Chapter 162: Intoxication

After serving food to the two of them, Qin Huiyin quietly ate her own meal and no longer offered food to anyone else.

Li Taohua went over to talk to Madam Zhou, taking the opportunity to introduce her to Xiang Chuntao and the others to help her integrate into the village more quickly.

"Brother Ze, are you alright?" Jiang Qibin noticed something unusual about Song Ruize's expression.

Song Ruize waved a hand, keeping his head lowered in silence.

Qin Huiyin reached out to feel his forehead, then cupped his face to lift it up, looking directly into his eyes. "He's drunk," she concluded.

His gaze was unfocused, and his cheeks were hot and flushed—classic signs of intoxication.

"Brother Ze is drinking for the first time, and he actually got drunk from just one cup?" Jiang Qibin clicked his tongue in surprise.

"Brother Chen Yong, could you please carry my brother back to rest?" Qin Huiyin asked.

"Alright."

Chen Yong hoisted Song Ruize onto his back, but Song Ruize clung tightly to Qin Huiyin's hand, refusing to let go.

Just as Qin Huiyin intended to follow them and check on him, she heard Tang Yichen say, "Little sister, Aunt Li seems to have had too much to drink."

Qin Huiyin looked back and saw Li Taohua with her arms slung around several young women, laughing uproariously in a huddle. Although she still seemed relatively normal on the surface, she was clearly soaring high on alcohol.

She withdrew her hand from Song Ruize's grip and instructed Chen Yong, "Brother Chen Yong, please make sure my brother is tucked in properly."

"Don't you worry, little sister."

Qin Huiyin watched as Chen Yong carried Song Ruize away.

She turned and walked over to Li Taohua's table, snatching the cup out of her hand and replacing it with a glass of plain water. "Aunts and sisters-in-law, my mother has had too much to drink. Please don't let her have any more."

"I can still drink!" Li Taohua pouted. "Let me drink, won't you? I haven't had this much fun drinking in years."

Seeing her like this, Qin Huiyin was even less inclined to let her continue.

Her mother's coquettish demeanor when she was pretty was truly irresistible. However, her tolerance for alcohol was definitely not something to boast about. In the past, she only drank with Third Master Tang and wouldn't cause a scene with others, but this was a banquet hosted by someone else's family.

"Three cups at the absolute most, not a drop more. If you agree to that, I'll let you have a little more," Qin Huiyin said as she pulled up an empty seat and sat down.

"Fine."

The aunt sitting nearby said with a hint of envy, "Taohua, you really are lucky to have such a filial daughter."

"Of course a daughter is wonderful. Let me tell you all, daughters are much better than sons. You lot are biased toward sons all day long, but you'll regret it when you're old."

"Mom, you're starting to talk nonsense," Qin Huiyin said, tugging gently on Li Taohua's sleeve.

Li Taohua grabbed Qin Huiyin's hand and looked at her with infinite tenderness. "My Yinyin is a gift bestowed upon me by the heavens! I wouldn't trade her for ten sons, let alone one."

Tang Sanmei watched this scene with envious eyes.

Madam Tang, sitting nearby, slapped Tang Sanmei on the head and snapped impatiently, "What are you staring at? Are you as smart as her? Can you earn this much silver? If you could earn that much, I'd put you on a pedestal too!"

Li Taohua turned her head and shot a sharp glare at Madam Tang. "Are you implying that I treat my daughter well only because she can earn money? In your eyes, if my daughter couldn't make money, I wouldn't be good to her anymore?"

Madam Tang chuckled dryly. "No, Sister Taohua, I didn't mean you. I was talking about others. Everyone in the village knows how well you treat your daughter; no one would ever doubt the bond between you two."

Li Taohua let out a cold snort and turned her head back.

Madam Tang curled her lips in a sneer, glared fiercely at Tang Sanmei, and scolded, "I told you to keep an eye on your younger brother, and now that he's wandered off, you still don't know enough to go after him?"

"Mom, I haven't eaten my fill yet," Tang Sanmei said with a wronged expression.

She had spent the entire time chasing her five-year-old younger brother all over the place. By the time he finally stopped running, there was hardly any food left on the banquet tables. Tang Xiaobao had food set aside for him by Madam Tang, but she had nothing except for a few mouthfuls of stir-fried greens.

Tang Damei and Tang Ermei were busy helping out with the chores. The Zhang family was generous; anyone willing to help in the kitchen was paid thirty copper coins. Tang Damei was fourteen and Tang Ermei was thirteen, so they counted as half-workers and earned fifteen copper coins each. Madam Tang had arranged for them to help in the kitchen to earn a little extra money for the household. Of course, Tang Damei and Tang Ermei hadn't eaten yet either, but the kitchen helpers were served at a separate table, so at least they still had food. Tang Sanmei, however, was forced to care for her younger brother on an empty stomach.

"There's such a huge table of delicious food and you still haven't eaten your fill? Were you a starving ghost in your past life? All you know how to do is eat, eat, eat!" Madam Tang snapped impatiently. "Hurry up and go look after your younger brother."

Tang Sanmei was pinched several times, but she held back the pain and kept from crying. Her eyes welled up with tears, making her look thoroughly pitiful.

"Sanmei..." Qin Huiyin called out to Tang Sanmei just as she was about to leave to search for Tang Xiaobao.

Tang Sanmei walked over. "Sister Huiyin."

"Take this and eat it." Qin Huiyin handed her two chicken legs.

"I..." Tang Sanmei glanced back at Madam Tang and, seeing that she wasn't paying attention to this side, whispered her thanks, took the chicken legs, and hurried away.

"Your table is quite polite; nobody even ate two such large chicken legs," the aunt nearby remarked with a smile.

"Perhaps everyone just doesn't care for chicken legs," Qin Huiyin replied with a faint smile.

The aunt and the others were momentarily speechless: "...?"

If people didn't like eating chicken legs, what on earth did they like?

It seemed the Tang family really had made a fortune. Just look at the clothing and styling of this family, not to mention their noticeably rosy complexions—they were clearly living quite well recently.

"Dazhu, Ermer—well, Dazhu and Erzhuan are already married. Shouldn't you start thinking about it too?"

Zhang Dazhu replied honestly, "There's no hurry. I need to get the household established first."

"It's fortunate that your family split up; otherwise, with your uncle owing so much silver, it would have ended up dragging your grandfather and all of you down into helping him pay it off."

"That's right. You dodged a bullet this time around."

Zhang Dazhu merely smiled and said nothing.

"Uncle, let's have a drink."

"Such a wonderful banquet must have cost quite a bit of silver, right?"

"Did your family strike it rich?"

"Oh, I heard that the betrothal gift given to the Xiao family alone was five taels of silver. Just looking at this banquet with fish and meat, and so many fine dishes, you couldn't possibly pull it off for less than two taels."

"We just split the household, and you all know our situation—where would we get money? However, Sister Huiyin helped me introduce a wealthy businessman who placed an order for a large batch of goods and paid a partial deposit. I simply used that deposit to fund Erzhuan's wedding banquet. Erzhuan got leave to come back; he'll stay for one more day tomorrow and head back to the water conservancy project to report for duty the day after. Oh, and another portion of the money came from what Erzhuan earned at the water project. Erzhuan is currently working under Ruize, who is a steward and takes special care of him. The brothers pooled their wages and lent them to Erzhuan, and we'll pay them back once our carpentry business turns a profit."

"Huiyin is such a capable girl, and she even knows a wealthy businessman. Their business must be huge!"

Qin Huiyin stayed by Li Taohua's side until she finished her three cups of alcohol, refusing to let her drink another drop no matter what she said. She helped Li Taohua back to the neighboring courtyard, tucked her into bed, and brought a basin of warm water to wash her face and feet.

Tang Luowu and her younger brother had also returned. The two of them fed the leftover bones to Mengmeng, while the steamed buns and stuffed buns were already at an age where the two little puppy milk-dogs could chew on finely chopped meat.

"Hasn't Big Brother come back yet?" Qin Huiyin asked.

"Madam Wang wants her son to attend a private school and has been pestering Big Brother with endless questions about tuition and expenses. She's probably trying to figure out whether they can afford to support Tang Xiuyun's education!" Tang Luowu replied.

"Big Brother isn't drunk, is he? He had a cup of wine today as well. When he gets back later, brew some sugar water for him to drink and let him turn in early."

"Are you going out?"

"Yes, I'll be right back."