It wasn’t long after Madam Zou’s figure had disappeared from their sights that He Changqi stood up and bowed deeply to his friends with his fists cupped together. “My humble wife wasn’t honest. I would like to ask for your forgiveness, and hope that you won’t hold it against her for this dishonesty.”
Madam Zou didn’t know that He Changqi had already told his friends about Chu Lian’s cooking. However, Madam Zou had suddenly tried to steal Chu Lian’s credit in front of He Changqi and his friends. Her plan had failed and she had shown that she didn’t have the virtues that a good wife should have. Not only that, she had practically slapped He Changqi in the face in front of his good friends.
Lord Ge quickly helped He Changqi back up. “Brother He, please don’t blame yourself. Everyone has some form of greed for fortune and fame. Sister-in-law simply wanted to impress us brothers for your sake. There’s no reason for us to blame her.”
Marquis Weiyuan smiled and agreed with Lord Ge’s sentiment. “It’s rare for us all to have the time to meet. There’s a great feast before us, so let’s not waste it. Come, come, let’s eat and drink!”
After this whole turn of events, Madam Zou’s lies had already been exposed. Although He Changqi’s friends let it pass so as to help He Changqi keep his dignity, the same couldn’t be said for their private thoughts.
However, there was one point of similarity. Madam Zou’s image had been utterly destroyed in front of them. Even Heir Zheng and Marquis Weiyuan were starting to pity He Changqi.
Without speaking of how Madam Zou hadn’t given He Changqi a male heir yet, just based on what they had seen of her personality today, it had completely changed how these few men thought of the ladies of the Dingyuan Estate.
He Changqi had been expecting to impress his friends today. However, after Madam Zou’s little play, He Changqi was so ashamed that he couldn’t hold his head high amongst his friends.
Luckily, the awkward atmosphere didn’t last for long. When the men started tasting the food before them, they completely forgot about Madam Zou and her lies. All that remained in their minds was the delicious food on the table! Right here and right now, they couldn’t let these delicacies go to waste!
There was usually a refined and lofty air at these friendly meetings between noblemen. They would brew some tea, warm up some wine and maybe grill some venison with their good friends. If the mood was right, they might even compose a few poems or couplets with brushes in hand and wine cups in the other… Basically, it would be very elegant and dignified. Wolfing down their food and searching for seconds in the pot was something that unrefined barbarians would do. It was something that these noble and high-born gentlemen would never do.
However…
Nobility, manners, elegance? Are those edible? Could those silly principles satisfy the hunger in their bellies?
Of course not!
Marquis Weiyuan and Lord Ge were childhood friends and had grown up together. When they had started studying, they had studied together in the Ge Family’s private school for their own clan members. Their mothers were best friends, so the two kids had practically grown up wearing the same pair of pants. However, at this moment…
Marquis Weiyuan quickly finished off one of the sweet and sour pork ribs before staring at the remaining ribs on the plate. As he watched, Heir Zheng reached out and stole away one more rib, so there was one left on that blue porcelain plate. Marquis Weiyuan immediately sent his chopsticks flying towards that last pork rib on the plate, but sparks flew as he suddenly met with another pair of silver chopsticks on his way.
Marquis Weiyuan’s gaze traced the chopsticks back to their owner, only to see the normally composed Lord Ge with his cheeks bulging.
His eye twitched and he quickly spoke up, “Brother Ge, I touched it first, move your chopsticks away!”
“Brother Li, I’m older than you by a year. When you were younger, I gave in to you all the time. This time, you should let your older brother have a turn!”
“Brother Ge, your mouth is still full!”
……
Marquis Weiyuan and Lord Ge, who were practically twins since birth, had suddenly started arguing over a single sweet and sour pork rib.
He Changqi’s awkwardness upon witnessing this scene didn’t prevent him from continuously reaching out to grab some poached fish slices at all. It was good that they were arguing anyway. As a result, no one was fighting with him over this plate of fish. Although Third Sister-in-Law had sent over an entire bowl the last time, it hadn’t been enough! Furthermore, he had a big appetite, so he hadn’t eaten his fill yet. This time, perhaps due to consideration for the guests, Chu Lian had prepared a much larger portion. That soft, tender, white meat was paired with the fiery fragrance of chilli, yet it still melted in the mouth like butter. It was so tasty he even felt like swallowing his tongue along with it!
Right after he had placed a thin slice of fish in his mouth, he caught sight of Xiao Bojian, who was sitting across from him, reaching into the large plate with a spoon. After some quick maneuvering with his chopsticks, when his spoon was lifted up from the sea of red chillis, it was full of tender, white fish slices…
Following that, He Changqi watched with wide eyes as Xiao Bojian poured all the fish slices into his small white porcelain bowl…
Next, his empty spoon reached out once again towards the plate of poached fish…
What the heck… What happened to their noblemen’s gathering? There were only hungry ghosts sitting at this table!
A meal that should have been filled with conversation, laughter and drink… ended in just an hour.
