The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Yun Ji took the carving knife and prepared to carve the seal with the advertising slogan. He had already traced the reverse characters of the advertising slogan on the wood. As long as he removed the wood around the lines and left the advertising slogan, it would become a positive seal. As long as he applied ink, he could print the advertising slogan on the wooden box. In the future, he would not have to write the advertising slogan on the wooden box stroke by stroke.

He glanced at Min Xi, without putting down the knife in his hand, and said, "It's the same if you count."

Min Xi sat next to him, opened the box, and took out the gold cup and brooch inside: "These should represent the highest craftsmanship of Fulangji. Let's each have one. I think we should not melt them down. We can keep them as heirlooms."

Yun Ji smiled and said, "As you wish."

Min Xi took out the gold and silver coins inside and counted them. There were 10 gold coins and 1 silver coins of 37 real. The gold coins should have been counted, and the silver coins were just put in by handfuls. The gold and silver coins were all brand new, sparkling under the light, very dazzling. They should have been sent directly from the mint and kept by the king as rewards.

Min Xi held the gold and silver coins in both hands and smiled: "Haha, I finally understand why dragons like shiny gold things. They are so beautiful."

Yun Ji turned his head and looked at him: "What a weird statement, who said that dragons like shiny gold things?"

Min Xi said, "Oh, I heard that Western dragons like shiny gold things. They love to collect gold coins and gems."

"Are there dragons in the West?" Yun Ji asked.

Min Xi said: "It is also an animal in mythology. To be precise, it is not called a dragon, but it is also an animal that can fly, but it flies with bat-like wings. However, it has a different meaning from our dragon. The Western dragon is a symbol of evil power."

Yun Ji frowned: "Then we shouldn't call it a dragon, so as not to tarnish the image of our Chinese dragon."

Min Xi suddenly had an idea: "Yes, yes, yes, it shouldn't be called a dragon. Brother Qi, please translate it into a name."

Yun Ji thought for a moment and said, "I can't think of anything good for now. Since it looks so much like a bat, but is much bigger and so powerful, let's call it the Divine Bat."

Min Xi was overjoyed: "I think it's okay!" At least he gave them the word "god", which was enough face for them.

Yun Ji asked: "How much money do we have in total?"

Min Xi took out the bag of money he earned, poured it on the table and counted it: "Not counting the gold coins, it's 281 reais. I didn't count the change, probably about a dozen reais."

Yun Ji said, "Then pay back the money you borrowed from the baron first, including the money owed to the son, and use gold coins to make up for the shortfall."

Min Xi nodded: "Okay!"

Min Xi took out 4 gold coins and counted out 270 silver coins, a total of 310 reais, 10 reais of which was counted as interest. The original annual interest rate was 5%, but the loan was only for three months, so he paid it back in advance so that the baron would not suffer any loss.

When Yun Ji heard that they had paid 10 reais in interest, he said, "Sure, we earned this money thanks to the Baron. He treated us well, so we won't let him suffer any loss."

Min Xi rolled over on the bed happily and said, "That's great! We are debt-free now, and all the money we earn in the future will be our own."

Yun Ji was also very happy. He was able to pay off his debts in less than a month after opening the store, which was much faster than he expected. It seemed that it was not impossible to earn the galleon that Min Xi wanted.

The next day at noon, Baron Fernando arrived on his horse. As soon as he arrived, he went into the kitchen to find Yun Ji: "Yun, come and have a look. I rode my horse over here. Take a look at my horse. Isn't it very beautiful?"

Yun Ji had no choice but to put down his work and go out to see the baron's horse.

The baron's horse was a white horse without a single stray hair. Its two black eyes seemed to be able to speak, and its mane was braided. It was a very beautiful mare. The horse was not very tall. Yun Ji looked at the horse and said, "It is very beautiful. How is its speed and endurance?"

"It must be good! This is my Venus. I have never lost when I ride it in competitions with others!" said the baron proudly.

Yun Ji said, "Sir, could you wait until I'm done with my work and lend me your horse to ride for a while?"

The baron asked, "Can you ride a horse?"

Yun Ji nodded: "A little bit."

"I almost forgot, you are a Kung Fu master, it's impossible that you don't know how to ride a horse," said the Baron.

Yun Ji smiled and said, "Let's tie up the horses first. Please sit inside. What would you like to eat?"

As the baron walked, he asked, "Are there any fresh dishes?"

Yun Ji pointed to the menu hanging on the wooden board at the door and said, "Today's new dish is fried mushrooms. Would you like to try it, Baron?"

The baron raised an eyebrow: "Can mushrooms be fried?"

"You'll know after you try it in a while. What else do you want to eat?" Yun Ji asked.

The baron said, "Do you have chicken? I want to eat boiled chicken, and garlic scallops. Any soup is fine. I want to eat something heavy today."

"Okay! Please wait a moment." Yun Ji smiled and went into the kitchen to order food for the Baron.

When Min Xi heard the dishes ordered by the baron, he laughed and said, "You eat so much garlic in the middle of the day. What stimulated you?"

The baron was actually very curious. He had eaten boiled and fried mushrooms, but had never eaten fried mushrooms. What would fried mushrooms taste like? Would they be delicious?

When the dish came, the baron looked at the mushrooms wrapped in dough, which was completely different from what he had imagined. He called Gale over and said, "Give me a pair of chopsticks."

Gail hurried to get him chopsticks. The Baron had been practicing eating with chopsticks at home recently because every time he ate with Min Xiyunji, whether it was noodles or pancakes, they both used chopsticks with ease, which was much more convenient than a knife and fork, so he also wanted to try the feeling of eating everything at the table with a pair of chopsticks.

If he goes out to eat with friends in the future and everyone else uses knives and forks but he uses chopsticks, that would be so fun and he would definitely be the focus of the whole audience.

Gale handed over the chopsticks: "Please enjoy your meal."

Not to mention, the Baron who ate with chopsticks had to use them slowly because he was not very skilled in using them. Fortunately, he was the only one in the private room and no one could see his embarrassment.

He grabbed the middle of two chopsticks, clumsily separated them with his fingers, and picked up a piece of fried mushroom with difficulty. He put it in his mouth and took a bite. He immediately felt that his taste buds were opened to a new world. The skin was crispy and full of oil, and the mushroom inside was soft and delicious. In addition to the fragrance of mushrooms, there were also the fragrances of cumin, fennel, star anise, etc., and even a little bit of spicy taste. The taste was so rich that if he could give a score, he would give it 10 out of 10.

When thinking about scoring, the Baron suddenly came up with a good idea. He could set up a scoring mechanism for the restaurant's dishes and let diners participate. On the one hand, it could increase diners' participation, and on the other hand, it might increase the restaurant's popularity.

While practicing eating with chopsticks and thinking of ideas for the scoring system, the Baron forgot all the troubles he would face in the evening.

After Min Xi finished his work, he knew that the Baron had not left yet, so he went upstairs to get his purse. He came to the private room and saw the Baron still dipping chicken nuggets in the sauce made of mashed raw garlic and brandy.

Min Xi asked, "You haven't finished eating yet? You use your chopsticks well."

The baron looked at him and said, "The fried mushrooms you made are so delicious! I give it a full score."

Min Xi smiled and thanked him: "Thank you for your evaluation, I'm glad you like it. By the way, this is the money we pay you back, a total of 4 gold coins and 270 real silver coins, including the principal and interest."

The baron was stunned for a moment: "Why did you return the money to me so early?"

"Because I can pay it back, please keep it!" Min Xi smiled happily, "Speaking of which, I have to thank you. If you hadn't invited me to prepare a birthday party for your grandfather, I would not have been able to pay off the debt so quickly."

The baron said, "Don't talk about that for now. I have a good idea. Listen to it."

Min Xi said, "You say."

"I ate this fried mushroom today and found it so delicious. If the score is out of ten, I would give it ten. Then I got an idea. You can recommend a dish every day. If a customer orders this dish, ask them to rate it. Then add up all the ratings on the same day and take an average. The dishes with high scores can be kept, and the ones with low scores will not need to be made again. What do you think?" asked the baron.

When Min Xi heard this, his first reaction was that you Europeans are the ones who know how to play. Isn't it them who come up with the ratings for Michelin restaurants? But this is not bad either. If the scores are really out, then the restaurant's menu can be gradually fixed in the future, leaving some high-scoring dishes, which will be more friendly to both himself and the waiters, and can also reduce food waste.

"That's a good idea! Someone needs to supervise this matter. Otherwise, if I'm in charge of scoring and calculating the points myself, there won't be much credibility." Min Xi said.

The baron said, "That's easy. Since I proposed it, I will supervise it. I will bring Simon along. I believe no one will object!"

"Thank you for your hard work!" said Min Xi.

The Baron finished the last piece of boiled chicken, but still felt unsatisfied, so he picked up the garlic sauce and took a big bite.

Min Xi was stunned: "I didn't know you loved garlic so much."

The baron chuckled and said, "I don't hate garlic, I can eat it, but it's OK if some people don't like it."

Min Xi smiled and asked, "But are you going to meet someone you don't like?"

The baron put down his chopsticks, took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth: "Let's not talk about this. I promised to give Yun 100 reais for painting the horse. You can keep the money for him." He picked up the purse on the table, counted out 4 gold coins and 60 silver coins from it and put them on the table.

Min Xi said, "Okay, I'll accept it for him."