```
Although New Year's Eve had not yet arrived, the presence of Ruo Shan returning home made the evening meal especially lavish, surpassing any reunion meal from the previous years.
Dishes included abalone, hairy crab with ginger, marinated goose, radish stewed lamb, braised rabbit meat, yam with pork belly, peas stir-fried with squid, braised squab, steamed grouper, steamed green crab, and soup with crown daisy.
The abalone, grouper, green crab, and squid were all gifts from the ancient Shopkeeper, fresh seafood with each item being particularly large, and the abalone already cooked beforehand.
Indeed, the neighboring county to Shaxi County was near the sea, so seafood was not hard to come by, but it was expensive, and ordinary people could hardly afford it.
However, ever since Divine Lady Xuanyuan moved up to the villa, the Ruo Family often enjoyed fresh seafood and even had a sizeable stash of precious dried goods stored away, including bird's nest and sea cucumber.
