Chapter 457 – Family Banquet (Last Part)
After reaching an agreement, Zhao Hai and the others came out of Rustling Tree Courtyard. They wanted to look for Gansu in order to hand the delicious snacks over and have them served during this evening’s feast.
Gansu was busy in the kitchen, he was truly busy today because he handled the preparation for tonight’s banquet. All the people in Dark Soldier Fort would be partic.i.p.ating, the servants will be partic.i.p.ating in the eating and drinking. Therefore, there were a lot of food that were needed to be prepared ahead of time.
Zhao Hai looked at Gansu who was about to drink something and then said, “Grandpa Gan, you’re looking quite busy.”
When Gansu heard Zhao Hai’s voice, he turned his head to Zhao Hai and smiled, “Boy? Why are you here? Want to ask me to drink? Today’s no good, I have a lot to do, let’s do it another day.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Grandpa Gan, do you really see me as a drunkard, wanting to drink everyday? I’m here to do you a favor, you don’t need to prepare a lot of food. When we went out earlier, Megan led us to snack street to have some food. I bought a lot of Carson City’s unique snacks. We can add those to this evening’s feast.” Then he waved his hand as a pile of snacks appeared.
Gansu’s eyes turned bright when he saw the snacks. One should know that the snacks of Carson City aren’t considered to be commoner food. These things are widely famous in the continent, even Gansu liked them. They were a very good pair to liquor.
While thinking of that, Gansu immediately said to Zhao Hai, “Good, but you don’t need to take them out right now. These snacks aren’t proper meals. You can take them away and then serve them yourself in the evening.”
Zhao Hai listened to Gansu’s advice and didn’t disagree. He nodded and received the snacks, then he led Megan and the others to head back.
Time quickly pa.s.sed as evening came. Smith had someone call Zhao Hai over and then the group headed to the main square.
Usually when a large group of people live together, one couldn’t really fathom the amount of people present. All the people inside Dark Soldier Fort numbered towards several thousand people, this wasn’t a small number.
As soon as Smith’s entourage arrived, the servants and guards present immediately came to greet him, some gave a salute while some gave a bow. Smith was also very polite to these people, he gave well-wishes to these people and also chatted with them for a bit. This made Zhao Hai surprised, for Smith to remember the names of these people was something worthy of admiration.
Zhao Hai then knew that something as small as remembering ones name can make people have a favorable impression towards you. Especially someone with a position like Smith, for a master to remember the name of a servant would surely give him a high evaluation among the servants, making him occupy a special place in their hearts.
Zhao Hai, Kristen and Diya followed beside Smith. However, Megan and the others followed the madam to go greet the women on the other side.
Inside the fort, there were a lot of people who hadn’t seen Zhao Hai. Now that they did, they were somewhat disappointed, Zhao Hai looked very ordinary, in their opinion, Zhao Hai seemed to be unworthy of marrying Megan.
Megan wasn’t only liked by Smith and the other members of the Calci Family. Even the servant in the fort had a very good impression of her because of her good nature. She never treats the servants wrongly and was very kind to others. The servants in the castle liked Megan very much.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about what they thought about him. When Smith introduced him to the servants, he greeted them with a smile along with a salute. Seeing Zhao Hai give them a salute, the servants immediately returned the gesture, their impression of Zhao Hai also went a bit better.
These people are simple, if you respect them, then they’ll respect you. Naturally, to get their respect, you must understand how to respect them. In addition, Zhao Hai was something like a half-master to them. Even though they didn’t exchange some words, the servants were still touched by his gesture.
Before long, the people from the other parts of the fort also arrived. The people in the square became more and more. At this moment, there were already several bonfires made in the square, giving it proper illumination. The normally cold square was given warmth by the fires.
There were large tables placed right by the bonfires. Each table can sit several people, Gansu was also present arranging the seats for the guests.
Almost everyone didn’t need to be led to their seats. After all, the Family Banquet was an occasion that happens every year. It was one of the most important events for the family, everyone already knew where they would be sitting. After having everyone sit down, Gansu immediately had the servants serve the dishes.
After the servants have served the food, they immediately looked for their table and sat down. Then it was time for Randolph to speak, this was also part of the event’s proceedings.
After having all the dishes served, Randolph stood up and scanned the people in the square. Then he said loudly, “This year has brought abundant harvests to our Calci Family. We have gained new stable income sources as well as the most important event where we made those Radiant Church people suffer a loss under our hand. Our Calci Family had finally expelled some foul air.”
After this section of the speech, the square was filed with thunderous applause. These servants were the descendants of the previous servants of the Calci Family. Their honor and disgrace were closely linked with the family. In the past, when the family was overly suppressed by the Radiant Church, they found it hard to stay calm. When the family finally managed to turn the tides of battle over, causing the Church’s influence in the Rosen Empire to be erased, it was natural for these servants to feel excitement.
When the applause subsided, Randolph then said, “This year, our Calci Family’s little princess Megan has also been engaged to the Buda Clan’s Patriarch Zhao Hai. Our little princess has grown up, it is finally time for her to get married.”
After he said that, the square became lively. Many people loudly cried as well. Regarding the Calci Family’s rules, the servants need not follow them this time. Therefore, these people dared to be quite rowdy.
Megan didn’t think that Randolph would actually address her engagement at the family banquet. Her face couldn’t help but redden, but she still stood up. Seeing Megan stand up, Zhao Hai stood up as well. After giving the people in the square a bow, the two of them sat down.
The performance of Zhao Hai satisfied Randolph, he nodded and the continued, “In short, it has been a very good year for our Calci Family. Right, no need for more words. Everyone, let’s eat!” Then he sat down.
Seeing the people starting to eat, Zhao Hai immediately stood up and carried a wine gla.s.s towards Randolph’s table. Along with Randolph, the table contained the people with the highest status in the Calci Family, Smith was also in that table. In the table that Zhao Hai sat in were the people from Smith’s side.
While carrying a gla.s.s of wine to Randolph’s table, Zhao Hai bowed and then said, “Grandpa Randolph, elders, this is the first family banquet that I attended so I came unprepared. When I went out earlier, I managed to buy some snacks with Megan in snack street. I initially wanted to give them to Grandpa Gan earlier, but he told me to give it to the people myself, so that I can get more acquainted with them. I came here to offer them to your table first and then proceed to the others. I just don’t know if Grandpa Randolph agrees.”
Randolph laughs and said, “Who wouldn’t want Carson City’s snacks, it is very famous in the continent. I’ve always wanted to eat them for quite a long time, good, leave some here.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and then waved his hand as two trays of snacks appeared, carrying several types of snacks. The quant.i.ty aren’t that many, but the variety was quite a lot.
Zhao Hai placed the trays on the table and then bowed to them and said, “Grandpa Randolph, please enjoy the snacks. I’ll be heading to the other tables to deliver them.”
Randolph nodded and said, “You go, give some to the people.” Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned around to leave.
Zhao Hai proceeded to send snacks to each table. Although there weren’t a lot, it still held some meaning, especially to the servants. Zhao Hai also chatted with them, gaining the servants’ good graces. Currently, Zhao Hai became even more pleasing to their eyes.[1]
Upon finis.h.i.+ng to deliver the snacks, Zhao Hai already knew most of the servants’ names. He also came to know the names of the Calci Family members.
Even if Zhao Hai’s memory was much worse that Smith, he has the s.p.a.ce. If Zhao Hai cannot remember, the s.p.a.ce’s recording function can certainly remind him. The s.p.a.ce can even record the entire continent, much less names of people.
Zhao Hai got this move from Smith. After all, Zhao Hai was a nerd, his social skills couldn’t compare to someone who had n.o.ble education since childhood. Zhao Hai gave his best to learn about his deficiencies.
After delivering the snacks, Zhao Hai returned to his own table. The madam looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, “Little Hai, you really are quite sensible. Right, go sit down and quickly eat something. You seem to be the busiest one this evening.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Wouldn’t it be great to offer some snacks? I just want the family to be more lively, haha. Alright, let’s eat.”
Because the people on the table were all considered to be family members, everyone wasn’t polite with each other. They chatted while eating and drinking, the night’s events became livelier and livelier.
The family banquet continued on until midnight. People enjoyed themselves fully, there were a lot of drunk people by the end. Because of this, the square wasn’t cleaned up, they needed to wait until tomorrow to do so. This was also something of custom that the Calci Family practiced.
Zhao Hai and the others didn’t drink a small amount either. Zhao Hai didn’t expect for the servants to come over and offer him some liquor. It was not only him, even Randolph was approached for some drinks. On this event, Zhao Hai managed to cement his foundation inside the family as he ate and drank with everybody. Also, because of the liquor offerings, Randolph was the first to get drunk.
Moreover, Zhao Hai knew that Randolph wasn’t just pretending to be drunk, he was truly intoxicated. This made Zhao Hai surprised, under normal circ.u.mstances, old foxes like Randolph would pretend to be drunk so that he wouldn’t be offered more drinks. But at this time, he actually let go of himself and got drunk with the servants. This gave Zhao Hai insight as to how the family treated its subordinates.
1. Do the math ladies and gentlemen, how tf can Zhao Hai deliver snacks to several thousand people? *countdown timer sound starts*