Chapter 214: Lies (2)

It wasn’t long after Madam Zou’s figure had disappeared from sight that He Changqi stood up and bowed deeply to his friends with his fists cupped together. “My humble wife wasn’t honest. I would like to ask for your forgiveness, and hope that you won’t hold it against her for this dishonesty.”

Madam Zou didn’t know that He Changqi had already told his friends about Chu Lian’s cooking, and instead, she had suddenly tried to steal all the credit in front of He Changqi and his friends. Her plan had failed, and the only thing she accomplished was showing that she didn’t have the virtues a good wife should have. Not only that, she had practically slapped He Changqi in the face in front of his good friends.

Lord Ge quickly helped He Changqi back up. “Brother He, please don’t blame yourself. Everyone has some form of greed for fortune and fame. Sister-in-Law simply wanted to impress us brothers for your sake. There’s no reason for us to blame her.”

Marquis Weiyuan smiled and agreed with Lord Ge’s sentiment. “It’s rare for us all to have the time to meet. There’s a great feast before us, so let’s not waste it. Come, come, let’s eat and drink!”

Today’s turn of events had completely exposed Madam Zou’s lies. Although He Changqi’s friends let it pass so as to help He Changqi keep his dignity, the same couldn’t be said for their private thoughts.

However, there was one point of similarity. Madam Zou’s image had been utterly destroyed in front of them. Even Heir Zheng and Marquis Weiyuan were starting to pity He Changqi.

Without mentioning how Madam Zou hadn’t given He Changqi a male heir yet, just based on what they had seen of her personality today, their opinion of the ladies from Dingyuan Estate had completely changed.

He Changqi had been expecting to impress his friends today. However, after Madam Zou’s little play, He Changqi was so ashamed that he couldn’t hold his head high amongst his friends.

Luckily, the awkward atmosphere didn’t last for long. Upon tasting the dishes on the table, the men completely forgot about Madam Zou and her lies. All that remained in their minds was how delicious the food was! Right here, right now, they couldn’t let these delicacies go to waste!

There was usually a lofty, refined air at the friendly meetings between noblemen. They would brew some tea, warm up some wine, and maybe grill some venison with their good friends. If the mood was right, they might even compose a few poems or couplets with brushes in hand and wine cups in the other… Basically, the whole affair would be very elegant and dignified. Wolfing down food and searching for seconds in the pot was something that only unrefined barbarians would do; it was something that these noble and high-born gentlemen would absolutely never, ever do.

However…

Nobility, manners, elegance? Were those edible? Could these silly principles satisfy the hunger in their bellies?

Of course not!

Marquis Weiyuan and Lord Ge were childhood friends and had grown up together. When they had started studying, they had studied together in the Ge Family’s private school, reserved only for their own clan members. Their mothers were best friends, so the two kids had practically grown up wearing the same pair of pants. However, at this moment…

Marquis Weiyuan quickly finished off one of the sweet and sour pork ribs before staring at the remaining ribs on the plate. As he watched, Heir Zheng reached out and stole away one more rib, so there was now only one left on the blue porcelain plate. Marquis Weiyuan immediately sent his chopsticks flying towards that last pork rib, but sparks flew as he suddenly met with another pair of silver chopsticks on his way.

Marquis Weiyuan’s gaze traced the chopsticks back to their owner, only to see the normally composed Lord Ge with his cheeks bulging.

His eye twitched and he quickly said, “Brother Ge, I touched it first, move your chopsticks away!”

“Brother Li, I’m older than you by a year. When you were younger, I gave in to you all the time. This time, you should let your older brother have a turn!”

“Brother Ge, your mouth is still full!”

……

Marquis Weiyuan and Lord Ge, who were practically twins since birth, had suddenly started arguing over a single sweet and sour pork rib.

He Changqi’s awkwardness upon witnessing this scene didn’t prevent him from continuously reaching out to grab some poached fish slices at all. It was good that they were arguing anyway. As a result, no one was fighting with him over this plate of fish. Although Third Sister-in-Law had sent over an entire bowl last time, it hadn’t been enough! Furthermore, he had a big appetite, so he hadn’t eaten his fill yet. This time, perhaps out of consideration for his guests, Chu Lian had prepared a much larger portion. That soft, tender, white meat was paired with the fiery fragrance of the chillis, yet it still melted in the mouth like butter. It was so tasty he even felt like swallowing his tongue along with it!

Right after he placed a thin slice of fish into his mouth, he caught sight of Xiao Bojian, who was sitting across from him, reaching into the large plate with a spoon. After some quick maneuvering with his chopsticks, he lifted his spoon up from the sea of red chillis and revealed it full of tender, white fish slices…

Then, He Changqi watched with wide eyes as Xiao Bojian poured all the fish slices into his small, white porcelain bowl…

Next, Xiao Bojian sent his empty spoon to go fishing again, once again towards the plate of poached fish…

What the heck… What happened to their noblemen’s gathering? There were only hungry ghosts sitting at this table!

A meal that should have been filled with conversation, laughter, and drink… ended in just an hour.

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