"Wait, Haiyan, is this everything?"
It was Li Xiaoman who spoke. He turned the enormous lazy Susan, looking at the few dishes scattered across it, his brow knotted into a deep frown.
The table could seat more than thirty people and was ridiculously huge, but what about the food? The cold and hot dishes together barely numbered more than ten, and most were vegetarian. The slices of braised beef were paper-thin. By the time that plate made one circuit, there wouldn't even be enough for everyone to take a single bite.
"Who's this little bit supposed to feed? It's not even enough to fill the gaps between our teeth." Li Xiaoman complained in a fairly loud voice, half joking and half serious. "You're going a little too far to save everyone money, aren't you?"
Called out by name, Zeng Haiyan looked a little embarrassed. "Xiaoman, you don't know how it is. The dishes here... the prices are just outrageous. I tried to pick the cheaper ones when I ordered."
As one of the organizers of this gathering, she had wanted everyone to eat and drink well, but her heart had sunk the moment she opened the menu. They dared to charge eighty-eight for a simple plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and anything with even a little meat started in the triple digits.
"What's the big deal?" Beside her, Xiao Weijin waved a hand with a grand flourish. "Order more if it's not enough! We're splitting the bill today. It's not like any one person is treating us. Eat all you want!"
With that, he called toward the door, "Server, bring us the menu!"
"All right, you're right. We're hosting Liu Xinyu and Qingyu today. We can't be too stingy. Xiao Weijin, you order, then. Go ahead!"
She took the opportunity