The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

They helped the landlord chop the firewood, and then drove the carriage away. Their goal today was to reach Badajoz, the Spanish-Portuguese border, which was about 40 kilometers away. If it didn't snow, they could get there in three hours at most. If it snowed, the speed would be much slower, but they would definitely get there within today.

Traveling in snowy weather was not in their plan, but they unexpectedly encountered it. Everything was covered in snow, which was quite a different feeling. It would have been even better if it wasn't so cold.

Yun Ji was driving the car in front. After a while, Min Xi came out of the car and sat down next to Yun Ji.

"Why did you come out again?" Yun Ji said helplessly.

"I came out to accompany you. It's not fair to let you stand alone in the cold wind."

"What's fair or unfair about this? Go in quickly. It's windy outside. Don't catch a cold." Yun Ji urged him to go in.

"You're worried about me getting cold, but aren't you afraid of getting cold yourself?" Min Xi glanced at him sideways.

"I'm not afraid. I'm in good health. We martial artists are naturally in better health than ordinary people."

"I've also exercised. How about we play a game of flying flowers? It's snowing today, so let's take snow as the theme and recite poems containing the word 'snow'. I'll go first, 'I hear a dog barking at the wooden door, and a man returns home in the windy and snowy night.'" Min Xi quickly changed the subject.

Yun Ji smiled and said, "Okay. 'It's going to snow tonight, can you have a drink?'"

Min Xi quickly added: "An old man in a straw hat and raincoat is fishing alone in the snowy cold river."

Yun Ji continued slowly: "The clouds are low in the dusk, and the snow is dancing in the wind."

The two of them recited the most common verses of Han Xue's poems, and Min Xi soon ran out of words, but Yun Ji remained calm. It was obvious that he still had a lot of poetry in his mind, and he was obviously giving in to Min Xi, as most of the poems he recited were not so common.

Min Xi admitted defeat: "I can't recite it anymore. Compared with you ancient scholars, I am still far behind."

"It's already very good." Yun Ji was actually still very surprised. He remembered that Min Xi said that his literary level was very poor. Today, it seems that his literary accomplishment is still very good.

Min Xi asked: "Can you write poetry?"

Yun Ji thought for a moment and said, "Not really. The teacher said that my poems are full of craftsmanship and lack spirit. I originally thought that since I am going to take the imperial examination anyway, I should just let the craftsmanship be fine and write less poems in the future. It seems that I am not good enough. I still need to practice hard."

Min Xi raised his hand and patted his shoulder: "Come on, young man, I believe in you!"

Yun Ji's lips curled up when he heard that. His heart was filled with warmth, and something was gushing out from the bottom of his heart.

There is a person who can play flying flowers with you in literature, can accompany you in martial arts to travel around the world, and can talk with you about astronomy and geography, and talk about the past and present. It is hard not to like such a person, not to mention that the other person completely meets your aesthetic point, accompanies you day and night, and sleeps on the same bed with you. Who would be willing to struggle?

It's just that I'm trying my best to restrain myself because I'm acting out of emotion but within the bounds of propriety.

Min Xi felt cold due to the wind and went back into the carriage. Although it was still cold in the carriage, he could wrap himself in a blanket and there was no wind, so it was much more comfortable than outside.

After staying in the carriage for too long, he couldn't help feeling guilty, so he climbed out and asked Yun Ji to come in to warm up. Yun Ji still disagreed, so he had to stay outside for a while. When it got really cold, he quickly went back in.

After going back and forth for several times, we finally arrived at the border between Portugal and Spain at around 2:00 p.m. There is no border wall between the two countries, only checkpoints at the entrance of a mountain pass between the two countries. The gate of the checkpoint on the Portuguese side was closed, probably because it was too cold due to the snow, and there were few people on the road, so the guards closed the gate to keep warm.

When they arrived at the checkpoint on the Spanish side, they were stopped. A voice came from the gate of the checkpoint: "Stop, routine inspection. Who are you? Where are you going?"

Min Xi came out of the car, took off the scarf around his face, and said in Spanish: "Hello! We are from Lisbon and going to Madrid. This is our pass."

A short and strong figure walked out of the sentry post. He glanced at the pass, looked Min Xi up and down, and was stunned when he saw his face: "Are you from Lisbon?"

Min Xi said: "We are Chinese and live in Lisbon."

The other party looked surprised and asked: "What are you doing in Spain?"

"We want to visit Professor Diaz at Complutense University in Madrid and ask him some academic questions." Min Xi took out Professor Greeley's letter of introduction and showed it to him.

The Spanish guard glanced at the letter in his hand but did not take it to read. In fact, the pass was enough.

The guard didn't even raise his eyelids: "Five reais per person. How many of you are there?"

Min Xi's eyelids jumped. They had just paid a small amount of money when they first arrived in Lisbon, but they needed 5 reais here. It was a bit too expensive. But there was no other way, so he took out 10 reais and gave it to the other party: "Two people in total."

The guard said, "We need horses, too. One horse costs 1 reais."

Min Xi's forehead veins jumped. Spain is really taking advantage of others. But there is nothing he can do, so he has to pay the money.

When they set out from Lisbon, they exchanged currencies. The most common currency unit in Spain is also called Real, but although the name is the same, the currency is different and the value is also different. About 1 Portuguese Real is equivalent to 2 Spanish Reals. This is probably because Spain has more gold and silver and a large amount of currency issuance, so the currency has depreciated.

Smaller currencies were the copper peso and the octavo, with 1 real equal to 8 copper pesos and 16 octavos.

12 Spanish reals is equivalent to 6 Portuguese reals, which is about half a year's income for an average person. He felt that the Spanish guards were asking for exorbitant prices, but he had no way to complain.

In this way they passed the checkpoint and headed for the city of Badajoz.

Badajoz is a Spanish city, only four kilometers away from Portugal. They need to cross the Spanish-Portuguese border to get here.

The snow in Spain is heavier than in Portugal. Badajoz is now covered in snow. The heavy snow has driven everyone into their houses. Only children are playing in the streets. Even in Spain, it rarely snows. The children are having a lot of fun in the snow, having snowball fights and making snowmen. In this respect, they are the same as Chinese children.

Min Xi and Yun Ji were wrapped up tightly, with only their faces showing outside, which was not very conspicuous, so naturally no one noticed them. They walked all the way into the city, and did not see many signs of hotels. They only saw one, which was shabby and the environment was a bit bad. Min Xi said he would take a look.

But he didn't find any more, so Min Xi had to jump out of the car and called a child who was making a snowman: "Hello, where is the better hotel here?"

The child looked up and turned out to be a cute little girl. When the girl saw his face clearly, she was stunned and stared at him, not saying a word for a long time. Min Xi had no choice but to ask again: "Little friend, can you tell me where is the better hotel here? I want to stay in a hotel." Min Xi thought he spoke Spanish well. After all, he used it quite a lot. Spain had quite a lot of colonies and many countries in Central and South America spoke Spanish.

The little girl came to her senses, raised her hand and pointed forward: "Go forward from here and turn a corner, there is a hotel, but it's very expensive!" The little girl's voice was soft and very cute.

"Thank you!" Min Xi thanked him and got back on the carriage. Yun Ji drove away. The little girl was still standing there watching. The man just now looked so strange, different from anyone she had ever seen.

Following the little girl's instructions, the two found the hotel that was said to be very expensive. The price for one night was 4 pesos, which is equivalent to 250 Swiss francs. Compared with Portugal, the price is indeed very expensive, but compared with the UK, it is already very cheap.

The two took off their hats and scarves. The shop owner saw their appearance and was stunned for a moment: "Where are these customers from?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "We came from Lisbon and were going to Madrid."

"You are not Portuguese?"

"Yes, we are Chinese. We are currently staying in Lisbon."

The shop owner was so surprised that he was speechless: "You are Chinese? This is the first time I see Chinese people!"

The shop owner enthusiastically led Min Xi and Yun Ji to their room: "What are you doing in Spain?"

Min Xi said: "We are here to travel. We are going back to China soon. We want to visit various European countries before we go back."

"Then you have come to the right place. Our Spain is the most powerful country in Europe," said the owner proudly.

It seems that people are still very proud of Spain's current status.

The room was worth the price, very spacious, with a window, and the furnishings and hygiene seemed OK. The owner said, "We have everything here, and you can tell me if you need anything. We also provide three meals a day for free."

Min Xi took the opportunity to ask, "Sir, if we don't eat in the restaurant and cook our own food, can we borrow your stove?"

The owner was stunned for a moment: "Do you cook your own meals?" It was the first time he had met a customer who made such a request.

"Yes, we prefer to cook for ourselves," said Min Xi.

The shop owner hesitated and said, "It's snowing these past two days, and there aren't many people selling vegetables at the market. Did you bring your own vegetables?"

Min Xi was stunned: "No. Then I'll eat with you tonight." Spanish food is quite good in Europe, and paella is very famous. I just don't know if there is paella in this era. But even if there is, I'm afraid they won't give us paella if we stay in a hotel. Besides, this place is quite far from the sea, so we probably won't be able to eat seafood.

The owner said proudly: "Don't worry, sir, the food in our restaurant is very delicious, which is one of the reasons why our restaurant charges a high fee."

"Then we have to look forward to it." Min Xi said.