The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Old Hughes' hands were shaking to begin with, and now they were shaking so much that he couldn't even hold the spoon. He thought Min Xi was joking with him. He was already this old, and the only thing left was waiting to die. Who would be willing to hire him as a navigator? But Min Xi's tone didn't sound like a joke.

The baron at the side said, "Mr. Hughes, we do need a navigator who understands the Asian route. If your body allows, you can consider our proposal. We sincerely invite you to join the Jazz."

Captain Almeida of the Jazz also expressed his opinion: "We have three ships on this trip. The other two have experience in Asian routes, but this is our first time, so we need a navigator who understands Asian routes."

Navigator Gama said, "Mr. Hughes, I am the navigator of the Jazz. I have nearly ten years of navigation experience, but I have never been to Asia. I need your assistance. I hope you can come and help us."

Min Xi said: "Mr. Xius, I remember you once said that you wanted to return to the sea. Now that we have the opportunity to return to the sea, are you willing to help us?"

Old Xiusi looked at Min Xi, then at Yun Ji, who nodded at him. Old Xiusi picked up the wine glass on the table, took a big sip of wine, and then put the glass heavily on the table: "I'm willing to go!"

Seeing that he agreed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Min Xi said, "Don't worry, Mr. Xius, we will take good care of you. I will take care of you in your old age."

"Yes, we will take care of you in your old age!" Yun Ji also promised.

When Old Xius heard this, he was stunned. His eyes gradually became moist. He looked at Min Xi and Yun Ji. He felt that he was extremely unlucky in his life. He had accomplished nothing in everything. He also got a strange disease when he was old. He couldn't even do the only job to make a living. Survival became a problem. Fortunately, Min Xi and Yun Ji helped him. He didn't expect that they would say they would take care of him in his old age. Are they angels sent by God?

After the navigator's issue was resolved, the date for the Jazz to set sail was finally set on September 9th.

As soon as the date was confirmed, Min Xi and Yun Ji stopped accepting orders and received the guests scheduled for No. 5. They had to arrange all boarding matters by themselves in the remaining time. This time was different from the trip to England. There was less luggage and the trip was shorter. This time they were going back to Daming. They had to bring back all the belongings they had saved in Europe in the past few years, so many things needed to be dealt with.

By the end of August, the store employees had finally collected the transfer fees, neither more nor less, a total of 1200 reais, 1000 for the Chinese restaurant and 200 for Oriental Flavor.

Domit bought the Oriental Taste by himself. Although another clerk wanted it, he lacked talent in making dim sum and was not as good as Domit. He was afraid that he could not support such a big store, so he did not dare to take it. Although he also proposed to form a partnership with Domit, Domit did not agree because his family could raise so much money and did not need to form a partnership with anyone.

Taste of China was a partnership of four people. Gail and Jasper each contributed 300 reais, Greta's family contributed 200 reais, and a waiter who came later contributed 200 reais.

As for Amanda and Miss Connor, both of them come from difficult families, and their families can't provide any help at all, so they can only continue to work in the store.

Min Xi was a good person who helped them to formulate a cooperation agreement and clarified the division of tasks for each person. If they strictly followed the agreement he formulated, then the store could continue to operate. If someone did not abide by the agreement and did whatever they wanted, then the store would sooner or later fall apart.

Min Xi was not too worried about Amanda's situation. She had no distractions and was focused on cooking. Her cooking skills were the best among those he taught. Even if this store closed, there would still be a lot of restaurant owners who would spend a lot of money to invite her.

As for Miss Kanna, she is also very hardworking and studious, and has good talent. Although she has not learned many dishes, it is enough to support a small restaurant.

After arranging the two stores, the baron learned the news and said, "You sold the store for 1000 reais, which is too cheap. If you shout on the street, you will see how many people are willing to take over this store. The price is definitely more than this."

Min Xi smiled and nodded: "I know, I once thought about transferring this store to you so that you can come and eat anytime. But after thinking about it, I decided not to. You don't lack this little money. These people have been working for me and have done their best. Consider this as a gift from me to them before I leave. They spent money to take over my store. No matter what difficulties they encounter, they will definitely try to keep the store open. In this way, Chinese food will have a foothold in Lisbon. You can come and eat Chinese food anytime you want."

The baron nodded: "That makes sense. Anyway, it's fine as long as I can eat Chinese food anytime." A business that only earns a few thousand reais a year is too little for him and not worth the effort.

After receiving the last day of guests, Min Xi hung a sign at the door saying "Yizhu Restaurant is now closed" and went to the field with Yun Ji to harvest sweet potatoes.

It was just the beginning of September, at least a month away from the normal sweet potato harvest season, but they couldn't wait any longer. If they didn't dig them up now, they would be unable to take them away.

The sweet potatoes planted in the McCaughlin family's field grew very lushly. The vines were entangled with each other, and there was no trace of soil at all. The only thing they could do was to lift up the vines, cut them off with a sickle, and drag them away. These were good feed for pigs, cattle, and sheep.

Min Xi first dug sweet potato seeds. These were not propagated by cuttings but directly planted sweet potato seeds. Now is the time to witness a miracle.

The sweet potato field is harder than the potato field. Yun Ji took the initiative to take on the responsibility of digging the sweet potatoes. He inserted the iron fork into the soil and pried it hard. The sweet potatoes came out of the soil. They were indeed very large. The largest one was as big as two fists of an adult man, and there were quite a few of them.

Min Xi happily picked up sweet potatoes of all sizes and put them into the basket. This way, he didn't have to worry about the sweet potatoes he brought back not sprouting.

After digging the sweet potato seeds, Min Xi dug up another sweet potato for cuttings to see how big it was. It's true that the cuttings didn't have enough time, and the sweet potato that grew out was not even half the size of the largest sweet potato among the seedlings, but the number was not small. Min Xi dug up two-thirds of the cuttings and filled four large baskets. He didn't dig up the rest, leaving it for McCollum to dig up a month later.

The old way is that after digging the sweet potatoes, they are taken out to dry like potatoes. After they are dry, they are packed in bags and taken on the boat. These sweet potatoes can not only be used as seeds, but also eaten raw as fruit when there is really nothing else to eat.

Diego has not been to the store recently, because the store has been transferred and is no longer the owner's store, so of course he will not go to help. So he will come to help with the housework.

In the past two days, Min Xi and Yun Ji slowly piled up the things they needed to move in the living room so that they could move them away at any time.

In addition to the crop seeds and clothes and bedding they were going to bring back, there was also a set of pots and pans that Min Xi had brought to England, as well as the bottles and jars he had prepared. They also brought a lot of salted duck eggs and fresh eggs, which should not be a problem if they were kept for ten days or half a month.

Old Xius had moved to Minxi's place at the beginning of the month. He dealt with all the junk that he was reluctant to throw away, selling some that might be thrown away, and only kept some necessities.

After they left, Sanvis lived in the house. He was recuperating and needed a better environment. The environment here was very quiet. Sanvis planned to find someone to take care of him after they left. He was not sure whether to find a nephew from his hometown to take care of him, or to hire a servant in Lisbon. He was rich and could afford to hire a servant and the annual rent of 20 reais.

During this period of time, I lived with Min Xi and the others. I ate well and slept soundly every day. I gained weight visibly and my complexion improved a lot.

In fact, Sanvis secretly hoped that Diego would stay with him. However, when he took Diego in, he was doing him a favor, treating him as a servant who could be ordered around, providing him with food and clothing. However, he never concealed his emotions and would beat and scold him at any time, so that although Diego respected him and was grateful to him in his heart, he could not feel close to him, especially compared to Min Xi. Diego would naturally prefer Min Xi, who treated him equally and kindly from the bottom of his heart.

Two days in advance, Min Xi and Yun Ji started moving luggage onto the ship. Long before that, all the goods that needed to be transported had already been moved onto the ship.

Min Xi and Yun Ji were assigned to a separate cabin. As the navigator, old Zeus was also treated well and had a separate cabin with another navigator. Diego lived with the navigators.

Min Xi wanted him to learn some knowledge of navigation. No matter what era, more skills are better. More skills mean more ways to go. Diego did not object. He knew that Min Xi was doing this for his own good.

At noon the day before departure, Min Xi hosted a dinner at his home, inviting the Baron and his wife, his eldest brother, the Lord and his wife, Lord Mello and others, and treated them to a lunch that he cooked himself.

After I leave, I don’t know when I will be back next time, and whether I will have the chance to cook for them.

Although the food was delicious, the atmosphere at the table was a bit dull. Everyone felt sorry when they thought about not knowing when they would be able to eat such delicious food again. Especially Lord Mello, he kept pouring wine for himself and got himself drunk.

He reached out and took Min Xi's wrist, looked at Yun Ji with his hazy, drunken eyes, and said with a burp: "Mr. Min, you must take good care of Mr. Yun. He only has eyes for you!"

Everyone at the table looked at the three of them with interest.

Min Xi was a little embarrassed, so he had to follow the drunkard's instructions and said, "Okay, don't worry, I will! This is my brother."

When Yun Ji heard Min Xi's words, he looked at him with a red face, not sure if he was drunk or shy.