The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The climate in the UK is much colder than that in Portugal. In September, the temperature drops significantly. Even Yunji, who is not afraid of the cold, has to wear a coat morning and evening.

The sweet potato seedlings that had grown so tender were no longer so fresh and tender, and were obviously not growing any longer. The two of them said they wanted to build a glass greenhouse for it, but they were too busy to do it, so Min Xi had no choice but to move it indoors.

There were always people coming and going in the living room downstairs, including children. If they were not careful, the leaves would be pulled out. By the time Min Xi found out, it was too late. Seeing this, he felt so distressed that Yun Ji moved the two pots of sweet potato seedlings to the bedroom upstairs.

Every day when he got up early and went to bed late, Min Xi would first check on the sweet potato seedlings. Although the indoor temperature was a little higher than outside, it was only about 20 degrees, which was barely enough to keep the sweet potatoes alive, but it was unlikely to grow tubers.

That night, Min Xi held a candle and observed the sweet potato seedlings again: "Oh, the leaves and buds are curled up. It's still not okay to keep them indoors. I wonder if roasting them next to the fireplace will help."

It is certainly a bit early to start burning the fireplace at this time of year, but it is not impossible if we can save these two sweet potato seedlings.

Yun Ji asked: "When is it normally harvested?"

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "If it's in the UK, I think it would be harvested this season, by October at the latest."

"Since we haven't left yet, why don't we go to Oxford and ask the professors there for some seeds?"

Min Xi turned to look at Yun Ji: "Yes, this is a solution! I guess he planted such a big pot, there must be at least several sweet potatoes in it. But it seems that there are not enough. If he can give me one, I will be full. I also have to find a way to store it. If I am unlucky, it may go bad."

"Will it break?" Yun Ji asked.

Min Xi nodded: "Yes, if they are not stored properly, they will rot and will not sprout. I remember my grandmother used to store sweet potato seeds in the cellar. When she took them out to sow in the spring, they would always rot. Sometimes only about one-third of them could be preserved. Fortunately, this thing has a strong reproductive capacity. One sweet potato seed can grow many sweet potato seedlings, and only a small section of sweet potato seedlings can be cut and survive."

"Everything in the cellar will rot. What's the reason?" Yun Ji asked.

Min Xi said: "It's probably because there's a lot of rain and humidity in the south in winter. I think it's much better in the north. Just put it in the cellar to keep it warm."

"I didn't expect there are so many inconveniences in the south." Yun Ji sighed, "I have always envied the south for having so many green trees in winter. The north becomes gray and bare in winter."

“Although the north is cold and dry, it doesn’t have as many snakes, insects, rats or ants as the south, and it’s not as humid.”

“It can only be said that the local environment shapes the local people.”

"Yes."

"So are we still going to Oxford?"

Min Xi said, "Let's wait and see. We can't leave recently. The orders are already scheduled for a certain day. I would rather not go and go directly to Spain when the time comes. We still have to go there to find potatoes anyway."

"Okay, you arrange it. You know more about these things than I do."

Min Xi suddenly sighed: "I don't know what's going on in Lisbon. We've been out for three months. We originally agreed to return in three months, but now there's no sign of our return. Do you think Diego and Gael still have the patience to wait for us to return?"

Yun Ji said: "Diego can definitely wait, but it's hard to say about Gale and the others."

"I still have to find a way to write a letter back to calm people's hearts. The Queen is too inefficient. She still hasn't found out the news yet?" Min Xi complained, but he didn't dare to think too much about it. He was unwilling to believe that the Baron and the others had met with an accident.

"I guess there will be news soon." Yun Ji said.

"The Queen said she wanted us to take a letter to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, but there has been no follow-up. Is this true?"

"Just wait patiently."

Fortunately, business has been good recently and the two have been very busy, leaving them with little time to think about these things. Otherwise, if they were always thinking about them, how stressful it would be!

That night, Hopson and his friends came over for dinner and they didn't leave until dark.

Min Xi and Yun Ji sent them to the gate and watched the carriage disappear into the night. A gust of night wind blew by, and Min Xi, who had forgotten to wear a coat, rubbed his arms: "It's really a bit cold. The weather is good today, and there is a moon."

Seeing that he crossed his arms, Yun Ji took off his coat and covered his shoulders.

Min Xi looked at him in surprise: "Why did you give it to me? Aren't you cold? I'll go into the house and put on some clothes."

"I'm not cold, let's enjoy the moon for a while." Yun Ji put his hand on his shoulder and looked up at the sky, "Is Mid-Autumn Festival coming soon?"

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "Isn't today the middle of September? I guess it should be here. The Mid-Autumn Festival usually falls around November 11th. I didn't expect that another festival in a foreign country would come. Last year, we didn't celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, let's treat the full moon night as the Mid-Autumn Festival and have a good time. Do you think today should be around 11:00?"

Yun Ji looked at the half moon in the sky: "I think it should be eleven or twelve."

"I think it's around eleven or twelve, so let's celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival four days later. Whether it's the fifteenth or the sixteenth, I think it's suitable. We won't take orders in the evening four days later, and we can celebrate the festival together." Min Xi said.

“Are there any orders in four days?”

"I'm sure not!"

"Then don't take the order and write 'full' on the sign," said Yun Ji.

"Break for a day? I thought we would only rest at night." Min Xi smiled with his eyes curved.

"Take a day off, and you won't miss the income from that meal." We finally have a holiday, and I hope Min Xi can take a rest.

Min Xi said: "We should prepare some mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival to celebrate the occasion."

“Can you make mooncakes?”

"What's so difficult about making mooncakes? They're just like ordinary cakes. The only thing they lack is a mooncake mold." Min Xi smiled and looked at the decathlon king Yun Ji.

Yun Ji understood immediately: "Okay, I'll carve it."

Min Xi laughed happily: "Haha, okay. I'll think about what kind of filling to make. Five-nut filling is the most classic, and I have to find a way to make it. And egg yolk filling, the salted eggs that I pickled some time ago are ready, just in time to use them." When he was making salted duck eggs, he would definitely be lying if he said he had never thought of egg yolk mooncakes.

Yun Ji tilted his head and looked at Min Xi: "Mooncakes with egg yolk filling?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "You haven't eaten it before? It's a pity that it's not in Lisbon, otherwise I could make ham mooncakes."

"Why are there so many weird mooncake fillings?" Yun Ji glanced at him.

Min Xi said: "You don't understand this. This is a regional difference. It's like eating zongzi. You all eat glutinous rice with sugar, but people in the south eat salty meat zongzi. You know, in our time, everyone would fight 3,000 rounds of battles online every year for salty and sweet zongzi, hahaha!"

Yun Ji listened to him and imagined that if he were in that era, he would probably join in. How could there be meat in zongzi? It was simply absurd.

Seeing that he was silent, Min Xi asked with a smile, "Seventh Brother, are you a sweet or salty person?"

Yun Ji cleared his throat and said, "I should be a sweet person."

"So do you prefer salty or sweet tofu pudding?"

Yun Ji was stumped by the question, and after a long while he said, "I should eat salty tofu pudding."

Min Xi laughed: "Most of us southerners eat sweet tofu pudding! It can be seen that the taste is a hodgepodge. Eat whatever you like. As long as it tastes good and you like it, that's fine. Anyway, I make more than one kind of mooncake. I think I can make more and give them to the guests who come to eat recently, so that they can also experience our Chinese traditional festival."

Yun Ji has become accustomed to calling the Ming Dynasty China. In fact, it is not wrong. In ancient books and documents, the term "Central Country" has been used since ancient times. Calling it China feels very appropriate and domineering.

The two of them admired the moon for a while. Min Xi was worried that Yun Ji didn't wear a coat, so he dragged him into the house: "Let's go back and make mooncake molds."

Yun Ji was dragged away by him obediently. This was the reason why he liked living here. Although he had to do everything by himself, he felt like living in seclusion in a paradise. No one would disturb them, and Min Xi would also do some intimate actions with him without any burden. If there were other people around, he would definitely not be able to hold hands.

The mooncake mold was not difficult to make. Yun Ji had always kept the habit of carving. He always carried a carving knife with him and even collected some good wood when he saw it. He quickly found two suitable boards from his collection: "Let's carve two, one with five-nut filling and one with egg yolk filling."

"Okay. If it's too troublesome, one is enough." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji shook his head: "No trouble, what kind of pattern do you want?"

"The pattern of the mooncake? I can't remember what the patterns are. You can carve it. It's whatever you want to carve." Min Xi was actually looking forward to the feeling of opening a blind box, letting Yun Ji play freely.

"Okay, then I've decided." Yun Ji took out a carving knife and started working.

He is already quite familiar with carving, and carving mooncake moulds is no problem for him.

Min Xi lay on the bed, looking at Yun Ji who was concentrating under the lamp: "Seventh Brother, go to bed early, and carve tomorrow."

Yun Ji looked back at him and said, "It's okay. I'll carve for a while. You go to sleep first. This thing is very simple and will be done soon."

Min Xi didn't know when Yun Ji fell asleep. Anyway, when he woke up, he saw two mooncake molds on the table. Wow, his hand speed was too fast. Looking closely, the carvings were quite symmetrical, and the patterns were traditional auspicious patterns. They should be very beautiful when printed.

Now that we have the mooncake molds, we can make mooncakes. Min Xi happily went downstairs with two molds, ready to make mooncakes.