The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

In the evening, Sanvis came back in a carriage. When he came back, the guests were still dining. As soon as he stepped into the door, he saw a group of well-dressed guests chatting and laughing. He looked down and saw his shabby clothes. He felt a little embarrassed and did not continue. Instead, he retreated outside and sat in the yard to smoke his pipe.

It’s not that he couldn’t afford clothes. After all, he was one of the owners of the Shark and was not short of money. It’s just that he just came back and hadn’t finished his work yet, so he had no time to arrange his outfit and pay attention to his clothes.

Yun Ji saw the carriage coming back and knew it was Sanvis. He came out to put the carriage away and found Sanvis sitting on a log in the yard smoking: "Sanvis, why don't you come into the house when you come back?"

Sanvis saw him and said with a smile, "I'm smoking."

Yun Ji guessed that he didn't want to disturb the guests, so he sat down on the side and asked, "How is it today? How many days will it take to unload the goods?"

Sanvis said, "It will take at least several days. Is your one-table restaurant doing well?"

Yun Ji nodded: "Recently, knowing that we are leaving, many guests want to try the dishes cooked by Ninth Brother a few more times before we leave."

"It's not bad. It's not that hard to just serve one table," said Sanvis.

"Yes, we originally just wanted to find a quiet place to live and earn some living expenses. We don't want to work as hard as before."

They chatted as the sky gradually darkened. The setting sun dyed the western sky red, and the sky above turned purple. The evening breeze blew by, and the weary birds returned to their nests. Sanvis exhaled a puff of smoke and said with emotion: "It's still more down to earth."

Yun Ji said: "This is true. We haven't told you what happened in the past two years. Last year, we went to England and encountered pirates at sea..."

Sanvis opened his mouth wide, listening to their experience of the trip to England as if he were reading a mystery. He thought that their previous experience of shipwreck was legendary enough, but he didn't expect that they would also have the experience of fighting against pirates.

After listening to the story, Sanvis said with emotion: "There is never a shortage of stories on the sea."

"Yes! When you make a living on the sea, your head is on the line and can fall off at any time. So before choosing this path, everyone is prepared to lose their life," said Yun Ji.

Sanvis realized that Yun Ji was comforting himself. He wanted to tell himself that the deaths of those crew members were not his fault.

"Thank you!" said Sanvis.

Yun Ji stood up and said, "Sit down for a while. I'll go unload the horse and feed it."

"I had someone feed the horse some beans, but I'm afraid it's not enough. You can feed it some more," said Sanvis.

"it is good!"

Not long after Yun Ji left, Diego came back. He was sweating and his face was red. When he saw Sanvis, he rushed over excitedly: "Mr. Sanvis! I'm back!"

"It's Diego. You're capable now. You can manage a store. You've made progress." Mr. Sanvis looked at Diego through the smoke. He hadn't seen him for two years. The child had grown a lot taller and his appearance had changed a lot. He was no longer the dirty gray mouse. He looked like a child from a good family, clean and timid. Most importantly, he was no longer as shy and timid as before. On the contrary, he was full of confidence. Min Xi and Yun Ji must have spent a lot of effort in training him.

Diego smiled sheepishly: "That's because the boss trusts me and taught me how to make snacks and read and count. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to manage a store."

Sanvis raised his hand and touched the back of Diego's head: "Yes, the two gentlemen are good to you, you should keep them in mind."

"Of course I will. By the way, sir, have you eaten? I brought you some snacks, which I made myself and bought from the store." Diego placed the snacks on the slate table. This table was found by Min Xi and Yun Ji. It is a typical decoration of a Chinese courtyard. People can drink tea here at ordinary times.

Sanvis smiled and said, "Okay, I'll try it! You did a good job. Although you made it yourself, the things belong to the owner. You can't confuse public and private. You still have to pay."

"I know. I'm the store manager. If I take the lead in taking things, then everything will be in chaos and the owner will be the one who suffers the loss," said Diego.

"You did the right thing!"

Diego opened the snack box and took out the egg tarts, cakes and cookies for Sanvis to eat.

Sanvis ate an egg tart and said, "It tastes good! Your cooking skills have really improved. Even if your boss goes back, you will never have to worry about food and drink for the rest of your life with this skill."

Diego smiled shyly and said, "I will follow my two bosses to China."

When Sanvis heard this, he paused and said, "Why do you want to go to China? Did your boss ask you to go?"

"No, my boss didn't let me go. In fact, they persuaded me to stay and said they would let me open Oriental Flavor. It was I who wanted to follow my boss, no matter where we go," said Diego.

Sanvis looked at the silly boy in front of him. It was such a good idea, but he actually refused it. "Did they both agree to it?"

"Well, they agreed! I will go with them. I have never been on a big ship. I heard that you will vomit a lot when you are on a ship. Is that true?" Diego still had a childish look on his face.

Sanvis looked at him for a long time before saying, "Yes, it's very hard to be on a boat. You'll be in a small space for months and years, and there may be storms. The boat may capsize at any time. Only a few people who fall into the sea are lucky enough to survive until a boat rescues them like Mr. Min and Mr. Yun. Most of the time, the boat is destroyed and everyone dies. What's more, there is a disease like scurvy that is hard to prevent. Aren't you afraid?"

Diego thought for a moment and said, "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid as long as I follow my boss."

"If your employer never comes back to Lisbon, will you live with them in China?" asked Sanvis.

"Well, I'm learning Chinese now, and I can also write Chinese characters." Diego smiled with some pride.

Sanvis sighed helplessly. This kid only cares about his boss. He really doesn't know how hard it is to suffer. He gives up a bright future and insists on running to China to suffer.

After the guests finished their meal and left, Min Xi and Yun Ji brought the dishes to the table, and the four of them ate together around the table.

At the dinner table, Sanvis mentioned that Diego was going to China, and received affirmative responses from Min Xi and Yun Ji.

Min Xi said, "Before you came back, we had to leave again. There was no one here for him to miss, so he wanted to go to China with us, and we agreed. But now the situation has changed. You are back. Does Diego insist on going to China with us, or stay here with Mr. Sanvis?"

As soon as Min Xi said this, Diego was stunned. He raised his head, looked at Min Xi with wide eyes, then looked at Sanvis, and stammered: "I, I still want to go with you."

Min Xi said: "It doesn't matter, I respect whatever choice you make."

Only Sanvis let out an almost inaudible sigh.

Min Xi said, "We will come to Europe in the future. If you don't get used to China, you can always come back to Portugal. You have skills, so you won't starve to death anyway."

Sanvis heard this and nodded: "Okay."

Young people are often unwilling to accept the advice and experience of the older generation. They always wait until they get hurt before they learn their lesson. I was like that at the beginning, so I could only let Diego go. Fortunately, Min Xi and Yun Ji are both kind people, and they would not treat Diego harshly.

That night, since there was no mattress in the other bedroom, Diego slept with Sanvis. He thought it was nothing, but Sanvis, who didn't have the habit of taking a shower every day, made Diego feel nauseous. In order not to embarrass Sanvis, he didn't say anything and just ran to the sofa and hugged the pillow until dawn.

The next day, at dawn, Yun Ji got up to practice martial arts. He was surprised to see someone sitting on the sofa. He walked closer and found that it was Diego, who was dozing on the sofa with a pillow in his arms. He asked in surprise, "Diego, why are you up so early?"

Diego opened his eyes: "Boss, is it dawn yet?"

Yun Ji was stunned: "You didn't go to sleep?"

Diego yawned and said embarrassedly, "Mr. Sanvis didn't take a shower last night, and the smell was too strong. I couldn't sleep, so I ran here."

Yun Ji almost laughed out loud when he heard this. It turns out that you Europeans also have a sense of smell. I thought we were the only ones who could smell it. "Then you didn't sleep all night?"

Diego rubbed his face vigorously. "I dozed off for a bit. It was so cold. I didn't dare to sleep. It's already dawn, right? Boss, are you going to buy groceries?"

Yun Ji said, "I'll practice for a while and then go buy some groceries. You can take my carriage to the city later."

"Okay, I'll go practice with you."

Yun Ji wanted to say, you didn't sleep last night, why are you still practicing martial arts? But when he saw how energetic he was, he swallowed the words back.

Facts have proved that it's okay. Children of his age have abundant energy. Although it is true that he needs more sleep as he grows, he can still jump around the next day even if he doesn't sleep for a night.

When Min Xi got up, Yun Ji and Diego had finished their practice and went out. He also practiced in the yard for a while, exercised his body, and then started to work.

When Sanvis got up, Yun Ji had already bought the vegetables and Min Xi had killed the chicken and prepared breakfast.

"Sanvis, are you up? Did you sleep well last night? Breakfast is ready, come and eat." Min Xi turned up the fire a little more and waited for the boiling water to start boiling again before cooking the noodles.

"Good morning. I slept very well. It was the most sound sleep I have had in the past two years," said Sanvis.

In the morning, I had seafood noodles. In addition to shrimp, there were also crab meat and yellow croaker in the toppings. They were so fresh that they made my eyebrows drop. Perhaps only here can you enjoy yellow croaker for free. It is so cheap. Of course, the fish maw must be kept and dried to take back home.

Sanvis was eating the breakfast made by Min Xi, and suddenly said, "I think I understand why Diego insisted on going to China with you, because the food you cook is so delicious."