Chapter 563: Divide the Leftovers
With the presence of Yang Ye, no one dared to stir up any trouble. The old Tong Family courtyard was filled with a joyous and harmonious atmosphere.
Yang Ye didn’t linger after the meal and set off in his carriage right after lunch.
At this moment, the wedding banquet was almost over. The head chef from Jiwei Residence also left on his donkey cart.
Hua Xiaofeng’s family followed Qiao Changshun and Qiao Xiaomai back to the Qiao Family’s home, Qiao Qinghe and the others from the Qiao Family also went home. Soon, only Tong Family’s relatives were left in the old courtyard.
Those relatives helped to clean up the bowls, chopsticks, and chairs, and then, as usual, they planned to take away some leftovers.
The leftovers referred to here were not the food left on the plates. Things weren’t easy here, unlike in the future, where banquet meals would always leave a lot of food. Here, anything served on the table, even a plate of vegetables, would be eaten clean without a morsel left. This text is hosted at Nove1Fire.net
The “leftovers” referred to here were the unused ingredients left from preparing the feast, such as pork and other various types of vegetables.
During Tong Tiehu’s sixtieth birthday, there were a lot of preparations. In the end, all the remaining pork, grains, steamed buns, and rice that were taken to the new house’s kitchen were left and eventually taken by these relatives.
The Tongs were living comfortably, and what they took was just a bit of food, so they felt justified.
However, things were different now. The Tongs had fallen on hard times, their family could only afford meat once per half a month. So, they definitely couldn’t afford to give anything to their relatives anymore.
Zhu Hongyun’s mother, as usual, went into the kitchen as soon as the bowls, chopsticks, and chairs were tidied up.
The kitchen did not have as many leftovers as before. This time, Tong Sanlang and Qiao Xiaomai purchased the ingredients, and Qiao Xiaomai’s experience allowed him to buy just enough based on the number of guests, leaving nothing spare.
Other than a surplus of steamed buns, the only thing left was some pork.
The Tong Family had slaughtered their own fattened pig. Due to the lower number of people, they had some leftovers, including the pig offal, which Qiao Xiaomai stewed for the Tong family to eat. At this time, only a piece of hind leg meat was left on the cutting board.
Zhu Hongyun’s mother took out a clean linen bag from her bosom. She first packed some steamed buns and was about to cut the hind leg when Li Rou entered the kitchen.
“Aunt, we shouldn’t take this. Our family is having a hard time too,” she reasoned.
Despite Li Rou’s words, the hand of Zhu Hongyun’s mother holding the knife didn’t falter as she continued to cut the hind leg. She still planned to equally share the meat among four households, as they used to and responded, saying, “Even a camel, skinny from starvation, is bigger than a horse. Are you really worried about this small matter?”
“Moreover, didn’t Sanlang just marry an amazing wife? Look at the dowry brought today by the prince; it’s enough to make people green with envy. I bet your family will bounce back to your previous wealth soon!”
With that said, she swiftly cut off around ten taels of meat and put it in her bag.
“That’s Sanlang’s wife’s dowry. Until she decides to use it, we can barely afford meat once every half month,” Li Rou walked over and directly snatched the bag from Zhu Hongyun’s mother’s hand. She did not seem pleased as she emptied the steamed buns and pork inside it.
Zhu Hongyun’s mother was livid, “Hey, I’m telling you, you are not in charge here!”
Such actions have been tacitly accepted by Tong Tiehu for years.
Two more figures appeared at the entrance of the kitchen at this time – Mother Li and Mother Zhang.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Hongyun’s mother immediately started to complain, “I’m telling you, Mother Daliang, look at your daughter! She’s not letting us take even this little bit of food home now!”