Chapter 32 Dinner

Chapter 32 Dinner

Chapter 32 Dinner
The steward came over when he heard the noise. When he got closer, he glanced at the table and was stunned for a moment. Then he quickly apologized to them and quickly called the servants to serve the snacks again.

After the meal was over, the steward saw Zhu Qiuqi waving his hand impatiently at him, and then he went down. When he went down, he was still wondering, these snacks had been arranged long ago, how could one portion be missing inexplicably? Could it be that the greedy cat in the mansion took it away?
After the steward left, Zhu Qiuqi slowly reached out and picked up a piece of cake and put it into his mouth, chewing it slowly and nodding slightly, saying that the cake tasted good. Seeing that Zhu Shenzhui and others were useless, he chuckled and said that he was in a hurry to go out today and had not eaten breakfast, so how about his uncle and two uncles also have some?

Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and said that he had eaten breakfast before coming here, so he didn't need it, but asked them to save two pieces for him. After finishing here, he would take them back home for Qiaoer to try.

Zhu Minfeng took a piece and put it in his mouth with a smile. Only Zhu Minyu lowered his head and said nothing. His expression was very embarrassed. The pastry was hidden on his body. When Zhu Qiuqi suddenly shouted just now, Zhu Minyu's face turned red and he was very panicked. Today was a gathering of royal family. If everyone knew that he took the pastry as soon as he arrived, he would be so embarrassed.

Just as he was panicking, he suddenly felt someone kick him. Zhu Minyu looked up subconsciously and saw Zhu Shenzhui reminding him, "What are you thinking about? Why are you so absent-minded? Come on, Xiao Shiba is asking you to have some cakes. Try one."

“Oh...oh....” Zhu Minyu came back to his senses. At Zhu Shenzhui’s reminder, he reached out to take a piece of cake, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly. At the same time, he paid attention to the reactions of Zhu Qiuqi and the others. Seeing that they had normal expressions, he felt relieved.

There weren't many pastries, just one plate. After Zhu Qiuqi finished two pieces, his throat felt a little dry, so he picked up the tea in front of him and took a sip.

"Uncle Wu, I haven't seen you for a while. How are you doing?"

“Haha…ok…ok…” Hearing Zhu Qiuqi suddenly asking himself, Zhu Minyu, who was already a little nervous, responded subconsciously.

"What's good about it? How could I not know the situation in your family? Stop bragging! Little Eighteen, don't eat any more of this cake. Leave two pieces for your uncle, and let your fifth uncle take the rest back to your brothers and sisters to try." Zhu Minfeng interrupted. He and Zhu Minyu were closely related by blood, and the two families had the same grandfather, so they were real cousins.

He knew the situation of Zhu Minyu's family very well. After Zhu Minyu's father, who was also his uncle, passed away, the family, old and young, had a very hard time living. The royal family's salaries were seriously in arrears. Zhu Minyu would have died long ago if he hadn't relied on selling his meager property and relying on the help of his cousins.

Just now, Zhu Qiuqi yelled to call the steward over. Others may not know, but Zhu Minfeng doesn't know? His fifth brother was so embarrassed that he almost buried his head in his crotch. Needless to say, the pastries that were gone must have been hidden by Zhu Minfeng first.

As for why it was hidden? Is there any need to explain? It was just to take it home for the children. Thinking of this, Zhu Minfeng couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It was really sad that a member of the royal family had fallen to such a state.

Zhu Qiuqi is a dull guy, but not stupid, and he is quite clever.

How could he not understand what his uncle said? He immediately nodded in agreement and helped collect the remaining cakes, giving two pieces to Zhu Shenzhui and the rest to Zhu Minyu.

"Keep it. Everyone at this table is family. There's nothing to be embarrassed about." Zhu Shenzhui generously stuffed the paper bag containing two pastries into his arms and said with a smile to Zhu Minyu, who was a little at a loss.

"Sixth uncle is right, fifth brother, we are all family, just keep it." Seeing that Zhu Minyu was still in a daze, Zhu Minfeng simply helped to pick it up and put it directly in his hand.

Zhu Minyu finally came back to his senses. He looked at a few people with gratitude, nodded, and hid the things. After putting them in his arms, a smile first appeared on his face, but then it became sad again.

Patting Zhu Minyu's shoulder, Zhu Minfeng sighed and said nothing. Zhu Minyu's family had a hard time, and although his family was slightly better than Zhu Minyu's, to be honest, it was not much better.

The living standards of the entire royal family are polarized. The high-level royal family is doing well, but the middle and low-level royal family can be said to have few good lives. Most of them have a bad life, and even have a hard time. Not to mention that Zhu Minyu's family has no food to eat, some royal family members are worse off than his family, and some even starve to death. Speaking of which, the middle and lower-level royal family, especially the bottom-level royal family, are resentful of the court. The key is that the court's control over the royal family is too strict. Not to mention that the royal family can't do this or that, the current salary is often deducted and underpaid, which makes the royal family even more resentful.

These members of the royal family may look glamorous on the surface, but in fact most of them live worse than ordinary people. Because their lives are difficult, many of them curse the court and officials in private. Even the current Emperor Wanli does not spare them any curses.

But today's occasion is different, with so many royal family members here, some words still need to be said with caution. Their table is fine, at least they are all relatively close, but other tables are different, plus today they are in the general's mansion, there are many stewards and servants in the general's mansion, the walls have ears, if they say something wrong and are heard, there is no guarantee that there will be no trouble.

So, although they had a lot to talk about, they didn't say much. They sat quietly, chatting about ordinary topics, drinking tea, and patiently waiting for the ancestor worship ceremony to begin.

In more than half an hour, the ancestor worship ceremony will begin.

General Zhu Minfan was the chief priest today. As today was a big day for the royal family, not only did the Jin Palace in Taiyuan send its steward to attend, but even the prefect of Pingyang also came.

However, according to the court's rules, both the Jinwang Mansion and the Pingyang prefect only sent their subordinates to show up, and no one with status from either side came. This was also a convention. After all, the jurisdiction over the vassal kings was very strict. Not to mention the Jinwang, even the Jinwang's son and the eunuchs in the palace were not allowed to leave Taiyuan Prefecture.

As for the prefect of Pingyang, he only sent his advisors to make a visit as usual, and he himself did not show up. After all, it was not a good thing for officials to get involved in the affairs of the royal family, so suspicion in this regard needed to be avoided.

The ancestor worship ceremony began like this. With the arrival of the auspicious time, the clan members who came today stood up one after another, walked out of the flower hall in turn, and followed Zhu Minfan to the front.

Everyone lined up according to their seniority and title, and began to worship their ancestors under the leadership of Zhu Minfan.

The whole process was very complicated, so I won't describe it one by one. It took a long time to complete. After the whole process was over, everyone got up from the ground, rubbed their knees which were numb from kneeling, and felt relieved, and at the same time, they were filled with great anticipation.

When Zhu Minfan announced that the ancestor worship was complete and the General's Mansion had prepared a banquet, and invited all the clan members to sit down and enjoy the banquet, everyone's mouths suddenly watered and their eyes lit up. Especially the lower-ranking clan members who had not eaten since last night were extremely excited. They had tossed around for so long and kowtowed so many times, wasn't it just for this meal? What are you waiting for? Stop talking nonsense and start the banquet!

The banquet at the general's mansion was of pretty good quality. Zhu Minfan was not short of money, so there was wine and meat on the table, and the quantity was not small.

Everyone sat down in turn. As soon as Zhu Minfan finished inviting everyone to sit at the table, everyone picked up their chopsticks impatiently. The chopsticks went towards the meat and dishes on the table like raindrops. In the blink of an eye, the meat and dishes on the table disappeared.

Seeing this group of ferocious royal family members with bulging mouths and chopsticks in their hands constantly extending and retracting, the host Zhu Minfan felt very uncomfortable.

He sat at the main table, just drank a glass of wine, picked up a piece of food with chopsticks to taste, and then left the table on the grounds of feeling unwell.

He knew that the royal family had a hard time, but he felt uncomfortable when they ate like refugees. When did the royal family fall to this point? Thinking about his age and his children and grandchildren, maybe in another hundred years, his general's mansion would also decline. Zhu Minfan felt uncomfortable when he thought about this, so he simply turned a blind eye.

(End of this chapter)