The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 102

Li Wenxuan went out before dawn. He had bought all the ingredients yesterday—except for pork.

As a butcher himself, it wouldn’t make sense to buy meat for his brother’s banquet.

He had originally ordered a large pig the day before, but decided to switch to a slightly smaller one. With the weather getting hotter, the meat might spoil in just a couple of days if it wasn’t eaten in time.

Li Wenxuan went to the next village to pick up Niu Jin, then dragged the pig to Lao Zhang’s house to be slaughtered. After that, he asked Niu Jin to take the meat home first, while he went to buy rice noodles.

Niu Jin left with Lao Zhang’s ox cart, and Li Wenxuan drove a horse carriage to the county town. He bought over a hundred kilograms of rice noodles—more than enough for all the villagers, relatives, and friends expected to attend.

After finishing the purchase, he rushed home. 

As soon as he arrived, the fat uncle from their village came over to help unload.

“Hurry, hurry! The broth’s ready—we’ve just been waiting for this!” someone called.

Once the rice noodles were moved down, they filled a big basin with water to soak them. Then they grabbed a handful of noodles, quickly boiled them with a strainer, placed them in a large bowl, and poured a generous spoonful of hot broth over them.

When Father Li saw Wenxuan return, he lit firecrackers from a bamboo pole, signaling to the village that the host family was ready to serve food.

Villagers who had been waiting nearby began arriving in twos and threes. When they saw Father Li and Li Yiran at the entrance, they greeted them with “Congratulations!” before going in to enjoy breakfast.

Seven or eight tables were set up in the courtyard, each equipped with chopped green onions, chili peppers, vinegar, and side dishes guests could add to their rice noodles.

After the first bowl was cooked, Li Wenxuan added seasonings and brought it to the room. Since they were also brewing wine today, everyone had gotten up early. But thinking that Tian Xiaoman might be feeling tired, Wenxuan let him rest in the room with Le Ge’er instead of joining the bustle outside.

Tian Xiaoman, who was feeling hungry, was overjoyed when he saw Wenxuan bring in the noodles. 

Le Ge’er blinked his big eyes and stared at Wenxuan—his meaning very clear: Uncle, where’s mine?

Wenxuan had clearly forgotten, but at least he realized his mistake. He quickly ran outside and asked Niu Jin to make a small bowl for Le Ge’er. 

Once the big and small ones were happily eating, Wenxuan went back out to work.

After the guests were served, Niu Jin and his helpers finally sat down to eat. They still had a lot of work to do before noon! Thankfully, a few elderly grannies came over to help once they finished eating. 

The Li family didn’t have many members, and without relatives arriving yet, the extra hands made a big difference.

There were many dishes that needed peeling—eggs, quail eggs, dried longans—so this job was assigned to Tian Xiaoman. It was the kind of task he loved, since he could snack while working. 

Happily accepting, he sat in a corner with Le Ge’er, Liu Xilin, and a well-behaved neighbor boy to peel away.

Niu Jin and his team had already prepped time-consuming dishes the night before. Today, they mostly needed to process the pork. The fire under the large iron pot never went out, and the courtyard filled with the delicious aroma of all kinds of food. To prepare for the banquet, they had set up several extra stoves in the yard days in advance.

“Crackle, crackle—” Firecrackers rang again at noon, signaling the guests to take their seats.

The village chief accompanied Li Wenxuan, and Father Li received Wenxuan’s friends from the county, including Captain Zhou.

What surprised the villagers most was that not only did rich county families send gifts, but even the county magistrate sent a representative. 

Could it be that Li Yiran had really done well in the exam—even though he didn’t get the top spot? Villagers weren’t clear on what “Jinshi” or “Tong Jinshi” meant. They only recognized the “top scorer,” “second place,” and “third place.”

Once everyone had arrived, the banquet began. 

This was the time to test the chef’s skills—dividing each large pot into fifteen even portions, so each table had roughly the same amount of food without obvious discrepancies.

At the shout of a helper, the dishes started coming out.

First came four cold dishes: cold cucumber, cold pig ears, soy sauce boiled eggs, and fried peanuts.

Then came eight hot dishes: Five Sons Offering Felicity (mushrooms and quail eggs), boiled chicken, braised pork, steamed fish, stewed pig trotters, braised lion’s head meatballs, and spicy rabbit cubes.

After that were two desserts: red date, longan and lotus seed soup, and glutinous rice pudding.

Finally, they served two soups—a hot and sour one for those who liked bold flavors, and a vegetable tofu soup for those with lighter tastes.

Everyone dug into the sixteen-dish banquet without even lifting their heads. 

To celebrate properly, Father Li asked Niu Jin to go all-out. He figured no one in the area would host a more lavish feast for the next year or two.

As in-laws of the Li family, the Tian family also came. 

Tian Amu, besides bringing prepared gifts, brought an old hen in the morning to stew soup for Tian Xiaoman. This made Xiaoman wrinkle his big round face like a bitter gourd.

During the meal, Tian Amu and Li Wenxuan sat on either side of Tian Xiaoman. Whenever he tried to eat anything a little too flavorful, Tian Amu would give him a look, and Xiaoman would stop immediately.

Wenxuan, sitting beside him, nearly applauded. 

This is what a real Amu-in-law is like! He himself couldn’t manage Xiaoman at all. The last time he saw him eat a few extra apricots, he had given him attitude for several days, let alone forbidding him from eating dishes today.

The banquet lasted a long time, partly because several old drunkards started drinking, playing guessing games, and bragging. 

What shocked Tian Xiaoman most was that the carpenter uncle—who always looked like the most honest man in the village—turned out to be the best boaster. 

So this is what they mean by, “You can’t judge a book by its cover?” he thought, trying to recall the saying.

Dinner wasn’t as extravagant as lunch, but the remaining guests were mostly villagers, and no one minded. Even if the food wasn’t top-notch, it was still better than what they usually ate.

Father Li had set aside meat and vegetables for the kitchen helpers, giving each of them a full bowl—and a big red envelope as well.

When Li Yiran returned this time, the court had given him a generous sum. Officials about to assume posts, especially those promoted by the emperor himself, were never sent off empty-handed.

As soon as he returned, Li Yiran handed all the money to Father Li for safekeeping. He also returned the money that Li Wenxuan and others had contributed. But Father Li only accepted a symbolic portion, knowing that life in the capital would be much more expensive and more money would be needed.

After all the guests had left, Li Yiran took advantage of the whole family being together to bring up an idea.

He would soon be heading to the capital to assume his new post—and he wanted to bring Le Ge’er with him.