The host family would never drive away such "beggars," but would instead welcome them warmly. However, their meal was different from a regular banquet. The host would prepare an Eight Immortals table and serve them eight bowls of rice with toppings.
And so this table, with its eight large bowls, was also known as the "beggar's feast."
As for "ten large bowls," the word for "ten" is a homophone for "stone." Since farmers in Sichuan Province often used stone troughs to feed their pigs, serving ten bowls was also considered inauspicious.
Thus, the "nine-bowl feast" was the standard for running banquets in Sichuan Province. Poorer families might serve seven bowls, while wealthier ones would serve eleven.
For example, for a few years, the Dingjiu feast in Li Family Village only had seven dishes per table because they were too poor. Only now that conditions have improved do they serve nine bowls.
