Shen Baizhi was not about to shoulder an unjust accusation. She reminded them bluntly:
“Grandpa, you must have forgotten—among our family, the one who’s always been the most competitive and picky isn’t me, but Cousin. Ever since we were little, no matter what it was, she had to have the best. Even when boiling identical eggs, she still had to pick first. Have you all forgotten? Guess old age really does make people forgetful!”
Old Master Shen slammed the table and snapped angrily,
“That’s enough. You talk the most!”
Shen Baizhi was about to continue when an aunt from a neighboring family who’d come to help walked in with a huge wooden tray to serve the dishes. Having skipped breakfast, Shen Baizhi suddenly felt hungry, so she shut her mouth—better to eat her fill first.
She was curious to see what the Shen family could possibly use to entertain guests today after she had stripped them clean yesterday.
Once all the dishes were on the table, Shen Baizhi raised her eyebrows. The spread was actually pretty decent.
Braised pork with potatoes, napa cabbage stewed with tofu, radish with glass noodles, air-dried salted fish, pickled cabbage—and finally, there was even a dish of stewed chicken with dried mushrooms. Six dishes in total, each piled high in large basins.
She truly looked at the Shen family in a new light. After she’d hauled away so much from them, they could still put out such a lavish banquet. Looks like there was still plenty of fat left to skim from this household!
But after laying out such a feast this time, how much would be left for her to scrape later? Her heart ached as she glanced outside—seven tables in total. How much of her stuff would this all consume?
Then she froze.
Turns out, not all tables were the same.
The table in the main room had fish, meat, and white-flour steamed buns. The tables outside, however, had only three vegetarian dishes. Not a single one of the meat dishes was served—clearly, only the main room got them.
Shen Baizhi laughed inwardly. This time, the Shen family had really offended all their relatives and friends. She’d never heard of a banquet serving two different sets of dishes.
If the spread was poor, people might gossip a bit behind your back. But blatant discrimination like this? That was bound to breed resentment.
What—were they not worthy of eating meat?
Who did the Shen family think they were looking down on?
She remembered that on this very day in her previous life, using the pork bought with her betrothal gifts—more than half a pig—the wedding banquet had been widely praised. The portions of meat were generous, guests ate until their mouths were slick with grease.
When the banquet officially began, the bride and groom went around toasting each table. Shen Baizhi had seen her Fourth Aunt, Tang Yumei, with a face pulled long in displeasure, while her Fourth Uncle smiled and apologized the whole way, barely managing to usher people out.
Once the newlyweds left, Shen Baizhi no longer bothered with decorum and started eating. She scooped a big spoonful of the braised pork and potatoes—choosing the pieces with more meat—and another big spoonful of stewed chicken with mushrooms.
Back then, there weren’t all those feeds—pork and chicken really did taste better…
The people in the main room were eating with great relish, while outside, a commotion broke out.
An eight- or nine-year-old child grabbed Tang Yumei’s clothes, refusing to let her leave, shouting loudly:
“Auntie, didn’t you say there’d be more braised pork than we could eat today? Where’s the meat? I want meat!”
Another child, five or six years old, chimed in:
“Auntie, I want meat too!”
Little Tang Yun—whom Shen Baizhi had rescued earlier that morning—stood there with a pout, staring at Tang Yumei, looking utterly wronged.
Tang Yumei felt like she’d lost all face in her life.
She was angry at the Shen family for being so unreliable—weren’t they supposed to have prepared dozens of jin of meat for today’s banquet? And yet the spread was so shabby. It wasn’t even as good as her niece’s wedding feast the other day!
She was also furious at her nephew for having no sense of propriety. How had her sister-in-law raised these kids? How could they shout something like that out loud? It was already embarrassing enough!
She closed her eyes, then looked at Shen Fourth with barely contained fury. He hurriedly plastered on a flattering smile.
“Yumei, don’t be angry. Isn’t it just meat the kids want? Come on, Uncle will get you some!”
Ignoring the looks from others at the table, he led the two children toward the main room.
Tang Yumei gently nudged Tang Yun, signaling him to follow along.
Naturally, everyone in the main room heard the children’s crying. The entire table stopped eating in awkward silence.
Only Shen Baizhi, upon hearing her Fourth Uncle say he was bringing people over to grab meat, quickly scooped two more heaping spoonfuls of braised pork and stewed chicken into her bowl, piling it until it overflowed.
In this life, she wasn’t about to care about saving face. What you get into your mouth is what really counts—especially when dealing with shameless people like the Shen family. If she worried about face, they’d eat her down to the bones!
Seeing Shen Fourth leading three children in, Old Madam Shen had no choice but to grab the ladle and quickly spoon half a scoop of meat into each child’s bowl, trying to send them away.
The banquet had barely started, and that clueless Second Girl—starving like a ghost—had already eaten nearly half the meat dishes. If she gave any more to these kids, there’d be hardly anything left on the table.
She was still congratulating herself on her quick thinking when the Tang kids, once they smelled the meat, refused to leave.
The two children clung to their parents, crying:
“Mom, Aunt didn’t say this before we came! She said today we could eat as much meat as we wanted. Now she’s trying to send us away with just two pieces—how is that okay?!”
“Yeah, Dad. Maybe we should just take Aunt back home, like before. She used to give us all her wages—and that dumb uncle’s wages too—to buy meat for us!”
Tang’s brother and sister-in-law awkwardly covered the children’s mouths. Tang’s sister-in-law glanced at Old Master and Old Madam Shen and scolded loudly, trying to cover things up:
“Nonsense! Your aunt just dotes on you, that’s why she occasionally buys you some meat to satisfy your cravings!”
By now, she was blaming Tang Yumei for boasting so wildly.
If Tang Yumei hadn’t claimed that the Shen family had prepared dozens of jin of meat, they wouldn’t have brought both kids along. Kids didn’t know better, and now they’d caused a scene—it was humiliating for the Tang family!
The older child struggle free of her grip and argued:
“I’m not lying! Aunt clearly every—mmph!”
Before he could finish, his mouth was covered again.
The Tang relatives all hung their heads in shame. The village Party secretary and the brigade leader stared awkwardly at their bowls. The Shen elders’ faces darkened. Only Shen Baizhi kept eating, watching the spectacle with great interest.
Neither the Tang family nor the Shen family were easy to deal with.
Tang Yumei, face dark, twisted Shen Fourth hard at the waist. He immediately chuckled and said:
“Kids wanting meat is totally normal. No problem!”
“Come on, Uncle will divide the meat for you!”
“In a few days, I’ll even go buy a few pound of meat and bring it over. I’ll let your aunt cook it so you can eat your fill!”
As he spoke, he ignored his own mother’s pitch-black expression, snatched the ladle from her hand, and scooped a big spoonful of meat into each child’s bowl. Only then did he manage to coax the three kids outside.
Before leaving, little Tang Yun even blinked at Shen Baizhi.
Old Master Shen cleared his throat and urged everyone to continue eating.
The main room settled down again, but as the three children carried bowls full of meat outside, whispers spread through the courtyard once more. Now and then, other children cried for meat too, though they were quickly silenced by their parents.
Still, the looks people cast at Shen Fourth and Tang Yumei grew even more mocking and dissatisfied.
Holding a banquet with such blatant double standards—unbelievable!