Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 268 Performance

Unlike the banquet outside where one dish is served as soon as it is cooked, there are only eight cold dishes on the main table, and the rest are still in the kitchen.

Cui Rui loves to eat. After he sat down, he couldn't help licking his lips, his eyes fixed on the dishes. "These eight cold dishes alone are very thoughtful. I can tell their beauty and fragrance before I even start eating."

"Brother Rui, what you said makes sense." Although Cui Xiao didn't care too much about food, he could still tell whether someone put in enough effort. The presentation of the dish was different from the ones outside.

The main thing about places like this is that the portions are large and filling, but here, the portions of each dish are not large and the presentation is very pleasing to the eye.

"Let's eat first. These hot dishes must be served one by one." Old Lady Xia took the lead in picking up the food with chopsticks. She was the host and the elder. If she didn't pick up the food, Cui Xiao and the others would not be able to eat first.

"That's exactly how it works. This way, the hot dishes won't get cold and lose their flavor before you can even taste them all."

After shaking his head, Cui Rui couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks. After just one bite, he couldn't help but praise, "I've heard that your cooking skills are superb. Today, seeing is believing. It's so delicious!"

It was just too elaborate. There were three of them sharing each plate, and each person could only take two bites before it was gone. The eldest brother's plate only had a little bit of food in the middle. Tsk...

If Jiang Shangxian knew about this, he would definitely cry out for help. She had considered the clan's many problems and specially ordered the portion sizes based on the taste of a modern high-end restaurant, striving to give the two of them a sense of luxury while eating!

What's the key to a high-end restaurant? It's that the portion size of a dish should never exceed three bites. To highlight Cui's high-end, she precisely limited it to two bites!

Old Madam Xia had also done her homework in advance. Although she couldn't explain in detail how these dishes were made, she could still give a general introduction to one or two of them. The meal was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests.

Cui Rui said that these dishes were perfectly prepared. After finishing twenty-one hot dishes, one dessert and two staple dishes, he still felt unsatisfied. He was only about 70% full at most!

However, the size of the meal was enough to shock them both. You know, a state banquet only has about fifty dishes, and it is only held on important occasions. They were too low-ranking officials to be able to attend a state banquet, so they could only hear about it.

But today I actually ate it.

Rich families all have several recipes of their own. The more unique recipes they have, the deeper the clan's heritage is. After all, fresh recipes can't be produced in a day or two; they are accumulated from generation to generation.

Cui Rui was secretly stroking his bulging belly under the table and thinking calmly, if Cui Bianxu married this woman, the Cui family's recipes would be much richer in the future. Well... they were all from the same family, so if there was something he particularly liked, he could shamelessly ask for a recipe or two. He thought his niece's wife would not be stingy, right?

The servants outside were eating and drinking to their heart's content. Old Fan walked among the three tables with his bowl of rice, picking up a chopstick from whatever dish he wanted, and occasionally joking around and bragging to others.

The more the servant ate, the angrier he became, and the more he wanted to cry. Why did Lao Fan get such a good job?

What else is outstanding about Old Fan besides being a lazy donkey that pisses on the ground with shit?

Do you know what kind of life they lead in the Cui family? Because Lin Er doesn't have to cook for his master, he only cooks for them. He cooks as he pleases.

There were new dishes every day, and each one was so delicious that it made people's eyes go dark. However, Cui Bianxu and the other three still ate takeout from Lexianlou, and even the people serving them could eat what they left.

Only this bunch of low-level cattle and horses like them would grit their teeth every time they ate, and stretch their necks with great effort to swallow a meal.

"Oh, I wonder when Miss Jiang will be able to marry into our family." Originally, they were just unhappy with Lin Er, but now they hate Lin Er deeply.

But the ability to create new dishes with my brain is really scary!

"It's early!"

Those who knew a little bit of information looked hopeless: "At least we have to wait until Qinghe hometown sets a date and then send a message to us."

It's really too far away. Although their wife is here, this matter still has to be decided by their hometown. They want to live a good life, so they have to wait!

Those who are quick-witted are already thinking about how to take over Old Fan's position. After all, Miss Jiang will be able to go back with him when she gets married in the future. She has a job, so it's good for her to come and enjoy herself for a while now!

Jiang's mother in the kitchen was also chattering, "Oh, you didn't look at the gift list. I've never heard of those things, and I can't understand them. But the handwriting on it is really beautiful. The person who wrote it must be very elegant, otherwise why would they say these scholars are so great?"

Zhou Ying was the most flattering: "I heard that the Cui family, both men and women, are all very talented in writing. When Master gives birth to a little Junior Brother in the future, he will surely be the same."

Jiang Shangxian and his sister buried their heads even lower, fearing they would burst out laughing.

Their mother was such a liar. She couldn't even read, could she? I wonder if her grandmother and her mother were fooling anyone by pretending to look at the gift list for so long.

Jiang Shangxian couldn't even write calligraphy, but he was already the most educated person in the Jiang family just by guessing Tang Kai. She originally wanted to say that if our family couldn't read, then they didn't know, and if they had no culture, then they had no culture. Anyway, we didn't steal or rob and lived a down-to-earth life, so there was nothing to feel guilty about.

But both Old Lady Xia and Jiang's mother disagreed. They were determined not to show weakness in front of their future in-laws.

The two of them forced Jiang Wangri to learn the Thousand Character Classic for quite a while, but as he got older, his brain wasn't as flexible as a new one. He could only remember one or two characters at most every day. After studying for more than half a month, his cultural level was still that of an illiterate.

Only then did Old Lady Xia decide to put on some pretense in front of the people from the Cui family.

Anyway, the Cui family is full of educated people, and even the servants can recognize a few words. I'm afraid people like them have never thought of marrying into an illiterate family, so they shouldn't be noticed if they pretend.

It has to be said that Old Madam Xia is quite capable in understanding people's minds. The two of them practiced several times in advance on how to look at the gift list in a way that would make people look at it carefully and attentively, so that no one would see that they were pretending.

Today's performance was a great success.

Cui Xiao and Cui Rui had never met someone in their lives who couldn't read a single word and needed to deal with them for such a long time. They never thought that these two people could not read and yet pretend to be like them!