The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Making an Exception

The notice was brief, and with more than ten people working on it, they managed to copy out many duplicates in just half a day.

Seeing that they had almost enough copies, Lu Yu had everyone put down their pens and get ready for lunch.

He was taking his role as the organizer very seriously. Everything else was going smoothly, but as noon approached, lunch was still up in the air. This was one task he wasn’t skilled at.

Fortunately, there was a restaurant right at the mouth of the alley. Although it was technically closed for the season, the owner and his wife lived on the premises. With little else to do in the dead of winter, they weren’t about to turn away paying customers.

Lu Yu asked the owner to prepare a two-table spread. Once the food was ready, it was brought over in several trips using insulated food boxes.

After putting down their pens and washing their hands, everyone pitched in to set the tables.

The food boxes were wrapped in cotton quilts, so the dishes were still steaming when they were brought out.

However, ingredients were scarce in winter. The New Year holiday had just ended, so the markets hadn’t reopened yet, making many things unavailable. As a result, the meal consisted mostly of meat dishes—game, for the most part. The only vegetables were frostbitten, pithy radishes and cabbages; not a single fresh green was to be seen.

Among the group, Lu Yu was considered relatively well-off. His parents ran a general store in town, and his older sister had married into the county seat—her husband was even an arrest officer at the government office.

Most of the others present came from farming families, so to them, a spread like this was more than lavish.

After a round of polite pleasantries, everyone took their seats.

Ji Huan thought she would have to eat alone in a separate room.

It wasn’t that she minded eating with strangers. Rather, it was the local custom: women were not allowed at the main dining table.

In more traditional households, men and women ate at separate tables even for daily meals. If guests arrived, the men and women would be separated as well. Aside from two or three women left to entertain the female guests, all other women were forbidden from appearing in the main hall. They either had to cram into the kitchen or wait until everyone else had finished before they could eat.

Ji Huan was at a loss for words when it came to such a ridiculous custom.

On her own turf, she could do as she pleased, and she had been subconsciously working to change this mentality within the Hu Family.

’But now, in someone else’s home...’

Just as she was lost in thought, Song Jing grabbed her arm through her thick cotton-padded coat.

The two of them sat down side-by-side on a bench. Apart from Wu Rongying, who furrowed his brow, no one else at the table seemed to have a problem with it.

Everyone present was young, none of them from prestigious families or holding official scholarly ranks, so they weren’t overly concerned with social conventions.

Besides, it was perfectly normal in the countryside for an older brother to bring his "little cousin sister" to the table.

"We’re not so formal here," Song Jing said, handing her a pair of chopsticks. "You’ve been working all morning; you must be hungry. Go on, eat."

At Lu Yu’s encouragement, everyone had already begun to eat. Ji Huan didn’t stand on ceremony either and accepted the chopsticks from him.

The meal was spread across two tables, but since they were both in the same room, the atmosphere was lively as everyone ate and chatted.

Song Jing sat to Ji Huan’s right, and Lu Yu to her left.

Throughout the meal, Lu Yu was the picture of attentiveness, constantly encouraging her to eat more and refilling her bowl. But his words were laced with traps, clearly trying to pry information out of her.

His efforts, however, were unsuccessful. Ji Huan deftly parried his every attempt, while Song Jing merely watched from the side with an amused smile.

Lu Yu’s hopes turned to ash.

’I thought I could finally get one over on Song Jing,’ he despaired inwardly, ’but his sweetheart is even trickier and harder to deal with than he is!’

So he channeled his frustration into his appetite, devouring six bowls of rice in a row and reaching for a seventh.

Ji Huan finally understood how he had gotten so round.

Since Lu Yu was the host, he was inevitably toasted by many during the meal. Everyone was particularly complimentary, praising both the food and the dishes.

Song Jing suddenly leaned close to Ji Huan’s ear and whispered, "It’s not as good as your cooking."

He had only ever tasted the hot and spicy soup she made. ’No matter how good the soup is,’ she thought, ’can it really be tastier than meat?’

Ji Huan shot him a skeptical glance.

The sight was so sweet it made Lu Yu’s teeth ache.

But who could he blame? His own ears were too sharp, and he’d overheard every single word of Song Jing’s whisper.

’I was going to let him off easy,’ he thought. ’But now? Heh heh!’

Lu Yu filled two small cups with warmed wine. He held one and offered the other to Song Jing.

"Today’s a special occasion. I have to toast you. You can skip any other time, but you have to drink this one, right?"

He waggled his eyebrows, a mischievous grin on his face.

Song Jing glanced at him, then reached out and took the small cup.

The others at the table were stunned. They all turned to Lu Yu.

"What’s the special occasion? How come I didn’t know?"

"Yeah, special enough for Song Jing to actually make an exception..."

"But he never drinks..."

In this era, men were generally not permitted to drink until after their coming-of-age ceremony, when they were officially considered adults.

However, the Northern Pass was a remote region where etiquette was comparatively lax, a fact evident in many aspects of daily life.

Especially in small, rural towns, it was common for boys to attend feasts with the adults, and many would start drinking at just a few years of age.

Song Jing, however, was an exception. He practically didn’t touch a drop of alcohol.

So, to see him make an exception today, one could imagine everyone’s surprise.

Lu Yu just laughed it off. "A day for doing great things is a special occasion, isn’t it?"

Having fobbed off the others, he fixed his gaze on Song Jing, his expression clearly saying, "I’m not letting this go if you don’t drink up."

Song Jing lowered his gaze to the cup, smiled, then tilted his head back and drained it in one go.

Lu Yu immediately started clapping. He then poured a second cup for Song Jing, claiming that good things should come in pairs.

Song Jing drank that one, too.

Although the liquor of this era wasn’t particularly strong, it was still a shock to the system for someone who had never drunk before.

After just two small cups, a crimson blush had already spread to the tips of Song Jing’s ears. His face was still pale, but it was an unnatural shade of white.

Growing bolder, Lu Yu tried to make him drink a third cup. ’A Song Jing who’s putty in my hands,’ he thought. ’This opportunity is just too rare to miss!’

Unexpectedly, before the cup was halfway to its destination, Ji Huan intercepted it.

"He can’t hold his liquor. He can’t drink any more."

Seeing Lu Yu still wasn’t giving up, she frowned slightly. "Otherwise, I’ll drink it in his place."

Lu Yu shot a glance at Song Jing and hastily backtracked. "No, no, no! Let’s not drink. What’s the point of drinking? Eat! Everyone, eat!"

He quickly retracted the cup, his words a complete contradiction of his actions just moments before.

He wouldn’t dare let her drink. Song Jing would have his hide for it later.

Everyone at the table thought Lu Yu was acting strangely, but he was a known jokester, so they were used to his antics and didn’t think much of it.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they resumed their discussion about follow-up measures and plugging any gaps in their plan.

Perhaps her earlier suggestion had left an impression on Li Guanchun, because he was the first to turn to Ji Huan.

"Miss Ji, do you have any other good ideas?"

"I do have one idea, though it’s not fully formed..." Ji Huan paused. "I’m just not sure if it’s feasible."

"Please, don’t hesitate to share," Li Guanchun said quickly. "There are many of us here; we can all help you think it through."

Ji Huan nodded.

When it came to promoting their cause in the villages, the first thing that came to her mind was the traveling cinema she used to watch in the countryside as a child.

Back then, very few rural families owned a television. The greatest source of excitement was when the projection van arrived in the village to show an open-air movie.

Since it was a public service, and also officially subsidized, the outdoor movies were free. All you had to do was bring a stool over to watch.

But screening resources were limited, so each village might only get a turn once a year. As a result, screening day became a grand festival.

Sometimes, people would walk for a very long time just to see a film, even if it was being shown in another village. They would still rush over in large groups.

And after the movie ended, it was common for them to make their way home in the pitch-dark, late at night.

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