Chapter 289

Attending such grand banquets was all about business and mutual benefit. Invited guests would usually send a representative unless they were from a prestigious family like the Luddens. With the family of three present, it signified respect and honor for the host. Looking at the Everetts, whose status in Norburgh was far lower than that of the Gaskells, the whole family, including the elders and children, had shown up at the banquet. If people hadn't known better, they would have thought that the Everetts must have gone bankrupt and couldn't afford to eat, forcing them to freeload at other people's banquets. People thought the Everetts didn't understand the basic etiquette and manners required to attend someone else's banquet. They felt that the Everetts didn't deserve to cozy up to the Luddens. They figured that the Everetts were just waiting to be the entire city's laughingstock. "The number of people attending the Everetts' annual banquet has nothing to do with the Gaskells, ri