The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Mrs. Alwaka asked again about how they rescued Emma, ​​and Min Si had to briefly recount what had happened.

Mrs. Alvarca was amazed and praised their bravery, and asked: "Did the Portuguese government catch all those bandits later?"

Min Xi said: "It has been caught."

"Did they reward you?" she asked again.

"We did not report this matter to the government." They concealed the matter in order not to expose their identities.

"That's such a pity, you deserve a knight's medal!" said Mrs. Alvarka regretfully.

The countess asked about Fernando's family, and Min Xi told her about the Baron's marriage. He did not mention the pirate attack on their trip to England. The relationship between these countries was delicate, so he would not make trouble for it.

Speaking of marriage, Mrs. Alwaka became interested and started to inquire about the details of the wedding, such as who attended, how big the banquet was, what gifts were given, and even what hair accessories and clothing were popular among Portuguese noble ladies.

Min Xi was really helpless about these things and could only apologize and say that he didn't quite understand them.

Mrs. Alwaka looked at Min Xi and Yun Ji and suddenly said, "You two gentlemen should not be married yet, right?"

Min Xi was stunned: "How did Madam know?" He was not afraid to say that he was single in Spain. After all, no noble would look for a foreigner of unknown origin for his daughter, not to mention that they were only coming here for a short trip.

Mrs. Alvarca chuckled. "If you were married, you would know all this. How long do you plan to stay in Spain?"

"About a month."

"You will be staying for quite a while. Where are you staying? We are having a banquet at home in a few days and would like to invite you two gentlemen to visit my home. I hope you will not refuse!" Mrs. Alwaka made the invitation directly.

This was an opportunity to observe the Spanish upper class up close, and Min Xi did not refuse: "It is an honor to attend your party, we will definitely go." Then he gave the other party his address.

Count Hernandez came back before lunch. The Countess sent someone to call him back. It was not appropriate for all the guests to be accompanied by ladies. When the Count heard that Min Xi and Yun Ji were coming, he quickly put down the things at hand and came back excitedly.

As soon as he entered the room, he gave Min Xi and Yun Ji a warm hug: "Welcome to Spain! I thought you wouldn't come."

Min Xi smiled and said, "I apologize for the intrusion of your visit!"

"Don't say that. When we were in Lisbon, I wanted to invite you to Madrid," the count said. "Where do you live? Is it convenient? Why don't you move to my house? My house is spacious, with guest rooms and a kitchen for you to use as you like."

Min Xi was indeed a little tempted when he heard that he could freely use the kitchen. But he also knew that it was not appropriate: "Let's not do it. It will disturb you. We have found a hotel."

The count asked where it was, and Min Si told him the address. The count frowned slightly and said, "That place is not very good, you should move here. You came to my place, and you are Emma's savior, which means you are the benefactor of our whole family. You are also good friends of Pedro, and there are so many relationships between you. You are still living in a hotel outside. This is our poor hospitality. Our friends will laugh at us if they hear it. Aurora will definitely welcome you very much."

Upon hearing this, the Countess immediately understood: "Yes, Mr. Yun, Mr. Min, please move to my house as soon as possible. There are plenty of rooms here, you can stay as long as you like."

Seeing that Min Si was silent, the Earl continued, "You are at my house and can tell my children stories about China. It would be our honor if we could occasionally taste the Chinese food you cook."

The Countess echoed the Count: "Yes, I also heard from the Count that the cooking skills of the two benefactors are very good. I also look forward to having the opportunity to taste your cooking skills."

Min Xi and Yun Ji discussed it. They were originally planning to change places because there was no place to take a shower in that hotel. They were going to find a hotel that could take a shower. Now that the Earl strongly invited them, they were a little hesitant. After a final discussion, they agreed: "Then we will bother you."

At noon they had lunch at the Count's house. The cook prepared a sumptuous lunch at her best according to the Count's request.

Min Xi was also amazed when he saw the food on the table. In addition to the excellent ham, there was also paella! It was paella made of rice! This was the first time they saw rice since coming to Europe. It turned out that Spain had rice.

Min Xi was surprised and asked, "Does Spain also produce rice?"

"Yes, there are some places that grow rice, but the yield is not high. This is Valencia's specialty food, seafood rice. Unfortunately, there is no fresh seafood in Madrid, only dried goods such as shrimp, shellfish and pickled fish. I made a simple version, I hope you will like it!" The count's tone was quite proud.

"It looks delicious! This is the first time I've seen rice in Europe. I haven't eaten rice for two years and I really miss it." Min Xi said with a smile.

"Then try it quickly." The count quickly gestured for him to eat the paella.

The Earl's cook was really good. Although the seafood was not fresh, it was soaked and tasted good. Although the rice was not polished, the rough skin was removed as much as possible and the texture was relatively soft. The seafood rice soaked up the soup and was the most delicious food they had eaten in Europe.

Min Xi nodded and said, "This is the best Western food I've ever had in Europe."

Yun Ji was also very satisfied with the meal: "I haven't eaten rice for a long time, it feels really good."

"It is our honor to receive your recognition." The count instantly felt very proud as he received praise from two top chefs.

The Countess had not yet tasted the food cooked by Min Xi, so she did not have as deep an impression as her husband. After all, her maiden's cooking skills were recognized by the Madrid aristocracy.

After lunch, Min Xi and Yun Ji went to the hotel to move their luggage. Before leaving, Min Xi specifically told the landlord that if anyone came to look for them, they should say that they had moved to Count Hernandez's mansion.

He did this just in case Garcia came to find him, but since the two earls had a conflict, Garcia probably wouldn't come to him again after knowing the news.

They drove the carriage to the Earl's manor again. The doorman opened the door for them enthusiastically and the butler came over to lead them to the guest room.

Their room was on the first floor and was very spacious and bright. Outside the window was a wide lawn garden. There were still many evergreen trees in Madrid in winter.

The bed had been made, and the supplies were clean, although not brand new, but it was obvious that they were rarely used. Since I was a guest, I naturally couldn't use my own quilt.

The only thing that made Yun Ji unhappy was that when they were guests at the Earl's house, the two of them were assigned separate rooms, so they couldn't sleep in the same bed.

But you can't just ask two people to sleep in the same room, as that would seem too abnormal.

Fortunately, their rooms were right next door, just a few steps away.

Min Xi said to the housekeeper, "We want to take a bath. Is there a room with a bath in the mansion?"

The housekeeper looked at him in surprise: "Taking a shower in this weather?"

Min Xi nodded: "Yes, we came out of Lisbon and haven't taken a shower for a while."

The housekeeper thought, it wasn’t long, could it be that Chinese people take baths more frequently?

But he still said, "Yes, we have a bathroom. If you need to take a bath, I will arrange for someone to boil water for you. However, the bathtub is quite large, so it may take some time to boil the water. I will call you when it is ready."

Min Xi said, "Mr. Yun and I both need to take a shower. Please boil more water. Thank you!"

The housekeeper hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "Are you guys going to take a shower together?"

When Min Xi heard this question, he said, "Take me to the bathroom."

"Okay, please follow me." The housekeeper took Min Xi to the bathroom.

The bathroom is a separate room with a pool dug directly into the ground and made of polished stone bricks. It can be said to be a small swimming pool. It does take a lot of time to boil hot water.

"We can take a shower together. Thank you for your help." Min Xi thanked again.

Yun Ji was packing up in his room, and when he came out, he found that Min Xi was gone. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone. He was so scared that he was panicking. Where did he go? It's not good to have a big house, it's easy to find someone.

Just as he was looking for someone like a headless fly, Min Xi appeared. Yun Ji grabbed his wrist and asked, "Where have you been?"

Min Xi saw his concerned look and said, "I didn't go anywhere. I wanted to take a bath, so I asked the housekeeper to take me to the bathroom. It's quite big, with a big bathtub. Let's go take a bath together after the water is boiled."

Yun Ji was quite anxious at first, but when he heard what Min Xi said, he immediately calmed down a lot. Want to take a bath with Min Xi?

"Okay, okay!" His face slowly turned red.

Min Xi saw that his face suddenly turned red, and then he thought of something, but tried to keep a straight face and pretended not to care: "The bathtub is too big, and boiling water is a big project, so let's take a bath together. It's a good opportunity to rub each other's backs. It's been so long since we took a bath, and our backs must be very dirty."

Yun Ji coughed hard to hide his pounding heart: "Okay!"

After they packed their things and prepared their clothes, Min Xi came over and called Yun Ji: "Seventh Brother, the water may take a while to come, let's go warm up by the fire first."

"Okay!" Yun Ji glanced at Min Xi, then immediately looked away. His mind was full of thoughts about taking a bath, and his expression looked a little unnatural when he saw Min Xi.