The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

When the other party saw the appearance of the two people outside the door, he couldn't help but be stunned. Both sides didn't speak for a while. It was Yun Ji who came back to his senses first and said, "Excuse me, Professor Michel. We came from London to visit Oxford University. Your colleague Professor White recommended you to us and said that you might be able to take the time to be our guide. If you don't have time, we won't bother you."

Min Xi also came back to his senses: "Hello, professor! This is a letter from Professor White. These are the gifts we brought to you. This is tea, and we also made our own beggar's chicken and beef jerky. I hope you like them. I apologize for disturbing you!"

"White?" Professor Michel's amber eyes rolled around, he took the letter, opened it and quickly read it, then stepped back two steps and nodded, "Please come in."

His voice was a little hoarse, because he hadn't spoken in a long time.

There was only a narrow wooden bed, a desk, an armchair and a small stool in the room. The desk, the floor and the inside of the bed were all filled with books and papers covered with words. On the small stool was a wooden tray with a few slices of bread, which seemed to have just been cut and prepared for eating. It was almost lunch time.

Professor Michel glanced around the room, moved the plate from the wooden stool to the desk, and said, "Please take a seat."

Obviously, the chairs and stools were given to the two guests to sit on.

"Thank you!" Min Xi put the tea leaves and beef jerky on the desk, but put the beggar's chicken on the ground. "Professor, you haven't had lunch yet, right? I just happened to bring you some food. Please try my cooking."

Yun Ji took a look and said, "It's not appropriate to do it here, let's do it outside."

"Okay." Min Xi handed the beggar's chicken to Yun Ji and asked Professor Michel for a plate. "The chicken is cooked in our Chinese way. It's a bit special. You can eat it after you knock off the dirt outside. Please wait."

This aroused Michelle's curiosity. What kind of chicken is made of mud? He followed Yun Ji and Min Xi out of the attic involuntarily. Yun Ji knocked the mud on the floor of the corridor to reveal the lotus leaves inside. He cleaned the mud and tore off the first layer of lotus leaves to reveal the clean lotus leaves inside.

Min Xi said, "Let me take it. My hands are cleaner."

Yun Ji took the plate from him and held it in his hand. Min Xi picked up the chicken wrapped in lotus leaves and put it on the plate: "Professor, this is the beggar's chicken for you. Please taste it."

When the first layer of lotus leaves was torn off, the fragrance wafted out. Michelle originally came here to watch the fun, but was tempted by the aroma and swallowed her saliva involuntarily. The smell was too fragrant, even more fragrant than Wolfe's fried chicken.

Yunji handed the plate to Professor Michelle: "Professor, you can tear off the outer leaves and eat the chicken inside."

Professor Michel was meeting the two for the first time, so he shouldn't have accepted it just like that. But it smelled so good, and he was hungry, so the aroma was amplified, making the glutton in his stomach even more active. "Thank you, I'll try it."

Professor Michelle carried the beggar's chicken into the attic, followed by Min Xi and Yun Ji. Professor Michelle tore open the water lily leaf and saw the yellow chicken inside. His mouth was filled with saliva instantly: "Doesn't this need to be cut?"

Min Xi said, "You can tear it with your hands or with a fork. This chicken has been stewed long enough that it should be boneless."

Michel used a fork to poke the chicken leg. The chicken was indeed soft and boneless. The meat and bones could be easily separated. He picked up a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth. The tender and juicy chicken instantly captured his heart. The chicken from Wolfe was completely inferior: "Delicious!"

Min Xi smiled and said, "As long as the professor likes it."

Michelle took a bite and suddenly remembered something: "You guys come and eat too."

"No, we have already eaten before we came. Professor, please enjoy your meal." Min Xi pulled over a small square stool and sat down.

Yun Ji also pulled over a chair and sat down beside him.

"Professor, you have so many books here!" Min Xi looked around and exclaimed. Books were very precious and expensive in this era. Probably most of the professor's money was spent on these, so he lived such a poor life.

Professor Michelle asked while eating chicken: "Are you from China?"

Min Xi knew that Professor Michel, a solitary person, was willing to receive them not only out of respect for Professor White, but also because of their Chinese identity.

So, just like before, Min Xi told their story again.

Professor Michel listened with great interest and asked, "Do you Chinese also study physics?"

Min Xi looked at Yun Ji and said, "Seventh Brother, is there anyone in China who studies physics?"

"What is physics?" Yun Ji asked.

Professor Michel opened his mouth to explain, but Yun Ji didn't understand because he had never heard many of the words. Min Xi understood, but he couldn't say he understood, so he smiled at Professor Michel and said, "We don't know."

Professor Michel was quite disappointed. He asked, "Do you need me to be your guide?"

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "Professor, we met two students from Oxford University before, and they have taken us around Oxford University. But there is still one place we want to visit, but we can't get in."

Professor Michel stopped and looked at him: "Where?"

"The botanical garden and the glass greenhouse. It's locked, and we can't find a janitor or professor who can open the door. I wonder if the professor can take us in for a tour." Min Xi stated his purpose. When dealing with people like Professor Michel, one needs to be straightforward.

Professor Michel thought for a moment and said, "Visiting the botanical garden? We need to find Professor Smith. I wonder if he is in Oxford now."

"Professor, you can't enter the botanical garden either?" Min Xi asked.

Professor Michel looked at Min Xi's eager eyes and ate the delicious and juicy chicken. He felt that it would be a shame to disappoint him, so he said, "I'll go find the janitor and take you inside for a tour."

"Really? Thank you so much, professor!" Min Xi's face showed joy, he finally had some clues.

Yun Ji asked: "When are we going?"

Professor Michel was not one to procrastinate, so he said, "Let's go this afternoon."

"Thank you Professor!"

Professor Michel finished a beggar's chicken by himself, burped, and looked at the pile of chicken bones with satisfaction: "This is the most delicious chicken I have ever eaten. Thank you very much for giving me a feast for my taste buds!"

"I'll make something else for the professor next time," said Min Xi.

"It sounds very worth looking forward to." Professor Michel said, touching his chin. He didn't care much about matter, and his only interest besides physics was eating delicious food. Min Xi and Yun Ji's move was completely to cater to his interests.

After Professor Michelle had his fill, he left the attic accompanied by Min Xi and Yun Ji.

Professor Michel led them to the school janitor's duty room and stated his purpose straight away: "We want to visit the botanical gardens. Is Professor Smith in Oxford recently?"

The janitor on duty replied: "He just went to London recently, and it may take some time for him to come back."

"Then can you take us on a tour? Or you can give me the key and I will return it to you after we're done." Professor Michel asked.

The janitor was a bit lazy and didn't want to move: "I'll give you the key, you can go and see for yourself, and then return the key to me after you're done. But you have to promise me one thing: you can only look at the plants in the botanical garden, but you can't touch them."

Professor Michel said, "That's nature. It's useless for me to take your plants and trees. We just go in to take a look."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Yes, we are just taking a look."

The door of the botanical garden was finally opened. Its area was not very large, and there were many flowers, plants and trees planted inside. However, the glass greenhouse was large enough, much larger than the baron's glass greenhouse. It was probably built with the money paid by the King of England, who was willing to spend more than the Baron.

After Min Xi entered, he went straight to the greenhouse, scanning the area constantly in order to find the crops he needed.

It's true that there are so many kinds of plants in the glass greenhouse of Oxford University that it's dazzling. At least Min Xi recognized many kinds of plants, including sugarcane, pineapple, aloe vera, agave, lemon, bamboo, etc., as well as various tropical flowers. There are many cacti, some of which are in bloom, as well as bougainvillea, spider orchid, ivy, bird of paradise, etc.

It has to be said that the glasshouse at Oxford University does have many more species of plants than the Baron's glasshouse.

Yun Ji suddenly shouted excitedly: "Ninth brother, come and see, here are tomatoes and chili peppers."

Min Xi leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, there were several tomato and pepper plants planted in several large flower pots. They were lush and leafy, but there were few fruits. It was a typical case of only growing leaves but no fruits.

Min Xi said: "It doesn't grow well. It's not as good as the one we planted on the balcony."

"Yes. It seems that the professors at Oxford don't know how to grow tomatoes and peppers. They are not as good as you." Yun Ji asked Min Xi again, "Have you found the crops we need?"

Min Xi shook his head: "I don't know. The biology professor is not here. Even if we met him, we wouldn't be able to recognize him."

Of course Min Xi could recognize them, but how could he tell Yun Ji that those were the crops they needed? They had never seen these plants before, but he knew that they were exactly what they needed. Isn't that ridiculous?

"Yes, no one introduced it to us, so we wouldn't know it even if we saw it, and we just wasted the opportunity." Yun Ji said with some regret.

Min Xi was thinking about how to convince Yun Ji to take the sweet potatoes and potatoes back if he found them. He suddenly stopped because he saw the sweet potatoes planted in the flowerpots, with heart-shaped leaves densely packed together, and branches so lush that they burst out of the pots, hanging down from the edge of the pots, bursting with vigorous vitality.