Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2128 The Battle of Flowers (thirty-six)

Nick bought the clothes worn by Chinese scholars on the street, put them on, and put on a hat to cover his blond hair. As long as he didn't speak, he looked like a Manchu of Sogdian descent. people.

   No matter how poor the old Juren was, he still wore a robe, not the "short brown" like the commoner, which was easy to move around.

  Many people who are not "readers" also wear robes, so they don't have to worry about patrolling soldiers stopping him for questioning. Many sailors from Europe would gather in Pig Lane near the small square of Thirteen Lines and drink in the shack-like taverns of "Good Man Tom" and "Good Man Jimmy". Not only do they drink and make trouble, but sometimes they encounter scammers. The imperial court issued an edict prohibiting civilians from carrying weapons, but these sailors basically carried guns and gunpowder, especially the British sailors. The shoes they wore were padded with thick soles and had to be a finger high, with blades hidden in them. Miao women also do that as a self-defense tool.

   The port cities are often chaotic, but Guangzhou is much better than other port cities in Southeast Asia, and there are no signs of disturbances at least two blocks away.

  Guangzhou has no street lights, only the lanterns at the gates of the rich people provide lighting. The surname of the owner of the house is written on the red paper. The place where the lanterns cannot shine is pitch black, and the streets are silent.

  While passing by a house, there was a commotion from the open door. Nick couldn't help but stop to look around and found that a banquet was being held inside.

   Just like the admiral held a family ceremony and a farewell banquet in his own home, this family was also offering sacrifices to Mazu’s birthday, and also made birthday wine for the children. There were more than a dozen tables in the front yard, and the men were drinking and punching.

  Nick was about to leave when someone suddenly stopped him. That person was Haoguan from Jardine.

   He watched Nick for a while, but couldn't be sure because it was dark and Nick was in disguise, and then he saw Nick's boots and knew he wasn't mistaken.

   Like the owners of those taverns, he took the initiative to pull Nick into the banquet with enthusiasm, and it was not the front yard, but the banquet hall of the master's house. After passing through a moon gate, it was a very luxurious rectangular banquet hall. There is a porcelain vase on each side of the Moon Gate. The vase is filled with gorgeous flowers, and the fan-shaped feathers are inserted behind the flowers. There are two Surat Eight Immortals Tables on both sides of the aisle. The fifth Eight Immortals table is at the innermost, the entrance There is a small stage, a young woman holding a lute and an old man are performing a show.

   He looked like her father, and he played the three-string accompaniment when young women played. This is a Pingtan that is often heard on the Grand Canal, and it is relatively rare in Guangzhou, mainly because the owner's wife is specially invited by Suzhou talents.

The master sat at the farthest position from the door, behind him was a table with a marble top on which was placed a table clock imported from Europe, and beside him were full of silver ingots and silver dollars wrapped in red cloth, so that two silver candlesticks could not be seen. Not in the most corners, other floor lamps are also placed in the banquet hall, so the whole is brightly lit.

The host was inexplicable. He did not entertain Nick. At this time, Haoguan gave an introduction, and then the host handed over to Nick and said "literacy and fragrant name". This sentence translated into English is "I have heard your fragrant name for a long time." Nick was sitting at a birthday party for a child he had never met.

   After a while, the servants brought plates of cold dishes, all of which were placed on gilded plates with delicate figures, most of which Nick had never seen.

Haoguan politely introduced several dishes to him, including flying fish, dried and cut into shreds and eaten with vinegar; there is a cold salad called Shi'er, which is said to be a vegetarian dish that monks must eat; rice fish, The color is very white and the taste is very delicious, very similar to fried Greenwich whitebait; there are also deer tendons made into meat sauce; cut into round slices, a dish similar to meat skin, called Japanese skin, to be soaked in water It takes a long time to chew. There is also a sugarcane worm that is fried and sprinkled with smoke. Yes, it is the long worm in the sugarcane. Crisp and drink.

There are also several fruit bowls on the table, all placed on silver plates, some of which Nick has seen, such as peaches, pears and small tangerines, as well as lychees, longan, loquats, etc. The lychees that ripen in March are called three. Yuehong, the lychee shell is not hard, and the ripe lychee is like a bunch of strawberries.

All the fruits and cold dishes filled the entire table, but the central position was vacated for hot dishes, but it was quickly withdrawn, just like Don Quixote's servant Sancho was the governor of the island It was shocking to see that.

  Haoguan kept serving Nick. This was mainly to express friendship and enthusiasm. It was not the way Wanning served her father in the Admiral's house. The Admiral stood still and everyone could stand up and serve.

Nick wanted to reject Haoguan's enthusiasm several times, such as rich shark fin balls, roasted duck feet, stewed sparrows, roasted porcupines, and roasted frogs are all within the acceptable range of Nick, but earthworms, they are really earthworms, Nick almost The rice bowl was flipped.

  It was handled like a fan, Nick almost ate it, it was Nick reminded by the owner in Cantonese English "Your country also eats dragons?"

  Nick asked what an earth dragon is, and the host explained it. Nick tried his best to keep calm and talked about Burgundy snails. The guests here equated it with snails.

Next, 12 to 15 bowls of soup were served. The soup contained mandarin duck meat, pheasant meat, sea cucumbers from Malaysia, and pigeon eggs. Nick carefully identified that there were no food ingredients that he did not know before drinking the soup with a spoon. .

If you don't think that bird's nest is the mouth secretion of swiftlet, and forget its slippery, sticky texture, its taste is actually tasteless, and the same is true for shark fins. The reason why these two dishes are cooked is two Reasons: First, because these two ingredients are extremely expensive, it can make the hosts of these two dishes appear to be rich and powerful, just like the roasted peacock at the palace banquet that no one will move. The second is because it is said that these kinds of ingredients have special effects, for example, the West allows those who are not romantic to eat truffles.

   Bonaparte laughed again.

   "What's so funny?" asked Georgiana.

   "You know what he means?" asked Bonaparte.

  Georgianna did not answer.

   He deliberately leaned close to her ear, and she tried her best to control herself not to hit the hooligan.

   Everyone focused on the dishes, and no one listened to the female artist, but she was still performing.

   Wait until the "sugar water" is finished, then desserts and jams are served, and those dishes that are not finished are finally thrown away.

   This is the same in France, there will be a lot of food waste, but Chinese food will be used to feed livestock such as pigs.

Nick once again remembered Zhang Si who fought with other beggars because he stole half of the buns. Fu Gua means "return in the end", which means don't go too far on the wrong road, and return to the right path in time, but where? ?

   The fifty-fourth hexagram is the Guimei hexagram, which means that there must be a place to return when you advance. Marriage is the righteousness of heaven and earth.

  A young man travels far, no matter where he goes, he always has a place to return to. This is the difference between a settled life and a nomadic life.

  Nomads will live in yurts. Wherever the yurt is, the home is where they live in pursuit of aquatic plants.

  Whether you are going forward or returning home, if you get lost, it is a bad omen, and it is a big one.

  Nick couldn't help but took out the mirror he just bought and used it to look at his face to see if there was anything black.

   "Oh, come here, what else do you bring?"

  Then the bronze mirror with peach pattern he just bought was placed by Haoguan in the pile of silver ingots next to the clock.

   (end of this chapter)