Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

We'll find out when he eats it anyway.

Time flew by and it was already the next day.

The third grandfather specially chose to start the banquet at noon. Almost the entire Xiao family came, except for Li Lizhi, Princess Yuzhang, and a few elderly people who did not come. The rest, including Cheng Chumo and Qin Huaidao, all came.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be so many people attending the banquet, since each family only gives one gift, and it's not appropriate for too many people to come.

However, Xiao Ran and the others each prepared a gift of money.

Just as Xiao Ran was about to put down the gift money he had brought, his third grandfather rushed over and stopped him.

"Young master, you mustn't!"

Xiao Ran paused, then asked, "What's wrong?"

The great-grandfather took a breath and said, "I owe everything I have today to you, young master. How could I accept your money for a meal? I'm already very happy that you've given me this much face!"

Xiao Ran placed his gift money directly on the table before saying, "That's unreasonable. Besides, I'm just here to share in the joy."

The third grandfather opened his mouth, not understanding why Xiao Ran needed to share in his good fortune.

However, before he could refuse, Xiao Ran said again, "This is also a congratulation to you, Third Grandfather. It wouldn't be right for you to accept gifts from others but not from me."

This left the third grandfather speechless, and Xiao Ran had already sent out the gift money.

Before the third grandfather could react, he saw that after Xiao Ran put down his gift money, Zhang Dalang and Li Ke behind him also put down theirs. This made the third grandfather anxious.

"Young master, what do you mean by this? Your whole family is giving me face by coming here, so why are you giving me a gift money each?"

Xiao Ran pointed to the group of people behind him.

“Third grandfather, so many of us have come. How can we only give one gift? That’s not proper. Besides, they’re all well-off. Please accept it.”

Cheng Chumo and the others behind him nodded in agreement, and even put down their gifts and went inside. Now, the third grandfather was caught in a dilemma, unsure of what to do.

Fortunately, Zhang Mingde came over at this moment and advised, "Please accept it, sir. It wouldn't look good to refuse it in public."

Hearing Zhang Mingde say this, the third grandfather sighed and decided to let it go.

However, since Xiao Ran and his group had a large number of people, the Third Grandfather specially arranged for a separate table for them.

When the other villagers saw Xiao Ran and his group, they also greeted them warmly.

Li Tai sat in the chair, looking around.

"Young master, it's really lively here."

Xiao Ran nodded and said, "Almost half the village has come, so of course it's lively."

Li Tai looked around and asked, "Where's Sizi? How come it disappeared in such a short time?"

Xiao Ran pointed with his chin towards the main entrance.

"She went to play with the children and will be back when it's time to eat."

Among the children with Sizi and the others, there were a few who were older, so Xiao Ran felt at ease.

Sure enough, just as Xiao Ran said, when it was time to eat, the little princess, the little princess of Chengyang, the little princess of Gaoyang, and the third mother all rushed back with a group of children.

Xiao Ran lifted the little princess onto a chair. The little princess was still panting because she had run so fast.

"Sizi, are you cold?" Xiao Ran asked.

The little princess shook her head and tugged at her collar, "It's hot~"

Xiao Ran quickly took her hand away.

"You're just too hot from running around. You'll feel better in a bit. Let's eat quickly and then go home, okay?"

Xiao Ran originally didn't want to bring the little princess to dinner; he just wanted to give her a gift and watch the fun.

But seeing that Xiao Ran and Li Tai were coming to the banquet, the little princess naturally wanted to come along too, hoping to eat something delicious.

However, the little princess is destined not to eat any delicious food.

The dishes on the table were mostly vegetarian, and the variety was limited, consisting mainly of radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, and some dried vegetables.

The meat dish, which is cured pork, is diced and stir-fried with dried vegetables, so you can hardly see the cured pork anywhere.

However, there was also a scrambled egg dish, which had quite a lot of eggs in it.

There was also chicken soup; although there wasn't much chicken, the mushrooms inside were delicious.

This is already a very good set of dishes, and there's a whole table of food laid out.

After the dishes were served, there was rice, which was just ordinary brown rice. Most people ate this kind of rice, and some poorer people could only drink brown rice porridge.

However, brown rice was a bit harsh on Xiao Ran and his group's throats.

The adults, including Xiao Ran, were fine, but the little princess and the other toddlers clearly couldn't finish it.

Even Li Tai wasn't really interested in eating it.

Seeing Li Tai's bitter and resentful expression, Xiao Ran raised an eyebrow and said jokingly, "Eat up, the grand feast you've been longing for."

Li Tai frowned, picked up a small mouthful of brown rice with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and then drank it down with the chicken soup.

"How is it? Is it delicious?" Li Ke also joined in the fun.

Li Tai shook his head very honestly, "It doesn't taste good."

Then, he glanced around and found that everyone was eating with great relish, and many people were even saying that his great-grandfather had spent a lot of money on the food.

Li Tai remained silent for a while, seemingly lost in thought. Xiao Ran noticed this but didn't ask anything; instead, he focused on feeding the little princess.

If the little princess's throat can't handle brown rice, then she should eat more vegetables.

Fortunately, salt is expensive, so the dishes aren't salty.

Xiao Ran picked up a piece of chicken for the little princess.

"Rhinoceros, eat it and see if it's good."

The little princess took a big bite of the chicken and chewed vigorously.

Xiao Ran asked with a smile, "Is the chicken at home tastier, or is this chicken tastier?"

Without the slightest hesitation, the little princess replied, "At home, duck~"

Despite saying that, the little princess still ate the chicken piece clean.

"Xiao Langjun."

My third grandfather came over, carrying a plate in his hand.

“Third Grandfather,” Xiao Ran raised his head and responded.

The great-grandfather smiled and placed the plate on Xiao Ran's table, which contained several sesame cakes.

Xiao Ran glanced around and realized that only their table had it.

"Third grandfather, what's going on?" Xiao Ran asked.

My great-grandfather smiled and said, "These children are still young and probably can't handle eating this coarse rice. So my wife made some flatbreads for you to eat."

Although Xiao Ran's family ate sesame cakes almost every meal, they were made with oil, sugar, and sesame seeds, so ordinary people rarely ate them.

Xiao Ran did not refuse, but simply thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Third Grandfather."

My great-grandfather waved his hand, turned around, and went back into the house.

The others were naturally greeted by the younger members of the family, so there was no need for the third grandfather to come forward. It was only because Xiao Ran and his group were special that the third grandfather personally came forward.

Xiao Ran placed a sesame seed cake on the little princess's plate.

The little princess's eyes narrowed with joy as she ate the fragrant sesame cakes.

There were only a limited number of sesame cakes, so the smaller ones each got one. But when it came to Li Tai, he refused.

"No need, young master, I'll just eat brown rice." Seeing the insistence in Li Tai's eyes, Xiao Ran didn't refuse and planned to keep the sesame cake so that each of the younger ones could have one later.

Of course, the little princess didn't; that sesame cake was enough for her little tummy.

The villagers ate quickly, and by the time Xiao Ran and his group were halfway through their meal, the villagers had already started to leave.

If there were any leftover dishes, my great-grandfather told them to go home and bring back a bowl; if they didn't mind, they could take it.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran and the others also sped up their eating. The younger ones, however, had already finished eating because they had small appetites.

Xiao Ran looked at the chicken soup on the table, poured some into his bowl, and then finished it in a few bites.

Cheng Chumo and the others simply finished the rice in their bowls.

After the meal, when Xiao Ran and the others were leaving, their third grandfather came to see them off.

Back home, the group collapsed onto the sofa, their eyes vacant.

Li Lizhi asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong with you all?"

Xiao Ran waved his hand without saying a word, and Li Lizhi then turned her gaze to Li Ke.

Li Ke gave a wry smile.

"Actually, it's nothing, it's just a bit too noisy."

There are already many people, and there aren't many rules in the countryside. Everyone eats and chats at the same time, so it's no wonder it gets noisy.

Li Tai also said, "The food seems to be as good as it can be, but I still can't get used to it."

Xiao Ran rubbed his stomach, feeling as if the brown rice hadn't been digested.

The brown rice at that time was different from the modern brown rice. It still had its husk on, which made it rough on the throat and difficult to digest.

Seeing Xiao Ran rubbing his stomach, Li Lizhi felt a little worried.

"Young master, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xiao Ran shook his head. "It's nothing. I'm just rubbing it to help with digestion."

Li Tai said with relief, "It's a good thing that Sizi and the others didn't eat brown rice, otherwise they would definitely feel uncomfortable."

Speaking of the little princess, Xiao Ran stood up and went to the little princess's room to take a look. He found the little ones sleeping soundly on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Xiao Ran stepped forward and touched the little princess's forehead. It was warm, and her body was also warm. She didn't seem to be sick, so he felt relieved.

He then checked on each of the little ones one by one, and finding that none of them had any symptoms of illness, he went out and returned to his own room.

The thin layer of snow melted slowly in places unnoticed by everyone.

The sun in the sky slowly set from its center.

When Xiao Ran woke up from his afternoon nap, he opened the door and heard the little princess talking nonstop.

However, her pronunciation was already unclear, and now she was saying a long string of words, which sounded no different from listening to a foreign language.

However, judging from the little princess's animated gestures, she seemed quite happy.

Xiao Ran stepped forward and asked, "What is Si Zi saying?"

Li Lizhi smiled and said, "Sizi is telling us what you had for lunch and whether it was delicious."

Xiao Ran picked up the little princess and held her in his arms, teasing her deliberately, "Sizi, are you going to a banquet or eating at home next time?"

The little princess quickly replied, "It's at my house!"

Although going to a banquet is lively, the little princess still prefers home-cooked meals.

This remark made everyone burst into laughter.

Xiao Ran thought for a moment and decided to prepare some delicious food for the little princesses in the evening.

Some of the beef was made into beef jerky, which is currently air-drying and should be ready to eat tomorrow.

The remaining beef could be cooked and eaten that night. There were all sorts of ingredients at home. Xiao Ran had a sudden idea and said, "How about we have hot pot for dinner?"

Hot pot is something that other people haven't tried before, but even though I've never eaten it, I know it must be delicious.

The little princess didn't know what hot pot was, but that didn't stop her from being happy.

"Seven-Seven Hot Pot Duck~"

However, if you're having hot pot, then the pot becomes a bit of a problem.

His portable gas stove and small pot are definitely not enough, considering there are so many of them.

Thinking about this, Xiao Ran felt a little worried.

The others didn't think too much about it, since they had no idea what hot pot was. So when they found out there would be something delicious tonight, they were filled with anticipation and went about their own business.

Cheng Chumo and the others went to the glass workshop, while the little princess and her friends went to play hide-and-seek.

Princess Yuzhang and Zhang Erya were doing needlework. They planned to make a few dolls, which was something Xiao Ran had mentioned before. They remembered it and planned to make a few for the little maids.

Only Xiao Ran and Li Lizhi were in the living room.

Seeing Xiao Ran's furrowed brows, Li Lizhi asked in confusion, "What's wrong, young master? Is something the matter?"

Xiao Ran sighed, "I've been thinking about hot pot all the time, but you've seen my stove, it's so small it's definitely not enough."

Li Lizhi thought of the portable gas stove and the small pot, and nodded, "They do seem a bit small."

With so many people and such a small stove, when will we ever get enough to eat?

"Otherwise, young master, you can take Sizi and the others to eat. It doesn't matter whether we eat or not," Li Lizhi said.

Xiao Ran shook his head, "Even those few little ones aren't enough."

As they were talking, Xiao Ran suddenly remembered that although the portable gas stove and pot were small, he had a lot of them!

Even now, Xiao Ran hasn't forgotten about refreshing the page.

However, some things are not frequently used, so after he refreshed them every day at the beginning, he gradually stopped using them. Otherwise, he would have nowhere to put so many unused items.

So Xiao Ran planned that everyone would just have their own pot.

Having come up with a solution, Xiao Ran instantly felt relieved.

"You've come up with a solution?" Li Li asked.

Xiao Ran nodded. "Yes."

Seeing this, Li Lizhi didn't ask any more questions, but got up and followed Princess Yuzhang and Zhang Erya to make dolls.

Seeing that he was the only one left in the living room, Xiao Ran stood up, went to the kitchen to give some instructions, and then went out.

The first place he went was the glass workshop.

As soon as I got there, I saw a group of people who couldn't hide their excitement.

"What are you doing?"

Looking at the group of people gathered together, Xiao Ran was somewhat puzzled.

Cheng Chumo turned around, pulled Xiao Ran aside, and said, "Young master, look, is this glass alright? Can it be used to make a window?"

Xiao Ran squatted down to examine it carefully, then nodded, "Yes, is this the second batch of glass?"

Zhang Dalang replied in a deep voice, "Yes, just like the first batch."

Looking at the glass in front of him, Xiao Ran was very satisfied.

"Okay, the glass is completely finished. Once I tell Uncle Shi, everyone will definitely want to pay more!"

Xiao Ran spoke without anyone hiding their presence; everyone else working in the workshop heard him clearly. They were all beaming with joy and worked even harder. (End of Chapter)