Zhou Wanwan, Were You a Starving Ghost in Your Last Life?

Xie Cheng'en shook his head and said, "Mother, I want... I want to go home. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Xie's mother took him straight home.

The Lu Family announced, "Let's begin the feast! Everyone, please take your seats!"

Zhou Wanwan raised an eyebrow, surprised that she could still make it to mealtime; she had thought there would be no food left!

The Lu Family's banquet this time was also quite good, with most of the dishes being fresh river delicacies.

Steamed river perch, braised bream, drunken shrimp, silverfish egg custard, and eel in sauce—each dish is exquisitely prepared and incredibly tempting.

The table was filled with noble ladies from the capital, each with an elegant posture and a gentle touch when eating.

Even with a table full of delicious food, they only dared to take small bites, afraid of losing their composure and appearing extremely reserved.

Zhou Wanwan was completely unaffected.

She picked up her chopsticks and, decisively, started eating.

Lu Lan sneered:

"Zhou Wanwan, are you a reincarnated starving ghost? Everyone else hasn't even eaten yet!"

You ate so much? Have you never eaten anything good before?

Shangguan Wan'er couldn't help but say, "We didn't even eat any of this fish, and you ate half of it. Isn't that going too far?"

Zhou Wanwan frowned and said:

I thought you weren't going to eat! Then hurry up and eat!

"Who knows if you actually want to eat it or not? I'm not a tapeworm in your stomach."

Shangguan Wan'er angrily said, "That's disgusting! Who wants to eat with an incompetent fool? I'm not eating!"

Lu Xuening sighed and said, "Don't you know any manners? You have to chew your food slowly and carefully. The way you wolf it down is just unsightly."

Zhou Wanwan said helplessly:

"Please, can you guys stop being so nagging? These fish will smell fishy if they get cold, okay?"

Besides, this isn't exactly a good thing, is it?

It's just river fish, the most ordinary dish imaginable.

Lu Lan said angrily:

"Don't you know anything?! These river delicacies, none of them are easy to come by!"

These are all salvaged from the depths of the river by special personnel braving the wind and waves. Ordinary people can't even get a taste of them all year round, and you make it sound so easy!

Wen Zhiyu retorted sarcastically, "Does your family have any rare river delicacies? If you're so capable, why don't you treat us to a meal?"

The ladies nearby immediately chimed in, chattering amongst themselves. "That's right, it's easy for you to say. If you're really capable, then show us what you've got!"

"These are the freshest live river delicacies; you can't just eat them anywhere."

Everyone chimed in, waiting to see Zhou Wanwan embarrassed.

Zhou Wanwan took a sip of tea and said, "My family has plenty of river delicacies, but why should I treat you to them for free?"

Lu Lan rolled her eyes and said, "Can't you stop bragging?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at Lu Lan with a half-smile and said, "You know I don't like bragging, so how about we make a bet?"

Lu Lan gets a headache whenever she hears about betting; she always loses when she bets with Zhou Wanwan.

Shangguan Wan'er suddenly spoke:

"What are we betting on? We're betting on the gold and kingfisher feather butterfly hairpin in your hair. That's way too cheap."

It's only a few thousand taels of silver.

Zhou Wanwan smiled faintly and said, "So you mean...?"

Shangguan Wan'er smiled faintly and said, "I'm just afraid you won't be able to come up with anything decent."

Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said, "How decent do you want it to be? I'm afraid if I bring something decent, you'll lose face!"

Shangguan Wan'er and everyone around her laughed.

Lu Lan smiled and said:

"Zhou Wanwan, can you please stop embarrassing Yunxi County?"

Don't you even know what kind of people these noble ladies are?

How dare you say such a thing! You'll get your face slapped in a minute.

Shangguan Wan'er chuckled and said, "You're probably a country bumpkin. Today, I'll show you my jewelry."

With a wave of her hand, a maidservant quickly stepped forward and respectfully presented the sandalwood box inlaid with pearls. As soon as it was gently opened, all the noble ladies' eyes widened instantly.

A headdress featuring red gold filigree inlaid with pearls and butterflies, a headdress featuring icy jadeite with pearl-holding tassels, and a headdress featuring kingfisher feather inlaid with cat's eye stones and lotus scrolls.

Shangguan Wan'er smiled faintly and said:

"These are all trivial matters, Zhou Wanwan, right?"

Can you offer better jewelry?

Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said, "So what if you took it out?"

Shangguan Wan'er chuckled and said:

It's not that I look down on you!

"You're just a country bumpkin, what decent things could you possibly have to offer?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at Zheng Xing'an beside her and said, "Go and get my jewelry box."

Zheng Xing'an quickly came over with a broken wooden box.

The noble ladies around burst into laughter:

"Zhou Wanwan, really? You actually have the nerve to bring out such a broken wooden box."

If you don't have any jewelry, we can lend it to you.

"This is so embarrassing! Don't ever say you know us again."

You've completely disgraced Yunxi County.

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said:

"Can you please stop making such a fuss over nothing?"

Because the stuff inside is really bad, I just used this broken wooden box to pack it.

Lu Lan laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight:

"Can you please stop pretending?"

I'm dying of laughter. I've seen people who can pretend, but I've never seen anyone pretend as well as you.

Shangguan Wan'er laughed until her stomach hurt, "Alright, alright, I want to see what good stuff is inside."

Zhou Wanwan glanced at them and said, "If my jewelry is better than hers, does that mean her jewelry will be mine?"

She won't do a deal that's not profitable.

Shangguan Wan'er scoffed lightly:

"Yes, as long as your jewelry is better than mine, all my jewelry is yours."

However, if your jewelry is inferior to mine, then your jewelry must belong to me.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "Since there are so many people, do we need to write a contract?"

Shangguan Wan'er chuckled and said, "Someone, write up the contract, so that some people won't deny it later."

After writing the contract, Zheng Xing'an opened the box and said calmly, "First, a phoenix hairpin with crimson flame and kingfisher feathers and pearls; second, a pair of white jade pendants; and third, a gold-inlaid armlet with deep-sea Blue Treasure."

Everyone was stunned when they saw these three items: a pair of jade pendants made of solidified mutton fat, with flawless and translucent jade, and the carving was done by a famous court artist.

This one item alone is enough to surpass all those mundane things from before!

Shangguan Wan'er stared in disbelief at the mutton-fat jade pendant; she had seen an identical one in the palace.

Priceless.

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "Looks like your jewelry is mine now."

Lu Lan suddenly spoke up, "You say your jewelry is nice, but I could say it's fake!"

Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said:

"Miss Lu, are you going to back out? Too bad, none of these things are yours."

I wonder if this is Miss Shangguan's idea?

Shangguan Wan'er coughed and said:

"These treasures naturally need to be appraised; otherwise, how would anyone know if they're real or fake?"

"Someone, go and fetch an appraiser."