You Don't Expect Us to Pay Your Way, Do You?

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "Auntie, since you're here as a guest, you must have a good time!"

Aunt rolled her eyes and said:

"Knowing I'm here as a guest, you'd think I'm here to rob the rich and give to the poor."

"Look around, who brings so much stuff when guests come to visit?"

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said:

"Aunt, doesn't our family have a chef?"

Aren't all the dishes you brought supposed to be cooked by our family chef?

Don't worry! You'll definitely have a full meal tonight.

The chefs at these makeshift restaurants aren't ordinary; they're all incredibly skilled.

Several imperial chefs were also rescued from the Valley of Evildoers. The dishes they made were indeed different from those made by ordinary people.

In just a few days, he's made Zhou Wanwan a picky eater.

Soon, the imperial chefs rolled up their sleeves and prepared to start cooking.

They glanced at the delivered ingredients—a fat pig, a sheep, and a few chickens—and immediately let out a cold laugh.

"Just one pig, one sheep, and a few chickens?"

The head chef curled his lip, his tone full of disdain. "Dozens of people, and this little bit of food isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap? It's a joke!"

Another imperial chef standing nearby said calmly:

"They're all from the countryside, they've never seen the world, why bother arguing with them?"

Anyway, there are so many people, enough to eat is fine. We just need to take good care of our masters.

After several imperial chefs had been busy for a long time, they saw several large tables of dishes being served.

Looking at the dishes, Auntie exclaimed, "Oh dear! We brought so much food, how come there's so little left?"

The villagers nodded in agreement, saying, "That cart was carrying a pig and a sheep. You didn't steal any, did you?"

Zhou Wanwan burst out laughing, "With all those pigs and sheep, if you divide them into five tables, how much would be left? You'd be lucky to have anything to eat at all."

"But you can't just not give us rice, can you?"

Zhou Wanwan spread her hands and said:

"You didn't bring any rice either? We're just bandits, we're already being kind by not robbing you!"

You're not expecting us to pay you to do it, are you?

Old Madam Zhou was so angry she gritted her teeth. That little bitch really didn't benefit from her at all.

The third daughter-in-law Zhao Feiyan, said:

"How could that be? Didn't we bring gifts?"

Wanwan, I also brought you a gold lock. Do you like it?

Zhao Feiyan took out a locket from her bosom and said, "Please wear this."

Zhou Wanwan took the gold locket and said, "Thank you!"

Why not take advantage of a free lunch?

Zhou Mei, standing nearby, couldn't help but complain, "Mom, you've never bought us anything this expensive before."

Zhao Feiyan glared at them and said:

How can you be the same as your sister?

My younger sister spends all her time on this mountain, so naturally she hasn't seen anything good.

"A girl should have a few decent pieces of jewelry, right?"

Then I saw the Zheng Chunhe Zheng Xing'an, walking over.

The two were adorned with dazzling gold jewelry from head to toe.

Zheng Chunhe wore a red gold and kingfisher feather hairpin in her hair bun, and gold earrings inlaid with pearls.

Needless to say, Zheng Xing'an, with her hair tied up in a golden crown and a red-gold longevity lock around her neck, exuded an air of Fugui and nobility that made it hard for people to breathe.

The entire room fell silent instantly. Everyone was stunned, their eyes glued to the dazzling gold jewelry, unable to recover for a long time.

Zheng Chunhe stepped forward and curtsied, saying, "Miss, the kitchen specially prepared a bowl of bird's nest soup for you, and I've brought it to you."

"Bird's nest?" Auntie swallowed hard; she had never tasted bird's nest before!

Zheng Xing'an, who was standing nearby, brought a bowl of bird's nest soup to Liu Su'e and said, "Madam, please have your meal."

Liu Su'e took the bird's nest and sipped it, while several villagers nearby said sourly:

"Good heavens! This knock-off restaurant is truly something else! Don't they even serve their guests bird's nest?"

The host family drinks bird's nest soup themselves, and we're just watching!

"How dare you eat it yourself? I don't even know what bird's nest tastes like!"

The maids brought out several more portions, one for each of Daniu's wife and Erniu's wife.

The children of Daniu Erniu also received some. Daniu's daughter exclaimed, "This bird's nest is so delicious! It's especially sweet!"

Erniu's daughter nodded repeatedly and said, "Of course! I think it's so sweet!"

Liu Su'e said with a smile, "Drink slowly, there's more when you finish eating!"

Old Madam Zhou and Zhao Feiyan, who were standing nearby, did not look too good.

Zhao Feiyan simply couldn't hold back any longer!

Her family was considered wealthy, but they couldn't even afford bird's nest. Besides, all the maids around Zhou Wanwan were dressed in gold and silver.

Her outfit is even more elegant than hers!

She was puzzled; shouldn't this mountain village be the poorest place?

Even if they could rob someone, they couldn't possibly be this rich, could they?

Old Madam Zhou felt even worse. She had always thought her family was quite wealthy, but the maid had more gold and silver on her than she did.

These are just a few maids; how rich must Liu Su'e be?

And look at the house they live in, it's absolutely magnificent.

Their house is really nothing to brag about.

Where did these counterfeiters get their money? Did they steal it all?

This was also what the three Zhou Family brothers couldn't understand. Zhou Fukang looked at the mountain stronghold and said, "Fourth brother, you're living like a god! Your family is really rich now!"

Zhou Fuyu looked at him sarcastically and said, "Fourth brother, don't forget about us brothers now that you've made it big!"

He felt incredibly jealous!

Zhou Fusheng had drunk a few glasses of wine and was a little drunk. He sighed and said:

"I've started reading and writing now. One day I'll take the imperial examination to become a scholar. What does money matter?"

Passing the imperial examination at the lowest level (xiucai) is truly impressive.

Zhou Fukang laughed loudly, "With a pig's brain like yours, you think you can pass the imperial examination and become a scholar? You probably can't even read by now, can you?"

Zhou Fu'an sighed and looked at him, saying, "Fourth brother, stop making things difficult for yourself. You're already getting on in years. If you try to take the imperial examination, people will laugh at you."

Zhou Fuyu curled his lip and said:

"Passing the imperial examination to become a scholar is not a simple matter. Do you think it's that easy?"

Even passing the preliminary examination for the first degree is not something an ordinary person can achieve. You're almost a grandson, so don't bother with this."

Zhou Fusheng looked at them and said:

"What's so great about you? You just had a few more years of schooling than me."

I just didn't have access to education growing up, so how does that mean I'm stupid?

"Now I know so many words."

Zhou Fukang chuckled and said:

Okay, okay, we know you can read now, alright?

Oh dear! Why didn't you say you were going to take the imperial examination soon? Hahahahahahahaha...

The villagers nearby also laughed, and several of them started to jeer:

"Fusheng! Everyone knows who he is, right? We grew up together, practically naked since we were kids."

He suddenly said he wanted to take the imperial examination to become a scholar; it almost made me die laughing.

"That's right, our village only had one scholar, and that was Zhou Fuyu. Now Zhou Fuyu is quite something! He's an official now."