Abandoned the Immortal Cultivator, returned to his hometown to farm and sing

Chapter 1219 1208. Suck~
Alas, Xiang Boming was helpless.

Why are two missing? Just look at your own table and the one next to it, isn't it obvious?

It's all about connections.

"How much was the original price for the banquet?" Xiang Boming brought the conversation back to the main topic, asking a question that everyone was curious about.

"138,800." The chubby girl quoted an exorbitant price.

This drew a chorus of hisses.

Several exclamations of surprise followed: "They even have opening discounts! What a bargain! Let's book a table together!"

It was Old Hou who spoke.

Spending 100,000 yuan on a banquet is considered a good deal?
Liang Yue and her group of novices looked on in surprise.

The six people at that table were all nodding and smiling, seemingly unaware that there was anything wrong with it.

Are they that rich?
But the chubby girl rushed over, waving her hands and shaking her head, "Sir, tonight's feast is a grand affair, with twenty-four dishes and a large table for eighteen people. You won't be able to finish it all..."

Hearing the chubby girl's words, Old Hou was even more delighted, "Old Xu's dishes are more than we can finish!"

A typical gluttonous face.

Old Liang was the only one who remained rational, reminding him, "Old Hou, how old are you? If you fill your stomach with appetizers, how will you eat the main courses later?"

This is what he's worried about...

After saying that, he turned to the chubby girl and asked, "Little girl, what kind of banquet is it tonight? Are there any special customs?"

The chubby girl shook her head. "There were no special rules. It was just the menu set by Chef Xu, based on the rules of the Tianhan Baba Banquet. It's Zigong Salt Gang cuisine."

"The Tianhan Dam Banquet embodies propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame—the four cardinal virtues of the nation, and the eight cold and sixteen hot traditions." Old Liang truly understood.

Liang Yue and Xiang Boming have a deep impression of the "baba banquet" (a traditional outdoor banquet held on public grounds).

They ate there during the Flower Sea Food Festival.

In Yueerwa, Mian County, people not only eat the food, but they also make it themselves.

When slaughtering the pig, Xiang Boming pulled on the pig's leg. Liang Yue picked vegetables in the vegetable garden, and before leaving, she even tried to take away the village's big tabby cat.

Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Liang Yue performed exceptionally well that time, persisting until the sixteenth dish.

Xiang Boming worked his way up to the twentieth.

Neither of them made it to the final dish; they ended up taking the leftovers home.

Slurp~~
Liang Yue nudged Bo Ming and whispered, "I need to find more people today, so I can save my stomach. I still want to take pictures of boiled cabbage and post them on WeChat Moments."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Boming panicked and tried to look at his girlfriend, saying, "Calm down, it's 100,000 yuan."

"A large table, enough for eighteen people, over five thousand per person." Liang Yue showed her phone.

The above is a calculator. Ninety-nine thousand eighty divided by eighteen equals five thousand five hundred and forty...

"Five thousand..." Xiang Boming shuddered, thinking to himself, "Wake up! How can you feel okay?"

That's over five thousand yuan, just for one meal...

My second uncle's child, his cousin got married, and he only gave 5,000 yuan as a wedding gift.

...Or, how about we treat it as my cousin's second marriage?
Xiang Boming quickly patted his face to try and clear his head.

Liang Yue's face was filled with a big question mark; she couldn't understand why her boyfriend had suddenly gone crazy.

She had no idea that her future brother-in-law had already remarried in such a short time.

But it's not important.

Liang Yue was busy, listening intently to the gossip.

At another table, a group of young people were asking the old man if the 100,000 yuan banquet was expensive.

"Not expensive at all. A banquet of bird's nest and shark fin at Tan Family Cuisine in the capital costs 250,000 yuan. It's a 10-person table with only 13 dishes. I remember the current head chef of Tan Family Cuisine, Chef Liu, was born in 1972. He's 50 years old. In terms of seniority, he's not as experienced as Chef Xu."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand per table???" Another gasp rippled through the crowd. There's a real expert here.

A meal costing 250,000? Are they eating gold?

I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked.

"Is that much? It's far less than back then. In the 1920s, a table of Tan Family Cuisine's bird's nest and shark fin feast cost three hundred silver dollars. At that time, a policeman in Beiping earned six and a half dollars a month, enough to support a large family. An ordinary person only earned three dollars a month." "Have you read Camel Xiangzi? Xiangzi saved up one hundred silver dollars in three years. If he wanted to eat bird's nest and shark fin feast once, he would have to save up for ten years."

So, the cost of today's banquet isn't expensive, only 5,500 yuan per person.

A banquet of bird's nest and shark fin costs 25,000 yuan per person.

"The Tan Family Cuisine's bird's nest and shark fin banquet consists of thirteen main dishes. Today's table, only the last three dishes, each costing over ten thousand yuan, are truly main dishes," Mr. Liang added.

Then he asked the chubby girl, "Right, little girl? What were those three dishes again?"

This chubby girl rattled off a list: "A pork knuckle for 13,800 yuan, a mixed stew of wild delicacies for 21,000 yuan, and boiled cabbage for 29,000 yuan."

"Look, these three alone cost 63,800, while the remaining 21 only cost 36,000." Old Liang seemed to see through everything.

After being bombarded with a bunch of numbers in the tens of thousands, people actually felt that spending 36,000 yuan on 21 dishes was quite a bargain.

but.

"What is 'Mountain Delicacies Stewed Assortment'?" Liang Yue asked curiously.

Instead of answering directly, Mr. Liang asked, "Do you know what Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is?"

Liang Yue nodded. Everyone knows Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a famous Fujian dish. The Zigong Salt Gang was wealthy and unconvinced, so they created a dish called Assorted Stew to compete with Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, they were evenly matched."

Slurp~~
Everyone swallowed hard again.

In other words, today we can not only eat boiled cabbage in clear broth, but also a Sichuan-style version of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
Wait, wait, wait.

Xiang Boming swallowed hard before realizing what was going on. Why was he thinking about having dinner tonight?

Wake up, wake up, it's five thousand five.

And it's also unknown whether others are willing.

Thinking of this, Xiang Boming looked around and realized that everyone on his side had "I want to eat" written on the left and "I want it" written on the right.

That's true; those who came today are all well-off.

Just like the old man at the next table said, if you miss this opportunity, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

To be honest, Xiang Boming was tempted, very tempted.

I just don't know how to start the conversation, since it's our first time meeting and we're not really familiar with each other.

I imagine the same applies to others.

However, he no longer needs to worry about it.

Old Hou, being a shrewd old man, spoke up directly after all the build-up.

"Kids, there are six of you over there and six of us over here. How about we share a table?"

"Huh?", "This?", "Uh..."

They looked left and right at each other, exchanging glances.

Darkly... it's not exactly darkly.

Liang Yue nodded rapidly, which prompted Er Ya and Sister Meng to agree with her.

The three men had no choice but to go along with it, and were quite happy about it.

After they reached an agreement, Xiang Boming agreed, "Okay, okay. We don't know either, and we'd like to learn from the old gentlemen."

"But we only have twelve people in total from both sides, so who can we find to share a table with?"

As Xiang Boming spoke, he looked around, wondering who else he could pull.

"Are there still people on your side?" Old Hou asked.

Xiang Boming shook his head. There were only six people in the small group; the others would come during the Harvest Festival and the National Day holiday.

Seeing that no one was around, Old Hou asked the chubby girl again, "What time does the banquet start?"

"Seven o'clock," the chubby girl replied.

Old Hou nodded, "Alright, there's still time. Girl, go tell the kitchen that we'll reserve a table."

"It's okay if we don't have enough people, I'll call in more..."

As he spoke, he took out his phone and opened a group chat...
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(End of this chapter)