Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

"I told you to let the kids come. Look at all this food, we can't finish it all, what a waste. I should have brought a container so we could pack it up and take it home for two more meals." Li Erbo's youngest daughter-in-law, who had just been scolded by her mother-in-law before the meal, looked at the large amount of leftover food on the table. She couldn't eat it, and she couldn't take it with her. Her eyes reddened with heartache.

Hearing her muttering, her sister-in-law sitting next to her couldn't help but roll her eyes. Why was she always so easily fooled? She had seen it clearly just now; she had secretly loosened her belt twice. She wondered if the people of Zhangjia Village had seen it. If they had seen it and it had spread, both the daughters who had left their families and the wives who had married into them would have been ridiculed.

So she nudged her with her elbow, indicating that the guest sitting opposite was still there, and told her to stop saying such embarrassing things.

Perhaps she was too busy with the delicious food on the table to think clearly, because she misunderstood her sister-in-law's meaning and nodded at her with a happy expression. Then she asked the guest opposite her, "Auntie, look how much food is left over. It's such a waste to throw it away. Can I get a jar to put it back and bring it back another day?"

Even Tian Guihua, the straightforward guest at their table, was taken aback by her words. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and immediately said, "That's right! I was just regretting that so many good dishes were wasted. Wait here, I'll go get you the jars right now!" After saying that, she looked at the other tables in the room and asked, "Does anyone else need jars? I'll bring them over as well."

Sitting on the kang (heated brick bed), Li's second aunt was already nearly fainting from anger after hearing her younger daughter-in-law's words. Hearing Tian Guihua's question now, her mind was spinning, and she almost couldn't sit still. Li Min, sitting next to her, quickly reached out to support her, letting her lean on her shoulder. She was also furious at her niece-in-law's words, but no matter how angry she was, she couldn't let her second sister-in-law faint at her daughter's dinner party.

Li's eldest aunt was really afraid that some troublemakers would follow suit and ask for more jars, so she ignored her second sister-in-law's situation and quickly said, "No need, everyone is full and no one wants to take anything."

Hearing that no one else in the room wanted the jar, Tian Guihua went outside.

Aside from that idiot who was happily waiting for the jar, everyone else from Lijiazhuang looked grim. It was too embarrassing. But the people from Zhangjiazhuang who were entertaining guests were still there, so they couldn't say anything. If that idiot started arguing and making a scene, it would make everyone look even worse. The sister-in-law sitting next to her unconsciously moved her buttocks to the side, wanting to get away from her, afraid that others would think they were the same kind of people.

Soon, Tian Guihua came in carrying a jar that was a foot tall. "Girl, can you watch this jar?"

"Okay, okay, okay." He said this happily and took the jar.

"Sister-in-law, pass that plate of food over here." Without even asking if the other person still wanted to eat, she took the jar and started folding vegetables into it.

Seeing her like this, the people at the other tables all stood up and said they were full and wanted to go to Seventh Sister's room to see her.

Almost instantly, the people at the tables on the floor stood up and left. Only a few women who had accompanied the guests and two tables of elders on the kang (a heated brick bed) remained in the room.

That fool ignored what others were doing and just kept breaking up her own food. She broke up all the leftovers on the table until they were completely gone. Seeing that the jar was still not full, she turned her attention to the other tables.

Seeing through her intentions, Li's eldest aunt, the oldest among the guests today, finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Alright, Ah Zhe's wife, you've broken quite a few. You can't possibly eat all of them."

"How could this be..." She was about to retort when she looked up and saw her aunt's cold gaze, and then looked at the other elders on the kang watching her. She finally realized she was afraid and didn't say anything more.

Looking down at the two plates of staple food left on the table, he hesitated but couldn't help saying, "Auntie, could you find me some oil paper so I can wrap these steamed buns up and take them back?"

"Enough!" the eldest aunt couldn't help but scold.

After saying that, he looked at the guests in the room apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, I made you all laugh. You don't need to take the oil paper." After saying that, he turned to Ah Zhe's wife and said, "The steamed buns and sesame cakes are clean, and they can still be eaten after being heated up. Even if you don't take them, it won't be a waste."

After saying that, he looked at the two tables of people on the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked, "Have you all finished eating? If you have, then we'll go see if Seventh Sister is going back."

"I'm done eating..."

"Let's go see Seventh Sister again..."

As they talked, everyone got off the kang (a heated brick bed) and put on their shoes. Tian Guihua and the others accompanied them to Zhang Youyin's room. A Zhe's wife followed behind, carrying a jar carefully, afraid of dropping it and breaking it.

When the two tables of elders arrived, they found the room already full. Tian Guihua quickly went to find someone to tidy up the main room so that people could have a place to sit and rest, as the male guests would not finish for a while because they were drinking.

The young wives who were responsible for clearing away the dishes heard that the female guests in the main room had finished, so they hurried in to break up the dishes, wipe the table clean, and set out the fried clams and kettle.

"Auntie, the main room has been cleaned. Let's go over there and chat for a while. The men are still drinking!" Tian Guihua said with a smile to the female guests.

Li Minshi peeked into her daughter's room again; it was packed, and she couldn't get in. She sighed inwardly and said to the people around her, "Let's go. This room is too crowded. Let the sisters talk. Let's go sit in the upper room for a while."

Seeing this, the others had no choice but to agree. The men were still drinking; they couldn't just wake them up from the table like that.

So, the group, who had just left the main room less than fifteen minutes earlier, were asked to return. A-Zhe's wife, still carrying the jar, followed behind. Li's second aunt felt dizzy just looking at her. Actually, it wasn't just her who felt dizzy; everyone who had eaten in the room earlier had a headache just seeing her. How come they hadn't noticed how useless she was before? It seemed they couldn't bring her along on any more outings like this. Thinking of her pregnant twelfth sister-in-law, Li's fifth aunt made up her mind that even if it offended her second sister-in-law, she wouldn't let that simpleton come along when delivering food to her daughter.

The meal lasted until late afternoon before the men gradually stood up. Except for a few who needed to drive, the others had all drunk quite a bit, but thankfully none of them got drunk or made any further fools of themselves.

The Zhang family members saw the people from Lijiazhuang out of the village before turning back.

"Mother, who was that woman just now? Why was she carrying a jar?" Zhang Youtie noticed a young woman carrying a jar riding alone in an oxcart, which he found very strange. So he asked Liu Shi.

Liu had already learned about what had happened at the banquet from Tian Guihua. When she heard Zhang Youtie ask this question, she looked at Zhang Youyin standing next to her and quickly reached out to tug at his clothes.

"Hmm? Mother, is something wrong?" Zhang Youtie felt his wife pulling him and turned his head to ask in a loud voice.

"Did you drink quite a bit today?" Liu asked casually, noticing the attention drawn by Zhang Youtie's loud voice.

"I did drink quite a bit, but I'm not drunk. So many men came; shouldn't I keep them company and make sure they had a good drink?"

"Yes, I have to keep you company. I'll make you some sugar water when we get home, it can help sober you up."

"Why go home? There's still so much to do here!" Zhang Youtie exclaimed.

"..."

When they arrived home, the people they had hired to help were tidying up in the yard. Wang and Liu went to the kitchen, and the remaining dishes were divided into five large basins according to whether they were hot or cold.

"Sister-in-law, tell Mother in a bit that we should share these vegetables with the villagers who came to help. We can't possibly eat all of this," said Liu.

"Yes, we should divide it up, but this bowl is for your second sister-in-law. It's leftover from the main house; these leftover dishes are good for milk production," Wang said, looking at the dishes in the bowl.

Liu looked at the dishes inside and smelled them; they were indeed dishes that had been returned from the main house. She then picked them up separately and covered them with a clean steaming cloth.