Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 230 - 91 - Not Waiting, Preparing_1

Chapter 230: Chapter 91 - Not Waiting, Preparing_1

Even if the admission notice hadn’t arrived, Yan Fei was still not idle.

He had never planned a banquet before, and now he was running around asking others for advice.

Actually, it was simple. At this time, rural and township areas didn’t go to restaurants for feasts. Besides, there were very few food stalls in the small town having enough space to place several square tables let alone dozens of them.

They usually set it up at home, inside and outside, front and rear, with neighbors here and there; all these places could be utilized.

As for tables, chairs, benches, pots, bowls, and other necessities, it was easy. There were people in the small town who specialized in renting these things. Some big chefs have all these things already prepared. When you hire them, they bring everything along.

The family hosting the banquet only needed to provide manpower and a place to entertain guests.

Yan Fei definitely had plenty of spaces — his cattle farm was big enough to set up anywhere.

What was left was coordination. He delegated the running around to Pang Fa, as Yan Fei was not familiar with finding chefs and renting chairs, benches, pots, etc.

When it came to inviting guests, he had to invite a lot of people. He learned from Lin Baoguo and his parents that the number of people he had to invite was far more than he had initially thought.

If it was just an engagement banquet, there wouldn’t be a need to invite many people. One large table would suffice. Parents from both sides bringing a few similar guarantor-like people would be enough. At the most, they would add another table for close relatives and friends.

But adding the celebration of getting into college meant that this banquet had to be done on a grand scale.

Firstly, he needed to inform almost all the relatives and those with some relations in his hometown. Whether they come or not is their business, but if you have a happy event and don’t tell them, you’d be labeled as a ’Pianyiguai’ later on.

’Pianyiguai’ meant that you receive one less congratulatory gift and also garner resentment, a colloquial expression.

He also had to invite his parents’ colleagues, his own acquaintances, and the Xu family’s friends and acquaintances.

This included Xu Xiaoyan’s teachers and classmates at school, even the people at Lin Baoguo’s police station. Some of the friend’s friends who were invited might come too.

For instance, Yan Fei was going to invite Heizi, but Heizi’s friends of unknown origin could also come to join in the fun. After all, they become acquainted once they speak!

In short, in an indirect sense, a happy event should be shared and enjoyed with others. Neighbors will join in the fun and bask in the good fortune — especially families with students, they are most eager to soak up this kind of good luck.

Moreover, when you invite guests these days, it’s not just one member from each family who shows up. Everyone comes, from the elderly who can still walk to babies who are still breastfeeding. Anyone who can attend will attend.

The exchange of courtesies is such that it’s complicated, but the flavor of human relationships lies within.

At that time, some people who inadvertently bumped into the event would also take advantage of it and slip in for a meal.

For example, you might just pass by a house that is celebrating a happy event. The food looks good, it seems the host is a wealthy family. So you pay a dime or two, and there is a table specially prepared for someone like you. You pull up a chair and start eating.

Even those without money were fine; any random gift would do. A couple of small fishes caught from the river would be accepted. Just don’t come empty-handed.

If you want to come without a gift, you’d need some skill. Like the buskers who traveled from street to street. They roamed all over the place with a pair of bamboo boards. Normally, you could ignore them but if they came and sang a congratulatory song, they could eat with dignity.

However, this sort of individual was rare, and the ones that did exist knew their place. They wouldn’t disrupt the banquet. Besides, a small gift of food was often enough for them.

In the past, happy events were celebrated in this way. Everyone gathered and enjoyed the feast. Therefore, the feast was divided into principal seating, guest seating, and standing room.

The first two are easy to understand even if arranging the seating is challenging. His parents needed to do it. People cared about their reputation. If you gave an important person a seat in the guest section, you might offend them.

Thankfully, this banquet was for getting into college, which made it less stressful. If it was a wedding, it would be troublesome. The bride’s family members would get angry if they were not seated properly. Some even overturned the tables on the spot, and others objected highhandedly.

As for standing room, it was for those coming and going, those less important guests. For example, those who came to get a taste of the bliss. They would leave after eating, making room for the next wave of guests. You didn’t need to arrange seating for them. Just find a friend to help keep an eye on things.

After making some quick calculations, Yan Fei was surprised by the large number of guests. He feared he might not have enough resources on his cattle farm, even the two pigs might not be sufficient.

Of course, two pigs were not enough. There had to be chickens. At this moment, Yan Fei felt relieved. Fortunately, there was a large chicken farm with plenty of chickens. Otherwise, he would need to buy more. But after the banquet, he would probably have to buy more chicks.

Apart from pigs and chickens, the rest was fish.

Currently, in the rural township areas around Sancha River, for any banquet or wine feast, these three items were the most important.

Of course, there were other necessities. However, those were not the main items. Miscellaneous items could be entrusted to someone else to buy.

Yan Fei used the fish he got for free to thank others. Regardless of who came to lend a hand, they all left with a big fish.

Even though the water in the river had receded, the number of fish in the river was endless. The large pond at the cattle farm was almost full. When Pang Fa saw this he almost despaired. Fortunately, Yan Fei had nо intention of selling the fish. Otherwise, Pang Fa’s fishpond would have been maintained in vain.

But now Pang Fa had moved from aquaculture to processing. His small workshop was bustling, while his care for the fish pond was not as eager as before.

As the pile of preparations grew like a mountain, Yan Fei’s visits to the post office became more frequent.

When he got some spare time, he didn’t care that he had just had lunch, he hopped on his motorcycle and whizzed off to the post office. The young man at the post office was packing some stuff into the green bag on the back of his bicycle when he arrived. Seeing Yan Fei, he joked, "Old Master Yan, you’re here again. Like I said, if you paid me the money you’re spending on gasoline, I promise to deliver your admission notice the moment it arrives, even in the middle of the night. Save you the trouble of running around!"

Yan Fei chuckled, "I’m just afraid of delays! Has it not arrived yet?"

The girl inside shouted, "It hasn’t! Yan Fei, pay me the fuel cost. If the letter arrives, I’ll know before him, and I’ll run over to deliver it to you!"

Seeing that it hadn’t arrived, Yan Fei didn’t wait any longer. He hopped on his motorcycle, waved goodbye, and disappeared swiftly.

Someone laughed from behind, "This guy’s in too much of a hurry, isn’t he? He’s here several times a day..."

Someone immediately contradicted, "That’s a Provincial University admission notice! If I was the one who got accepted, I’d be even more anxious. I’d camp outside the post office!"

Yan Fei was indeed busy. He rushed back to the cattle farm, then watched Ma Chao brewing the wine.

Wine was an indispensable item. Yan Fei planned to prepare a vat of wine and see who could drink it all.

Mainly in rural areas, people could drink a lot of wine. Many people could sit next to the table from noon and continue drinking until night.

Indeed, there was that much time. People from the surrounding area who usually didn’t have time, especially those with few chances to meet, played drinking games until it got dark. The relationship was built upon these cups of wine.