The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi looked around at everyone and said, "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Min Xi, and I am one of the owners of the Chinese Restaurant and Oriental Flavor. My partner and I are both from the Ming Dynasty in the East, and we came to Lisbon by chance. I found that our eating habits are completely different from those of the French people. It happened that I knew a little about cooking. With the purpose of learning and communication, we opened a Chinese-style restaurant in Lisbon, and were fortunately recognized and loved by everyone. The guests all like the desserts in my store. In order to meet the needs of the guests, we soon opened a dim sum shop, which is Oriental Flavor, specializing in desserts and dim sum.

"Since we opened the shop, we have hired a total of eight employees. Except for Faria who resigned without permission, the remaining seven are here today. From the first day they started working, I told them that I had no objection to them learning cooking from me. As long as they want to learn and are willing to learn, I support them, provided that it does not interfere with their work. I even taught them how to cook dishes, snacks and desserts myself. We will definitely leave Lisbon and return to our own country one day, so I hope they can learn to cook Chinese food, and in the future be able to promote Chinese food in Portugal and enrich the tastes and tables of the Portuguese people.

"I teach them completely free of charge, their salaries are paid on time, and they eat and drink the same as we do. To be honest, we have done nothing to let them down. I just made an agreement with them: without special circumstances, they cannot voluntarily resign within three years. Once they resign, they cannot teach the skills they learned in the store to restaurants and chefs in Lisbon. They can open stores in other cities. After we return to China, this agreement will no longer exist. They can open stores in Lisbon and teach their skills to restaurants and chefs in Lisbon. As for the employee leak that the lawyer just mentioned, all the employees in my store can testify that this is our verbal agreement.

"I think my request is not excessive. I also think that my employees will abide by the agreement. However, after Christmas, an employee named Faria of Oriental Taste resigned without permission, even without asking for December salary and year-end bonus. Not long after he left, Good Taste opened, and they still sell the double skin milk I brought from China. So I reasonably suspect that the secret recipe of double skin milk was leaked from Faria."

After he finished speaking, the entire courtroom fell silent. In fact, the restaurant owners were even more surprised. He actually let all his employees learn cooking skills for free!

If they had known this, they should have quietly arranged for someone to work in a Chinese restaurant and learn cooking skills. Once they returned to China, they would have a foothold in Lisbon. After all, a dish of double skin milk can open a restaurant. If they learned all of them, it would be no problem to make the largest restaurant in Lisbon.

The judge said: "The suspicion is reasonable, but more evidence is needed."

"We have witnesses," said Delan, Min Si's attorney.

The judge said, "Then call the witnesses."

Not long after, a man walked in from outside. Min Xi turned his head and looked at De Lan with some surprise. He said to Yun Ji beside him: "Seventh Brother, did you know that the lawyer brought Faria back?"

Yun Ji shook his head: "I'm not sure, but he did ask me about Faria's specific situation."

Min Xi said: "It seems that this lawyer is a very particular person and is quite reliable in his work."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, this is my witness. His name is Faria. He is the clerk who left the Oriental Hotel without permission. I have some questions for the witness."

"Allowed!" the judge said, "Please answer the following questions truthfully!"

The lawyer looked at Faria: "What is your name?"

Faria stood in the witness stand, lowered his head and said, "My name is Faria." It was his first time in such a formal occasion, and he had something to hide, so he didn't dare to look up at Min Xi and Yun Ji.

The lawyer followed the procedure and first asked about Faria's basic situation, then asked: "You haven't been back to Oriental Taste since Christmas, you left without permission, and you didn't even ask for your December salary and year-end bonus. Did your boss treat you harshly?"

Faria shook his head: "No, the boss is very good to us."

"Then why did you leave your job without permission?" the lawyer asked.

Faria said nothing.

The lawyer asked: "Your colleagues have seen you interacting closely with the staff working at the Rainforest Restaurant. Is this related to this matter?"

Faria lowered his head and continued in silence.

The judge knocked on the table with his gavel: "Witness, you must answer the questions truthfully!"

Faria lowered his head and whispered: "My fellow countryman Barry asked me to tell him the secret recipes of some oriental desserts and pastries, and said he would pay me 10 reais for each one."

"So how many dessert and snack recipes did you sell him?" the lawyer asked.

Faria said: "Two kinds, double skin milk and baked cake."

The lawyer then asked: "Did he say whether he needed it himself or whether he bought it on behalf of his boss?"

Faria said: "It's their restaurant."

The lawyer asked, "Are you from the same hometown, Barry, working at the Rainforest Restaurant?"

"Yes."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, I have finished my questions."

Upon hearing this, the owner of the Rainforest Restaurant, Mendes, was furious and said, "Nonsense, this is slander. I have never asked people to go out to buy secret recipes for desserts and snacks!"

The lawyer said: "Maybe Mr. Mendes did not personally instruct your employees to do these things, they did it on their own initiative, but they are your employees, so you are the one who profited, and my client suffered huge losses. My client's claim is very simple. Since the secret recipes of two desserts were leaked, he claims 200 reais in damages from the Tropical Rainforest Restaurant and Good Taste Snack Bar respectively, and 17 reais in damages from the other 10 restaurants that did not steal the secret recipes. Chinese restaurants have now made public the method of making double skin milk. If it is not used for commercial purposes, no money will be charged. If someone wants to make a profit from this recipe, they need to pay my client a recipe usage fee of 100 reais. Otherwise, they will have to wait until my client returns to China before they can use it."

Mendes and Kemble, the boss of Good Taste, both changed their expressions when they heard this. Mendes frowned. How long has he been selling Shuangpi milk? He didn't even reach 20 reais in sales, and he didn't even bake cakes, but he had to pay 200 reais in compensation. Why didn't they just rob him?

Kemble was about to cry. The secret recipe of the Good Taste Double Skin Milk was indeed provided to him by the Rainforest Restaurant, but the investment in the Good Taste shop was all his own money. It was not a shop under the name of Mendes. Would Mendes help him pay for the compensation?

Finally, after mediation and ruling by the judge, the Rainforest Restaurant had to compensate the plaintiff for damages of 150 reais because it bought two secret recipes, Good Taste had to compensate the plaintiff for damages of 100 reais because it only knew one secret recipe, and the remaining restaurants still had to compensate 10 reais. If they wanted to continue selling Double Skin Milk, they would need to pay another 100 reais in usage fees, otherwise they would have to wait until later to sell it.

The judge made this ruling because the secret recipe of Shuangpi Nai has been made public by the Chinese Restaurant. Even if these stores do not sell Shuangpi Nai, ordinary people can still eat it. People with money can go to the Chinese Restaurant and Oriental Restaurant to eat it.

As for Faria, because he violated the agreement and made profits from the secret recipe, the judge ordered him to pay Min Xi and Yun Ji 25 reais in compensation.

After the verdict, some people breathed a sigh of relief, while others were in tears.

After the trial, Baron Fernando and Lord Melo came to congratulate Min Xi and Yun Ji.

Fernando said, "Because of the double skin milk incident, Min hasn't introduced new dishes for a long time. Now that the matter has been resolved, you must prepare new dishes for us all."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Of course, of course! Thank you for your concern and help!" On the surface, the two lords did not play any role in the verdict, but Min Xi knew that it was because of them that Mendes did not dare to do anything to them. Otherwise, no matter how powerful these two foreigners were, they would be crushed in front of the local tyrants in minutes.

Faria sat in the witness box for a long time without saying a word. He didn't know how he was bewitched by the devil. He was easily deceived and sold the secret recipe to Barry with the hope of getting rich. Then he was involved in a lawsuit and was dragged in front of the former boss to be slapped in the face. He also had to pay an additional 5 reais. He didn't make 5 reais in total from Oriental Flavor.

He regretted it so much that his intestines turned green. Not only did he lose money, but he also lost such a good job. If he left Dongfangwei, where else could he find a decent job that would allow him to eat wheat bread and noodles every day? No other boss in the world would treat his employees so well.

Gale saw Faria sitting there, about to cry, so he walked over and patted him on the shoulder: "My friend, you are so short-sighted. How long have you been here? How many skills have you learned? You dare to betray your boss? The gain is not worth the loss!"

Faria had been trying hard to suppress her sadness, but when Gale patted her on the shoulder, she burst into tears, crying her heart out.

Min Xi and Yun Ji heard the noise, looked over, then looked at each other and shrugged. They only asked for 25 reais in compensation, which was not much. But they had to ask for compensation, as it was for the other employees to see. Otherwise, if there was no punishment for selling the secret recipe privately, others would act recklessly.