Chapter 243: Chapter 243: Feasting

"Hmph. You had the gall to say you’d treat me to bird’s nest soup, and in the end, I got nothing. I can’t believe I fell for your crap..."

Jiang Moli cut off Lu Tingting’s grumbling. "My dear niece, stop complaining. Want me to take you to a feast?"

Lu Tingting snorted. "No way. I’m not falling for your tricks again!"

"I’m not tricking you. It’s just up ahead."

Lu Tingting followed Jiang Moli to a restaurant called He Shun Yuan.

The restaurant was decked out in festive lanterns and streamers. A large character for "longevity" was posted by the entrance; clearly, someone was celebrating a birthday.

Lu Tingting asked suspiciously, "Whose birthday banquet is it?"

"My second uncle. You should call him your second grand-uncle."

With that, Jiang Moli led her into the restaurant.

A gift table was set up at the entrance. Jiang Moli, posing as a grand-niece, contributed two yuan, then found an inconspicuous table to sit at with Lu Tingting.

The banquet hadn’t officially started yet, so the guests were all cracking melon seeds and drinking tea.

Jiang Moli grabbed a handful of seeds from the table. She cracked them open while listening to the others at her table make small talk.

Lu Tingting copied her, grabbing a handful of seeds. As she ate, she wracked her brain, trying to figure out just which of her grand-uncles this was supposed to be.

...

「The Yang Residence.」

Yang Lijiong sat before the TV cabinet, eating a bowl of sweet, smooth bird’s nest soup while quietly admiring a pot of begonias.

She was typically indifferent to flowers and plants. The ones on her balcony had all been left behind by her maternal grandfather.

She couldn’t bear to throw them out, but she didn’t know how to care for them, so she just let them be, watering them from time to time.

But this potted begonia from Jiang Moli had captivated her from the moment she saw it.

It was vibrantly beautiful, swaying with a graceful charm.

It was like receiving a favorite new toy; she wanted to savor its beauty all by herself.

That was why she had been so eager to see her guests out.

...

Even when the banquet began, Lu Tingting still hadn’t figured out which second grand-uncle’s birthday it was supposed to be.

But she couldn’t be bothered to think about it right now. There were more dishes on the table than she could possibly eat.

Braised pork knuckle, stewed pig’s trotters, spicy fish fillets, sweet steamed pork belly, chicken in chili oil... Lu Tingting ate until her mouth was slick with grease.

Jiang Moli’s chopsticks hadn’t stopped moving, either.

After all, they were crashing the party. The hosts could discover them at any moment, so every bite counted.

A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were sitting across from Jiang Moli and Lu Tingting.

The mother-in-law looked quite young, not yet fifty. The young wife was with her four- or five-year-old daughter.

Who knows what possessed the mother-in-law, but in the middle of a perfectly fine meal, she suddenly started railing at her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

"She’s just a money pit. Why are you feeding her so much?"

Jiang Moli glanced up.

The daughter-in-law was clearly used to her mother-in-law’s cruelty. She kept her head down and silently continued to feed her daughter a piece of sweet steamed pork belly.

The daughter-in-law’s silence didn’t make the mother-in-law hold back. "You can’t even produce a son. I don’t know what was the point of my son marrying a useless thing like you."

Normally, Jiang Moli wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s business.

But the woman was running her mouth, spraying spittle and food all over the table, and it was seriously ruining her appetite.

"Ma’am, you can stop scolding your daughter-in-law now. She probably learned it from your mother, who also gave birth to a money pit—an old one, like you."

The woman’s face fell. "Who the hell are you? This is none of your business."

"Don’t worry about who I am. Having to sit at the same table with you must be some kind of bad karma. Do us all a favor and shut your mouth, will you? It smells like it’s been pickled for a decade. The stench is overwhelming the second you open it."

The woman’s face darkened with rage. "A sharp-tongued little shrew like you is lucky. If you had married into our family and dared to talk back to your elders, you’d have been beaten senseless."

Jiang Moli’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "You’re pretty lucky, too. In my family, a troublemaking, nasty mother-in-law like you would’ve been beaten to death long ago."

Hearing them argue, the other guests all turned to look.

Lu Tingting gnawed on a chicken wing, enjoying the show.

’That woman is so annoying when she’s teasing me, but it’s incredibly satisfying watching her take down an outsider.’

The woman slammed her hand on the table in a rage. "What family are you from?"

"None of your business. All you need to know is I’m not from yours. Stop meddling if you want to live a long life."

The woman was so furious she looked ready to keel over. She pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Moli and shrieked, "So young and with absolutely no upbringing!"

Jiang Moli scoffed. "And you’re ancient, yet you’re still completely unreasonable."

"You... You just wait!"

"I’ve got time. The question is, do you?"

The look the woman gave her said she wanted to eat her alive.

’In all her life, she’d never met someone so utterly detestable.’

[Disdain Value +1. Credited: 10,000 yuan.]

After asking around, she found that no one recognized Jiang Moli or Lu Tingting.

The woman’s gaze grew suspicious. She promptly got up and headed toward the host’s table.

The moment the woman left, Jiang Moli put down her chopsticks and grabbed Lu Tingting. "Time to go."

Lu Tingting was happily gnawing on a pig’s trotter and didn’t even look up. "I’m not full yet."

Jiang Moli glanced at the small mountain of bones in front of her. "You ate all that and you’re still not full?"

"None of your business."

"Fine, take your time. I’m leaving."

And with that, she got up and left.

Staring at Jiang Moli’s retreating back, Lu Tingting couldn’t help but feel a flicker of suspicion.

’That woman is usually afraid of nothing. Why is she leaving early?’

’Something’s fishy!’

She immediately forgot about eating, threw down her chopsticks, and chased Jiang Moli out of the restaurant.

The woman quickly returned with the hosts. Seeing the empty seats, they looked up just in time to see Jiang Moli and Lu Tingting walking out the main entrance, one after the other.

"There they are!"

The host sized up Jiang Moli and Lu Tingting for a moment, then said, puzzled, "Huh. Those two aren’t our relatives."

So they were a pair of freeloading cheats!

"You two, stop right there!"

Glancing back at the woman and the others chasing them, Jiang Moli broke into a run.

When she saw Jiang Moli run, Lu Tingting ran too.

’Even though she had no idea why they were running.’

The two of them ran like the wind for three blocks before finally shaking off their pursuers.

Lu Tingting was so tired she couldn’t even stand up straight. Panting, she pointed at her. "You... you tricked me again! That wasn’t our second grand-uncle at all! You dared to walk into a stranger’s party and eat? You’ve got some serious nerve!"

"You ate just as much as I did."

Jiang Moli stood with her hands on her hips, just as winded.

’The notifications for Disdain Value kept popping up in her mind. The old woman must have gone back to the banquet and started complaining about her to everyone.’

’For two yuan, she not only got a huge meal but also earned over twenty points of Disdain Value.’

’Not a bad deal.’

"Quick, run! They’re coming!"

Lu Tingting jumped in fright. She looked back and saw no one, then punched Jiang Moli in frustration.

"What is wrong with you!?"

Jiang Moli cackled. "What’s there to be afraid of? We gave a gift, didn’t we?"

Lu Tingting glared at her. "Then why did you run?"

"I like to run. It’s good exercise. Are you full yet? If not, we can find another party."

Lu Tingting huffed. "If I ever believe your lies again, then I’m a pig!"

"In that case, I’ll buy you a bag of pig feed tomorrow."

"Argh! You’re so infuriating!"

Jiang Moli laughed. "It’s good that you find me infuriating. It would be a real problem if you started to like me."

"I’d fall for a dog before I’d ever fall for you!"

"Then go marry a dog and have a litter of puppies."

Lu Tingting was absolutely livid.

...

The night was still, filled with the sound of snoring.

Jiang Qing—no, it was Wei Qing now—was wide awake.

Jiang Moli hadn’t just moved her household registration back to the countryside; she had even changed her surname back to that of her biological father.

Her biological father, Wei Fu, had been from Lotus Village and had died more than ten years ago.

Wei Fu had left behind two small, thatched-roof houses, but they had fallen into disrepair over the years and were no longer habitable. For now, she was temporarily staying with her uncle.

Her uncle had many children and not enough rooms, so she had to share a bed with her cousin, Wei Shan.

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