Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 51: The Seat

When Feng Yiping arrived at his grandfather's house, it so happened that today was the birthday of an old gentleman from his grandfather's generation. Feng Yiping also called this old gentleman 'grandfather' and would definitely go to pay New Year's visits every year. The old gentleman was 75 years old this year, and he had many children and even more relatives and friends. Together with the people from the village, more than 40 tables were set up.

Unlike many places where the banquets are held in one place, such as on the grain drying ground, where the tables are all placed together, the tradition here is that the banquets are held in the homes of the neighbours.

The tableware is standardised, and there are always a few households in each village that buy hundreds of sets of tableware. The host of the event has to take the initiative to invite these households, regardless of whether they give gifts or not, and the gifts are returned in kind.

But another major item for a banquet, tables and chairs, was a problem and could only be pooled from each household. But to be honest, every household had a dining table, but it was not easy to pool ten tables that were uniform and have chairs that could be used for entertaining guests. Plastic tables and chairs were not common in the countryside at this time, and ordinary people could not afford them. So slowly, many families had carpenters make large tables with four benches and a few high chairs, so that the family had all the tables and chairs they needed to entertain a table of guests.

However, new problems soon arose. Sitting on a bench requires coordination. More than once, someone got up and forgot to say hello, causing the person sitting on the other end to fall over.

Going to a banquet is considered an important social occasion in the countryside, and it is also an occasion for relatives who have not seen each other for a while to reconnect. So everyone wears their best clothes. It turns out that some people even borrow watches and handbags from others when they go to banquets, and they carefully groom their hair and beard, which they normally might not care about.

So, dressed in their best clothes and looking smart, they were suddenly thrown to the ground in front of all their relatives. Who wouldn't feel embarrassed? Fortunately, the dinner table is also an occasion where good manners are important. In front of outsiders, some people will put on a good front even if they are seething with anger.

Others are different. If they are already grumpy and then make a fool of themselves in front of others, plus the fact that they have had a little drink, they will start arguing on the spot.

For the less fortunate hosts, if they don't handle it well, there can sometimes be several such incidents during a banquet.

Therefore, later, a clever person who is close to the host will be arranged at each table, not only to take care of the guests and make sure they are having a good time, but also to prevent disputes among the guests.

Grandpa's house had two tables set up in the main room, but Grandpa wasn't there. He was supposed to be sitting at the head of the table with the birthday boy, and his third eldest uncle was watching over things. I think the eldest uncle's house also had a few tables set up.

There were ten people at each table. When he saw him enter the door, his third uncle added a stool to his own table and a pair of chopsticks. Feng Yiping didn't want to eat for free, so he asked his third uncle if he should make up a gift. Feng Yiping thought that was right. For a relative's birthday, his family would definitely have to give a gift. Even if you don't go, the gift goes.

Everyone at the table is related to Feng Yiping, including people from the village. The remaining two are Feng Yiping's maternal uncle's brothers. The one sitting at the head of the table is Feng Yiping's maternal uncle, so Feng Yiping's uncle taught Feng Yiping to call him 'uncle'. Since Feng Yiping is a child, no one objected.

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Speaking of positions, this is another problem that causes headaches for the host. Now that everyone has already taken their seats, if Feng Yiping returns and the banquet hasn't started yet, he will have a lot of trouble.

Everyone at the table will be polite and defer to the host and the guest of honour, and they will definitely argue for a long time about where to sit. For example, if it is decided that the banquet will start at 11:00, some people will argue until 11:30 and still no decision has been made.

However, even if they are polite, if someone feels that they should be sitting in the main seat, but they are arranged to sit in the accompanying seat, then sorry, they will be too proud to stay. They will say that they cannot afford to eat at your banquet, and they will storm off on the spot.

This is not a bad situation, but there are worse ones. Some people even overturned the table on the spot.

Anyway, not to mention a village, just a single village, every year, there are always a few banquets like this. Such things don't happen every time, but basically you can see them all in one year.

The banquet has been going on for a while now, and all the disturbances that were bound to happen before it has passed. Even if there was a mess like that, Feng Yiping couldn't see it, hehe, which is also a perk of being late.

The dishes at the banquet are served one after the other. At this time, four dishes have already been served. In the bowls on the table, there is only some leftover soup, and next to it are everyone's tableware.

The tableware is very simple: a pair of chopsticks, a spoon, and a wine glass. There are no plates, bone dishes, flavouring dishes, soup bowls, or chopstick rests. Some people find it unsanitary to leave chopsticks and spoons on the table, so they ask for an extra pair and rest them on top of the food when they are not using them.

Feng Yiping had wanted to go to the cupboard and get a bowl, but then thought better of it. Everyone is using chopsticks, and it would not be fair to take an entire bowl.

Everyone takes advantage of the breaks between courses to smoke and gather their strength. At banquets like this, especially when the food is good, it's always a case of the quick get it and the slow don't. At Grandpa's house, it's fine at these two tables, except for Feng Yiping, because everyone is an adult. If you meet those who bring their children to the banquet, it will be lively.

The worst thing about eating at these banquets is sitting at the same table as women with children. When she sees a delicious dish, she'll claim it for her child under the pretext that it's the child's favourite food. It's not easy to argue with a woman with children, of course, and you're bound to feel upset.

Before long, the waiter carrying the tray came running in, and everyone helped to carry the empty bowls so that he could put the tray of food on the table.

This time, there were two dishes: stir-fried carrots with meat and fried lotus root. The adults exchanged a few polite words, and the third uncle greeted everyone with a round of drinks before everyone picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

The bowl was one of those large blue-and-white dishes – not the kind with blue-and-white patterns, of course. It was the biggest container for serving food in an ordinary household, but with ten people at the table, each taking a single chopstickful, the stir-fried carrots were soon empty.

This situation reminded Feng Yiping of the first company trip after he started working. They had climbed a mountain for most of the morning, and at lunchtime, the restaurant in the scenic area was so busy that the dishes came one after the other.

All the young guys were hungry, and the dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes was gone in no time. When the dish of stir-fried pork with peppers was served, there were only a few slices left in no time. For Mapo tofu, those who were quick could scoop up a spoonful, but those who were slow could only scrape the bottom of the dish.

Sometimes, you have to be quick to get an appetite. After eating six or seven dishes, the people at the table, including the table with many girls, also feel even hungrier and keep asking for more food. The tour guide saw that this was not working and went to the kitchen and said something. A plate of Yangzhou fried rice and fried rice cakes was served to the table, and the remaining dishes were not served one after the other. They were all fried together and served at the same time, and the table became normal.

Today was no different. Feng Yiping was very proactive and didn't need his uncle's help. He even took the initiative to help himself to a couple of chopsticks. This is no time to be polite. If you're polite, the food will be gone. As long as you don't eat in an ugly way, no one will laugh at you. We're all more or less the same.

The waiter, who had been running, came in again, unable to stop running. At banquets, everyone needs to be quick, and the same goes in the kitchen. When the dishes are first served, the portions are definitely larger, and every spoonful is well-rounded. Later, when the chef serves the bowls, the spoons are always a bit smaller, and after all the tables are served, there are always some leftovers.

This is because sometimes there are guests who are far away, or some people encounter problems on the way and are delayed, and they can't make it to the start of the banquet. These latecomers need a separate banquet, and all the dishes should be there.

Also, after all the guests have left, the chef himself, as well as the kitchen helpers and waiters, have to eat too.

There are still four bowls on the tray, two at the table. This time, the two bowls are the same: red bean soup, which is sweet. Feng Yiping has never been a fan of sweets and only tasted a little, scooping up a shallow spoonful as a sign of respect.

When it came time to clear the bowls, the waiter glanced at the bottle of wine and shook the clay pot of rice wine. He said to his uncle, 'Uncle Guoxing, you should encourage everyone to drink more. So far, the rice wine has hardly been touched, and only two bottles of white wine have been opened. Don't be shy, you should not only eat well, but also drink well.'

The third uncle sitting at the head of the table laughed and said, 'That's true. I was hoping to have a few drinks, but Guoxing, you didn't keep me company.'

Upon hearing this, the third uncle immediately picked up the bottle and filled his glass. 'Everyone knows that I don't drink much, but since you're my brother, I'll drink with you today. Here, let's both have a drink first. Everyone just have a little.'

The two brothers-in-law of the third uncle, one drinking white wine and the other rice wine, were also eager to drink. 'Don't worry, if Guoxing gets drunk, there are still the two of us. Today, the three of us will make sure you have a good time drinking.'

That cousin was also joking, and after drinking a toast with the third uncle, drinking a toast with the two brothers-in-law of the third uncle, and toasting the whole table again, he finally bowed to beg for mercy.

However, it is necessary to have someone like this at the table to liven up the atmosphere.

So it went, dish after dish. After the eleventh dish, fried fish, the waiter came. This time he walked a little more slowly and steadily, because the four dishes on the tray seemed to be quite heavy. This time the dishes were different from before, with a bowl inverted on top of each bowl.

Everyone understood when they saw this that there would be a total of 24 dishes today, because the arrival of the dishes with lids meant that the banquet was halfway through.

Fried fish and more. After these two dishes were served, the waiter didn't hurry to leave, but stood aside to have a smoke and catch his breath. San Jiu took the fried fish over to him and he took a few pieces.

The two dishes were left on the table for the time being, and no one touched them.

Gradually, there were firecrackers going off not far away, followed by a flurry of noise. It got louder and louder, and the sound of the firecrackers and the noise got closer and closer.