Chapter 51 Seats
When Feng Yiping went to his grandfather's house, he was very lucky. Today happened to be the birthday of an old man of the same generation as his grandfather. This old man, Feng Yiping is also called grandpa, must go to pay New Year's greetings every year. The old man is 75 years old this year. He has quite a few children. There are more guests who are close to him. Together with the people from the village, there are more than 40 tables in total.
Unlike many places where the banquets are centralized, for example, in the grain drying field, the tables are placed together. The tradition here is that the banquets are placed in the neighbors' homes.
The bowls and chopsticks are unified. There are always several families in each village who have bought hundreds of bowls and dishes. These people who are out of the bowls and chopsticks, no matter whether they give gifts or not, the host who does the work must take the initiative to invite them.
But another major item in the banquet, tables and chairs, is very problematic, and we can only rely on each family to make it up. But to be honest, every family has a table for eating, and it is not easy to find ten neat and uniform chairs that can be used to serve guests. At this time, plastic tables and chairs were not common in rural areas, and ordinary people could not afford to buy them. So slowly, many families asked carpenters to make large tables, equipped with four benches and a few high chairs, so that they could entertain one table at home. The table and chairs of the guests are all alive.
However, new problems followed. When it comes to sitting on the bench, you should also pay attention to coordination. More than once, someone got up and forgot to say hello, and let the person sitting on the other end fall to the ground.
Sitting at a banquet is a very important social occasion in the countryside. Relatives who haven’t moved around some days also use this occasion to connect with each other. Therefore, they wear the best outfits. It turns out that there are even many people who ask someone to borrow a watch or a purse when they are sitting at the banquet. They may not care about their hair and beards. .
In this way, dressed in a splendid and neat manner, in front of relatives from all walks of life, suddenly being thrown on a horse or with all fours turned upside down, that embarrassment, no one is happy. Fortunately, the wine table is also an occasion that pays attention to grace. In front of outsiders, even if some people have opinions in their hearts and are scolding their mother, they are very easy-going at this time.
There are also some people who are not the same. They have a bad temper. Seeing that they have made a fool of themselves in front of outsiders, plus a little wine, they will act on the spot.
If the host is not so lucky, if things go wrong, a banquet will sometimes encounter several such incidents.
Therefore, after that, a Linglong person who is close to the host's family will be arranged at each table, not only to greet the guests to eat and drink well, but also to greet the guests to prevent disputes between the guests.
There were two tables in the main hall of the grandfather's house, but when the grandfather was away, he should be sitting in the chairman's seat with Shou Xingweng.
There were ten people at a table. Seeing him enter the door, the third uncle added a stool and a pair of tableware to his own table. Feng Yiping didn't want to eat free food, so he asked the third uncle if he wanted to make up the gift. The third uncle said that the grandfather had already handed over the gift money for Feng Zhenchang and the others. Feng Yiping thought the same thing. When such relatives are celebrating their birthdays, their family must give gifts. If no one is there, the gift will also arrive.
There are no outsiders at this table, there are people from the village, and the other two are the elder brothers of the third aunt, the one sitting in the main seat, the third uncle taught Feng Yiping to be called the cousin, and Feng Yiping is also a child. people object.
Speaking of location, this is another headache for the host. Now that everyone is seated, if Feng Yiping came back and the banquet had not started, he would be annoyed.
For this position on the table, mainly the chairman and the second seat, a table is humbly and yielding, and it will definitely take a long time. For example, the table will be opened at 11:00 noon.
However, humility is humility. If some people think that they should be seated in the main seat, but arrange them in the escort table, then I'm sorry, people want face and bark, I can't afford this banquet in your family, and I leave on the spot.
This is not bad, but there are even worse situations where someone flips the table on the spot.
Anyway, let’s not talk about a village, just a single school. Every year, there are always several banquets. This kind of thing does not happen every time, but after a year, you can basically watch it over and over.
It's been a while now, and all the disturbances that must have happened before the meeting are over. Even if there is such a mess, Feng Yiping can't see it. Haha, this is also a bonus for being late.
The dishes of the banquet were served one by one. At this time, four dishes had already been served. There was some residual soup in the bowl on the table, and everyone's tableware was placed beside it.
The tableware is very simple, a pair of chopsticks, a spoon, and a wine glass. Pads, bone dishes, flavor dishes, soup bowls, chopstick rests, all work that is not available. There are also some people who think it is unsanitary to put chopsticks and spoons directly on the table, so they ask for another chopsticks and place them in front of them. When not in use, put the chopsticks and spoons on it.
Feng Yiping wanted to go to the cupboard to get a bowl, but think about it. Everyone uses chopsticks, it's not fair that you keep a whole bowl.
Everyone took advantage of the interval between serving dishes, smoking, and recharging their energy. This kind of banquet, especially when encountering such good dishes, has always been quick and slow. Grandpa's two tables are not bad, except for Feng Yiping, they are all adults, and it will be lively if they come across the one who brought children to the table.
At this kind of banquet, the most fearful thing is to sit at a table with those women with children. When she sees a good dish that she likes to eat, she will put it in front of her in the name of her children's favorite food. Others don't care about a woman with a child. Of course, she is not happy, that's for sure.
After a while, the young man who served the dishes trotted in with a tray, and everyone helped carry the empty bowls and let him put the dishes on the tray on the table.
This time, there are two dishes, one is fried carrots with meat, and the other is fried lotus root. The adults said a few polite words, and the third uncle greeted everyone to drink a round of wine, and then one by one picked up the chopsticks and started.
The bowl is the kind of blue and white big vegetable bowl - don't think too much, of course not that kind of blue and white. It is the largest container for food in ordinary people's homes. However, there are ten people at a table, each person holding a chopstick, and the fried carrots will bottom out in an instant. After drinking a circle of wine, the fried lotus root clips are also neatly divided.
This kind of situation reminded Feng Yiping of the first time the company organized everyone to go on a trip after joining the job. They climbed the mountain all morning. At noon, the restaurants in the scenic area were too busy, and the dishes were served one by one.
The young boys in Yishui are all hungry. When a tomato scrambled and an egg came, in an instant, there was a little tomato juice left on the plate. As soon as the double-cooked pork was on the table, there were only a few slices of green peppers and mapo tofu left in a blink of an eye. The one who is slow can only scoop a spoon, the one who moves slowly can only scrape the bottom of the plate...
Sometimes, it's just rushing to grab the appetite. After eating six or seven dishes, the people at several tables, including the table with many girls, feel the same, but feel even more hungry and keep urging the dishes. It was the tour guide who saw that this was no good, so he went to the kitchen and said, a plate of Yangzhou fried rice and fried rice cakes came to one table, and the remaining few dishes were not served one after another. .
The situation is the same today. Feng Yiping is very proactive. He didn't need the help of his uncle. He grabbed two chopsticks himself. Now is not the time to be polite. If you are polite, the dishes will be gone. People joke, everyone is the same.
The guy who ran the hall trotted in again, but he couldn't do it without a trot. Everyone at the banquet has to start fast, and the same is true in the kitchen. At the beginning of loading the dishes, the amount must be enough, and each spoon is rounded. Later, when the chef is loading the bowl, the spoon will always be buckled, and all the tables are finished. Always have some leftovers from every dish.
This is because sometimes there will be guests who are far away, or some people will be delayed on the road and will not be able to make time for the opening of the table. These latecomers will have to open another table and have all the dishes that they should have.
Also, after the guests are gone, the chef himself, as well as the boys who help with the chores in the kitchen, and the boys who run the hall, also have to eat, so there is no way to leave less.
There are still four bowls on the tray, two bowls per table. This time, the two bowls are the same. The red bean soup is a sweet treat. Feng Yiping has never caught a cold when it comes to sweets.
When collecting the bowls, the running boy looked at the wine bottle, shook the clay pot containing the rice wine, and said to the third uncle, "Uncle Guoxing, you also ask everyone to drink more, so far the rice wine has basically not been touched, and the white wine is only available. Open two bottles, don't be polite, not only eat well, but also drink well."
The cousin sitting in the main seat smiled and said, "This is true. I wanted to have a good drink, but Guoxing didn't accompany you."
After hearing this, Uncle San immediately picked up the bottle of wine and filled his own glass, "Everyone knows, I don't have much alcohol, but since you said so, I will give my life to accompany the gentleman today. Come, let's go first. Do one, and everyone's meaning will be done."
The two elder brothers of the third uncle, one drinking white wine and the other drinking rice wine, were all gearing up at this time, "Don't worry, Guoxing is down, and the two of us, our three brothers must make you drink happily today. "
The cousin was also joking, having a drink with the third uncle, accompanied by the third uncle and two uncles, and toasted the whole table, and then handed over to beg for mercy.
However, there must be such a person at the wine table, and the atmosphere becomes lively.
In this way, one after another, until the eleventh dish, after the fried fish was served, the boy who ran the hall came. This time he walked slowly and steadily, because the four dishes on the tray seemed to be heavier, this time. The dishes are different from the previous ones, and there is a bowl upside down on each bowl.
After seeing this, everyone will understand that there will be a total of 24 dishes today, because the gaiwan dishes are served, which means that the banquet is halfway through.
There is also fried fish. After serving these two dishes, the young man who ran the hall did not leave in a hurry. He stood by and smoked a cigarette and took a breath. Third uncle brought the fried fish over, and he took a few pieces.
These two dishes were temporarily placed on the table, and no one moved.
Gradually, firecrackers sounded not far away, and then there was a commotion, just like this, the sound of firecrackers and clamor was getting closer and closer.
Everyone's support has actually put this book on the new book list! I am very excited and very happy, I will continue to work hard, and I hope that everyone will not give up!