Chapter 286 285 Pepper
The fleet followed the north wind all the way south, and soon passed Zhenjiang and entered the Yangtze River waterway.
When the fleet arrived here, it was already far away from the city of Nanjing.
Before departure, Wei Guangde received a letter from Xu Bangrui, hoping that Wei Guangde could come to Nanjing before returning to Jiujiang, so that they could meet first.
Although Xu Bangrui had known Wei Guangde for a long time, the two had never met by chance.
Although he had known Wei Guangde's general appearance from many people before, Xu Bangrui still wanted to see Wei Guangde first when things came to a close, so he wrote a letter to Wei Guangde before he left Beijing.
In the cabin, in addition to Wei Guangde's servants, Xu Huai was also among them. As a messenger, he delivered Xu Bangrui's letter and returned south with Wei Guangde.
We had already said hello in advance that Wei Guangde would disembark in Nanjing and then find a boat back to Jiujiang. Therefore, when the ship sailed near Nanjing, the merchant ship carrying him turned around and approached Longwan Wharf.
In fact, some of the goods carried by the fleet have to be unloaded in Nanjing, so naturally they are all stored on this ship.
After the ship docked and the berth was fixed, Wei Guangde and his party naturally disembarked first. After they left the dock, the dock coolies who had been waiting for them swarmed around the ship, waiting for the boatman to arrange work for them.
For these people, they have long been accustomed to such things. Large merchant ships often carry nobles they cannot afford to offend. They cannot rush over after the ship docks, but have to wait for the nobles to disembark and leave before docking. In the past, there was competition for loading and unloading goods.
The current status of Wei Guangde is a bit embarrassing, and naturally he cannot go directly to the Duke of Wei's mansion. However, Xu Bangrui naturally has another hospital in Nanjing, so it is easy to settle Wei Guangde.
When we got here, Xu Huai naturally led the way. Several carriages appeared from nowhere. Under Xu Huai's greeting, the group got on, the carriage curtains were lowered, and then began to drive towards the city.
Wei Guangde and the others were settled in a quiet courtyard on Sanshan Street. This was a property purchased by Xu Bangrui. It was actually quite close to the Wei Guogong Mansion. It was often used by him to entertain relatives and friends.
“This house is nice.”
After Wei Guangde got off the carriage, he followed Xu Huai inside. It looked like a garden in the south of the Yangtze River. Although it was just an outhouse, it was as good as the Wei family's house in Jiujiang Mansion.
It can only be said that the background of a wealthy family may be like this. To Wei Guangde, it is a mansion, but to others it is just a separate courtyard.
“The original owner here gave the yard to the young master, and made extensive renovations in the past two years to get what it looks like now.”
Xu Huai explained on the side.
“Oh.”
Wei Guangde didn't want to care about the relationship between others and Xu Bangrui. It had nothing to do with him. Just pay off the debt. However, Wei Guangde really took a fancy to this yard.
Xu Huai introduced him when he got off the bus earlier. The courtyard is just a street away from Wei Guogong's mansion. It is very close. It is probably convenient for Xu Bangrui to find an opportunity to come over and meet him.
It was already afternoon. After settling down, Xu Huai said goodbye and went back to report.
In fact, when they got on the carriage, Xu Huai had already arranged for someone to report to Xu Bangrui. He only left to report the trip to Xu Bangrui.
In the evening, Xu Bangrui came over and set up a sumptuous banquet in the flower hall to entertain Wei Guangde, which was regarded as a welcome blessing for him.
This was the first time that Wei Guangde and Xu Bangrui had met. Wei Guangde's appearance was similar to what he had heard about. He was definitely not a match for Pan An in terms of face and appearance, but he was also handsome.
Perhaps because of his study, he is used to being pampered, but he is not as dark-skinned as his elder brother Wei Wencai. At first glance, he looks like a guard soldier, and he is fairly fair.
Xu Bangrui is satisfied with Wei Guangde's appearance, as long as he won't let his sister be wronged.
In Wei Guangde's opinion, Xu Bangrui looks a bit like a pretty boy, but he can be said to be handsome and handsome. He comes from the Duke's palace, and his temperament is naturally outstanding, but he feels a bit feminine.
But fortunately, when I saw Xu Bangrui's appearance and thought that his unmarried daughter-in-law was his biological sister, I guess the appearance was not that different.
rest assured.
The two of them ate, drank and chatted for a long time. When they were tipsy, Wei Guangde suddenly took out two red fruits from his sleeves and asked, "Brother, I wonder what this thing in the garden is?" Where did it come from? "
"You said pepper, it came from Zhejiang two years ago. , it is said that they were brought by the Yi people. The flowers were not very good, but the fruits looked good hanging on the trees, so they planted some in the garden.”
Xu Bangrui didn’t recognize them at first. After taking a closer look at the bald pen-shaped fruit, I remembered that it was not the kind of pepper that I saw only two years ago.
When he first saw it, Xu Bangrui thought the fruit was quite pretty, especially the large number of red peppers hanging on the branches.
It happened that the courtyard here was renovated at that time, and a few plants were planted here, but I didn't expect Wei Guangde to be interested in this thing.
“Oh, that’s it.”
Wei Guangde really didn’t know that peppers were introduced from abroad. He always thought that this thing might still be hidden in the mountains without being discovered.
In the past, eating banquets was actually spicy, but the condiments used were mustard and ginger. The spiciness was naturally not comparable to that of chili peppers, and Wei Guangde was not used to it.
When I first came here today, Wei Guangde took a walk in the garden and saw a few small shrubs in the corner of the garden, with red peppers on their branches.
Wei Guangde wasn't sure at first, so he took one off and nibbled a little, just a little. The long-lost spicy taste filled the tip of his tongue, making Wei Guangde hooked on the spot.
But thinking that this was Xu Bangrui’s yard, I naturally couldn’t catch all the peppers on the branches. I just picked a few and hid them. I made up my mind to find out the origin of these peppers when I saw Xu Bangrui and transplant a batch of them. If the dwarf stumps are returned, there will be peppers available in the future.
Just thinking about it for a moment makes my tongue secrete a lot of saliva. I really miss the taste of chili pepper.
But in my heart, I also secretly resented that these powerful people were occupying such a delicious thing. If he had known that there were chili peppers in the Duke of Wei's house, he would have come to propose marriage. He didn't need the dowry, but he had to hand over all the chili peppers.
But, what do you mean by Xu Bangrui’s words? In their opinion, chili peppers are just beautiful to look at, not something to eat?
Impossible.
Wei Guangde's impression seems to be that Westerners are looking for spices all over the world. It is impossible not to know that this pepper is edible and is a condiment.
But Wei Guangde soon came up with his own guess. It was possible that when the Yi and Ming people were trading, the Ming people just thought the thing looked good, so they didn't bother to explain.
Wei Guangde touched his forehead and thought of the business opportunities. The condiments of the Ming Dynasty were still far less rich than those of later generations and were relatively monotonous.
With this chili pepper, you should be able to make a lot of money, right?
But thinking of this, Wei Guangde felt a little unsure.
Can people in the Ming Dynasty eat spicy food now?
Can they accept chili peppers?
Also, there is no technical content in growing peppers. I didn’t see that there were several pepper shrubs in the garden. They don’t seem to be trees, they can only be said to be shrubs.
Grow some land, and the peppers produced in the first two years may be sold at a good price. This will only happen if rich people accept the taste and are willing to spend money to buy them.
But within two years, others would follow suit, and then the market would flood and there would be no profit. Forget it, let's do something good and help promote the cultivation of peppers. At least in the future, I can eat them whenever I want, instead of being like now where I have no money to buy them.
“Didn’t those barbarians say how to use this thing?”
Wei Guangde asked, pretending to be surprised.
“Hey, it’s not just beautiful, it’s bright red, and my little sister likes it too.”
Xu Bangrui never thought that this beautiful-looking fruit could be eaten. For people like them, eating is not something you can eat casually. Others will use it first and eat it without any toxicity.
In fact, families who practice military warfare generally keep some traditions, such as this pepper. You must not eat the beautiful-looking fruit because it may be poisonous.
For this reason, Xu Bangrui has never considered letting people taste the fruit to see what it tastes like and whether it is toxic.
Wei Guangde blinked when he heard this. He didn't know how to say that the correct usage of this thing is actually for eating and condiment.
Smacking his lips, Wei Guangde thought for a while and then said: "This thing looks good, so I picked a few fruits."
Xu Bangrui's interest was also aroused by Wei Guangde at this time. He wanted to know what Wei Guangde had discovered. From the meaning of his words, it seemed that there were other uses for this pepper.
"What did you find? Here, if you have anything to say, you can say it directly, it's all from your own family."
Xu Bangrui couldn't help but say.
"This thing is edible, and the taste is very unique. It is spicy, but the spicy taste is very distinctive and delicious."
Wei Guangde was not ambiguous and said directly: "I also plan to , Brother, if there are more peppers here, I will order more, but according to what you said, I don’t seem to grow this stuff specifically, so I don’t think there are many.”
"Eat?"
Xu Bangrui frowned slightly and looked at the peppers that Wei Guangde put on the table, "Has anyone ever eaten this? We all come from military families, so we should know that we shouldn't eat things randomly. "
"I took a bite when I got it. Apart from the spiciness, there is no other toxicity. "
Wei Guangde replied without hesitation, will there be less chili peppers in later generations? ?
In their hometown, as well as in many places in China, they are all spicy. It seems that except for some places along the coast where the food is relatively light, chili may not be used in banquet dishes. It is not used in China. This thing is really rare.
Having said this, Wei Guangde took out another chili pepper from his sleeve and placed it on the wine table.
This chili is slightly different from the two that Wei Guangde took out before. The difference is naturally that the head of the chili is missing. It was obviously bitten by Wei Guangde.
Of course Xu Bangrui would not think that Wei Guangde wanted to harm him. It would not be good for him. Although the two met for the first time, they still had a good conversation.
Wei Guangde is good. This is Xu Bangrui's impression. Just because the two families are married, he does not hesitate to stand on his side and even helps him eliminate his father Xu Pengju's Austrian aid in the palace.
This is not as simple as destroying his father's layout in the palace. In turn, it also shows that Wei Guangde's relationship in the palace can be used in the palace in the future when he and his brother Xu Bangning compete for the inheritance of the title. Li helped him speak to increase the possibility of him attacking the prince.
As for Wei Guangde, he received thousands of taels of silver from others for nothing, so naturally he can't think bad of others.
Those who give money to themselves are good people.
Looking at the pepper that Wei Guangde wanted to drop, Xu Bangrui picked up the one next to him, put the tip of the pepper into his mouth and took a bite. It was just a little bit, and his mouth suddenly felt full. A spicy taste stimulates the crazy secretion of saliva in the mouth.
“Bah spicy.”
Xu Bangrui spit out the bit of pepper that he had bitten on the ground, immediately picked up the spoon and bowl, scooped two spoonfuls of soup into the bowl and drank it. Only then did he feel that the spicy taste in his mouth was slightly relieved, but it was still too spicy for him to bear.
"What does it taste like? It's spicier than ginger."
Xu Bangrui kept talking, but his eyes were looking at the pepper in his hand.
“Haha.”
Seeing Xu Bangrui’s reaction, Wei Guangde knew that in this era, people in Ming Dynasty might not be able to accept the condiment of chili in a short time. Unfortunately, he had previously thought he could make money from it. .
“I was like this at the beginning.”
Seeing Xu Bangrui looking at him at this time, Wei Guangde had no choice but to put away his smile and said: "But with the second bite, you can feel the different taste of the pepper. It's really delicious."
Looking at Xu Bangrui's disbelief, Wei Guangde didn't want to dwell on this anymore, so he raised his hands and said to him: "Brother, what you mean is that we still have these peppers in our house, but they are just used as ornamental plants." It's something."
Looking at Xu Bangrui's nod, he continued: "I wonder if you can help me collect the spicy peppers in the house and give them to me.
By the way, give them to me. I have these pepper seeds, and I want to go back and find someone to plant them, so that I can produce them for my own use.”
“Do you really like this?”
Xu Bangrui still looked a little unsure. He really couldn't taste the good taste of this pepper. Except that it was spicy on the tongue, it was spicy on the tongue. He didn't want to try it a second time.
Wei Guangde nodded hurriedly.
"This thing is not valuable. The seeds seem to be the seeds in peppers. I have to ask someone how to plant them. I don't know how to get this thing."
For Xu Bangrui , must not know anything about plant cultivation, and knowing about pepper seeds is already pretty good, because Wei Guangde didn’t know that pepper seeds are actually the pepper seeds in peppers. He thought he just broke off the branches of the bush and inserted them into the soil.
“There are still some in the house. I’ll ask someone to collect all the grown peppers and give them to you. When they first grew, they seemed novel, but after looking at them for a long time, they seemed strange. Very nice.
In Nanjing, other places also have hot peppers. I'll help you find someone to get some when the time comes. But have you eaten this spiciness? "
Thinking of the taste in his mouth before, Xu Bangrui was speechless. This thing can also be eaten.
"Thank you, brother. ”
Hearing that Xu Bangrui is willing to give him all the peppers in Wei Guogong’s mansion, and also help him find peppers from other noble mansions in Nanjing City, and also help him get some.
That’s it. He doesn't have too many rare things.
I went back to find someone who learned how to grow peppers. I planted some here in Jiujiang Prefecture and tried some in the capital to see if they could be grown successfully.
(End of this chapter)