Gao Yi was placed between Madame de Grey and Madame de Grey, two French women, with Madame de Grey's rounded neck on her right hand and Madame de Grey's towering breasts on her left.

Western-style banquets are mainly arranged by men and women, and married couples will be separated, probably because they think that the two of them have spent enough time together, and they can be appropriately separated and adjusted during the dinner.

The appetizer was caviar, but the amount of three or five spoonfuls was quickly withdrawn.

When drinking soup, everyone didn't talk much, just occasionally whispered a few words to the people around them. Gao Yi didn't say a word, just focused on drinking the creamy mushroom chicken soup in front of him. It is up to the ladies to stir up the conversation during the meal, because it is the responsibility of the ladies at the table to keep talking to the men next to them and not to let the scene get bored. In the case of this banquet, Madame de Grey, who sat on the left-hand side, should be in charge of talking to him, unless he wanted to offer his courtesy.

Gao Yi took a sip of the soup, trying to maintain the same rhythm as everyone. This kind of banquet usually lasts about two hours, so when eating, you must pay attention to the progress and not eat too fast or too slowly.

The guest of honour at tonight's banquet was Henry Keswick, as could be seen from the seating arrangement, he sat to the right of Mrs. Rida, which was the seat of the guest of honor—Gao Yi had been worried that he was the guest of honor at this banquet before, because the ladies were so enthusiastic about him, and now it seems that people at most regard him as a small snack before the meal.

Keswick wore round glasses, had a somewhat feminine appearance, and he had a thin melon seed face, and although like most men of his time, he had two thick small beards under his straight nose, but it still could not change his weak image. However, he was the only one of all the people present who actually fought in the war, and in the just-concluded Boer War he was a captain in the 3rd Battalion of the "King's Scottish Border Infantry".

Keswick was a man of few words, and Lady Rida had provoked several remarks in a row, but he had all finished them in a few words. Since there was no public topic to talk about at the table, everyone had to keep the conversation mode, and the whispers were nothing more than unnutritious topics such as how the weather was like.

"What are you thinking? My young friend? "It was Madame Grison who spoke, with the natural self-familiarity of a French woman. She had suddenly turned back from her chat with Mr. Bane on her right, the diamond pendant at the base of her ear swinging like a bead of sparkling water ready to drip down at any moment.

"Our table is interesting, isn't it? There were seven Scots, but it was an English dinner, and the hostess was a Frenchman. I know that the French talk about everything at the table, politics, money, business; And what about the British? Work, health, politics, money, religion, etc., can not be discussed, only chatting about light topics such as temperament; As for the Scots, shouldn't they take a big glass of beer and whiskey, drink and eat meat in large chunks, sing songs and eat at the same time? ”

Madame Greison chuckled quietly, and said with a little flirtation: "You are wrong, sir, we French people love not to talk about money and politics, but about love!" The second half of this passage was spoken in French, and after the conversation before the dinner, she knew that Gao Yi could understand French.

"Is there anything else interesting about this table?" Surprisingly, it was Madame de Grey, who had not spoken a word before.

"I saw you sitting up straight just now, and I thought you were very nervous about attending a banquet for the first time, so I didn't talk to you." Madame de Grey seemed to see the doubt in Gao Yi's mind and explained.

Gao Yi noticed that his demeanor seemed to be too formal. He sits in the standard English sitting position, with his body straight, his back always a short distance away from the back of the chair, and does not lean over to reach when eating, but keeps his back upright and brings food to his mouth.

He looked around and found that only Keswick was in the same position as him, and although the others were not staggering, they were definitely not in line with etiquette, but it was Anderson, the star he had always thought was rough, and the sitting position was the most standard among the rest. However, as if he was afraid that the soup would drip to his chest, whenever he scooped up a spoonful of soup, there would always be a movement of holding his chest and abdomen.

"I guess I'm using a standard sitting position." Gao Yi said in French. He can still cope with this kind of simple French conversation.

"But we're in Shanghai!" Madame de Grey leaned over and whispered into Gao Yi's ear, a chilly smell of perfume like cold winter air reaching his nostrils.

Gao Yi nodded in agreement, and he understood the implication of it, which was to say that Shanghai was a rural place, surrounded by groups of nouveau riche.

Madame de Grey was a tall blonde woman, arguably the most beautiful of all women, and probably only Madame de Rida could rival her in her youth. It's just that I don't know why she chose to marry a short and frustrated guy like De Gray. Seeing that she looks down on the nouveau riche, it is estimated that it is another inspirational story of being frustrated and turning over the white and rich beauty.

"You haven't answered the previous question yet, let's talk about what else we have interesting things to do at this table." Mrs. Grison said.

"There are four Williams and three Elizabeths at our table...... "Lady de Grey and Lady Rida coincidentally both call Elizabeth, and Holliday's wife is called Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is Elizabeth's nickname, so it can be counted as one." However, this topic seems to be difficult to continue, and it does not make much sense.

"Chablis or Monhachet?" At this time, the servants standing behind him began to lean into the ears of the guests and whispered questions.

Gao Yi didn't have much research on wine, only knew that Chablis was a wine region in Burgundy, and he had never heard of Monhachet. He heard that Madame de Grey wanted Monhachet, and he asked for it.

The wine is poured into the leanest glass, white wine, which means that the next dish will be seafood or fish.

There are four cups in front of Gao Yi, the fattest one with the belly is a water glass, the one with the largest opening is a red wine glass, the other one with a slightly smaller and longer handle is a white wine glass, but there is also a blue cup with a bell mouth, I don't know what it is for.

The soup was silently removed by the servants, and then a dish of seafood was replaced. It is crab leg meat, which is stacked together like a firewood stove one by one, dotted with a few basil leaves, and drizzled with white sauce on one side of the plate.

The knives and forks in front of Gao Yi were not placed in exactly the order of serving, from the outside to the inside, and I don't know if there was no such attention in this era, or if there were other rules in Shanghai, or simply because of the negligence of the servants, and now the corresponding crab meat is actually a butter knife.

However, this is not difficult for Gao Yi, he picked up a three-toothed fork for seafood, forked a piece of crab meat and dipped it in some sauce and put it in his mouth - it is the meat of the pike crab, a specialty of the East China Sea, and it tastes a little fishy, especially after the taste of the sauce has passed.

"Our table, or all the Europeans and Americans in Shanghai, whether the host is British or French, the banquet is German or American, whether the cooking style is Italian or Spanish, what we eat is actually Chinese. For example, no matter how the sauce is mixed or how you use basil to hide its original flavor, you will still find that it is no different from the crab legs of a Ningbo family in the end - you must know that they marinate the raw crab and eat it directly, and will not cook it. However, as far as I know, in addition to eating it raw, the Chinese actually have other ways to make this crab very delicious. ”

"Oh, I must say, it's not very interesting, it seems to have a political flavor to it." Mrs. Grison said.

"But at least it's a meaningful topic, and I think you must have something unspoken, Mr. Gao Yi." Madame de Grey said.

"I'm trying to say that since crab meat from the East China Sea can't be a salty, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth Oostend oyster, why don't we try cooking it using the Chinese method – except, of course, the Ningbo method. The fishy smell of the crab meat may simply be due to the fact that Western cooking methods are not suitable for this Chinese ingredient. Just like the Danyang beef we eat, no matter how you cook it, it will always taste older than European and American beef, but just cut it into thin slices and fry it in a Chinese round bottom pan, or put it in boiling water and cook it quickly......"

"What are you talking about?" Lady Ida, who was sitting diagonally across the table, asked.

Although their voices were only whispering, the way they chatted still attracted the attention of others. Ada, probably because her husband repeatedly spoiled the atmosphere of the conversation, was a little anxious and anxious to start a public topic to avoid embarrassment.

However, Gao Yi's topic is obviously not suitable for discussion in public, after all, he said bad things about the dishes, and it's okay to chat in a small area in private, but isn't it dismantling the host's table on the bright side?

Just as Gao Yi was organizing his language in an attempt to find a more euphemistic way to express the topic, Mrs. Grisson preemptively said, "We are discussing the issue of Danyang beef, and I heard that the price of food on our table is going to increase again?" As she spoke, she turned her head and gave Gao Yi a tacit sly look.

At this time, foreigners in Shanghai ate vegetable cattle transported from Danyang, but recently the Qing officials in Danyang were brewing a tax increase on local vegetable cattle sold to Shanghai, which aroused the general disgust of the residents of the concession.