Chapter 20

Qin Huiru left the hospital the next day, because she had given birth to a son, so Jia Zhangshi still treated her well, and Jia Dongxu showed her even more care, and in the blink of an eye it was the day of Bang Geng's full-month celebration.

"Master, Bang Geng's full month is coming up soon; I want to hold a banquet in the Siheyuan," Jia Dongxu said as he found Yi Zhonghai.

"This is a joyous occasion; we should hold a banquet," Yi Zhonghai said, now feeling satisfied.

"But I don't know any cooks; to hold a full-month banquet you need to hire a cook. I originally wanted to ask Sha Zhu to take charge of the cooking, but I'm afraid he won't agree," Jia Dongxu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"It's fine, I'll go talk to him," Yi Zhonghai said, no longer holding a grudge against He Yuzhu for hitting him before.

"Zhuzi, this Sunday your older brother Dongxu is holding a full-month banquet at his place; go take charge of the cooking," Yi Zhonghai said, coming straight to He Yuzhu's home after work that evening.

"Elder Yi, that really won't work; I've already booked a banquet for this coming Sunday," He Yuzhu said. Since He Yuzhu started working at the Yagangchang doing banquet service, many people have asked him to cater events, most of them referrals from acquaintances, especially after the Yagangchang leaders tasted his dishes and then referred him whenever a relative or friend needed a banquet. Word spread tenfold, then a hundredfold, and He Yuzhu's reputation spread.

"Zhuzi, you also live in this Siheyuan, so you should definitely prioritize our own courtyard first, right? Tomorrow go and withdraw from that other person's banquet," Elder Yi said lightly.

"Elder Yi, that's not how you should talk about doing things. Since I've already accepted someone else's banquet, how could I just back out? If I withdraw, today is Thursday—what would you have them do?" He Yuzhu retorted.

"It's not like there's only one cook in Beiping; just let them find someone else."

"Since you say that, why don't you go find someone else? Business should follow a first-come, first-served basis," He Yuzhu said, really angry.

"What's wrong with you, kid? I asked you for a favor, and you keep making excuses."

"I'm not making excuses. Things should be done in order of who asked first; you didn't tell me earlier, so how can you blame me?"

"Since you don't have time, then wait until your older brother Dongxu's family finds a cook. You should pay for the cook's fee," Elder Yi said, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Why should I?"

"Who made you have no time? You made someone else cancel their banquet and now you're unwilling to pay—surely they have to spend money when they hire someone else," Elder Yi said, righteous and confident.

"So you mean I can't charge for helping them out?"

"Neighbors help each other for free—what money are you charging? I see you're just after money."

"Sorry, Grandpa, I'm not serving. If he wants to invite, let him; if not, forget it." He Yuzhu said, then slammed the door shut and ignored Elder Yi anymore.

"Unreasonable!" Elder Yi, locked outside by He Yuzhu, gritted his teeth in anger.

"Master, what did Sha Zhu say?" Jia Dongxu, unaware of the argument between He Yuzhu and Elder Yi, went to Elder Yi's home that evening to ask.

"He's already booked a banquet for this Sunday; I told him to withdraw, but he refuses," Elder Yi said angrily.

"In my opinion, Sha Zhu did nothing wrong. You didn't give him advance notice, and now you're asking him to cancel someone else's banquet. If this gets out, how will Sha Zhu ever get outside banquet jobs again?" the Old Lady said.

"What are you talking about? Sha Zhu is just a clueless fool who can't tell close from distant relations," Elder Yi retorted at the Old Lady.

"I only know that things should be done in order of who came first; you talk about closeness and distance, but is Sha Zhu related to you or to Dongxu?" the Old Lady retorted, finding Elder Yi's constant moral blackmail annoying. The real main reason is that the Jia family is unproductive. Since Qin Huiru gave birth, Elder Yi keeps having me make delicious food for her every few days, and whether he buys chicken or fish, he has me prepare it and send it over to Qin Huiru—people who don't know even think the child is Elder Yi's. After so long, how could the Old Lady not have an opinion? Originally just taking care of the deaf old lady was enough to keep her busy, but now she also has to attend to Qin Huiru during her postpartum month, while Jia Zhangshi, the proper mother-in-law, aside from cooking for Qin Huiru the two days after she left the hospital, doesn't bother with anything else the rest of the time.

"I don't believe that even if Old Zhang the butcher died he'd eat hairy pork. Tomorrow I'll go look for other cooks." Elder Yi also didn't want to argue with the Old Lady; he knew spreading this would indeed make him look unreasonable.

"Alright, then trouble you, Master."

"You're my disciple; your affairs are mine. Why stand on ceremony with me?" Elder Yi said, as if Jia Dongxu were his own son.

The next day, Elder Yi had Jia Dongxu take leave at the factory so he could personally look for a cook, but several well-known cooks nearby had no time. Back then, who would book a cook only at the last minute? In the end, Elder Yi paid a high price of five yuan per table to secure a cook, without even asking the cook's grade—just getting a cook was already quite good for him.

"Dongxu, this is Master Zhang. Tell him how many tables and dishes you want to prepare," Elder Yi said, bringing the cook to Jia Dongxu's home.

"Master, we don't have many relatives either. My mother means that Huiru's natal family is a bit far, so we won't notify them. Here we just have a few coworkers from the factory, plus the neighbors in the Siheyuan—I estimate about three tables will be enough. As for the dishes, I really haven't thought about it," Jia Dongxu said. In fact, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huiru had planned to notify her natal family, but Jia Zhangshi said her natal family is in the countryside; country folk would come with their whole families and wouldn't be able to contribute much. Really, Jia Zhangshi is just afraid of losing money.

"Old Sister-in-law, what do you think?" Elder Yi also knew the Jia family was run by Jia Zhangshi, so he could only ask her.

"Old Yi, you're Dongxu's master; you decide," Jia Zhangshi said with a smile.

Upon hearing that, Elder Yi thought something was off—Jia Zhangshi was trying to make him pay for the banquet expenses, even though he was Dongxu's master, not his father.

"Master Zhang, we don't understand cooking; just tell Elder Yi what dishes you need and how much it will cost—he'll decide," Jia Zhangshi said, seeing Elder Yi's lack of response, and spoke directly to the cook.

"Alright, Elder Yi, ordinary families usually have six or eight dishes. Six dishes means two cold plates and four hot dishes, with the four hot dishes consisting of two meat and two vegetable dishes. If it's eight dishes, it depends on how many cold plates you want—usually two cold plates and six hot dishes. Of course, better-off families use ten dishes. Four cold plates, six hot dishes, and among the six hot dishes there are four meat dishes: chicken, pork, fish, and eggs—eggs counted as meat in the 1950s."

"Our Jia family used to be a wealthy, high-ranking household, so we should also use ten dishes," Jia Zhangshi said on the side.

"Old Yi, Bang Geng is your granddisciple, after all. If the banquet is too shabby, the embarrassment will reflect on you," Jia Zhangshi said, putting Elder Yi on the spot.

"Alright, let's do it as the Old Sister-in-law said. Master Zhang, could you work out roughly how much one table would cost?" Elder Yi asked.

"About five yuan." Back then, a chicken cost around two and a half yuan, meat was seven or eight mao per jin, fish was cheap—after all, eating fish used too much oil, so ordinary families rarely ate it, and a jin of fish was only four or five mao.

"Three tables would be about fifteen yuan, plus labor makes thirty, and I'll give it to you now," Elder Yi said.

"Dongxu, I think we should still notify Huiru's natal family, after all this is your first child—it wouldn't be right not to inform them." Jia Zhangshi said, seeing Elder Yi about to spend money, and suddenly changed her tone.

"Mom, I said from the start that we should notify them," Jia Dongxu said.

"Master Zhang, then add three more tables." Since someone was paying, Jia Zhangshi didn't hold back.

"Alright, that makes sixty then," Master Zhang said to Elder Yi.

"Fine," Elder Yi said, painfully pulling sixty yuan from his pocket to give to Master Zhang—this amounted to his monthly wage, and claiming he wasn't hurting would be a lie.