The day after Bilbo and his old friend Gandalf talked about the birthday dinner and his mysterious plan, the Shire area, which was already extremely joyful because of the upcoming birthday dinner, began to become busy and lively again.

According to the observations of the residents living up and down the hills of the Shire, countless carriages bearing the license plates and markings of foreign merchants were gathering almost continuously from all directions.

At first, many residents who knew nothing about the reason thought that these wandering traders had received the news in advance and were preparing to take advantage of the Hobbit residents in the Shire to celebrate the celebration and take the opportunity to come over and sell goods to make a lot of money. Speculator.

However, as soon as these carriages and carriages were filled with various supplies and goods, the wandering merchants arrived at Bilbo's house, and as if they had agreed in advance, they unloaded all the goods from the carriages without stopping, as if they had been agreed in advance. After receiving the food, decorations and other materials for the birthday dinner ordered by Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the residents suddenly realized.

Oh, it turns out that these wandering traders are all delivering goods to Bilbo!

1..2...3...40 large carriages came all the way to transport goods and merchandise. The Shire area had not been so lively for hundreds of years.

This shows how generous Bilbo is!

Many of the neighbors who focused on their own farming all day complained about Bilbo's luxury.

After all, although the number of people in the Shire area is not particularly large, there are still many small traders.

Compared to those cunning and unreliable wandering merchants from other places, these simple farmers prefer the wealthy Bilbo to take care of the local folks who sell goods.

Of course, even if they complained, on this occasion when Bilbo was about to host the grandest birthday dinner in more than a hundred years, no one seemed to dare to risk being resented by Bilbo and missing out on the opportunity to attend the dinner. Dissatisfaction, or anything else that might rub Bilbo into trouble.

Perhaps these farmers and neighbors who knew nothing about the preparations for the banquet did not know that as early as two weeks ago, in order to prepare his birthday dinner perfectly, Bilbo had sold candles from all the local vendors in the Shire area. We bought all the condiments and all kinds of exquisite gadgets and decorations that can be used as consumables at the dinner party.

The farmers, gardeners, small traders and other professional professions who have never had the concept of market economy in their minds naturally don't care about this. Since Bilbo officially announced the date of his birthday dinner, almost everyone has it every day. In the morning, I was excited and looking forward to checking the calendar and counting the days.

Everyone in the town seems to be looking forward to the day when Bilbo's birthday dinner comes!

Of course, as a place with many long-standing traditions, everyone, even the hobbits who are farmers, gardeners, small businessmen, will live a decent life according to these daily banquet etiquette.

Even though people knew very well that Bilbo would definitely invite all his neighbors to his birthday dinner, there were still many neighbors who liked to gossip about Bilbo in secret. They were secretly doubtful whether Bilbo would really invite them to that grand birthday party. Dinner.

These people often feel ashamed and longing to attend the banquet in their hearts, and look forward to the arrival of the postman who is walking through the streets delivering letters and Bilbo's invitations with expectant eyes.

This time, even the bad relatives who disliked Bilbo the most in the past days in the Shire had to hide their arrogance and focus on getting a birthday dinner invitation letter written by Bilbo himself.

Soon, in response to everyone's common expectations, countless invitations written by Bilbo swept through the town's post office like snow-white tornadoes.

As everyone expected, the hospitable and generous Bilbo invited almost every resident in the town, including his relatives and many neighbors with whom they had relatively harmonious relations.

These invitation letters, which Bilbo had prepared in advance for who knows how many months, were delivered to the post office almost at the same time, and were then delivered to every household through the hands of hard-working postmen.

It was precisely because of the large number of invitation letters that the small post office in the town was undoubtedly paralyzed almost on the day the letters were delivered to the post office.

If it weren't for the many villagers who were eager to get the invitation letter sent by Bilbo to his family as soon as possible, they spontaneously formed letter delivery volunteers to help the postman run the operation of the post office, and the pile of invitation letters was as high as a living hill.

We still don’t know when the distribution will be completed...

At the same time, as Bilbo's invitation letters to his relatives and neighbors to attend his grand birthday dinner flew to the doorstep of every house, countless reply letters saying "Thank you for the invitation, I will definitely go to the appointment" also followed the same path.

Arriving at the mailbox in front of Bilbo's Bag End.

In order to give these replies a place to put, Bilbo also specially sent Frodo to bind a new mailbox next to the old mailbox, which was enlarged countless times and was dedicated to replying to the banquet invitations.

...

As Bilbo's scheduled birthday dinner date approaches day by day, the neighbors who hang out on the street all day are even more familiar with the wandering merchants who come and go in and out of the town every day to deliver goods. What was initially a novelty has become a commonplace.

Normal mind.

One morning, the neighbors who lived near Bilbo's house woke up and found that the open space to the south of the neighbor's house, where their old birthday girl was about to hold a grand birthday dinner, had been slowly covered with various canvases used to build a shed for the dinner venue.

and rope materials.

The originally slightly narrow country road actually opened up a wider section for the wandering merchants who came to transport goods.

It seems that imperceptibly, Bilbo and his neighbors who were invited to the birthday dinner became more enthusiastic and helpful than ever before.

And this scene, before Bilbo sent out the news about the birthday dinner, and even in the past few decades, was very rare.

Soon, under the deliberate or unintentional observation of countless townspeople, these people who even wished they could set up the birthday dinner venue by themselves so that they could quickly set up all the preparations for the birthday dinner venue finally witnessed the completion of the dinner tent with a moment of suffering.

that moment.

Since the banquet was held in the open space south of Bilbo's house called Bag End, a pointed tent that looked round from a distance was set up as the main venue for the banquet.

Outside the round pointed tent, there is a row of long ancient trees. The branches of this ancient tree are covered with candles and windproof oil lamps, which will serve as the brightest lighting equipment during the dinner.

Together with the specially placed open-air kitchen and dessert buffet area for the dinner in the north corner of the venue, the entire birthday dinner process looked so perfect.

Even the hired helpers who came and went and were busy carrying these things couldn't help but marvel at Bilbo, the wise host of the banquet, for his wonderful conception of the entire dinner process.

....

Everyone's anticipation lasted until the day of the birthday dinner.

Perhaps the gods took pity on Bilbo, and the day of his dinner party was sunny and sunny.

When the majestic flag rustled on the flagpole, accompanied by the roar of the bell tower at the end of the town as the sun was about to set, this grand birthday gathered almost all the relatives, friends and neighbors that Bilbo could name in the Shire.

The dinner party officially started.

In fact, both in terms of the actual grand scale and the exquisite and luxurious details and content of the entire dinner, it was more like a carnival shared by hobbits in the entire Shire than an exclusive one.

Bilbo's birthday dinner alone.

Even though many people lined up and waited at the guest entrance early, there were still many guests from far away places who rushed in before sunset.

As the initiator of the banquet, Bilbo personally received the guests at the newly built white door.

According to the traditional customs of the hobbits, all guests who come to the banquet will receive a gift from their master.

If we follow the usual practice, this gift does not need to be something very expensive.

But this time, it seems destined to be a little unusual.

The gifts Bilbo gave to all the dinner guests were so exquisite and beautiful that they were beyond ordinary.

Regarding this point, whether the guest is an old person, an ambitious young man, or even a childlike child, all of them are very fond of these high-standard gifts.

Among all the guests who came to the banquet, the ones who showed the most obvious behavior after receiving the gifts were undoubtedly the children who had no sense of dignity.

They faced many toys that they had never seen before. Every one of them was very beautiful, and some were even magic toys. Many of these toys were ordered a year ago and shipped from as far away as the lonely mountains and valleys.

Genuinely made by dwarves.

After all the guests had arrived and were seated, songs, dances, music and various games began.

At the same time, sumptuous yet elegant refreshments and drinks were served as planned as the guests took their seats.

There are three formal meals: lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. These rich meals are fully prepared and have everything you need, and they never stop from 11 am to 6:30 pm.

Faced with such delicacies, the guests couldn't stop talking, and they were surprised to briefly stop eating until Gandalf's fireworks show started.

The fireworks display can be said to be the finale of Gandalf's ingenuity.

This was not only shipped by him, but also designed and manufactured by him; all kinds of special effects, props and rockets were also ignited by him. Not only that, he also specially prepared all kinds of

Firecrackers, fireworks, sky cannons, fiery trees and silver flowers, dwarf candles, elf fire waterfalls, goblin cannons, etc.

When some rockets are ignited, they fly like oriole formations out of the valley, making wonderful music. Some fireworks even turn into green leaves, and the black smoke becomes the trunks of fire trees, which instantly makes people experience the coming of spring.

The wonder of autumn flowers blooming and falling. Not to be outdone, the shining branches bloomed with bright fireworks, falling on the surprised people. Before these sparks burned them, Gandalf's secret trick made all the sparks disappear in the sweet fragrance.

without a trace.

The lights in the entire venue were extinguished. A burst of thick smoke appeared, turning into the shadow of the mountains seen in the distance.

A giant golden-red dragon flew out of the volcano. Although its size was far from that of a real dragon, its lifelike appearance made people shudder. The dragon spit out flames from its mouth, roared loudly, and then spat on the heads of the crowd.

Three times it burned with fire.

All the people lay down involuntarily, trying to escape the burst of flames. The giant dragon made a loud roar and flew over everyone's heads. Finally, it did a backflip and exploded into a brilliant spark above the waterfront area.

"Supper has begun!" Bilbo shouted.

When they heard that they could continue to enjoy the dinner, everyone's fear quickly disappeared. The dinner was very sumptuous, and everyone could enjoy the delicious food.

The only people not dining here were a group of other people attending a special family banquet. This banquet was held in a large tent next to the tree. There were only one hundred and forty-four invited guests; these guests were all Bilbo

Frodo's relatives and friends can be said to be the group with whom they have the closest relationship among all the guests.

The one hundred and forty-four guests enjoyed the sumptuous dinner to their heart's content, but everyone was quietly worried about the host's lengthy speech after the meal.

After the dinner finally comes to an end, it’s time for speeches. Anyway, most of the guests are already full and have strong resistance to long speeches. This process is called "sending away".

Time" program. They were sipping their favorite drinks, tasting delicious desserts, and had long forgotten their previous worries. They were ready to listen to the most boring speech in the world, and they could breathe every breath.

cheered loudly during the interlude.

"Dear guests, please allow me to say a few words," Bilbo stood up and said.

"Mr. Baggins is about to deliver his speech! Everyone, please be quiet!" Everyone in the venue shouted to remind each other, but not many people actually quieted down.

In order for everyone to see his face, Bilbo left his seat, walked to the foot of the big tree filled with lights, and climbed onto the chair there. The light of the oil lamp shone on his red face.

, the gold buttons on the silk coat also sparkled.

"My dear relatives and friends," Bilbo said solemnly, "my relatives, the Baggins family. And my dear Tooks, the Brandybucks, the Grubbers, the Chubbers.

People, and the Burrows, the Borgs, the Bellywives, the Badgerhouses, the Bodybuilders, the Trumpeters, and the Proudfoots."

"It's a pair of proud feet!" shouted an old hobbit from the corner of the tent.

There is no doubt that he is a member of the Proudfoot family. As a hobbit, this guy does have a pair of big, plush feet, and they are resting on the table.

Perhaps because he felt that speaking loudly at this banquet was a very honorable act, this drunken distant relative seemed very happy.
Chapter completed!