Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 660 - 658

Chapter 660: 658

The villagers, holding the invitation, didn’t understand the characters on it. But, as Manager Qian had said, the House of Marquis Shengping was inviting them to a feast featuring pork dishes in a few days. Besides the pork dishes, another dish served will be "Buddha Jumps over the Wall".

What kind of dish is "Buddha Jumps over the Wall"? Something they had never heard about, nothing they’d ever seen.

With a smile, Manager Qian told them about the legend Xiao’er had shared with him and even added a quote from a poem, "Unsealing the pot, its meaty aroma wafts to all four sides, even Buddha, smelling it, would leap over the wall."

This left the villagers in a haze, but they all understood one principle: This dish must be extraordinary! Remarkable!

This dish could make even Buddha leap over a wall! How delicious must it be!

What could it be made from?

At this moment, Mrs. Ji seized the opportunity to show off her communication skills.

She intently described the ingredients and cooking method for "Buddha Jumps over the Wall" that Xiao’er had told her, with some embellishments of her own.

Listening to her, the villagers were astounded: sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, dried scallops, fish maw, dried scallop ...? So many ingredients they couldn’t even remember, so many exotic seafood delicacies. Some they had never even seen, only heard about from others! Some they had never even heard of!

These days, the village was quite busy. Although it’s always lively at the end of the year when almost every household slaughters their New Year’s pig and hosts a feast.

But this year was particularly special, the villagers’ conversations were dominated by the topic of "Buddha Jumps over the Wall", and the more they talked, the more mythical the dish became! Rumors started swirling that Mrs. Liu spent 1,000 taels of silver to prepare one pot of "Buddha Jumps over the Wall"! 1,000 taels of silver, good heavens, that’s enough money for them to spend their entire lives!

For a time, many people were greatly looking forward to the feast at Xiao’er’s house.

With all the buzz, everyone from the old house knew what was happening.

As Mrs. Shen listened to Shen Jingwen, she was so angry that smoke seemed to be coming out of her seven orifices. She wished she could immediately slice Mrs. Liu into thousands of pieces, before Mrs. Liu spent all of her son’s silver!

Sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, dried scallop, fish maw... she hadn’t even eaten some of these delicacies herself. Now, they were all being served by Mrs. Liu, the wastrel, to the entire village! And she had not even been invited! Mrs. Shen was so mad she was practically steaming.

Mrs. Liu must be doing this intentionally to annoy her! And she was doing it by spending her own son’s silver! Outrageous! Mrs. Shen felt a sharp pain in her chest from anger.

"No, I can’t let Mrs. Liu squander the Shen family’s property like this! I’m going to settle accounts with her!" Before Shen Jingwen could finish his sentence, Mrs. Shen had stormed off, too angry to listen any more.

On hearing this, Shen Jingwen hurriedly stopped her, "Mother, calm down. Even if you go to Uncle Liu’s house now, would you be able to get in? Imagine, you might be cursing outside until your throat is hoarse, and Aunt Liu won’t hear a word! For the past few days, in spite of the harsh northwest wind, we have been trying to apologize, but when did they ever open the door for us?"

At this point, Shen Jingwen was also fuming. The people in the third branch were just too hateful! After three or four consecutive days of fruitless visits, they were still being rejected. His initial hesitation had turned into determination! Since the third branch chose not to be compassionate, they couldn’t blame him for being unkind!

His father suggested hiring someone to kill that brat Xiao’er, but as soon as the local ruffians heard that it was about trouble with the House of Marquis Shengping, they ran away faster than rabbits. This was really driving him mad!

"So what are we going to do? Are we really going to let that prodigal woman, Mrs. Liu, squander all of our Shen family’s silver?" Mrs. Shen fumed.

"Grandmother, don’t worry yet. I’ve already thought of a way to deal with them. Look, when they invite all those people to eat "Buddha Jumps over the Wall", they will have to open the doors, won’t they? At that time, we will be able to get in. Once we’re inside, you can curse at Aunt Liu in front of everyone. That should make you feel better. As you’re doing that, I’ll take the opportunity to poison the "Buddha Jumps over the Wall". After the villagers eat it, everyone will get poisoned and die. Even if Uncle is a Marquis, he could hardly escape punishment. Then in the ensuing chaos, I’ll kill that brat Xiao’er. This way, the properties of the third branch will be ours. When a new Emperor ascends the throne, I would be proclaimed the founding father. Then you will be the Dowager Empress. At that time, we will not only have the money but also prestige. Killing two birds with one stone!" Shen Jingwen was almost clapping for himself for coming up with such a brilliant scheme.

Hearing this, Mrs. Shen nodded. However, thinking of that 1,000 taels "Buddha jumps over the wall" dish she hadn’t managed to get a piece of, her heart ached as if someone was cutting her flesh with a knife.

Unable to visit and accuse them directly, Mrs. Shen had no choice but to sit on a kang bed and curse!

Master Shen was terribly annoyed. Walking out, the villagers’ continuous chatter of "Buddha jumps over the wall", "Fish maw", "Shark fin", "Bird’s nest" left him breathless. Staying at home wasn’t much better. Mrs. Shen seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of saliva. Apart from eating and sleeping, she could keep cursing nonstop!

Master Shen could only sit in the courtyard, looking at the sky, hoping his third son would come back quickly. It was understandable that Mrs. Liu didn’t save him any face, but his third son was still his own child. Master Shen held out hope that he wouldn’t abandon him!

Sitting in a carriage on his way home, Shen Chengyao sneezed loudly.

The day arrived for the banquet at Xiao’er’s house. It was a clear day, with blue skies and pale clouds, and a brisk north wind. All in all, it was a great day.

The villagers all rose early. It was freezing cold and they had idle time. Why wouldn’t they sleep some more? Because they were collectively awakened by hunger!

Scene one:

"Mom, I’m so hungry, I want to eat!"

"Didn’t I tell you yesterday that there’s no food today? We need to keep our stomachs empty for the feast at the Marquis’s house! When Manager Qian was distributing the invitations, didn’t he tell us to eat heartily? Have you forgotten?"

"But I’m so hungry!"

"That’s good! You’ll be able to eat more at the feast. You have to bear it now!"

"I can’t bear it any longer!"

"Then drink more water, that will make you feel less hungry."

"Okay..." The child resignedly went to drink water.

Scene two:

"Brother, have you had breakfast?"

"No, we have a banquet at the House of Marquis Shengping at noon. I didn’t have dinner last night! I have to keep my stomach empty to experience the taste of the delicacies that only rich houses can afford! Jingrui told me that they’re delicious and to remember not to eat too much before the meal, so I can eat more of the "Buddha Jumps over the Wall"."

"Impressive, you are even more prepared than me, I only planned to skip breakfast today. I didn’t think about skipping dinner yesterday. What a loss! In our lifetime, this might be our only chance to taste exotic delicacies. How could I not have thought about skipping dinner yesterday to prepare for this! You are quite clever!"

"What are you talking about? I didn’t eat yesterday’s lunch. For breakfast, I only drank a bit of thin porridge. All of this is to make room for this meal!"

The two raised their thumbs in admiration, "You rule! Aren’t you hungry?"

"Isn’t that obvious? Of course, I’m hungry! But if I weren’t starving, how would I be able to eat comfortably?"

The people passing by nodded, "Makes