Chapter 85: Family Banquet

Ba Ke Er had just arrived home when he and Zhang Fan began preparing dinner. Although not many people would be eating that evening, Zhang Fan wanted to repay his father and Am for their many days of effort, so he hoped to make the dishes as abundant as possible. Seeing that Zhang Fan was preparing so many dishes, Ba Ke Er felt reluctant to let him tire himself out, and after thinking it over, he still suggested to Zhang Fan:

"Fan Fan, preparing so many dishes is also tiring; for just the four of us having a meal, there's no need to make it so complicated. In my opinion, we might as well just have spicy hot pot."

Zhang Fan didn't quite agree: "Ba Ke Er, the weather has been rather dry these past few days; eating spicy hot pot might cause excess internal heat. How about we have soup hot pot today? It's similar to hot pot but without the chili, and it's lighter, suiting the current weather. Of course, if you want something spicy, you can later add chili to your dipping sauce—just don't overdo it."

Ba Ke Er thought Zhang Fan made perfect sense and was also pleased by his concern: "Fan Fan, you've said a lot; eating spicy hot pot really isn't suitable right now, but I don't even know what this soup hot pot tastes like! Perfect, I'll try it today! Fan Fan, you're great! By the way, Fan Fan, is there anything I should do?"

Seeing that Zhang Fan had already prepared and packed the freshly washed and chopped ingredients, Ba Ke Er volunteered to help.

"Hey! There's something you need to do! The side ingredients are all ready; we just need to simmer the broth. Ba Ke Er, hurry to the yard and kill a few meat birds, clean them, chop them into pieces, and bring them back."

After receiving Zhang Fan's instructions, Ba Ke Er immediately sprang into action; of course, before acting he also helped Zhang Fan scoop some clean water from the courtyard vat into the kitchen to start heating water for scalding the bird feathers.

After Ba Ke Er helped Zhang Fan heat the water, he went to the chicken coop in the yard and caught several sturdy male birds; after tying them up, he fetched a large wooden tub and a small ceramic jar about ten centimeters in diameter from the yard. With everything ready, Ba Ke Er took out Zhang Fan's kitchen knife and began slaughtering the birds, at the same time draining their blood into the ceramic jar.

Once the birds' blood had been completely drained, Ba Ke Er tossed the birds into the wooden tub. At that moment, Zhang Fan in the kitchen estimated the time, felt it was about right, and quickly ladled out the hot water and poured it into the tub containing the birds.

After scalding for a while, the birds' feathers came off easily. So Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, while still hot, plucked the feathers clean. But even after all the feathers were removed, Zhang Fan still felt it wasn't clean enough. He decided they needed to singe the skin with fire.

Ba Ke Er listened and promptly complied, gathering some dry grass in the yard, lighting it, and burning off all the fine down on the birds.

After the fine down on the birds had been burned off, Ba Ke Er used the usual bone knife to chop the birds into chunks. When Ba Ke Er had finished processing the birds and handed them to Zhang Fan, Zhang Fan had already washed the pot clean.

Seeing that Zhang Fan was ready, Ba Ke Er hurried to sit by the stove hole and start a fire. As soon as Ba Ke Er's fire caught, Zhang Fan quickly added clean water to the pot; once the water boiled, he dumped the bird meat in to blanch it.

After blanching the bird meat, Zhang Fan scooped it out. He then washed the pot clean again; when it was dry and began to smoke, he added the rendered animal fat from the birds together with the pre‑rendered wild boar fat into the pot. Once the oil had melted, he poured the blanched bird meat back in and began stir‑frying.

When the stir‑fried bird meat began to change color, Zhang Fan started adding clean water and the prepared soup base—such as fresh ginger, garlic, Sichuan pepper, and so on—then covered the pot to simmer the broth. Ba Ke Er also added a few chunks of durable firewood. When the broth in the pot came to a boil, Zhang Fan had Ba Ke Er reduce the fire and continue simmering on low heat.

After Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er had simmered for several hours, the bird soup was already fragrant throughout, and its color had turned into a rich, pale yellow broth.

At that point, it was nearly dinnertime, so Zhang Fan hurriedly had Ba Ke Er move the tables, chairs, and stools to the side of the small stove in the courtyard. He also told Ba Ke Er to light the small stove. Then Zhang Fan took out a large ceramic jar, ladled out some of the broth, and had Ba Ke Er bring it to the small stove stand in the courtyard.

After Ba Ke Er finished those tasks, Zhang Fan had already brought out the meat and vegetables he had prepared, the dumplings he himself had wrapped, the finished meatballs, and various kinds of vermicelli, placing them on the courtyard table, and of course he didn't forget to set out the various prepared dipping sauces.

After the two had finished these preparations, the sky had begun to darken. Ba Ke Er's parents had also arrived; once everyone was gathered, the soup hot pot on the small stove stand began to bubble gurgle‑gurgle. And so, the family feast was announced to have begun!

Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, being juniors and also the hosts, waited until Lei Ya and Di Er had taken their seats before sitting down themselves.

"Alright, don't just sit there—let's start the feast! I've been hearing you clatter away over there since noon, not knowing what you were up to, but now I know! Haha! With all these dishes, plus so many things we've never seen before, I suppose only Fan Fan could have made them! Look at these round meatballs and that moon‑shaped thing—it shows that the two of us, Fan Fan, are clever and handy little females." Di Er, looking at the table full of dishes, spoke with a satisfied smile.

After Di Er finished speaking, the four of them picked up their chopsticks and began to dip and eat from the soup hot pot.

Ba Ke Er, hearing his Am express such satisfaction with their beloved family, smiled especially happily at Di Er and Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan saw Ba Ke Er acting foolish again, ignored him, and began speaking to Di Er: "Am, please don't praise me anymore; these meatballs I made today aren't actually that difficult—lots of people on Earth can make them. If you like eating them, I'll make more next time to send over, or I can just give you the recipe. Only those moon‑shaped dumplings are a bit labor‑intensive; if you'd like, I can teach you another day."

"Haha, that's certainly fine! I was just looking for someone to learn how to make these from you—now that you're offering to teach, what reason do I have not to learn?" After Di Er said that, he noticed his bowl now had many more dumplings. He smiled, turned his head to look at Lei Ya, who was greedily eating beside him, gave Lei Ya a generous helping of vegetables, then lowered his head and began eating.

Ba Ke Er, sitting opposite, couldn't help but rub his forehead. Indeed, his father is just like that—whenever he sees something tasty, he can't help but gorge himself! But he never forgets to prepare a portion for Am beside him.

Zhang Fan felt Ba Ke Er beside him staring at Lei Ya and Di Er opposite, and couldn't help but become curious; he lifted his head to look, and upon seeing it, he was startled! Holy crap! What's wrong with the father‑in‑law / father‑figure? Could he have been starved for days by the mother‑in‑law / mother‑figure? His eating manner is shocking! Yet looking at the gentle mother‑in‑law / mother‑figure opposite, she doesn't seem like the type to mistreat him. Moreover, at lunch today I clearly didn't see him like this—could he have been switched?

Ba Ke Er watched Zhang Fan keep staring at his father's eating manner and knew his father had embarrassed himself again! Boo hoo hoo! Having a gluttonous father truly is his lifelong disgrace! Disgrace! But having said that, since it's his father, even if he embarrasses himself outwardly, he can only accept it.

After the meal ended, Zhang Fan's thoughts still hadn't escaped from the image of his father‑in‑law / father‑figure's eating manner.

Lei Ya, having finished eating all the dishes, rubbed his full belly before realizing he apparently still had some business to mention.

"Right! Ba Ke Er, Fan Fan, I've already told your clan uncle about the food you brought back, and we've discussed it. Since you only brought back a small amount of wheat and corn this time, there's no need to take it out to exchange with the tribespeople. Of course, discovering new food is a major matter for the tribe; the clan chief also said he wants to hold a tribal assembly tomorrow, hoping you and Fei Er's couple will bring out a bit of the new food for everyone to see, so the tribespeople can go look for it themselves."

Ba Ke Er and Zhang Fan had no objection to what Lei Ya said; originally Zhang Fan hadn't intended to keep the newly found food to himself all along—he just didn't want to give away all the fruits of his labor.

Now the clan chief merely hopes they can take some out as a sample to show everyone, then let the people go look for it outside the tribe. This entails no loss for them; on the contrary, it could earn the couple a good reputation. Why not?

Lei Ya saw that Ba Ke Er and Zhang Fan, the couple, had no dissatisfaction with this matter, and he nodded satisfied with a smile, saying:

"Hahaha… I knew you two kids wouldn't have any objections to this! Indeed! Now that the business is settled and it's not early, we should hurry up and tidy up to sleep. You two have traveled a long way, so I and your Am won't disturb your rest—we'll leave first."

After saying that, Lei Ya took Di Er's hand and left Ba Ke Er's couple's house, heading toward his own home.

Ba Ke Er and Zhang Fan, after seeing Lei Ya and Di Er off, did not immediately rest; instead, they roughly cleared away the leftover food and scraps from the table, bringing them to the kitchen, then moved the table back to its original place in the main room, completely extinguished the fire on the small stove stand, and locked the courtyard gate. Having done that, they went into the kitchen to heat some bath water.

After the two had washed up, they then closed the house's main door, entered the room, and fell asleep in each other's arms.