The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After deciding to open a store, they formally contacted the store owner and prepared to take over the store on Magellan Street.

The store was originally a silk shop, specializing in high-end goods such as woolen fabrics, silks, embroidery, and ribbons. It was not small, with an area of ​​about 100 square meters. The second floor was the owner's residence, and there was an attic above.

When the boss took over the shop from his father, business was still booming, and he was definitely considered an upper-middle class family in Lisbon.

But the young boss was not satisfied with this achievement. He saw that others had made a fortune by investing in shipping, so he followed suit and bet all his wealth on an ocean-going ship. As a result, his luck was very bad. The ship went out to sea but never came back, and sank in the vast ocean. The boss lost everything and the store was mortgaged to the creditor.

The new landlord made a living by lending money and did not want to open a store to do business, but wanted to rent out the store. Because of the bad luck of the original owner, not many people were willing to take over the store, and those who were willing to take over offered very low rents, so no agreement was reached and the store remained vacant for more than a year.

Min Xi asked Sanvis to accompany him to rent a house, and the landlord insisted that the annual rent was 80 reais.

Sanves said, "Sergio, that's enough! You asked for an exorbitant price, but the house has been vacant for more than a year. My bar is a little smaller than yours, but the annual rent is only 15 reais. Yours is worth 25 reais at most!"

Sergio yelled, “How can they be the same? When did you rent this place? The rent has gone up in the past two years. My place is at least twice as spacious as yours, and it’s also much newer!”

Sanves said: "30 reais, no more!"

Sergio shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, this is too little, I can't rent it!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji discussed that anything less than 50 reais would be within their acceptable range.

Sanvis was still asking him for reais, and Min Xi said, "Sir, we really want to rent it. And we want to rent it as a restaurant. The whole store needs to be renovated, which is not a small amount, so we can only give you 45 reais at most. What do you think?"

When Sergio heard what Min Si said, he knew that he was different from Sanvis, so he said, "Add a little more and I'll rent the house to you."

Min Xi said: "We plan to rent the place for three years, and the rent will be paid annually. If we want to leave in the middle of the term, please allow us to transfer the store."

Sergio was tempted when he heard that the rent was paid annually, but he was hesitant because the term was a bit short and he had to sublet it to someone else.

Sanvis said, "What are you hesitating about? Are we not going to pay?"

Sergio gritted his teeth and said, "50 reais, I'll rent it to you!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other and nodded: "Deal!"

They paid a deposit of 5 reais first. Then they went to borrow money from Baron Fernando, who lent them 300 reais and charged them interest according to market conditions. They promised to give Fernando VIP treatment, reserve a special seat for him, and give him a % discount on all purchases.

After signing the contract and paying the rent and deposit, they began to busy themselves with decorating the store and stopped setting up their stall because the decorators didn't know what effect they wanted, so they had to keep an eye on it themselves and even do it themselves.

The tables, chairs and benches needed for the restaurant are all designed in Chinese style. The drawings are given to the carpenters, who make them according to their needs.

That evening when they finished their work and returned to the tavern, they heard Diego say, "Sir, two of the spice seedlings you planted were pulled out by the son of the locksmith next door today. When I saw them, he had already pulled them out. I buried them again, and I don't know if they can survive."

Min Xi and Yun Ji hurried to see that the pepper seedlings covered with grass were growing well. The grass had been lifted by Min Xi long ago after the seeds germinated. About thirty or forty pepper seedlings had grown. Now they were more than ten centimeters tall and had several leaves. They should be ready for transplanting.

These are growing better than the ones Min Xi placed under the attic window. Although the temperature indoors is higher and they sprout earlier, they are growing weaker due to light problems. Min Xi moved that pot of seedlings downstairs some time ago, but they are still not as strong as these.

Sanvis had already found a piece of land for him to grow peppers, and he had planted the tomato branches he had gotten from the Baron there, but the pepper seedlings were too small to be transplanted there yet.

Min Xi said to Yun Ji, "Let's plant the chili seedlings early tomorrow morning."

"it is good!"

So they got up early the next morning and went to the field with the pepper seedlings. This field was not close to the tavern of Sanvis, because the city was full of streets and houses, and there was no open space. This field was on the edge of the city, and it took a quarter of an hour to walk there. It was not easy to take care of it. If it was not taken care of, it would be easily damaged. So Min Xi decided to plant a few plants in pots and put them in front of the store, at least to save the seeds.

The air is fresh in the early morning, which is suitable for taking a walk.

Min Xi saw someone driving a horse-drawn carriage passing by on the street and said, "It would be nice if we could raise a horse, so that we can grow vegetables."

Yun Ji laughed when he heard this: "The cost of raising a horse is not low. The worst horse costs at least ten reais, and it also needs a stable and needs to be fed with hay every day."

Min Xi smiled and said, "That's true, just think about it."

Yun Ji said, "When we get back to Ming, you can ride any horse you want. I have a red horse with four hooves stepping on the snow. It may not be as fast as Lu Bu's Red Hare, but it is also a thousand-mile horse. I'll let you ride it out for fun when the time comes."

"Really? I don't know how to ride a horse yet." Min Xi became a little expectant.

"It's okay, it's easy, I'll teach you how to ride."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Seven."

The two men left the city and found the field. The tomato branches that had been planted a few days ago had already grown, but the grass in the field had grown almost as tall as the seedlings. The two men first removed the weeds, then used the farm tools they had specially bought from the blacksmith shop to turn the soil over and planted the peppers.

Perhaps farming is something that is ingrained in the genes of the Chinese people. Min Xi and Yun Ji had never farmed before, but they managed to do it quite well and quickly found the key points.

There was quite a lot of rain in Fulanji in the spring, so they didn't have to water the tomatoes after planting them, but they still grew very well.

After planting, the two of them watered the pepper seedlings, and the job was done.

Min Xi said, "In a month or two, we should have spicy food. Then we can prepare some spicy dishes for the restaurant so that the people of Fulangji can also feel the power of spicy food."

Yun Ji smiled and said, "Aren't you afraid of scaring away the guests?"

"Of course we should talk about it in advance. There will definitely be people who like it." Min Xi himself loves spicy food, especially when eating hotpot. How can it be considered hotpot without a spicy soup base?

Yun Ji said, "There is a stream over there, let's go wash our hands."

The two walked to the stream to wash their hands. Yun Ji looked across and said, "The fastest growing thing in spring is grass. Look at that large patch of grass across the way. It's so green."

Min Xi looked up as he said. It didn't matter that the green plant with broad leaves opposite was the chives he picked with his friends in Germany in his previous life. Europeans call it bear onion. Although it looks different from the chives in China, the smell and taste are exactly the same.

Min Xi said, "Let's go over and see what kind of grass it is."

Yun Ji said, "What's so good about the grass? Why do you have to go over and see it?"

Min Xi ignored him and planned to find a narrow place to jump over. After turning around for a long time, he still couldn't find a suitable place to step over. Finally, Yun Ji couldn't bear it anymore and said, "Come here, I'll take you over."

Min Xi returned to Yun Ji. Yun Ji put his arms around his waist and they took two steps back together. Then they rushed forward with Min Xi. Min Xi felt himself floating in the air. The next moment, they both landed on the soft grass opposite.

As soon as the hand on his waist loosened, Min Xi ran straight to the green leek, picked a few leaves in his hand, put them to his nose and smelled them. It was really the long-lost fragrance of leek: "Wow, this smell is exactly the same as the leek in our Daming! Seventh brother, come and smell it."

Yun Ji went over and sniffed his hand: "Really? Can I eat this?"

Min Xi said, "I'm not sure. I'll pick some and ask the locals if it's edible."