The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

As expected, Sebastian I was far more interested in dominoes than guqin and go. Min Xi and Yun Ji played dominoes with him in the palace for an entire afternoon, and the king and the baron even learned the Chinese names of dominoes, such as Wan, Tong, Tiao, Yaoji, Facai, etc.

When they were playing dominoes, Diego sat quietly by the side, pouring tea and water for them from time to time. Sebastian I was very interested in Diego's trip to the Ming Dynasty, and asked him about his impression of the Ming Dynasty, what the capital was like, and how the people of the Ming Dynasty lived.

Although Min Xi and Yun Ji can also say these things, their perspectives are somewhat different from Diego, a Portuguese.

In Diego's eyes, the people of the Ming Dynasty were simply living in paradise. All kinds of things that were extremely expensive in their country were just household items for ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty.

This seemed like a fairy tale to Sebastian I and the Baron, and further deepened their stereotype of the Ming Dynasty's prosperity.

The king was addicted to playing cards, and he played until it was almost dark before allowing Min Xi and the others to leave. When Min Xi and Yun Ji left the palace, they could only see the Wantong sticks still swaying in front of them.

The baron was still enjoying the fun and said with some dissatisfaction: "How could you only bring such fun things to His Majesty? You should bring one for me!"

Min Xi suppressed his laughter and said, "You can't play this dominoes alone. If His Majesty wants to play, he will definitely ask you to enter the palace to play with him. Wouldn't you have a chance to get close to His Majesty?"

"That's true. But if I want to play, I have to go to the palace. I can't play at home, which is always a bit regrettable." The baron couldn't help but sigh.

"It doesn't matter, just ask Captain Almeida to bring you another one next time." Min Xi said with a smile.

"Then I'll have to ask him to bring back more. His Majesty loves to play so much, so these will surely be popular throughout the upper class. By then, most people will have a pair at home, and I'll just take this opportunity to make some money, hehehe." The baron laughed.

Otherwise, how can we say that the Baron is good at business?

Yun Ji looked at them helplessly and said nothing. He thought playing dominoes was a waste of time, so he gave Sebastian I a guqin and go, which was in line with the king's status, but Min Xi wanted to bring a deck of dominoes, saying that his gift would definitely be more popular than Yun Ji's. Unexpectedly, his words really came true.

In fact, it is understandable that Sebastian I was a playboy. He was passionate about horse riding, hunting, and boating. He liked everything that was fun and exciting. It was difficult to arouse his interest in profound arts such as guqin and go that required long periods of meditation and self-cultivation, which were aimed at cultivating the mind and character.

When they got outside the palace, the baron said, "Yun, you are the first foreigner to be granted a title in Portugal. You will also be a lord in the future, with your own territory and subjects. You can build a mansion there and collect taxes from your subjects."

Min Xi also remembered this important matter: "Yes, from now on, Seventh Brother, you will be a noble lord of Portugal. You will also have your own fiefdom."

Yun Ji smiled and said, "It doesn't matter to me. I probably won't come to Europe again in the future."

"You're really not coming?" The Baron said with regret.

Yun Ji said, "My parents are gone, and I need to take care of the family business. I also have a three-year-old brother to take care of. I'm afraid I don't have the time to take care of other things."

The baron thought of his daughter and stopped trying to persuade her: "Then go back and take good care of your brother. If you want to come to Lisbon anytime, I will definitely welcome you warmly. The door of my house is always open to you."

Yun Ji smiled at him: "Thank you!"

On the way back, Min Xi and his team went to the courtyard where the sailors lived to see how their business was doing recently. It happened that the king had rewarded a lot of gold coins today, so they took some and distributed some to everyone to share in the joy.

It was already late when they came out of the palace. When they arrived at the courtyard where the sailors lived, the sun had set. There was still some time before dark, so they could leave the city before curfew.

The courtyard was unusually lively. Many people who had set up stalls had packed up and were sharing their gains and experiences of the day in the yard. Everyone's face was filled with joy. It seemed that they had made a good harvest today.

When they saw Min Xi and Yun Ji, they greeted them warmly: "Boss, you are here?"

Min Xi smiled and asked, "How did everyone harvest today?"

"Not bad. We made almost two reais today. After deducting the cost, we still have one reais left, which is almost one tael of silver." The sailor selling oyster omelettes said happily.

"Our Jianbing Guozi doesn't sell as well as his oyster omelette, but we still made about 800 Swiss francs. Any profit is good, the main thing is that it gives us something to do and keeps us from being bored," said the sailor selling Jianbing Guozi.

Everyone was talking about their joy. Min Xi took out a box and said, "Today we went to see His Majesty the King of Portugal. He thought that my seventh brother had made great contributions in exterminating the pirates, so he gave him some money. My seventh brother thinks that everyone has made contributions, so he should share some of the money with you."

The sailors were stunned after hearing this: "Boss, you went to see His Majesty the King? Is that similar to our Ming Emperor?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "It's not as hard to see the Emperor. After all, their country is very small, and Fulangji may not be as big as our Fujian."

"That's equivalent to the governor of Fujian Province."

"It's a bit similar. You line up and come one by one to receive your reward. His Majesty the King gives you gold coins. You keep them and exchange them for silver coins or just take the gold coins back. It's up to you. But if you want to exchange money, you must ask us for help and don't get cheated." Min Xi said.

So everyone lined up to receive the gold coins. The king was quite generous this time, rewarding Yun Ji with 500 gold coins and a piece of land, but the land was of no use to Yun Ji, so the gold coins were more practical.

Yunji gave everyone 5 gold coins. Everyone was so happy to see the gold for the first time that some people took it and put it in their mouths to bite it. It is said that gold is soft and will leave tooth marks when bitten. But some people were reluctant to bite it. Looking at the golden coins, they narrowed their eyes with joy and said that they would take the coins back and keep them as heirlooms. These were the gold coins rewarded by King Fulangji and they could brag about them for the rest of their lives.

Everyone wanted to keep them for dinner, but Min Xi said, "We won't have dinner. Curfew is coming soon. We have to go back before curfew."

When they were about to leave, a sailor stopped them and said, "Boss, you should keep these gold coins for us. We go out early and come back late every day. If we leave them at home, they may be stolen, and if we carry them with us, we may lose them. Please keep them for me and give them to me along with my wages when I return."

When he mentioned it, the others also thought that it was true, so they returned all the gold coins to Min Xi and Yun Ji. The two had no choice but to take the money back for safekeeping. It was not necessarily safe to keep it with them. It was fine for them at home, but if they went out, they were afraid that thieves would break into the house and steal, so they should send it all to the Baron's mansion, where the money they earned from selling goods happened to be.

As they drove the carriage out of the city, Diego said, "I saw them setting up stalls on the street. It seems like they are doing good business. Why don't I go and sell puffs too?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "Of course you can. You can make them at home and sell them in baskets, or carry a load. I'll make you a set of puff trays, layer by layer, which can hold a lot of them. You can earn a few hundred riels a day."

"Then I'll try it tomorrow," said Diego.

"it is good!"

The next day, Diego really wanted to make puffs, but there was no bread oven in their yard, so Diego had to go to Sanvis's house to bake them.

Min Xi and Yun Ji decided to build a bread oven at home so that they wouldn't have to go to Sanvis' house whenever they wanted to bake some cakes. Although they would definitely be welcome there, it would still be more convenient for them to bake the cakes and have them delivered.

Diego spent a day baking puffs at Sanvis' place, and Sanvis and Reiss ate the test products for a day. Diego hadn't made puffs for a long time, and he used an oven he was not familiar with, so he didn't master the trick for a while. The puffs he baked were either shrunken, not hollow, or burnt. After trying many times, he finally baked puffs that were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Sanvis and Reis both praised the delicious puffs he made, so Diego took the successful trial products back to show Min Xi and Yun Ji for tasting. They both said they were delicious and he could start the stall now.

Diego said, "So I'm really going to set up a stall tomorrow?"

"Go ahead, I'll find you a basket and cover it with a clean cotton cloth. Then you can carry the basket into the city to sell puffs." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji asked, "You want me to lend you a horse?"

Diego chuckled, "No riding, I'll go over to roast in the morning, sell in the afternoon, and be back before dark."

"Then I wish you good luck!" said Min Xi.

Diego was full of confidence. He went to buy ingredients for baking puffs early the next morning, and then went out with a basket to sell snacks.

Min Xi and Yun Ji gave him spiritual support but did not help much, leaving him to work on his own. However, Sanvis and Reiss helped enthusiastically. They had nothing to do except growing vegetables, and now they finally found something to do.

Min Xi and Yun Ji studied at home. Yun Ji began to write essays on his own topics and then take them back to his grandfather for review.

Min Xi continued to recite the book. He found that his memory was not as bad as he thought. He could still memorize it after reading it several times. The problem was that his way of thinking was different from that of the ancients, so there was always a gap in understanding. Yun Ji encouraged him that if you read a book a hundred times, its meaning will become clear. If you read more and think more, you will understand it slowly.

Min Xi got tired of memorizing, so he practiced calligraphy. He found that writing was more daunting than memorizing. Not only did he have to write in traditional Chinese characters, but he also had to write beautifully. Otherwise, the examiner would see your poor handwriting and would not care what you wrote at all. He would just throw your test paper aside and you would not even be eligible for the selection.