Chapter 496 - 498: Want to See the Bai Family’s Embarrassment? No Way!
Bai Ruozhu walked towards the kitchen, with Lin Ping’er and the others following to lend a hand, discussing what to prepare, and whether they needed to go out and buy additional ingredients.
"Mother, you saw it too, didn’t you? The ones led by the guy surnamed Fu were deliberately following us, wanting to make a fool out of second brother." whispered Bai Ruozhu.
Lin Ping’er nodded, "I noticed it as well, but why? Is it because your second brother ranked first in the examination?"
"Last time when I was at the Study Palace of Beiyu with my second brother, I saw that guy from the Fu family. My second brother told me that he ranked second in the two previous exams and comes from a well-off family. He immediately went to the Study Palace of Beiyu right after his first exam." Bai Ruozhu explained.
Upon hearing this, Lin Ping’er and the others let out a long "Oh." So, it was a matter of the second-place student getting jealous and trying to make Bai Zepei look bad, taking advantage of his prior admission to the Study Palace.
"Ruozhu, show them what we’re capable of!" Lin Ping’er said, her face full of determination. She would not tolerate anyone attempting to bully her son, let alone someone who had the audacity to come to their door and do so.
"Yes, I just heard them saying that second brother was only successful because of Mr. Meng’s influence. Their words were inappropriate." said Fang Guizhi, clearly angered.
Hearing this, Wan Caiyue promptly attempted to take off her apron to go out and buy a chicken or fish.
Bai Ruozhu stopped her, however, saying "We never lack food for our daily meals. There’s no need to run out purposely to buy anything. If they were to see, they might say that we made last-minute preparations just to save face."
Wan Caiyue found her argument convincing and re-tied her apron.
Bai Ruozhu glanced at their wrists and said, "Don’t you wear the jewelry we bought for you? Go back to your rooms and put them on. When you serve the food later, they will see it and our family’s womenfolk will not be belittled. Do they really think that just because we’re from the countryside, we don’t have anything worth showing off? Do they believe that the Bai family can’t make money?"
At these words, Lin Ping’er and the others nodded and left the kitchen to return to their rooms to put their bracelets on.
Bai Ruozhu chuckled to herself in the kitchen, knowing that they don’t usually wear their jewelry out of fear of getting it dirty, or scratching them. However, she thought differently. If it got dirty or old, she could always buy a new one.
While she was alone in the kitchen, she quickly killed three live fish from a wooden bucket, deboned them and used the flesh to make fish balls. Then she swiftly took two plump fish from her space, steamed one after killing it, deboned the second one and mixed its flesh together with the three previous fish.
Next, she threw the heads and spines of the two fish back into her space to prevent anyone from finding out.
The flavor of the fish from her space was far superior to that of ordinary fish. Mixing the two together would be indistinguishable to her family.
Subsequently, she took some dried scallops out from her space. These were found in the spatial pond and dried ahead of time. Don’t ask why scallops, which should be found in the sea, were in her pond. In such a magical pond, anything was possible.
She would say she bought the dried seafood when she went out a few days ago if anyone asked. Moreover, dried scallops were a delicacy and they were particularly hard to come by in the north, where they would only appear on the dining tables of the affluent.
Bai Ruozhu soaked the dried scallops in water and continued to prepare the other ingredients. Meanwhile, Lin Ping’er and the others had returned to the kitchen. Under her instruction, they washed and chopped the vegetables. Soon, a variety of sumptuous dishes began to emerge from the kitchen, and the others brought them to the table.
Because there were guests at home, the Lin and Zheng families didn’t purposely leave their rooms to join in on the fun. Bai Ruozhu called for Guizhi to send over some dishes to them while she brought hot soup to their rooms.
Dinner officially began in the main hall. As Bai Zehao was not home to help entertain, Bai Yihong took up the task of entertaining the guests. Fu Shengqing initially wanted to make fun of Bai Yihong, because he had heard that Bai Zepei’s father was a farmer. But unexpectedly, Bai Yihong spoke in an educated manner, without uttering a single country phrase. How was he supposed to make fun of him then?
The adult men from the family joined at the table, naturally including Xiaosi. Bai Ruozhu and the others did not join them at the table. However, they did occasionally get up to refill the soup and rice, and to check what was happening.
Bai Ruozhu did not approach them closely. After all, she had keen hearing and good vision, so she could see what was happening inside from the kitchen door.
Bai Zepei and Bai Yihong introduced the five of them one by one. The second one was named Fu Shengqing, a country gentry from Anyuan Town, whose grandfather was a successful candidate in the imperial examination. The man named Wang who backed him up was Wang Junzhi, who hailed from Beiyu City. Two poorly dressed scholars were named Qin Kaichang and Liu Xiushang, and another one, who was a bit skinny, was named Zhu Kaifu.
From the conversation at the table, Bai Ruozhu could tell that Fu Shengqing’s family was quite wealthy, at least by Anyuan Town standards. He was twenty-four years old and had been married off to someone of equal social status by his family. He was mainly focused on the imperial examination, vowing to bring honor to his family.
Bai Ruozhu wrinkled her mouth at that, finding this man quite odd, especially the way he looked at her when he saw her at the door. However, when she approached later, the man did not show any disrespect.
Since they had classes in the afternoon, no one drank any alcohol. Bai Yihong encouraged them to start eating. Fu Shengqing and Wang Junzhi were well-off, but they felt a bit uncomfortable seeing such a lavish spread of dishes.
It was Fu Shengqing who took the initiative to speak to Bai Zepei after the meeting was over. He mentioned that he may have shown disrespect due to some rumors he heard about Bai Zepei and asked for his understanding. The others also apologized, and Bai Zepei, not wanting to lose his manner, said it was fine and chatted with them for a few moments.
Then Fu Shengqing mentioned that he had heard that the Bai Family lived nearby and asked if they minded him and his friends paying them a visit. Wang Junzhi echoed his sentiments, leaving Bai Zepei with no choice but to invite them over.
But at this moment, Bai Zepei had a hint of a smile on his lips. Seeing the rich spread of dishes and the fashionable silver bracelet on his mother’s wrist when she served the dishes, he knew his family was protecting him and didn’t want him to be looked down upon.
Wang Junzhi and Fu Shengqing exchanged glances, they really couldn’t find any faults. The Bai family hadn’t even left their home yet prepared such an elaborate feast. It showed that they ate well on a regular basis and had plenty of supplies at hand.
At this point, Zhu Kaifu, who had been silent all along, noticed that Guizhi had brought over a dish and placed a small bowl of stewed eggs in front of everyone. He asked curiously, "Are these dried scallops?"
Fu Qingsheng looked over and squinted his eyes. Indeed, they were dried scallops! Although it was paired with stewed eggs and each person only had a small portion, with just three scallops in each portion, the scallops were very large and were clearly not cheap!
He felt a bit displeased. How could the Bai family, mere country folks, afford to buy such high-quality dried scallops? They definitely couldn’t be real, they must have used similar materials to make something that only looked like dried scallops!
Thinking about this, he hurriedly used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of dried scallop and put it in his mouth. He could tell whether it was real once he tasted it.
"Young master, be careful, these freshly cooked dried scallops are hot." Guizhi said with a playful smile. But her meaning was clear, she was implying that the young master hadn’t tasted anything good before, that’s why he was so eager.
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