The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The other party obviously didn't understand what he said, and couldn't comprehend what he meant. But looking at the thing in his hand, it wasn't completely unfamiliar, especially the pearl, which was something very familiar, taken from a shell in the sea.

In their tribe, pearls are a symbol of courage and strength. Boys in their tribe learn to swim in the sea as soon as they can walk. When they grow up, they learn to dive so that they can touch shells on the seabed, because the pearls in the shells are the betrothal gifts for the bride. The bigger the pearls, the more numerous they are, and the rounder they are, the stronger their ability is, and the more popular they are with women.

However, pearls have no other use except for weddings, so usually only underage boys go to fish for pearls. Once a man gets married, he will no longer go to the sea to fish for pearls.

Pearl salvaging is a relatively dangerous job. Because of pearl salvaging, they developed a feud with the islanders of a certain island. The two sides never had any contact with each other and would fight to the death when they met.

When the other party saw the pearl in Yun Ji's hand, his first reaction was which girl in the tribe he had taken a fancy to.

Yun Ji had never expected that pearls would have such a special meaning here. Seeing that the other party was looking at him without saying anything, he pulled out the dagger from his waist, bent down to pick up a stick on the ground, and cut it twice. Two pieces of wood fell off the stick. He threw the stick away and gestured with the dagger and the pearls and gold in his other hand: "If you have these, you can exchange them with us for knives."

The dagger he took out made the other party's eyes light up. This knife was much sharper than the shells they used. Shells could cut meat, but they wore out too quickly and were not sharp enough, so they could not cut many things.

Min Xi was getting anxious as he listened from behind. He wondered if these natives could understand what they meant.

Yun Ji waited for a while, and when he saw that the other party still did not respond, he prepared to leave. The native opposite suddenly spoke, but he did not speak to him, but turned his head and spoke to his companion behind him.

Yun Ji had no choice but to stop. After a moment, a young native stepped forward, grabbed something from the leather bag hanging around his waist, pulled his hand out, and put it into the previous man's hand.

Yun Ji saw clearly that they were two pearls. Yun Ji waved to Min Xi, who came over quickly.

Yun Ji only had his own dagger on him, which was a reward from the emperor. He didn't dare to exchange it with anyone else. Min Xi liked to trade supplies with the natives, so he habitually carried some things with him.

Min Xi ran forward and asked hurriedly: "How is it, Seventh Brother, is there any?"

"Yes! Take out two daggers." Yun Ji looked at the other party's two pearls. Both the shape and size were very good. Two pearls for two daggers, it depends on whether the other party agrees.

Min Xi took out two daggers from his bag and handed them to Yun Ji. Yun Ji took out one of them and stepped forward to show the other party its quality. The man wanted to take the dagger, but Yun Ji pointed to the pearl in the other party's hand.

The other party understood what he meant and gave him a pearl. Yun Ji took the pearl, which was a flawless white pearl with a very beautiful luster. He showed it to Min Xi, who was very satisfied: "This pearl is good! It is perfect."

The other party pulled out the dagger, looked at it left and right, up and down, stretched out his hand to test the blade, and used his hand to bend the blade to see how hard it was. He also picked up the stick that Yun Ji had thrown from the sand and sharpened it, then smiled with surprise. It worked better than he expected, and it would be very convenient for them to kill fish and cut meat in the future.

He handed over another pearl, and Yun Ji handed over another dagger, completing the transaction. A dagger for a pearl was of course a good deal. For the natives, it was quite a good deal to exchange a pearl for such a good knife. The pearls they had worked so hard to salvage could finally have other uses.

Min Xi took out another fire starter, opened it and blew air into it, and red sparks came out of it, and he showed it to the other party. When the natives saw his fire starter, their eyes lit up obviously, this thing was so convenient to start a fire.

Min Xi took out two more fire sticks, saying that he would exchange three fire sticks for one pearl.

The man said something to the young man next to him. The young man hesitated, reached into his pocket again, and took out a pearl that was larger and of better quality than the previous two.

Min Xi laughed and took out a dagger and two fire starters from his pocket and handed them to the young man.

The man looked at the other fire starter in Min Xi's hand and reached out to ask for it. Min Xi hesitated for a moment and then gave him the fire starter.

Min Xi took out some other things from his pocket, including scissors, needles and thread, cloth, etc. He did not bring earthenware jars and ceramics because they were too heavy to carry. Min Xi showed the other party how to use these things one by one.

After that, he picked up a pearl and pointed at it, indicating that the pearl could be exchanged for these things. He then pointed to the boat behind him, meaning that if you still have pearls, you can come here to exchange them with us.

It was not known whether the two natives understood what they meant or not. They just kept looking at the things in their hands, because the things Min Xi brought were so practical, whether it was scissors or needles and thread.

The native looked at the three daggers in his hand, and then looked at the scissors in Min Xi's hand. He seemed to be hesitating whether to exchange a dagger for a pair of scissors. Finally, he took out a dagger and wanted to exchange it with Min Xi for a pair of scissors. Min Xi did not refuse and exchanged a pair of scissors for him. The two natives turned around and left with their things satisfied.

Min Xi and Yun Ji also returned with three flawless pearls. After the natives met up, they talked to each other for a while, and then quickly ran towards the tribe.

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at the natives who left in a hurry and said, "Are they going back to get the pearls?"

"maybe."

"Then let's go back to the boat and get some things down. I think we might be doing a big deal." Min Xi said excitedly.

In the past, when he traded pearls with others, he only got a few pearls, and the quality depended on luck, but today the man took out three perfect pearls directly from his pocket, which shows that the natives here have the habit of fishing for pearls. Just thinking about it makes me feel a little excited.

"Then let's get on the boat first. If the natives return, we can get off." Yun Ji said.

"it is good!"

They returned to the mooring place and rowed back to the Xingyun. Min Xi went to the warehouse to look for items that could be exchanged for pearls. In addition to daggers, knives, scissors, needles and thread, cloth, and fire starters, he also prepared some bowls, pots, sugar, and salt.

Just as they were getting everything ready, someone came to report: "Sir, the natives are here again."

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other and couldn't help laughing: "Sure enough, they are here!"

The two men took all the prepared things and took a small boat back to the shore. This time they went with more than just the two of them, they also called for some helpers. There were quite a few natives this time, so they were afraid that the natives would see that they were outnumbered and would not exchange things but would just rob them directly.

After they reached the shore, they towed the boat to the beach. Min Xi put the things he brought on the boat for display, so that those who wanted to exchange things could come and choose.

They guarded the boat and prevented the natives from approaching. Yun Ji went to check what the natives brought. Those who had pearls were allowed to come over to trade. They also had to take turns, otherwise it would be a mess if there were too many people.

There were quite a few natives this time, at least 20 to 30 people, not just men, but also many women. Because in their tribe, the ones who held pearls were mainly women, and they were all betrothal gifts when they got married. Min Xi noticed that a woman had a handful of pearls in her hand, at least five or six.

The first person to come to the boat to exchange things was the man they traded with before. He held three pearls in his hand. The color was not as good as the previous ones, and they looked a bit old. They were the betrothal gifts he gave to his wife many years ago. After being kept for a long time, the pearls were obviously not as good as those just caught, but because they were betrothal gifts, their shapes were still very perfect.

He wanted to exchange pearls for daggers, scissors, needles and thread, cloth and fire-lighters, and Min Si gave them all to him as he wished. He looked at the earthenware jars and porcelain bowls, touched them again and again, picked them up and looked at them again and again, and finally put them down and left with what he needed.

The natives who were waiting to exchange their things were impatient and stretched their necks to look into the boat, wanting to know what treasures were inside.

Generally speaking, daggers are the most popular, but scissors, needles and thread, and cloth are very popular among women, as are pottery and porcelain.

Min Xi was also generous. He would give salt or sugar to people who exchanged pottery and porcelain. Needlework was sometimes also a gift.

Everyone got something in exchange, and Min Xi made a fortune. He got a bag of pearls, nearly a hundred in number. The pearls were all in good condition, with only a few having small flaws. Those pearls with serious flaws and shapeless shapes were discarded when they were salvaged.

It's a pity that Min Xi couldn't communicate with them. If he could, and tell them that any kind of pearls would be fine, he might be able to exchange for more pearls.