a foul mouth and was prone to offending people, so he had been preparing for someone to overturn the table. Therefore, all four legs of the stone table were buried a foot deep in the ground.
Su Tie didn't lift the table, but glared at Su Ruyi again: "Ruyi, are you still my sixth sister?"
"Fifth Brother, can't you be reasonable?" Su Ru felt inexplicably saddened by Su Tie's stance of standing up for Ding Xiuping.
Upon hearing this, Su Tie became even more furious and reached out to lift Su Ruyi up.
But Su Ruyi was faster. She grabbed Su Tie's two fists and used some force to press them down.
Su Tie stared in disbelief: "You...when did you become so strong?"
Logically speaking, Su Tie, who had been drinking the Marrow Cleansing Soup, should have been quite strong. However, his injuries were too severe, and the potency of the Marrow Cleansing Soup was used to repair his damaged bones, internal organs, and muscles.
It can be said that the fact that he is standing here alive and well, and can still fight with Su Ruyi, is entirely a miracle created by Su Ruyi herself.
However, Su Ruyi cannot tell her fifth brother about this miracle yet.
She could only vaguely say, "It's probably because you ate too much canned food!"
Upon hearing this, Su Tie was thunderstruck: "You... what did you say?!"
He remembered clearly what happened after the Ding family threw him off the cliff—he was lucky to survive and found a small, abandoned armory with countless cans of food inside.
He leaned against those cans, and no one knows how long he had been there.
But he had no memory of how he left the armory.
Ding Xiuping said she found hers in the grass on the back hill, and Su Tie thought it wasn't impossible.
Could it be that I was saved by a kind deity?
He couldn't think of any other possibility.
However, now that Ruyi has said "I ate too much canned food," it proves that Ruyi is someone who knows the truth.
At least, she knew about the armory.
How could Ruyi know about this?
When Su Tie looked at Su Ruyi again, his anger was gone, replaced by a look of inquiry.
Seeing that look in her eyes, Su Ruyi's heart softened: "Fifth Brother, don't worry, the truth will come out one day. If you want to ask me anything, just wait, I have two more patients to treat later."
"Brother Tie, you never said your sixth sister could treat illnesses, what's going on?" Ding Xiuping didn't miss any opportunity to press the issue.
Su Tie glanced at her and frowned: "I haven't told you much about Ruyi to begin with, but there's no doubt that her medical skills are excellent!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
