The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Zhang Juzheng laughed and said, "Does it mean that whoever sees it gets a share?"

Yun Ji hurriedly said, "Of course, if you don't mind, I'll have the mooncakes delivered to your house later." They sent out a lot of mooncakes, but did not send them to Zhang Juzheng's house. Although they had some friendship with Zhang Juzheng, they were both minor officials of the seventh or eighth rank and could not really reach the level of someone he could curry favor with. Moreover, Min Xi had been subconsciously keeping a distance from Zhang Juzheng, trying not to be classified as part of Zhang Juzheng's faction, in case Wanli wanted to settle accounts with Zhang Juzheng in the future.

Zhang Juzheng laughed: "I was just joking, you took it seriously?"

Yun Ji said respectfully: "We made the mooncakes ourselves. It is my honor that the Lord is willing to accept them."

Lu Dai tried to smooth things over: "Lord Zhang, Lord Xiaoyun's family is good at cooking, let him present it to you."

Zhang Juzheng smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'd like to try the mooncakes you made later."

Yun Ji thought about it and realized that since he had agreed to send mooncakes to Zhang Juzheng, it would definitely not be just a simple gift of mooncakes. He quickly calculated in his mind what else would be appropriate to send.

Tomorrow is a festival, and all government offices are closed. On the first day, no one left the office on time as usual, and Yun Ji came back much earlier than usual.

When he got home, Min Xi was already there. She was very surprised to see him: "Why are you here so early today? Did you leave early?"

"No, tomorrow is a festival, and the government office will be dismissed early, and everyone will go home. I met Prime Minister Zhang in the government office today, and everyone was eating our mooncakes. He took the initiative to ask if everyone could get a share, and I said I would send it to his house later. In addition to mooncakes, what else can we give him?" Yun Ji asked.

Min Xi was surprised that Zhang Juzheng would say that, so he said, "Since his family has a large population, we should naturally send him a few more boxes of mooncakes. Giving gold and silver is not appropriate, and we are not asking him to do anything, so let's give him some Southeast Asian stuff. By the way, this year's lavender essential oil has been refined, so let's send some to Lord Zhang as well, it can calm the nerves and relieve pain."

"Yes, and essential oils. I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't mentioned it." Yun Ji asked again, "Do you want to give me a bicycle?"

Min Xi shook his head: "The bicycle is still too eye-catching. You can tell it's from Yunxiang. And I gave mooncakes to the Zhang family during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Do I have to give them mooncakes during the next Chinese New Year? Do I have to give them mooncakes during the Dragon Boat Festival next year?"

Yun Ji nodded: "Yes, we can't send it this time and not send it later."

Min Xi sighed almost inaudibly. He tried his best not to get involved with the Zhang family, but it seemed that he couldn't avoid it.

So the two of them picked and chose, and in addition to mooncakes, they also gave agarwood beads and Javanese bird's nests, as well as Pu'er tea cakes from Yunnan and their own lavender essential oil.

It’s neither outrageously expensive nor so shabby that it’s not presentable.

After the things were ready, they asked Tao Xing to deliver them to Zhang's house immediately. It would have been more formal to deliver them in the morning, but they had not planned to deliver them in the morning because tomorrow was a holiday, so they could only deliver them now.

Tao Xing arrived at Zhang's house, took Yun Ji's visiting card and handed it to the doorman of Zhang's house. The doorman saw that he was just a Hanlin editor, a seventh-rank official, and came to give gifts in the afternoon. He looked down on Tao Xing in his heart and said in a businesslike manner, "Come in."

Tao Xing and the coachman moved the things from the carriage and entered through the ear door. As soon as they entered the door, the things were taken away by the servants of Zhang's mansion. No one knew where they were taken, and no manager came to greet them.

The doorman looked at the gifts they brought and couldn't help but curl his lips. Those things were so shabby.

Seeing this, the two men had no choice but to say goodbye. As soon as they came out, they caught up with Zhang Juzheng coming back in a sedan chair carried by eight people. The two men quickly moved the carriage aside and let Zhang Juzheng's sedan chair go first.

When Zhang Juzheng came back, the gate of the Zhang Mansion was naturally opened wide. The sedan bearers carried the sedan directly into the gate. Zhang Juzheng didn't even get off the sedan, but went straight into the house.

Zhang Juzheng got off the sedan chair and asked the doorman, "Who's outside?"

The doorman quickly replied, "Sir, a gentleman from the Hanlin Academy sent someone to deliver a festival gift."

"Oh? What's the last name?" Zhang Juzheng raised his eyebrows and guessed it was Yunji.

"Sir, that gentleman's surname is Yun, and he is an editor of the Hanlin Academy." The doorman answered truthfully. He was very surprised that Zhang Juzheng would actually care about this. Every year during the holidays, people who came to give gifts to Zhang's mansion could line up for ten miles along the street. All kinds of gifts could fill up the several courtyards of the mansion, and there was so much food that they could not be eaten up, and all of it was given to the servants like them.

"What is the gift? Mooncakes?" Zhang Juzheng continued to ask.

The concierge said, "I don't know. There aren't many things. I think they are mooncakes or something like that."

After Zhang Juzheng got off the sedan chair, he got on another one and said to his personal attendant, "Bring me the list of gifts sent by Lord Yun." He was actually a little curious. This was the first time that Yun Ji gave him a gift. He didn't know what kind of gift he would give him, as he was a wealthy businessman in the capital.

The attendant quickly responded, "Yes, sir!" and then hurried to the yard where the gifts were collected.

When Zhang Juzheng arrived at the front yard where he lived, his attendant had already trotted back and respectfully handed him the list: "Sir, here is Lord Yun's list."

Zhang Juzheng was asking the maids to undress and take off his hat for him, and change into light home clothes. He ignored her and waited until he changed his clothes before taking the list. There were not many things on it: four boxes of moon cakes, two strings of agarwood beads, four boxes of Javanese bird's nests, four Pu'er tea cakes, and eight bottles of lavender essential oil. There was a line of small words written behind the lavender essential oil: For external use, it can calm the nerves, induce hypnosis, calm down and reduce inflammation.

Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but laugh when he saw it. This gift seemed more like a gift from a younger generation to an elder, rather than a gift from a subordinate to a superior. Compared with the gifts given by others, it was really not worth mentioning.

The attendant said, "Sir, I think this Lord Yun is of a low rank and has a limited salary."

Zhang Juzheng glanced at him and said: "His salary is not much, but he is the owner of Yunxianghao in Beijing. Do you think he has no money?"

When the attendant heard this, he was stunned: "This is too shabby."

Zhang Juzheng shook his head: "No, I think he is very smart. This gift is neither too light nor too heavy, neither too shabby nor too flattering. Why did he come to give the gift so late? It's because your master asked me."

The follower was so shocked that his mouth opened wide, with a look of disbelief: When did his master start asking people for gifts?

Zhang Juzheng ordered, "Take the four boxes of mooncakes they sent, leave one box in the madam's courtyard, and send the others to the other concubines' courtyards. Bring the lavender essential oil and put it in my room."

"Yes, sir!" The attendant thought about it, but finally said nothing, because the four boxes of mooncakes sent by Yun Ji were not enough for the concubines to share. The only way to make up for the shortfall was to use the mooncakes from Yunxiang Western Pastry Shop. Since the mooncakes were sent by the owner of the Yunxiang, they must have been from the Yunxiang Restaurant and the Yunxiang Western Pastry Shop.

Not long after, Zhang Juzheng saw the essential oil brought by the servant. It was in a very beautiful porcelain bottle. He opened the lid and found that the bottle mouth was plugged with a wooden stopper. There was only a small hole in the middle of the cork to prevent the essential oil from pouring out easily.

Zhang Juzheng took it and looked at it, then leaned over to sniff it. It had a light, elegant scent of grass, which was quite pleasant. He poured some into the palm of his hand and tried to rub some on his temples. He had been having a lot of physical problems recently, either pain here or discomfort there, which really made him upset. He had frequent migraine attacks and there were many things going on, and he had to do it himself, which aggravated his physical discomfort.

Zhang Juzheng continued his work in the study. After an unknown period of time, he heard his attendants come to invite him to dinner. Zhang Juzheng put down his pen and when he stood up, he suddenly found that his headache seemed to have eased a lot. He was delighted and looked at the essential oil on the corner of the table. Could this thing really be effective?

When Zhang Juzheng arrived at the dining room, his wife Gao and his legitimate children were all there. Zhang Juzheng had many wives and concubines as well as many children, so they usually did not eat together. The whole family would only eat together on important days.

After he sat down, Madam Gao asked, "Why did the master send a box of mooncakes today? What's the origin of it?"

Zhang Juzheng said: "It was given by a younger generation as a gift. They cooked it at home. I have eaten it and it tastes good, so I want to ask my wife to try it."

Madam Gao smiled and said, "It seems that this child is very good to be favored by the master. After dinner, everyone can try the mooncakes."

Mrs. Gao was Zhang Juzheng's third wife. She was much younger than Zhang Juzheng. As an old man with a young wife, she was naturally more favored and was not too reserved in her speech. When Mrs. Gao was serving food to Zhang Juzheng, she suddenly said, "What kind of perfume does the master use? How come I have never smelled it before?"

This question was asked directly at the dinner table. To be honest, it was not very solemn. After all, the children were there. If this was contaminated from a woman outside, how should Zhang Juzheng answer?

Zhang Juzheng replied: "I didn't use any incense. It was just that the young man gave me a few bottles of lavender essential oil, saying that it can calm the nerves and relieve pain. I used some and it worked well. It can relieve headaches."

"Is it really effective?" Mrs. Gao asked in surprise.