Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 312: Banquet

It was Sun Ming who spoke first.
He politely acknowledged the expressed intentions of Lian Li for ‘their own sake’ and then said that his family had finally been able to settle in Dafang Village.
Since this was taken care of everyone and they would need the care of everyone in the future, the banquet, in addition to celebrating his success, would express their gratitude to the villagers.
Therefore, they had to do well in terms of the number of tables and the quality of the food.
Talking about difficulties and saying that it’s not easy to deal with, would this not express that they are feeling sorry for themselves and disrespect the villagers? Especially Li Zheng and the village elders! This disrespect, he would never dare…

In the end, Sun Ming suggested: They would set up twenty tables and spend three coins on each, they would be embarrassed to spend less! Let them rest assured that when the guests ate at the table, they would explain the matter fully! All in all, it would not make people think that his family was better than the Lian family or that the family was stingy!

The faces of Lian Li and Madam Qiao were a bit ugly but since Sun Ming had said this, they still had some scruples and did not dare to argue.
Otherwise, they would have opposed the accusations long ago.

Since this was the case, Madam Qiao said stiffly: “Are you determined to do so?”

“We have already decided and won’t change it.” Sun Ming said with a kind smile.

Hitting a nail that was neither soft nor hard, Madam Qiao suddenly stagnated.

Lian Hai said: “Father, Mother, let’s do it according to these specifications! It doesn’t cost much to make a lively, auspicious picture!”

Sun Ming’s words could not be refuted and Lian Hai would never let the Sun family’s banquet be better than his own.
Don’t think about what outsiders would say, his own heart would be too uncomfortable.

Hearing this, Lian Li and Madam Qiao couldn’t refute their son’s face in front of outsiders, so they had to agree.

Sun Zhang Xing and Sun Ming both breathed a sigh of relief.
After briefly discussing a few words, they set the dates and returned home.

“After this, it will be impossible to spend less than six taels! Alas, it’s wasted!” Madam Qiao sighed with distress.

“Just this one time, Mother, don’t think too much about it.
People will also bring gifts, so the loss is limited.” Lian Hai assured her.

In fact, he wasn’t too bothered by the six taels of silver, his words were just to comfort his mother.

Madam Qiao agreed with a sigh and then huffed: “It’s just gifts! A few eggs, a pair of shoe solos, some cabbages! I’m afraid even a chicken would be too dear that they would be reluctant to bring it! Then the whole family will come and eat! Can we keep the food if we don’t finish it? I don’t need those gifts!”

Lian Hai glanced at her, too lazy to continue speaking.

Two days later, Lian Hai and Sun Ming paid respect to the ancestors of the village and then invited guests to their banquets.
Dafang Village was lively for several days.

When it came time for the Lian family’s banquet, Lian Fang Zhou took out five people to help set up, leaving six to manage the cotton fields.

She also used her donkey cart to bring back some vegetables from the city, having Zhang Xiao Jun drive.

As for the firewood, Lian Fang Zhou refused Madam Qiao’s request, saying that her family’s firewood was not much and was barely enough to cover their own needs.
The compound needed to cook and burn wood every day and soon it would be time to weed and fertilize the cotton fields.
Soon, she would have no time at all!

Seeing that she was willing to bring out the cart and workers for her family, Madam Qiao had been very smug.
However, as soon as she heard Lian Fang Zhou reject her request, she was furious! Seeing her so angry, Lian Fang Zhou simply ignored her.

Madam Qiao wanted to curse Lian Fang Zhou and complain that she was taking advantage of them, but thinking about her son’s words from two days ago, she forced herself to bear it and only cursed a few words secretly.

While eating at the banquet, Lian Fang Zhou handed over a red envelope with two taels of silver.

It should be said that the gifts given by everyone in the village did not even add up to two or three silver coins.
Madam Qiao was originally very excited to open this red envelope and look inside.
Seeing only two taels, she immediately scolded Lian Fang Zhou for being stingy, saying that she had such a big family business but was only willing to take out two taels, this was clearly despising people!

She wasn’t greedy, twenty taels was enough, right?

Hearing her complaining and complaining in front of him, Lian Hai finally warned her so she had to hold herself back and only complain behind Lian Hai and Lian Li’s backs.
As for Lian Fang Zhou, she didn’t even dare to be wordy!

However, there was something that made her even more annoyed! Surely Lian Fang Zhou had come out to help her family because she was in awe of their success and become her name was Lian, right?

But who were the Suns? Sun Zhang Xing was just a hired servant of her family.
He had to call her master when he saw her, according to etiquette.
Why would Lian Fang Zhou also help his family but bringing out her cart?

The fire was building in Madam Qiao’s heart without an outlet for several days to the point that she couldn’t sleep at night.
She even tried to find out how many red envelopes Lian Fang Zhou had given the Sun family!

She swore that if Lian Fang Zhou gave more red envelops to the Sun family than to hers, no one would stop her from going straight to her door to scold her!

In the end, she learned that Lian Fang Zhou had only given them some silver coins and felt slightly more balanced.
Truthfully, though, she couldn’t help but wonder if the Sun family had lied to her and that Lian Fang Zhou had given them a lot! Paranoid, she kept asking the Sun family over and over again, making the Sun family feel dumbfounded.

After the banquets, Lian Hai and Sun Ming went to the city together.
They had to reserve two or three tables in a decent restaurant to thank their teacher for his teaching and invite their classmates to celebrate.

It was common for teachers to also invite several well-known seniors in the local area for them.
This was a rare opportunity, and many classmates would accept invitations and not think too much about losing themselves.

After becoming a shengyuan, a student no longer needed to go to school but study hard at school.
Every half month, they would bring their work to ask their teacher for advice and request new assignments.
Sometimes they would participate in activities such as poetry meetings, gatherings, and formally enter the circle of literary and Confucian scholars.

~

Other people were also busy.

After inquiring about when Lian Fang Zhou’s cotton would be transplanted, Zhao Ru Jun also ordered her cotton to be transplanted.

As soon as Young Lady Zhao gave the order, her people immediately went to work.

The more indispensable thing in the Zhao family was their people and they had all the seedlings planted in less than three days!

However, Zhao Ru Jun could only frown when she went to survey the fields.
Although the cotton seedlings had also been planted one by one, because there were too many workers and no unified command, the ridges were crooked and slanted.
The distance between the ridges were not equal and the sizes were all different.
Even the spacing between the cotton seedlings was all different.

In some places, there were dead seedlings and no extras to replace them, leaving awkward, empty spaces.

There were also many seedlings that had become damaged during transportation and the leaves were particularly bad.
Many of the tops that had been chopped off were also planted!

To put it bluntly, it was just one word.

Chaos!

Zhao Ru Jun’s brow wrinkled involuntarily, and her face became dark and silent.

TN: Boss Bitch is back!