The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After dinner, the two changed the signs at the intersection and the door before it got dark. They didn't know when the next customer would arrive. Tomorrow when Yun Ji went to the city to buy groceries, he would stop by the Bright Hotel to ask if there was any news about the Baron's ship.

Langdon asked his friend Fergus for help in finding out about the Portuguese mission ship, but no one knows if there was any follow-up. Unfortunately, no one knows where Langdon lives, so there is no way to find him.

At night, the two of them were lying on the bed chatting. Yun Ji asked a lot about Min Xi's past life. He liked to hear those things that were like the Book of Heaven. No matter how rich his imagination was, he had never imagined such a world: huge iron tools could fly in the sky like birds, carrying hundreds of people, and traveling thousands of miles a day; there were also high-speed trains running along the tracks, which could travel up to 700 to 800 miles an hour. It only took two hours to get from Beijing to Yingtianfu. It was so fast that it was unimaginable; there were also telephones and mobile phones that could be used for instant calls and meetings; humans could also go up to the sky and hide underground, fly to the moon, and go down to the bottom of the sea...

Aren’t all these the supernatural powers that only gods in myths possess? For example, the ability to see and hear from afar, and the Monkey King’s ability to travel a great distance with a single somersault… These are no longer just imaginations, but will all become reality one day. To be honest, he can only marvel at them. Unfortunately, he did not live in that era.

I don't know when they were talking before they fell into a deep sleep.

Min Xi confided the deepest secrets in his heart to Yun Ji. He felt a rare peace of mind and slept very soundly. In his dream, he returned to his hometown and was with his grandparents.

Yun Ji's dreams were also very strange. He dreamed that he was flying on a lump of iron like a bird. He could reach out to catch cotton-like clouds and pick shining stars. After a while, the scene changed and he dreamed that he was galloping on the road. He seemed to be sitting on a horse, as if it was another lump of iron that could gallop by itself.

When he woke up at dawn, Yun Ji felt extremely tired. The flying and running in his dream seemed real. He looked down and saw a person hanging on his body. Min Xi didn't know what was going on, but he kicked off his quilt and pulled most of his quilt and rolled it in his arms.

Yun Ji smiled helplessly, got up, covered Min Xi with the quilt, got up, put on his clothes, and went downstairs to practice. He did not wake Min Xi up, as he had been tired from traveling these days, so he let him sleep a little longer.

When Min Xi got up, Yun Ji had already gone out. No one ordered food, so he had nothing to do. He went to make some noodles so that he could make breakfast when Yun Ji came back, and then he went to exercise.

The weather is pretty good. Although it is not a sunny day today, you can still see the sun through the gaps in the clouds. I didn't know how precious the sun is until I came to the UK. No wonder foreigners love sunbathing so much. Since there are few of them, it is naturally very rare. Their skin color would not look good if they didn't get some sun. It would be very pale.

But it doesn't look good when exposed to the sun. Without sunscreen, your face will be covered with sun spots. Chinese people have a unique advantage in this regard. Even if they are exposed to the sun, their skin color will only be darker, and they rarely have sun spots.

Min Xi worked up a sweat, humming a song as he cleaned the yard. While he was busy, he heard the sound of horse hooves. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Yun Ji riding a horse through the orchard. "Seventh Brother, you're back?" He was still used to calling him Seventh Brother, not because he was pretending to be young, but because he felt closer this way.

Before they even reached the gate, Yun Ji said, "We have guests at noon today. We have to hurry and prepare well. There's no rest."

"So fast, who is it? Where did the guest come from?" Min Xi asked in surprise.

Yun Ji said, "It was Hopson. He invited a bunch of friends. I went to the hotel to look for Brett and bumped into him. When he saw us coming back, he hurriedly ordered food for lunch. He said he had made an appointment with his friends a long time ago and was just waiting for us to come back."

Min Xi guessed that Hopson probably wanted to come over to catch up. "But it was such a short notice, we didn't prepare properly, and we didn't even have time to cook the main course. Why don't we meet in the evening?"

"I told him that too, but he said he had friends in the evening and it wasn't convenient, so we could only meet at noon. I said he didn't even agree to meet at noon tomorrow, and said we could eat later, but I really couldn't refuse." Yun Ji spread his hands helplessly.

Min Xi smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if it's later. Go to Green's to buy two chickens, and go to Powell's to buy a duck. Has he ordered the food?"

"No, I told you to take care of the arrangements. There are five of us, and he ordered a meal for four."

"That's enough. I'll go make breakfast, you go buy the chicken and duck first." Min Xi took the basket handed over by Yun Ji, which contained the ingredients he bought today. He checked it and found that all the vegetables were complete.

In fact, it was not that Yun Ji bought everything. He originally bought enough food for two people. After receiving the order, he went to Oxford Market to buy some more vegetables, which was enough.

Min Xi finished making breakfast, and Yun Ji came back with the chickens and ducks. Min Xi saw a feather stuck on Yun Ji's hair, and couldn't help laughing: "Seventh brother, you didn't go to catch the chicken yourself, did you?" Then he reached out to help him pick off a piece of chicken feather on his head.

"Yes, the chickens and ducks were all released and I couldn't call them back, so I had to catch them myself." Yun Ji smiled helplessly.

Mainly because they had an emergency need, the chickens and ducks of both families were let out and fed. At this moment, they were strolling around the yard and could not be called back. It was Yun Ji who used his real kung fu to catch two chickens. His skill in catching chickens stunned Green. He had never thought that a person could be so agile and so fast that the afterimage could be seen with the naked eye.

"Thank you for your hard work. Eat a big breakfast." Min Xi locked up the chickens and ducks first. The water was still boiling. He could kill the chickens and ducks after dinner.

"it is good!"

It was impossible to make roast chicken. Two chickens, one was made into beggar chicken, the other was made into white-cut chicken, the duck was roasted, and the other three dishes were made of beef and mutton. Min Xi rarely arranged vegetables when ordering meals, and if he did, it was given away for free. The main reason was that the guests paid a lot of money to eat, not to eat vegetarian food, and this would make them feel that the money they spent was not worth it. Vegetables were not worth the money, and if you gave them a stir-fry or a salad, they would feel that they had made a profit.

Before twelve o'clock, Hopson arrived with his friends. After he placed the order with Yun Ji, he hurried to inform his friends. After calling everyone together, he hurried over here. It was just in time for him to arrive, because Min Xi had already prepared the beggar's chicken and roast duck.

Hopson gave Min Xi a warm hug: "Min, you are finally back. I returned to London from Manchester the day before yesterday. As soon as I came back, I ran to find you, but you closed the door and went out to travel! You really know how to enjoy life!"

Min Xi laughed: "Life is not just about making money, you also need to know how to enjoy it. How are you doing recently?"

Hopson said, "It's fine, but I miss your delicious food. So when I heard you were back, I couldn't wait to come. When can we have dinner?"

Min Xi said, "The roast duck and beggar's chicken are ready. Today we have cooked the roast duck in a new way. You can try it later."

"Great, I like new ways of eating!" Hopson was very happy.

Min Xi saw that there were still some cucumbers picked from Green's house yesterday, so he made a simple sweet noodle sauce and asked Yun Ji to help him make some lotus leaf cakes. He then rolled the lotus leaf cakes with the roast duck. This is a classic way to eat roast duck, and the sweet taste should be very much in line with European tastes.

Under Yunji's instructions, the guests rolled up the sliced ​​duck meat and cucumber strips with sauce in lotus leaf pancakes, which were also filled with shredded green onions. They rolled them up and put them in their mouths and took a bite. They found them crispy, fresh and delicious. The taste was different from just eating roast duck, with a richer texture and you would never get tired of it.

The guests rolled and ate the dough at the same time, enjoying the fun of doing it themselves, and the food was well received by everyone.

After dinner, Min Xi left Hopson alone: ​​"Hopson, I remember you said before that you have business dealings with the European continent."

Hopson nodded, "Yes."

“Which countries are you mainly with?”

"France, Spain, and Portugal too, but very little."

“So do you still do business with those countries?”

"Business has been less frequent in the past two years. What's going on?" Hopson asked.

Min Xi said, "If I want to go back to Portugal, can you help me find a ship to Portugal?"

"Are you going back now? Aren't you going to wait for your friends?" Hopson knew that he was waiting for the Baron and others.

Min Xi sighed: "It's no use waiting like this. I want to go back and inform their families so they can try to find their whereabouts."

Hopson hesitated and said, "The ocean is vast and it is a monster that eats people without leaving any bones. Have you ever thought that they might have met with an accident?"

Min Xi's face turned grim: "If this is true, then their families should be informed."

"I'm sorry, I'm very sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said that, they may have settled somewhere else. After all, we have reached the inland sea, the chance of an accident is relatively small," said Hopson.

Min Xi also thought so, so he always held on to hope. There were very few storms in the English Channel in this season. As long as the pirates did not sink the ship, their chances of survival were very high.

"Then do you know there are ships going to Portugal?" Min Xi asked.

Hopson thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid it's not easy to find. We need to wait a little longer."

"Thank you!"

"Thank you, I didn't help much."

Min Xi did not tell him about his trip to other European countries, and planned to consult someone else.