The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi said: "Your Majesty, the relationship between countries is different from the relationship between people. When people make friends, they value the character of the other party. When countries get along with each other, it depends on whether there is interest. There is no eternal friendship between two countries, only eternal interests."

"There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests." Wanli repeated this sentence and pondered it for a long time. He felt that it was suddenly clear. "Min Qing is right! I am paranoid."

Min Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was only because Wanli was young and had not yet taken power that he was so easy to talk to. Once he had real power and was influenced by the power of life and death for a long time, he would probably become cold and ruthless and would not be so easy to talk to. It is true that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger.

After coming out of the palace, Yun Ji couldn't help but ask, "Is it the right decision to present the map to His Majesty?"

Min Xi smiled bitterly: "It has been offered, so it is hard to say whether it is right or wrong. After all, His Majesty is still young, and he can still be guided well."

Soon after this, the emperor got married. Actually, the emperor was not even fifteen years old, that is, a fourteen-year-old child. In modern times, he still needs to see a pediatrician, but in the Ming Dynasty, he had to get married! This is really ridiculous.

Min Xi found it hard to believe, but the emperor's wedding was a national event and not something that a minor official of the eighth rank like him could take charge of.

After the emperor's wedding, the empress dowager no longer lived in the Qianqing Palace, but moved back to the Cining Palace. This was a good thing for the emperor, at least the empress dowager would not restrict him all the time.

Empress Dowager Li entrusted the emperor to Zhang Juzheng and asked him to discipline the emperor on her behalf.

Fortunately, Zhang Juzheng was not as harsh on the emperor as before, which gave the emperor a chance to breathe. Zhang Juzheng even agreed to let the emperor leave the palace. Whenever the court officials took a day off, he could also take a day off.

Zhang Juzheng would arrange for someone to accompany him out to ensure his safety.

On this day off, Min Xi and Yun Ji planned to take Yun Lin to visit the farm on the outskirts of the city. Since the lavender planted in the yard had bloomed, the lavender in the farm must have bloomed as well. After several years of cultivation, lavender had finally grown to a large scale, with at least two acres of land planted in the farm. If all of them bloomed, it would surely be quite something to see.

Just as they were about to go out, a cavalryman came to inform them that a distinguished guest would be arriving and asked them not to go anywhere.

Min Xi and Yun Ji saw that the token presented by the Qingqi was from the Jinyiwei. The only one who could command the Jinyiwei in the capital was the emperor. It seemed that the emperor had come out of the palace to look for them.

Min Xi and Yun Ji had no choice but to stop and wait. Sure enough, the emperor arrived soon. A dozen Jinyiwei in plain clothes were guarding a sedan chair, led by Zhao Yu, and this time Feng Hao was also among them. It was not a big show. This scale of guards was not uncommon among the dignitaries in the capital, and there were even more exaggerated ones.

Obviously, the emperor was traveling incognito, and came to Min Xi and Yun Ji's place.

Feng Hao saw Yun Ji and Min Xi, winked at them, and said nothing, which counted as a greeting.

The sedan chair was carried directly into the Yun Mansion. Wanli got out of the sedan chair. Min Xi and Yun Ji were about to kneel down, but Wanli waved his hand and said, "Stand up. Forget the formalities. I am traveling incognito today and don't want anyone to know my identity."

Min Xi and Yun Ji reacted, and Yun Ji asked, "Sir, you came to see us brothers today. May I ask what instructions you have?"

Wanli held a folding fan in his hand. He opened it and saw that it was the one written by Zhao Shizhen. He shook it and said, "I feel bored in the palace. I want to go out for a walk and I thought of you. You two can accompany me to relax today."

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other and asked, "Sir, can you leave the city?"

Wanli asked, "Where are we going out of the city?"

"We originally planned to visit the farm on the outskirts of the city. If you are willing to go, let's go to the farm today. It's not far away, about a few miles out of the city." Min Xi said.

"Sure." Wanli agreed readily, and couldn't help asking, "Is there anything fun in the farm?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "Just get closer to nature, eat some game, and relax. It's boring to stay in the city every day."

Wanli said: "You guys feel bored staying in the city, then I am even more miserable!"

Min Xi looked at Wanli with sympathy. This emperor was indeed not something that ordinary people could do. No matter how big the Forbidden City was, it was only so big. He was confined inside for his entire life, facing those few familiar faces for years and months, and he couldn't even feel the life of ordinary people. It was really depressing.

Because they had to leave the city, it was definitely not realistic to carry a sedan chair, so they changed to a carriage. Wanli, Min Xi and Yunlin rode in the carriage, and the rest of the people rode on horseback.

It was a rare day off for the two of them, but they still had to accompany the emperor. Min Xi and Yun Ji were very tired.

Min Xi did not introduce Wanli's true identity to Yunlin, but only said that he was a distinguished guest, and asked him to behave well and not to make the distinguished guest angry. Yunlin agreed obediently. He was already eight years old, and his life as a dependent made him very precocious, so he did not dare to talk nonsense along the way, but just secretly glanced at Wanli.

Wanli looked at Yunlin and waved at him: "You must be Yunji's younger brother, how old are you and what's your name?"

Min Xi said to Yun Lin, "Lin'er, tell the Master."

Yunlin said: "My name is Yunlin, and I am eight years old."

"You look just like your brother." Wanli said, taking a jade token from his waist, "Here is this, take it and play with it."

Yunlin looked at Min Xi, not knowing whether he should accept it. Min Xi nodded: "Thank you, Master."

"Thank you, sir!" Yun Lin took the jade token from Wanli and looked down at the patterns on it. It was very beautifully carved. Although the child didn't understand much, he knew it was very precious. He handed it to Min Xi and said, "Second brother, hold it for me."

Min Xi put the jade pendant into her purse and said, "I'll keep it for you first. I'll put it on you when I get back from the farm."

Wanli thought Yunlin was very interesting, so he started to tease him to talk. Yunlin was not shy, and they had a lively conversation.

Wanli learned from Yunlin that he could go fishing, pick lotus flowers, pick vegetables, dig wild vegetables, have a picnic, and eat barbecue at the farm. It turned out to be so much fun, and he couldn't help but look forward to it.

It was already mid-morning when they arrived at the farm. It was summer, and the weather was quite hot. Wanli, who used ice cubes to cool down in the palace, had never experienced such heat before, and he was sweating all over.

Min Xi hurriedly arranged for someone to boil water for him to bathe and change clothes, so that the emperor would not feel uncomfortable. When the emperor came out of the bath, Min Xi and his men had already prepared iced watermelon and other food. The ice in this farm was stored in the ice cellar last winter.

After eating a piece of melon, Wanli couldn't sit still: "Aren't we going to go fishing and have a picnic? Let's go fishing." It can be seen that he was quite looking forward to fishing.