The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi raised his hand and waved it in front of Yun Ji: "Seventh Brother!"

Yun Ji came back to his senses and stared into Min Xi's eyes: "Ninth brother, why don't I understand what you are saying?"

Min Xi smiled bitterly and called his name seriously: "Yun Ji, you read the books of sages, and Confucius does not speak of strange things. You definitely do not believe in the existence of ghosts and gods. In fact, I always thought that ghosts and gods did not exist until I fell into the sea from the boat and opened my eyes, and saw you. I inexplicably appeared in this time and space and became Min Jiu. Only then did I believe in the existence of this thing. Maybe it was because I did not drink Meng Po soup when I was reincarnated. My era is about four hundred years away from this time. It should be said that I came from a world more than four hundred years later. I know a lot of things you don’t know, so I dare to eat wolf peaches and pull up sweet potato vines for cuttings. They are unknown things to you, but they are familiar things to me. Tell me, why should I worry about it being poisonous?"

Yun Ji opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Min Xi rubbed his face and said, "It's unbelievable, Yunji, I've been calling you brother for so long, I'm almost used to it. Actually, you are several years younger than me."

"You, you are not Min Jiu?" Yun Ji said this after a long time. What Min Xi said really subverted his cognition. Was he listening to some mysterious book?

Min Xi said: "I am not Min Jiu, but I am Min Jiu. This body belongs to Min Jiu, but my soul is my own. My name is Min Xi, and Min Jiu has not yet been given a proper name."

Yun Ji murmured, "When did you become Min Jiu?"

Min Xi said, "I have been mine since you rescued me from the sea and put me on the deck."

"You're the one who's been with me all this time, right?"

"It's me." Min Xi nodded, "You and Min Jiu weren't familiar with each other, so you couldn't notice anything was wrong."

Yun Ji shook his head: "No, actually I have always felt something is wrong. Min Jiu is an orphan, he grew up eating at many people's homes, he has never been to school, but he is not at all materialistic, and his knowledge is so amazing, I often feel ashamed of myself."

"So you always think that I am gifted and a buried genius. In fact, I am mediocre. I have only studied for more than ten years and was born in the information age. I have received more information than you, so I appear to be very smart. In terms of talent, you are much better than me. You are good at both literature and martial arts, and you can learn anything." Min Xi smiled embarrassedly when he said this.

Yun Ji looked at Min Xi with sharp eyes: "What era were you living in like?"

At this point, Min Xi showed a wronged expression on his face: "It was an era that I would not change to be the emperor here. Our era was a high-tech era. We had electricity, running water, machinery, artificial intelligence, airplanes, cars, high-speed trains, and large cruise ships. It only took a few hours to fly from here to Beijing, unlike now, when it may take several months to get there by boat. Moreover, we had air conditioning in our era, which kept us warm in winter and cool in summer; we had flush toilets, and after going to the toilet, we just pressed a button and the toilet would be clean; we had water heaters for bathing; we had rice cookers for cooking; and we had refrigerators for preserving food. We went out to take high-speed trains and cars, and the distance from London to Oxford was just over an hour by car. There were also mobile phones, so even if one of us was in London and the other in Beijing, we could talk at the same time and see each other's appearance. We could know what was happening in the world by sitting at home without leaving the house... I don't know why I was so unlucky and ended up here, living such a primitive life. Seventh brother, you don't know how painful it is for me!"

When Yun Ji heard him calling him Seventh Brother, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise. What he just said was so unfamiliar to him, making him feel that Min Xi was very far away from him, but this call of Seventh Brother made him feel inexplicably at ease, as he was still his ninth brother.

"Well, it sounds a bit far-fetched. It's hard to imagine!" said Yun Ji.

Min Xi looked forward, full of confusion: "Yes. Was it Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, or was it the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou? Sometimes I can't tell whether my past experiences were dreams or my current life is a dream. How I wish I could open my eyes and return to my own world."

Yun Ji felt panicked when he heard this. He reached out and grabbed Min Xi's wrist, as if to confirm Min Xi's real existence: "Ninth brother!"

Min Xi came back to his senses from his thoughts, turned to look at Yun Ji, and suddenly let out a breath: "I have kept this matter in my heart for more than a year, and today I finally let it out. Seventh brother, you have to keep this secret for me." After saying that, he winked at him.

Seeing him like this, Yun Ji felt relieved. This was still the Min Xi he was familiar with: "Don't worry, I will keep this secret for you."

Min Xi smiled maliciously: "From now on, I am not the only one who knows about this. Brother Qi, you have boarded my pirate ship. In the future, you cannot tell your parents, wife and children. There are many things that you cannot ask me, brother Qi. I am afraid that if I say too much, it will reveal the secrets and stir up cause and effect, and finally be punished by God."

When Yun Ji heard this, he felt as if a hole was dug in his heart. He raised his hand and said, "I, Yun Ji, swear here that I will never reveal this to a third person. If I break my oath, I will..."

Before he finished speaking, Min Xi covered his mouth with his hand: "No need to swear, I trust you, otherwise I wouldn't tell you."

Yun Ji looked at Min Xi and said, "Ninth brother, are we still the same as before?"

"What else? Now that you know my true identity, do you want to cut off ties with me? How about we switch roles, I'll call you brother and you call me brother." After saying that, he smiled slyly.

Yun Ji licked his dry lips and said, "Since you are Min Jiu now, you are still younger than me. Let's just be like before."

"Okay!" Min Xi reached out and patted the back of his hand. "So whatever decisions I make, I have my reasons. Don't yell at me anymore. You know me inside and out now. If you have any questions, just ask directly."

Yun Ji nodded vigorously: "Okay!"

Min Xi put his hands on his knees and stood up straight: "I'll go cook. Let's have a simple meal tonight, like omelette."

"Okay!" Yun Ji agreed readily, picked up the half cucumber that fell on the ground, rinsed it with water, and took it to the back to feed the horse.

Yun Ji returned to the kitchen from the backyard and saw Min Xi mixing the batter. He did not try to steal his work, but took the initiative to light the fire: "Ninth brother, what are you looking for in the botanical garden?"

Min Xi said, "Sweet potatoes and potatoes. I have found sweet potatoes, but not potatoes yet. I guess I have to go to Spain to get them."

Yun Ji took a while to react: "You mean Greater Luzon? How do you know there would be one there?"

"Spain was the first country to discover the New World. The indigenous people of the New World were called Indians. The productivity of the Indians was very low, and they still lived a primitive life of slash-and-burn farming, gathering and hunting. So the Spaniards relied on a few ships of people and guns to easily conquer the Indians, seize the land there, and move gold, silver, spices and all kinds of precious resources to their country. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn are all crops domesticated by the Indians. The Spaniards brought them out of the American continent and later spread them throughout the world. Now it seems that potatoes have not yet spread to Britain." Min Xi gave him some popular science.

"How do you know so clearly?"

Min Xi said: "This is history to me. It just so happens that I was more attentive when I studied this part and wrote it down. In fact, if I don't look for it now, these things will still be passed on to the Ming Dynasty through trade exchanges in a few years. It's just that the Ming court may not pay attention to them, and they will only spread among the people."

Yun Ji opened his mouth, but finally closed it.

Min Xi glanced at him and said, "You must be wondering, since they will eventually be passed on to the Ming Dynasty, why should I find them and bring them back, right?"

Yun Ji nodded.

Min Xi sighed, "This is probably an obsession. If you were me, knowing the direction of history, I would definitely think about doing something. This is probably the mission of every Chinese son and daughter. Look at Europe today, it doesn't seem to be stronger than our Ming Dynasty, and many places are even more backward, right? However, in the future, they will be our enemies, bombarding our land and people with powerful ships and guns, and then demanding huge war reparations. It's even more excessive than the annual tribute paid to Liao and Jin during the Song Dynasty."

Yun Ji's pupils shrank. Will the future be like this? No matter it was Fulangji or Britain, they were just tiny countries in his eyes. Did he not expect that they would become so powerful in the future?

Min Xi waved his hand: "I can't tell you the specific situation. History may not be changed by personal will, but since I know it, I still have to do something, otherwise it will be a waste of the meaning of my trip."

Yun Ji nodded: "Although I don't know what will happen in the future, I will fully support you in whatever you want to do."

Min Xi turned around and smiled at him: "I knew that Brother Qi would support me unconditionally."

Yun Ji thought for a moment and said, "Tell me more about the era you lived in. What you said before is almost unimaginable to me."

"Okay!"