Seven o'clock.
The dishes arrived.
The Banquet Hall immediately became lively.
Several County Leaders greeted one another and modestly deferred as they took their seats. In the end, Dong Xuebin sat in the seat of honor at the first table. Only after the leaders were seated did the other Civil Servants and family members sit down.
One dish...
Three dishes...
Five dishes...
Dish after dish arrived.
Seven or eight servers carried plates over and served them. Every time they set down a dish, they announced its name, but perhaps because of their accents, Dong Xuebin could not make out a single dish name. Still, everything looked quite good, whetting his appetite until his stomach began to growl.
Dong Xuebin thought the food looked decent, but the others did not see it that way. This was far more than decent—it was simply extravagant. Looking at dishes whose names some of them had never even heard, and the glittering golden tableware, even an idiot could tell none of this came cheap. One cadre who had eaten here once when someone else had hosted recognized the 998-yuan Lion's Head at a glance. After he told the colleague beside him, everyone sighed in amazement. A few meatballs cost a thousand yuan? Secretary Dong had put on an act earlier about saving money, saying he was afraid his wife would check up on him, but not a single dish showed any sign of restraint. There was not even an ordinary home-style dish. They were all the hotel's pricier signature dishes. When the alcohol came out at last, everyone quietly sucked in a breath.
Maotai!
Nothing but Maotai!
And not the relatively cheap State Banquet Maotai that cost a little over a hundred yuan, but forty-three-proof Feitian Maotai that went for seven or eight hundred yuan