Chapter 110 Chapter 110 Feast
After the first month of the lunar year, the festive atmosphere faded away. Huo Xiaobao returned to the academy, and Lingzhi's shop opened. Business was good every day, but now they rarely prepared things for the next day on the first day. He and Miao Ying contacted a vegetable vendor and a butcher to deliver vegetables and meat every morning. He only needed to come early and prepare and sell at the same time. It was a little easier than before. The daily income was basically fixed, and he could make about one or two taels a day.
When there is no business and no need to prepare ingredients, Lingzhi will do the accounting. At the end of the month, he will take the account book to the government office and pay some taxes to avoid any trouble.
Miao Ying's stall has been rather sporadic lately, sometimes going with Huo Xing. If she suddenly decides to change her mind, her mother goes with him, leaving Miao Ying and his grandmother alone at home. During these times, Li Hongying always leaves lunch for them before she leaves in the morning, as she doesn't want Miao Ying to cook on his own. Xiao Lin often goes with Lingzhi, saying she wants to take good care of her brother.
In early March, Fu Lingyou came home with a wedding dress. The embroidery was so exquisite that the geese on it looked like they had come alive. The whole family gathered around the dress, their eyes sparkling, "It's so beautiful."
Miao Ying turned to look at Huo Xing and quietly asked him, "What wedding dress did I wear when we got married?"
Huo Xing was speechless. Miao Ying had not wanted to get married, so he had not worn the wedding clothes prepared for him by the Miao family. He had come home in plain clothes, and everyone looked unhappy at that time.
"I didn't wear wedding clothes when we got married?" Miao Ying poked Huo Xing's waist. "Such beautiful clothes, I didn't wear them?"
Huo Xing hummed and said, "At that time, he didn't want to get married." He didn't want to confuse the present Miao Ying with the person in the past.
Miao Ying said "oh" and didn't say anything more about it. He went to see the other things that Fu Lingyou had sent. This time he also sent back Youyou. At this moment, the shed at the back was very lively. The old ox was always calm, the mule had a bad temper and snorted at Yoyo, the steamed buns and cornbread came up to Youyou and circled around him. The most pitiful one was Yoyou, who was trembling with fear.
There was also a lot of noise and clucking in the chicken coop at the back, even louder than the bunch of chickens in the coop over there.
Li Hongying came out and first brought the two dogs back to the yard, then beat the mule, and finally fed Yoyo some grass. She finally tamed them all and then picked up the eggs and took them back.
"How long do you plan to keep Lingzhi Shop open?" Miao Ying asked him. After all, he was getting married in half a month.
"Let's open it until the eighth day of the Lunar New Year." Lingzhi said, "There are five days left, which is enough time to arrange anything."
The main banquet was on March 15th. Miao Ying and his friends looked at the date and thought March 12th was also a good day, so they had the banquet on the 12th. On the 15th, the whole family would go to Fu's house. They were still worried about affecting Lingzhi, so they did not disclose Lingzhi's identity.
On the eighth day of March, Lingzhi put up a sign saying he was out of business, and even that day he was selling and giving away things. If you didn't know, you would think he was going to run away.
Lingzhi smiled, and then Xiaolin took out a bag of candy from the back. This was prepared by Miao Ying for him. He said that since they were getting married, these customers always took care of their business, so he could share some with them and let them share in the joy.
"It's not that I'm not going to open it, it's just that something happened at home." Lingzhi said while grabbing candy, "I'm going back to get married."
Everyone cheered and said a lot of auspicious words. Some people expressed regret that they wanted to find a matchmaker for Lingzhi, and some asked whose boy was so lucky.
Lingzhi said a few words to get by, and finally sold all the things in the shop. He cleaned it up with Xiaolin before closing the shop and taking Xiaolin home.
"Brother, are you going to leave home after you get married?" Xiao Lin walked beside Ling Zhi, "Will you not be able to come back often in the future?"
Lingzhi was stunned for a moment: "I will come back often." But he did not deny that he really wanted to leave home.
"I will miss you." Xiaolin hugged him.
They can be considered a family that was formed halfway through their lives. After spending every day together these days, the relationship between the two of them is very deep.
When they didn't have to go out to set up the stall, they got together to prepare for the wedding. Miao Ying listed the people his mother said would come, and there would have to be at least ten tables. They were going to go to the village to borrow tables, chairs and benches. This was the same way for every wedding in the past. His square table and benches had been lent out several times.
By the 11th, the tables, chairs and benches borrowed from the village had been stacked in their yard, and each family had marked their home on them.
Xiao Lin was wiping the table in the yard. After a while, Miao Dong came over with Zheng Caier. They were going to stay here tonight and start preparing for tomorrow's banquet.
They also brought Huo Xiaobao back with them, as they couldn't let him miss Lingzhi's wedding. The master was a little dissatisfied with this, but Huo Xiaobao said he would not slack off even at home, so the master reluctantly let him come back.
When he got home, Huo Xiaobao was not idle either. He started sweeping the yard and cleaning the main road in front of the door with Xiaolin. He also posted wedding characters and arranged wedding cakes. He had no time to spare.
At night, the lights in the entire courtyard were on. When Zheng Caier and the others came, they did not bring Pangpang with them because they were afraid of distraction. Anyway, Pangpang was a very well-behaved child, and Liu Qiong could take good care of the child.
When they came, they brought half a pig and several pig trotters. We have to deal with them tonight so we don’t have to be in a hurry tomorrow.
Miao Ying helped out at first, but was sent to bed after dark. He was already in his fifth month of pregnancy, and after five months his belly had swelled up like a balloon, so no one dared to ask him to work any longer. The others were left to work until late at night. Zheng Caier went to sleep in Lingzhi's room, while Miao Dong simply slept on the table in the main room. It wasn't long before daybreak arrived.
After the rooster crowed, the whole family got up. The pots and pans from last night were still hot. They made a simple breakfast and started to get busy again.
Huo Xing took the two children to start setting up the table. Miao Ying was unable to do this job, so he supervised them at the stove door.
Yesterday they set up a small stove in the yard with a steamer on it. They had made the braised pork and steamed pig's trotters last night. Now they had lit the fire and were steaming them slowly.
They also built a large wooden board in the kitchen, on which they could place the prepared cold dishes, and the other side could be used for cutting vegetables.
The menu that Miao Ying had prepared included cold dishes, a plate of sausage, a plate of bacon, a plate of fried peanuts, a plate of cold-mixed pig ears, hot dishes including twice-cooked pork, braised chicken, stir-fried shredded pork, two steamed dishes namely steamed braised pork and steamed pig's trotter, and a soup which was a meatball soup fried in advance. Finally, some stir-fried seasonal vegetables would be enough to make the main dish perfect, and the meaning was also good.
Lingzhi watched his family busying around for him, feeling a little guilty but also happy. He was on the verge of tears or laughter. Miao Ying put her arm around his shoulders and said, "Well, although our family's conditions are not as good as the Fu family's, we are still very capable."
"I won't say thank you." Lingzhi said, "We will always be a family."
After they had set up the tables and chairs, the big red wedding character looked particularly pleasing on this sunny day. Their yard had never been so lively. Even their grandmother was sitting in the yard talking to some elderly people.
Li Hongying was extremely busy, walking around in circles in the yard again and again. Huo Xing and Huo Xiaobao were also learning how to entertain guests, and generally speaking, there were no mistakes.
The villagers were actually also puzzled. According to past practices, the bride's side only needed to prepare one breakfast, and the bulk of the meal was spent on the wedding side. There were families that held such a large breakfast like theirs, but not many.
Fu Lingyou could not come to today's occasion. The ancient custom stated that the couple could not meet three days before the wedding. Although he did not come, he sent a lot of gifts, which also reduced the pressure on Miao Ying and others.
There were twelve tables set up for the banquet, stretching from the yard to the main road at the door. When the table was set, everyone was a little surprised. They had eaten at many banquets before, but had never seen anyone as generous as Miao Ying and his friends. There were ten dishes on one table, all of which were meat dishes, and there was a huge pig's trotter. After they sat down at the table, they basically didn't talk much and just focused on eating.
Zheng Caier, who had finished her work, and Miao Dong, whose hands were shaking from cutting vegetables, sat at the table. Seeing that everyone was eating with relish, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that she didn't mess up Miao Ying's business.
Miao Ying was not too hungry. He had been eating while Zheng Caier was cooking. By the time she finished, he was almost full. Now he had a bowl of meatball soup in front of him and was drinking it slowly.
"Sister-in-law, how much do you think our meal is worth?" Miao Ying took a sip of soup and asked Zheng Caier after she had filled her stomach.
"If you really calculate it, it's not cheap." Zheng Caier has been doing sausage business with restaurants in the county town, so she also knows a little about the market.
"Roughly speaking, a table like this would cost at least five hundred coins." Pork is currently twenty coins per pound, and today's banquet used up almost half a pig, which should cost two taels of silver. A dozen pig trotters would also cost two or three taels, and a chicken would cost forty or fifty coins. They used two, which cost a hundred coins. Add in the rice, flour, and rapeseed, and this time they spent six or seven taels of silver. If you spread it out on each table, it would be five or six hundred coins.
Miao Dong spoke up now: "Then you have to include the labor cost. I spent so much time cutting vegetables, don't you have to charge me something?"
"Let's do the math." Zheng Cai'er patted his shoulder, "Eat your meal."
"So, sister-in-law, have you ever thought that now that we have this skill, we can also get a share of this market?"
Zheng Caier looked at him puzzledly: "What do you mean?"
"Look, we have an advantage. Dad and my brother are butchers, so we can buy pork cheaper than other families. We usually set up a stall, and the vegetable vendors deliver vegetables to us, which is cheaper than buying them ourselves. If we do this, the cost will be much lower than others." Miao Ying said, "Wouldn't you consider it?"
Zheng Cai'er shook her head subconsciously: "I can't, I can't."
Miao Ying made room and pointed at the table in the yard: "Look, sister-in-law, you did all this, why can't you do it?"
"I told you before about making sausages, and you already knew how to make it without me really teaching you." Miao Ying looked at Huo Xing and Li Hongying who were toasting guests in the yard. Their family's life was getting better and better now, and they believed it would be even better in the future.
So at this time, he thought of his mother's family again. Although their butcher shop was doing well, he always felt that he still had to do something.
He looked at Zheng Caier: "I believe you can do it now."
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