The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Yun Ji raised his eyes and looked at him: "How do you fish it out?"

Min Xi said, "They like the food I cook, so I'll cook for them and charge them 5 pounds for a meal. Compared to the price of one pound for a pancake, 5 pounds for a meal, which is enough to fill you up, is really a good deal."

Yun Ji understood Min Xi's idea. When the two of them got off the mission ship, they brought limited food. If they cooked and sold all of it to the pirates, they would not have enough to eat themselves. The pirates must have prepared enough food. Min Xi wanted to use another person's food to lay eggs.

He nodded: "If they agree, it's fine."

They packed up the cooking utensils and saw steam coming out of the copper kettle's spout. They knew it was about to boil, so they took out the teapot and made some tea.

This life is similar to that on the mission ship, the only difference is that the people around me have changed, and I need to be vigilant at all times and cannot relax like before.

They were sitting on the deck drinking tea when the pirate leader came over and asked, "Would you two gentlemen like to have tea?"

Min Xi had no intention of inviting him to tea, he just nodded.

The pirate leader sat down cross-legged next to them and asked, "What are you going to eat for lunch, sir?"

"Not confirmed yet." Min Xi replied.

The pirate leader rubbed his hands together and said, "Can I have lunch with you guys at noon? I can pay for it."

Min Xi did not answer him, but looked at him: "Are you pirates very rich? You can afford a cake for 1 pound."

The pirate leader chuckled: "That's still a lot more than the average crew."

Min Xi thought for a moment and asked, "If you successfully rob a merchant ship full of cargo, how much will your crew get at once?"

The pirate leader said, "That depends on how much the cargo on that ship is worth. Just like this time we made a mistake and your ship didn't have much cargo, so we won't get any money."

"I'm asking about fully loaded merchant ships," said Min Xi.

The pirate leader chuckled: "If the cargo is spices, tea, sugar and the like, a few hundred pounds won't be a problem. If it's all gold and silver, then a thousand pounds won't be a problem. Are you interested in joining us? I promise that within a year, you will be rich!"

Min Xi took a deep breath. No wonder there were so many pirates during this period. Even governments wanted to recruit and organize privateers. The profits were too huge and the temptation was too great. Who among the royal families of European countries would not be tempted?

The pirate leader must have been impressed by Yun Ji's skills and his cooking skills, so he wanted to recruit them. Min Xi shook his head: "We are not interested in being pirates!"

The pirate leader was very regretful: "You all have abilities. If you join us, I can guarantee that your status on the ship will be second only to me and the navigator. This way, you will get much more money than the sailors. If you are lucky, it will not be a problem to earn 10,000 pounds a year."

Min Xi said: "What you said is indeed very tempting. However, we Chinese have a saying that 'a gentleman loves money but gets it in a proper way'. We don't want money that comes from an unclear source."

The pirate leader said, "But her Majesty the Queen has no objection to us robbing other ships. We just need to give half of the proceeds to her Majesty the Queen."

Min Xi snorted upon hearing this and did not respond. To put it bluntly, the English government is the biggest pirate, and the entire history of Europe's rise to power is a history of the rise of bandits.

Seeing that he didn't agree, the pirate leader stroked his chin and said, "What are you going to eat for lunch? Can you make my portion?"

Min Xi did not answer him: "I do have a suggestion. You are not short of money. Before arriving in Southampton, I will cook for you. Give me 5 pounds for each meal, and I will keep you full!"

When the pirate leader heard this, he immediately became excited: "Okay!"

"You have to provide the food. There is not much left from what we brought. It is not enough for you to eat." Min Xi said.

The pirate leader readily agreed: "No problem."

When the pirate leader informed their chef Owen that the two Chinese would prepare lunch, Owen was stunned for a moment. He was not unhappy, but just said, "Boss, aren't you afraid that they will tamper with our food?"

The pirate leader said: "We have all taken the poison he gave us. What are we afraid of? They won't kill us at all because they still need us to send them to Southampton."

Owen then realized the problem: "So that's it!"

The pirate leader added: "They have no ill will towards us, otherwise they wouldn't have rescued Bill today. We just need to send him to Southampton."

Owen couldn't understand: "They have no ill will towards us, why do they give us poison?"

"Of course you don't trust us." The pirate leader couldn't help but hit Owen on the head. "Is your brain filled with mush?"

Min Xi and Yun Ji sorted out their things. The most numerous and troublesome things were the dozen or so guns. They had promised the pirates not to throw them away, so they had to take care of them themselves. It was also a hassle to take care of them, so they had to unload all the bullets to increase the safety factor.

They asked the pirate leader for a separate cabin and a lock, moved all their belongings into the cabin and locked it up, and moved the cooking utensils and ingredients into the kitchen.

Min Xi checked the food reserves on the pirate ship. They were mainly bread, with some wheat flour, quite a bit of dried fish and bacon, and some vegetables, similar to what they brought, all of which were onions and carrots that were easy to store.

Min Xi tasted the dried fish and bacon and found them to be extremely bad in taste, the kind that even dogs would not eat. Why do the British live such a rough life? Do they really eat just to stay alive?

Min Xi looked at the ingredients and felt a little embarrassed. Even a good cook cannot cook without rice. He really didn't know what to do.

Min Xi said to the pirate leader, "With limited food, it's hard to show your skills. Why don't you cast a net and catch something and eat whatever you catch?"

The pirate leader agreed readily: "Okay, I'll ask someone to lower the net."

For ocean-going ships of this period, fishing nets and fish hooks were unwritten necessities. Whether they were to be used or not, they had to be carried with them. Since they lived by the sea and drifted in the sea all the time, they couldn't afford to go without even having fish to eat.

The pirates lowered the net from the stern of the ship, and the ship ran forward with the help of the westerly wind, dragging the fishing net as the ship passed through the water, startling the fish and shrimp under the water. They fled in all directions, and some of them would always fall into the fishing net.

When the fishing nets were collected, we were lucky enough to have caught dozens of kilograms of fish, the most common of which were Atlantic salmon, and there were also quite a few cod.

Min Xi said to Yun Ji, "Seventh brother, you go and knead the dough and roll out the dumpling wrappers, and I'll kill the fish and chop the stuffing. We'll have fish dumplings for lunch today."

Yun Ji said, "Then you knead the dough and I'll kill the fish." Killing fish has a strong fishy smell, and chopping the stuffing makes his arms sore, so he didn't want Min Xi to do this.

Min Xi smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll knead the dough."

When the two of them were cooking together, Owen was watching from the side, and Min Xi didn't drive him away. If he could learn just by watching, then he would be a real genius, and the history of dark cuisine in Britain might be rewritten.

Min Xi kneaded the dough, pinched it into small pieces, and then rolled out the dumpling wrappers so quickly that Owen was dazzled and couldn't tell how he rolled them.

Over there, Yun Ji had already killed the fish, removed the skin and bones, and started to chop the meat. Only the shadow of his knife was left, and everyone could only hear the endless thumping sound. They all gathered around curiously to see what he was doing.

By the time Min Xi had finished rolling out the dumpling wrappers, Yun Ji had almost chopped up the fish meat, so Min Xi chopped up some onions and carrots, mixed them with the fish meat, added various seasonings, and stirred them vigorously. The two of them made dumplings together.

There was finally something Owen could do, which was to light a fire and boil water. When the water boiled, he would throw the dumplings in and eat the boiled dumplings directly.

This dumpling meal had neither soy sauce nor aged vinegar, it was just simple boiled dumplings, but it made these pirates, who had never eaten good food, cry as they ate it. They had never eaten such delicious food in their lives, and after eating it today, they felt that it was worth it even if they died at that moment.

Everyone was eating dumplings on the deck when they suddenly heard Tom, who was sitting on the mast and looking out while eating dumplings, shout, "There seems to be a small boat ahead!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other when they heard this. Could it be the small boat that was rowed away by the sailors on the delegation ship?

Min Xi looked up and asked, "Where is it?"

Tom said, "On the right!"

Min Xi said to Yun Ji, "Let's go and take a look."

The two men ran to the right side of the boat and looked far away. At the end of their field of vision, they saw a small boat. However, with his eyesight, he could not see clearly whether there was anyone on the boat.

Tom carefully identified it for a long time and said, "It's a capsized boat. There should be no survivors."

At this time, the three sails on the ship were all fully set, and it was moving at full speed with the wind, and soon it was about to catch up with the small boat.

Min Xi could also see the shape of the boat clearly, and it was indeed an overturned boat.

Yun Ji stared at the boat for a long time and said, "It's the lifeboat on the mission ship. I don't know if it's the one the sailors were on, or the one the Baron and his men rowed away."

Min Xi said: "The Baron and his men have another large ship to pick them up, so they should be fine. The wind here is too strong and the waves are too fast. The chances of escaping in a small boat are too low."

Yun Ji felt scared when he thought about it: "Fortunately we didn't go into the sea."

Min Xi said, "Yes, the water temperature in this sea is very low. If the two of us were to escape on just one deck, our fate would probably be similar to that of the people on this boat."

Yun Ji raised his hand and placed it on Min Xi's shoulder, and said firmly: "I will never put your life in danger!"

Min Xi felt inexplicably at ease. With Yun Ji by his side, he had never been truly afraid. He knew that this person would always stand in front of him to protect him.