The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

There was another happy event in the Tao family this spring. Tao Shu and Miss He got married. They should have gotten married a long time ago, but Miss He's grandparents passed away one after another, and they had to observe mourning for two consecutive years, so they got married only now.

Tao Shu was a little disappointed. He had thought that he could marry a wife in a grand manner after graduating from high school, but he didn't expect that he still couldn't get what he wanted in the end. Of course, this didn't make him lose points in the eyes of Miss He and the He family. The Tao family members were all good-looking, and they were also from a family of officials and scholars. The family tradition was always good. The He family was very satisfied with this son-in-law who was a juren.

The day of Tao Shu's wedding was not the end of the month. Yun Ji was studying at the academy and did not ask for leave to go home. Instead, he asked Min Xi to bring Yun Lin to attend the wedding on his behalf and gave a generous gift.

Yun Ji also deliberately did not come back, because he knew that most of his relatives would focus on him and would be busy arranging marriages for him, and he would not be able to avoid it. He did not want everyone to notice him, so the best way was to hide and not show up.

Even though he didn't show up, it didn't stop people from talking about him. After all, Min Xi was there with Yun Lin, and some particularly warm-hearted relatives couldn't help asking who Min Xi was when they saw this big and small group, because he was a stranger. Old Madam Tao and the aunts would introduce their identities, so everyone couldn't help but ask about Yun Ji.

"Why is Ji Ge'er missing? He should have come back a long time ago." asked the relative.

"He is studying in the academy, preparing for the examination to become a scholar. In the past, no matter how much we urged him, he refused to take the exam. But after a trip abroad, he suddenly became enlightened when he came back and took the initiative to take the examination." Old Madam Tao said with a smile.

"I remember that the woman who was previously engaged to Ji Ge'er has married someone else. Has his marriage been arranged now?" asked the relative.

When Mrs. Tao heard this, she couldn't help but sigh, "I mentioned it before. The child said that he would only get married after he had achieved fame. Miss Cao married a juren. I'm afraid my son Ji wanted to make Miss Cao regret her decision, so he worked hard to study."

After Mrs. Tao said this, everyone understood. So that's it!

In fact, Yun Ji was really wronged. He didn't even know who Miss Cao married. He was quite grateful to Miss Cao and had no intention of competing with her son-in-law.

"Then the old ancestor should find a girl for Ji'er who is a hundred times better than Miss Cao, so that he will regret it!" The relatives were indignant for Yun Ji.

"I thought so too. I'm paying attention to it." said Mrs. Tao.

The relative asked curiously, "Why is Brother Lin so close to that little brother?"

"That's Ji'er's sworn brother, the one who ended up in Fulangji with him. Ji and he have a very close relationship, like real brothers, and Lin'er also likes to be close to him." said Old Lady Tao.

"What is his origin? Is he married?"

"He is an orphan without a father or a mother. He lives in Ji'er's house and helps take care of Lin'er. Now he is studying with the old Hanlin. He is not married yet." said Mrs. Tao.

When the relatives heard that he was an orphan without a father or a mother, they lost interest in learning more about him. Girls from families like theirs usually marry up, or at least marry someone of equal status. Very few marry down. Min Xi was at least not in the range of the Tao family's relatives' choice of spouse.

Mrs. Tao actually thought about finding a suitable girl for Min Xi. Girls from wealthy families would definitely look down on him, and marrying him to a maid would be unfair to him, so she had been keeping an eye out for more suitable girls from small families. But she heard from Tao Hong that Min Xi was very smart, very good at studying, and a promising child, so she hesitated to make up her mind and planned to wait until the next year's child examination to see how things went.

Min Xi had no idea that Madam Tao had given so much thought to him. He took Yun Lin to experience a complete ancient wedding, which he found quite interesting.

The wedding banquet was prepared by the chef of Yunxiang Restaurant. This was Yunji's wedding gift to his cousin Tao Shu. Of course, the gift money was calculated separately. The wedding was lively and very respectable. My grandfather, my uncle and Tao Shu were all very satisfied.

Beijing's beautiful but short spring soon came to an end. In the summer, the lavender planted by Min Xi bloomed.

After a spring of careful cultivation, the flowers in the pots finally grew stronger and more flower spikes appeared. What's more, four flowers planted in the flowerbed survived, and they were stronger than the seedlings in the pots, and the flowers were larger.

The scent of lavender is very unique, but fortunately they can all accept it.

Min Xi was very happy: "Does this mean that I have managed to grow lavender here? This fall, I plan to sow more in the flower beds. I should be able to harvest a large number of seeds next year. I will then take them to the farm to plant them, and then I can sell them to the pharmacy."

"Then we won't have to go to France to buy lavender," said Yun Ji.

"We still need to buy some for now. Our production won't be able to keep up for a while. The Xingyun will soon be ready to return, I hope everything goes well."

"We estimate that we will be able to set off in September, which will be earlier than we set off then."

Min Xi suddenly asked, "Have you ever thought about going out to sea again?"

Yun Ji looked at him: "Do you still want to go out to sea?"

"I can't really say how much I like life on the sea. I don't eat well, I don't sleep well, and my life is in danger. But I'm used to drifting on the sea. Sometimes I still dream about the days on the boat at night."

Yun Ji nodded: "I can understand, it's a habit. Sometimes when I wake up from a dream, I also have the illusion that I woke up from the cabin."

The two couldn't help but smile at each other. Having had the same experience and understanding each other deeply, it felt really good to be able to resonate with each other no matter what they said.

After the long summer, there is a short autumn. Min Xi planted lavender seeds. This year's new seeds have a much higher germination rate, and the ground is full of tender little buds. Soon after the seeds sprouted, the weather in Beijing began to turn cold. Min Xi covered the lavender with thick straw, and then covered the straw with oil paper to keep the new seedlings warm.

The seedlings in the pots were moved indoors early, and were only moved outside to bask in the sun at noon when the weather was fine, to prevent them from growing too weak due to lack of sunlight.

At this time, Min Xi missed the Baron's glass greenhouse. If he failed to pass the exam, he would build a glass greenhouse. Daming also produced glass, but the purity was not so high, and there was less flat glass, which was all blown out for various utensils.

Min Xi had once seen the glass production process on the Internet and had a rough idea of ​​how a whole piece of glass was made. When the time came, large pieces of flat glass could be used to inlay windows and build glass greenhouses, which should be a huge business opportunity.

The long winter is here, and Min Xi and Yun Ji's exams are approaching, and they have entered the sprint stage of studying hard. Yun Ji temporarily returned from the academy because it was too cold and not suitable for studying. There is a ground heating at home, so he can study at home day and night, and someone arranges three meals a day for him, so he doesn't have to worry about it, he just needs to concentrate on studying.

Min Xi still insisted on going to Tao's house to go to school every day. On the one hand, he wanted to accompany Yunlin to school, and on the other hand, Tao Hong was very strict with him and wanted to cram everything he knew into his brain.

While Yun Ji is in the stage of finding out the gaps and filling them up, Min Xi is still training in various skills. There is nothing he can do about it, it's his fault for starting late.

He was busy until the end of the year. After spending the New Year in Beijing, Min Xi hurried to Yingtian Prefecture before the Lantern Festival. There was no other way, the candidates could only return to their registered place to take the exam, and he still had a lot of things to do when he returned.

To register for the exam, you need to find someone to pledge and to pledge to each other. The so-called pledge is to find a scholar in the county to guarantee that the candidate's family background is clean and that there is no impersonation or substitution; mutual pledge is to find four candidates to team up and write a letter of guarantee promising not to cheat. If one person cheats, all five will be punished. Therefore, pledge and mutual pledge are very important, and they must be people who know each other well.

If you can't find someone to pledge your support or pledge a mutual guarantee, you won't be able to take the exam.

Min Xidu had not been home for many years. He was going back to take the exam. It would definitely scare the old and young in the clan. He could not read a single word, but he was going to take the county exam. Wasn't this a joke? He had no classmates in his hometown, so it would be troublesome to make friends with them.

Fortunately, Tao Lizhi was the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture in the same year, and they had some friendship. By writing a letter to ask for his help, the problem could be solved.

Yun Ji reluctantly sent Min Xi on his journey back home. If possible, he would like to go with him, but unfortunately his registered residence was in the capital, and he could not leave.

He prepared a large shipload of things for Min Xi, including food, clothing, and daily necessities, as well as gifts and money for him to send back to his relatives and to maintain relationships. In order to take good care of Min Xi's food, clothing, and daily necessities, he also asked Diego and Tao Xing to go back with him, and asked them to take good care of Min Xi.

Before leaving, Yunji sent them to Shichahai Wharf. At this time of year, all the puddles in Beijing were frozen, but in order to allow the canal boats to travel smoothly, people were arranged to break the ice every day.

Yun Ji looked at Min Xi and said, "Ninth brother, you must take good care of yourself and do your best in the exam. If you really can't pass, I will support you in whatever you want to do. Come back as soon as you finish the exam."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Then you have to wait until the list is released before you come back."

"Let Tao Xing show you the list."

Min Xi said, "I understand. I will come back as soon as possible."

Yun Ji was still reluctant to let go of his hand, and Min Xi couldn't help but joked: "I suddenly remembered a poem that fits the situation, 'Suddenly seeing the willows on the street, I regret having asked my husband to seek a title', doesn't it fit your current mood?"

Yun Ji looked at him with a mixture of love and hate: "Yes! So you should come back soon."

Min Xi nodded seriously: "Okay, I will try my best to pass the county exam and come back to see you as soon as possible."

Yun Ji was speechless for a moment, and then he said, "Then you should take the exam seriously. No matter what, don't be angry and perfunctory in the exam."

"I know!" Min Xi looked at him with a smile.