Chapter 172: Rites And Music Are About Rank And Order
Actually, the emperor building magnificent palaces, monks building tall temples, the emperor being high above, and Buddha being molded to be incredibly large all have very deep intentions.
The emperor used distance to establish his mystique, and Buddha used size to display his majesty. One belongs to the worship of the unknown, and the other to megalomaniacal worship. The purpose is to make you unconsciously believe that you are small, insignificant, and need to submit and prostrate yourself before them.
The Yun family does not have magnificent palaces, nor has it built a towering city. Therefore, E Ji, Zhang Min, and Feng An, and Liang Kun can only use class as a weapon to establish the Yun Clan’s leadership status in these people’s hearts.
These people cannot understand the dance ‘Flowing Clouds’, and it’s right that they don’t understand. They only need to sincerely believe that they are inferior to the General, inferior to the group of people from the Yun family sitting in high places. Otherwise, why can’t they understand it while those people are captivated by it?
Yun Ce also couldn’t understand. When An Ji used to dance for him, she wasn’t like this. When her skirt swayed, she would often expose her fair thighs. When she arched her back, half of her chest would be exposed to him without any covering. Unlike now, she is dressed fully, expressionless, and striking the bian zhong.
The young maids she personally brought out are also as rigid as wooden figures, whether still or in motion.
The torturous dance finally ended. Yun Ce raised his cup to invite a toast. The young attendants poured wine for the guests. The wine cups were very small, less than a mouthful each, as if the wine was very expensive and the host didn’t want the guests to drink too much.
Yun Ce raised his cup and invited a toast three times, and everyone rinsed their mouths three times. The young attendants then smilingly brought out the first dish. The dish was a stomach-warming egg custard. Like the wine, it was only a small bowl. Qin Shu took two spoonfuls and finished it. He Qingfang used three spoonfuls and finished it.
Then, He Qingfang saw the Yun family members not far away. They only took a little at a time, seemingly savoring the silky texture of the egg custard.
“Did we make a fool of ourselves again?”
Qin Shu chuckled, “Don’t mind these details. We are not nobles, and we don’t have so many formalities.”
He Qingfang shook her head, “I can be unrefined, but my child cannot be unrefined in the future and be laughed at.”
Qin Shu asked, “Was the egg custard delicious?”
He Qingfang nodded, “I’ve had egg custard before, but I’ve never had egg custard as smooth as silk as this.”
The second dish was served, also in a small bowl. This time, however, there was a piece of meat about an inch square in the small bowl. The meat was amber-colored, tied with two thin straw ropes, and trembled in the small bowl. Most peculiar was that half a candle was lit at the bottom of the small bowl. The candle flame kept licking the bottom of the small bowl, causing the piece of meat in the small bowl to emit a faint sizzling sound and a rich aroma.
Under the guidance of a young attendant, He Qingfang removed the straw ropes binding the meat and then gently separated the meat with her chopsticks, putting one piece in her mouth and leaving the other.
Looking at the very elastic skin, it melted on her tongue as soon as it entered her mouth. Then, the rich aroma of fat invaded her entire mouth. The lean meat, streaked with fat, seemed reluctant to separate. Only when the meat slid down her throat did He Qingfang remember that she should have savored it properly.
She still couldn’t taste the flavor of the second piece when she put it in her mouth. She wanted to continue eating, but only a thin layer of sauce remained in the small bowl, still bubbling from being heated by the candle flame.
The meat was too delicious. He Qingfang felt she could eat at least ten more pieces. Unfortunately, there were no more. Just as she was inwardly complaining about the Yun clan’s stinginess, Qin Shu handed her his small bowl. His piece of meat was only missing a tiny corner.
Giving Qin Shu a sweet smile, He Qingfang, under Qin Shu’s doting gaze, stuffed the large piece of braised pork into her abyss-like mouth. This time, she ate it very clearly, with the aroma of meat filling her mouth, far more delicious than the piece she had eaten earlier.
The third dish was mutton, with soup, very delicious and the soup was clear. She had thought that if this dish was good, she would give it to Qin Shu, because Qin Shu loved mutton the most.
By the time she tasted it, she found that there was nothing left in the bowl containing the mutton and soup.
The fourth dish was served, and He Qingfang felt her head and taste buds were constantly being impacted. When there was something to eat, her head was muddled; when there was nothing to eat, her mind was clear.
It wasn’t until she was awakened by a melodious striking of the jin jizi that she realized the banquet was nearing its end. The sound of the bian zhong became leisurely, striking only once every half a day. The women’s dance, which had started as graceful and then become passionate, had now slowed down. Their every smile and glance seemed to be asking the guests to continue drinking and reveling.
The dreamlike banquet ended with the striking of the jin jizi. Everyone followed the attendants and left the warm courtyard of the Yun family. As they were leaving, He Qingfang noticed that flowers were still blooming in the courtyard, and some unknown fruits hung from the trees.
“I’m not full.”
He Qingfang rubbed her stomach and complained to Qin Shu.
“A banquet is not a place to eat until you are full. It’s about song and dance, music, and conversation. You all focused your entire minds on waiting for the next dish to arrive, what a pity.”
Just as Qin Shu finished speaking, they heard Zuo Chong say helplessly, “But food is the most important thing! The General has noble ways, and we can’t like what he likes.
Look at those singing girls dancing, they are so beautiful, but why do I feel they are not as good as the maidservant who scrubs me?
Deputy General Qin, can you ask the General to bestow that maidservant who scrubs me upon me? If you grant it, I will fight wherever the General points in the future.”
“Yes, yes, Deputy General, please do us a favor. Those beauties dancing at the banquet belong to the General; we dare not think of them, nor do we want them. I only want the woman who scrubs me. She is so attentive and skilled at serving. If I bring her back as a wife, she will surely be gentle and virtuous.”
Hearing his subordinates say this, Qin Shu’s eyes widened. He grabbed Zuo Chong and roared, “What were you doing when you were bathing?”
Zuo Chong smiled, “With Sister Qingfang bathing with you, you naturally couldn’t do anything. If you bathed alone, I don’t believe you could control yourself.”
Qin Shu’s trembling fingers swept across everyone’s faces, then he slapped his thigh heavily and said to He Qingfang, “I will go and beg the General for forgiveness now.”
He Qingfang chuckled, “You don’t know their character, or the General doesn’t know? Since he knows, yet arranged such a seductive scene, it means the General is rewarding them. Even if not, the General is tacitly approving.
If you were to ask the General for those women, I suspect the General would agree.”
Hearing that his woman had a solution, everyone naturally began to complain about the banquet that had raised their appetites to the extreme but hadn’t let them eat their fill.
“The last dish was rice, but I had no dishes to go with it. If I had known there would be rice, I would have saved that piece of meat and mashed it to eat with the rice. It would have been incredibly delicious.”
“I thought the bowl of mutton, with both meat and soup, was delicious. After finishing it, I sucked the bones clean. The little child next to me even helped me use a skewer to get the bone marrow.”
“I’m not full, I’m not full. Huh, do you think the General is full? Even if the nobles in the mansion have small appetites, the General’s appetite is not small.
How can you sleep at night if you don’t have a full stomach?”
“Get lost. It’s as if you were always full every meal under Iron Enclosure Pass. Today we had a good meal. If we go back and sleep early, perhaps good dreams await me.”
When everyone returned to their accommodation, they found it brightly lit, with over a dozen large pots lined up. Behind them stood more than a dozen cooks, busy throwing strands of white noodles into the large pots.
Beneath a simple bamboo shed, a familiar figure was squatting on a long stool, holding a bowl larger than his head with both hands, eating noisily.
He Qingfang hurried over and saw Yun Ce shielding his large bowl with his hands, saying, “Don’t snatch mine. Your noodles are still coming.”
He Qingfang asked, “So the General wasn’t full either?”
Yun Ce roared, “That little bit of food is for feeding birds, how can it feed a mighty hero like me?”
“Knowing you wouldn’t be full, why didn’t you give more?”
“Scram, you ungrateful wretches. Don’t you know? My wife heard you were coming and started preparing ten days in advance, entertaining you with the highest etiquette among nobles. It seems her heartfelt efforts were in vain.”
“We can’t handle noble customs. General, please treat us as subordinates in the future and don’t be so polite as if we were guests.”
Yun Ce slurped and swallowed the noodles in his mouth, then surveyed everyone around him and said gravely, “We fought the demons at Iron Enclosure Pass for years without name or rank. It is only right that we be guests of the Yun clan for once.
Alright, let’s not talk about these unlucky things. I’ll tell you, the food you ate at the banquet is not even comparable to a bowl of our Yun clan’s oil-splashed noodles!”
As the cook poured the scorching hot plain oil over the noodles, with a sizzling sound, a bowl of rich-flavored oil-splashed noodles was ready. It was clear that Qin Shu knew how to eat. He first grabbed a bowl and put it in He Qingfang’s hand, then snatched another bowl for himself. He squatted on the long stool opposite Yun Ce, and under Yun Ce’s direction, mixed the noodles, then picked up a pair of chopsticks and put them in his mouth.
After that, he didn’t say another word to Yun Ce.
Yun Ce felt that all the objectives of his family today had been achieved, especially the final bowl of oil-splashed noodles, which was the finishing touch. When people are hungry, what they need most is a bowl of oil-splashed noodles. Only with such ample carbohydrates can the body’s cravings for food be satisfied.
“Does the General hope that all of us will stay here?”
After Qin Shu finished eating the noodles and drinking the noodle soup, he rinsed his mouth and began to converse seriously with Yun Ce.
“As you can see, this is still a nascent mess. Both I and this place need you to stay.”
“When the General was at Ghost King Mountain, he said he wanted to build this place into an advance base for the Great Han men to requisition grain from Gui Fang?”
“Yes, and more than that. I hope this place can become the second line of defense to prevent the demons from entering the Great Han, after Iron Enclosure Pass.”
There is still more
