The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Wanli was a little unwilling: "Can't I just try it?"

Min Xi really didn't dare to take the risk. People these days don't have any sense of hygiene. Everything is dirty. If they eat it, they won't get sick. If they get diarrhea, it doesn't matter. But the emperor can't. He is a princess. If he gets sick from eating, who can be held responsible?

Min Xi said with some embarrassment: "Sir, it's not that I don't want you to eat it, but I'm worried that it's not clean enough and you might get an upset stomach."

Wanli took a look at the stall selling donkey meat hotpot and found it was indeed shabby and not very clean.

"But I'm hungry," Wanli said.

Min Xi opened the food box that Yun Ji was carrying, and opened a jar filled with tea eggs: "Young Master, please eat this."

Wanli took a look and asked, "What is this?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "Tea eggs. I cooked them last night and soaked them overnight. They are already full of flavor. They are still warm now. Please try them."

Wanli picked up a tea egg, looked at the tea-colored egg, smelled the salty fragrance, and was a little hesitant and didn't dare to eat it.

Min Xi had already taken one, peeled it and stuffed it into Yun Ji's mouth, and then he took another one, peeled it and ate it: "It's delicious, young master, you try it."

Wanli took a tentative bite and smelled a hint of soy sauce mixed with the aroma of tea leaves. It was salty and delicious. Eating this early in the morning was indeed very appetizing: "It tastes good!"

Seeing this, the others came over and took one to taste, and they all said it was delicious.

Wanli had eaten two tea eggs, so there was no reason for him to eat donkey meat hotpot.

Min Xi and others ate donkey meat hotpot. For people like Min Xi and Yun Ji who had eaten good food before, the taste was just okay, but there was more meat and it was more affordable.

Min Xi said to Wanli, "Sir, I heard that donkey meat is the most delicious meat, but the cooking here is just average. I will buy donkey meat and cook it for you later. It will definitely taste better than this."

Wanli nodded: "Okay, I'll wait."

Min Xi cut a lot of donkey meat from the market and bought half a sheep. Yun Ji, who was in charge of carrying the things, already had his hands full. Zhao Yu asked the guard named Meng Hu to send the things back to the inn, and he and Yun Ji continued to accompany the emperor to visit the market.

Wanli found everything new because the things in the market were so different from what he usually saw. He asked questions like a curious baby. The small vendors had already seen their status from their clothes and accents, and they explained enthusiastically, but some of the accents were different and some things were named in local dialects, so even Min Xi didn't know what they were. He learned a lot from them.

Wanli went shopping all the way, buying a lot of things, whether useful or not. In front of outsiders, Min Xi and others couldn't persuade him, so they could only wait until they got back to the inn.

After visiting the market, they went to see the livestock. Wanli finally saw the camel he had been longing for, understood the difference between mules, horses and donkeys, and learned about the prices of these livestock. For him, he gained a lot of knowledge and learned a lot.

After returning to the inn, Wanli was still not satisfied and checked the things he had bought, such as small baskets woven from sorghum stalks, katydid cages, small ornaments carved from eggshells, roughly made inkstones, porcelain ornaments, and various kinds of food. Although he was not allowed to eat them, it did not mean that he would not buy them. It was good to satisfy his eyes.

Min Xi went to make breakfast for Wanli, and no one else dared to persuade the emperor.

Zhao Yu ran to the kitchen and said to Min Xi, "Min Xianggong, you are the only one who can persuade the young master not to buy so many things in the future. We won't be able to carry so many things in the car when the time comes."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go and persuade him later."

Zhao Yu asked, "What did you do for the young master?"

"Make him some millet porridge." Min Xi stirred the millet in the casserole. This was the millet that Wanli had bought at the market just now. He added some yam bought by Min Xi to the porridge to nourish his stomach.

When Min Xi finished cooking porridge and sent breakfast to Wanli, he was still fiddling with the gadgets he bought. Wanli asked him, "Is the donkey meat hotpot ready?"

"No. That takes too much time. Let's eat it at noon. I made some millet porridge for you to nourish your stomach. You can have some." Min Xi took out the mushroom oil and beef jerky he brought with him and gave them to Wanli to eat with the porridge.

Wanli especially loved the aroma of mushroom oil. When he saw it, he no longer protested and drank the millet porridge with relish.

Seeing that he was enjoying the meal, Min Xi asked, "Sir, you bought so many little things. Are you planning to take them back?"

Wanli said: "Yes, this is what I gained outside, so I must take it back."

Min Xi knew that this was just a whim of his, and by then he would probably throw away most of them: "But if you keep buying as you go, I'm afraid the carriage won't be able to hold all the space before you reach Songshan."

Wanli looked at the things he bought and said, "I see. I will buy less next time."

Min Xi smiled and said, "If you like it, it's okay to buy some, but it's best to buy the ones you like the most. After all, you have to bring some souvenirs back from such a trip."

Zhao Yu was relieved when he saw that the emperor agreed to buy less. Fortunately, the emperor was willing to listen to Min Xi, otherwise he would not know how to persuade him.

After breakfast, Wanli asked, "When do we set out?"

Min Xi said: "We discussed it a bit and said that we have been traveling hard these past few days, so we should take a day off today and make something delicious."

Wanli was delighted when he heard this: "Great! What do you want to eat? Chicken in a kiln?"

"Let's have hot pot today," said Min Xi.

"I like hot pot!" said Wanli.

Since they were going to stay in the town for a day, they had plenty of time. While Min Xi and Yun Ji were cooking for everyone, Zhao Yu and his friends accompanied Wanli to the town, drank a pot of tea in the teahouse in the town, listened to the gossip of the locals, and learned about the people's livelihood.

When he came back, Min Xi noticed that Wanli was in a bad mood, presumably because he heard the people talking about the difficulties in their lives. Zhao Yu came over and quietly explained the reason, and it turned out to be similar to what he had guessed.

When they were drinking tea in the teahouse, they met a man dragging a girl with a straw tag on her head, who was only about seven or eight years old. He said that his family was poor, his wife was sick, and they had sold their land, but the illness was not cured yet, and they had no money to buy medicine, so he planned to sell his eldest daughter to her mother for treatment. He asked for 20 taels of silver and hoped that the buyer would be kind and treat his daughter well.

The man saw that Wanli was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had a good temperament, so he wanted to sell his daughter to him. Wanli naturally would not buy a little girl, so he rejected him, but asked Teng Feng to chase him out and gave him ten taels of silver, asking him not to sell his daughter and use the money to treat his wife's illness.

Min Xi asked: "He is not a liar, right?"

Zhao Yu shook his head. "Teng Feng followed them to that house and saw a woman lying in bed. There were three younger children in the house, and the youngest was still in swaddling clothes. The young master was a little sad, seeing with his own eyes that poor people had to sell their children to make ends meet."

Min Xi said, "It is inevitable that people become poor due to illness in any dynasty. You don't have to blame yourself. I will persuade him later."

"Please!" said Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu originally thought that the reason why he brought Min Xi and Yun Ji along was because Lord Zhang was impressed by Yun Ji's skills. However, after the results came out, he discovered that the backbone of these two people was actually Min Xi. He was knowledgeable and good at expressing himself. Yun Ji listened to him, and even the emperor was willing to listen to him.

If you are in a bad mood, you need to have a good meal. Min Xi asked Yun Ji to move the hot pot with the fire out and start eating. This was the first time that Wanli had hot pot with so many people. Even if he had hot pot in the palace, he would not eat from the same pot with others.

Everyone scooped up the food with chopsticks, and it was quite interesting to eat. The lively and warm meal dispelled the depressed mood in Wanli's heart.