The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Introducing new dishes every day has become a regular feature of the restaurant, and regular diners have become accustomed to taking a look at the new dishes on the wooden board every day. Soon someone discovered that there was a new event today.

Below the name of the new dish, there are two more lines of text, "From now on, we welcome you to rate the new dishes. Your rating may determine whether you can still eat this dish in the future."

The guest found it interesting and asked Gail as soon as he came in, "What does the new sign on your door mean?"

Gail explained to the other party: "The new dish we are launching today is fried mushrooms. If you think it tastes very good and want to eat it again next time, you can give it a high score. The highest score is 10. If you think it tastes bad and there is no need for this dish to exist, give it a low score. In the end, we will take the average score based on everyone's scores. The dishes with high scores have passed the guests' assessment and can be eaten often in the future."

When the customer heard that they actually had the right to choose dishes for the restaurant, he said, "Interesting, then give me today's fried mushrooms."

Gail smiled and said, "Okay, sir, what else would you like to order?"

The guest ordered a few more dishes and said, "There are four of us at the table, so does that mean we have four points?"

Gail smiled and said, "Then let's give other guests some chance to participate. The four of you can take the highest score, or the average score."

Once this activity was launched, it fired up the whole place that night, and almost every table ordered fried mushrooms.

Sure enough, fried foods such as fried mushrooms are deeply loved by people no matter what period, and everyone gave very high scores, with the lowest giving 9 points, more than half gave the full score of 10 points, and one customer was funny and gave 11 points. Of course, it is impossible to count it as 11 points, it was just counted as a full score.

Baron Fernando did not come to dinner that night, but Lord Melo did. When he learned that the Baron had recommended him as the supervisor, he gladly accepted the offer. So he was the one who completed the task of calculating the average score for the fried mushrooms. The fried mushrooms finally scored 9.75 points, which was a very high score.

The scores will also be made public in the following days, allowing guests to know how many points the dishes they rated finally received.

After that, Min Xi would introduce a new dish every day for everyone to rate. The guests were very enthusiastic to participate in this activity. Although there were no other rewards, it was quite interesting to comment on the dish with everyone.

Baron Fernando was the one who made the suggestion, but he did not show up for several days.

Lord Mello did mention it, saying that something happened at home and he was stuck and couldn't come out for the time being.

The Baron didn't come until Sunday noon. He came on horseback again. As soon as he arrived, he asked Yun Ji: "I haven't been here recently, and I haven't brought Venus to show you. Have you finished painting my Venus?"

Yun Ji said, "It's finished. I'll get it for you to see."

Yun Ji went upstairs and took down the paintings he had painted in the past few days and handed them to the Baron.

The Baron could not wait to unfold it. This time he painted a side view of a white horse with three legs in the air as if galloping. The horse's mane was braided. The whole painting was not colored except for the outline and lines. Although there were only black and white colors, one could tell at first glance that it was a white horse.

After the Baron finished reading it, he was delighted: "It is my Venus, it is really well drawn! I like it very much, thank you!"

Yun Ji was familiar with the Baron and knew that he was not in a good mood when he first arrived: "Your Excellency has not come to eat in the past few days. We have introduced several new dishes, and everyone has rated them enthusiastically. A lot more people have come to eat. Thanks to your suggestions."

The baron smiled and said, "That's great. What new dishes have you come up with?"

"There are sweet and sour pork, barbecued pork, charcoal-grilled oysters, salt-baked chicken, and fish balls in soup."

"It all sounds great. Can we have it today?"

Yun Ji said, "Today's new dish is roasted pigeon. As for the other dishes, I can make you a salt-baked chicken, because the other ingredients are not prepared."

"Yes," said the Baron, "give me a roasted pigeon and a salt-baked chicken, and something else."

"Please go to the Plum Hall and sit down first." Yun Ji called Gale, "Gale, go and pour tea for His Excellency the Baron."

The Baron nodded and went upstairs.

Yun Ji went to the kitchen to deliver the Baron's menu. Min Xi smiled and said, "He finally showed up."

"He wants to eat the new dishes from the past few days. There's nothing else. Today we have chicken, and I promised to make him salt-baked chicken." Yun Ji said.

"Row."

After dinner, the Baron did not leave in a hurry, but ordered two more bottles of wine and drank in the private room.

Min Xi knew that he hadn't left yet, so he came up, pushed the door and entered the private room, and smelled a strong smell of alcohol: "How much did you drink, sir?"

The baron glanced at the wine bottle on the table and held up three fingers: "Not many, three bottles, come and have a drink with me?"

Min Xi poured a cup of tea: "I won't drink the wine, let me drink some tea with you. Why did you drink so much?" It was the first time he saw the baron drink so much.

"What's the point of drinking tea!" The baron picked up the bottle and blew directly.

"You'd better drink less, as you still have to ride a horse soon." Although the alcohol content of wine is not high, drinking too much can make people drunk, especially when riding a horse, you might even break your neck.

The baron looked at Min Xi and burped: "Min, are you married?"

Min Xi said, “No.”

The baron shook his head: "Then you can't understand my troubles."

"Are you going to get married?" Min Xi asked.

The baron sighed helplessly, "Why must a man marry a chattering little woman when he reaches a certain age? Can't he just not get married?"

Min Xi laughed after hearing this: "You don't like that lady?"

The baron frowned and thought for a moment: "I don't dislike it, but I don't like it so much that I have to give up my single life. Being single is so much fun. I can do whatever I want and go wherever I want."

"Since you don't hate it, that's a good start." Min Xi said.

The baron sighed: "The main reason why I don't like her is her background."

"What happened to her origins?"

"She is from England, and her family once had a conflict with us at sea. Thanks to them, we lost two galleons! I know it has nothing to do with her, but I can't help but mind." The baron said this with some resentment.

"Then why did you marry her?" Min Xi looked at him.

The baron spread his hands helplessly: "This is a political marriage, for the benefit of both countries."

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "You should have met that lady, and you probably don't dislike her. I don't think you need to mind. There is a saying that there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. In the future, your interests will be the same, and there will be no conflicts."

The baron sighed and did not refute Min Xi: "Actually, I am still a little unwilling. I thought I could be independent from the family with my own abilities, but when necessary, I will still be pushed out."

Min Xi looked at him and thought, if it weren't for your family background and financial support, could you really have such strong financial resources on your own?

The baron found that Min Xi was staring at him without saying anything. His eyes seemed to know everything. Then he smiled awkwardly: "Of course, I also rely on the protection of my family to have my current wealth. I just regret why I didn't get married earlier, so that I wouldn't have to be pushed out."

Min Xi asked, "Isn't your Majesty in the prime of youth?"

The baron shook his head: "That's the difficulty. His Majesty doesn't want to marry, so we, the sons of nobles, have to take the place. My eldest brother's son is only 10 years old, and I am the most suitable person in the entire family."

Min Xi couldn't express his opinion. Not to mention the marriages of the nobles in this era, even in the modern society where classes have been abolished, there are still many marriages that are beyond one's control. As the saying goes, if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. The same is true for the nobles. If they want to maintain the interests of their class, someone must sacrifice.

Min Xi comforted him: "You don't have to be too pessimistic, at least you can be sure that the lady doesn't dislike you, and that's a very good start." In this era, many marriages are blind marriages. Being so far away from each other and separated by an ocean, it is actually very lucky for the two to have known each other before marriage.

The baron shrugged: "This is probably the only consolation."

Min Xi asked: "When is the wedding date?"

"Next year. So I still have a year of free time." The Baron laughed at himself.

"Then enjoy this year of being single." Min Xi said with a smile.

The baron was comforted by Min Xi and felt better. He said, "I give 9 points to the roasted pigeon tonight. The salt-baked chicken tastes better and deserves 9.5 points."

Min Xi said, "Since you are here, let's calculate the average score for tonight's dishes. The scores for the first few dishes are out, have you seen them?"

The Baron said, "I haven't seen it yet. I will go and see it now."

The Baron had been forcing himself to be in good spirits these days to accompany his fiancée from England. He had been in a low mood when he thought about the fact that his happy single life would be gone in the future. Now that the guests had left and he had eaten delicious food again, his mood suddenly improved a lot and he was in the mood to continue eating, drinking and having fun.

After scoring the roast pigeon, the Baron prepared to ride home.

Of course Min Xi didn't dare let him ride a horse. He was a little drunk. If he fell off the horse, it would be a big trouble.

Yun Ji went to find a hired carriage and asked the driver to take the baron home. His white horse was left at the hotel. Since there was no way to find fodder in the middle of the night, Min Xi poured half a bucket of chickpeas for the horse to eat.