Just as Ashikaga Ikki was preparing to enter Kyoto the next morning to meet his long-lost cousin, Shushuge, who was far away in Shuangyu Port, was also entertaining guests, but he was not entertaining a man, but a man.

An exotic beauty.

"Welcome to Miss Silla, you just need to be a guest. You don't need to bring any gifts!" Zhou Zhong smiled when he saw Miss Silla carrying a gift box in the front living room. Yesterday, he invited her to his home as a guest, but Qian Zhong

Miss La was very happy and made an appointment to visit this afternoon. Unexpectedly, just after lunch, the other party came with gifts.

"Haha, it's not actually a gift. It's just that yesterday Mr. Zhou, you said you liked the bread that my mother and I baked, so I brought some. I hope Mr. Zhou, your wife and sister will like it!" Silla said with her kind words.

The exotic and strange-smelling Chinese laughed.

She now knows some of the etiquette of the Central Plains and knows that Zhou Zhong was just being polite when he said he was not allowed to bring gifts. She still has to bring gifts when she comes to visit. For example, when Zhou Zhong went to his home yesterday, he brought two jars of the Central Plains.

Yellow rice wine, this kind of wine is not as spicy as white wine, but it is very suitable for their European tastes.

Zhou Zhong was very happy when he heard that Miss Silla sent bread. Yesterday at noon, he tasted the Mediterranean meal cooked by Silla's mother and daughter. However, their cooking method was very monotonous. For example, the meat was either roasted or roasted.

It's boiled, and a lot of spices are added,

It felt strange to eat, but the bread was well baked and tasted very much like the French croissants of later generations, so I praised it a few times. Unexpectedly, Miss Silla remembered it and brought it as a gift today.

You can let Jinxuan and Zhuoer taste it.

Seeing Zhou Zhong accepting the gift very happily, Miss Xila looked around the living room and found that Zhou Zhong was alone. Then she asked very strangely: "Mr. Zhou, why are you alone? Don't say that you are alone."

Can you introduce your wife and sister to me?"

After hearing the other party's question, Zhou Zhong smiled and said: "Our family lives together in the Chamber of Commerce. The first half of where we are now is the office of the Chamber of Commerce. It is inconvenient for the female relatives at home to come here, so they cannot go forward.

If you come to greet me, you can only wait in the inner house. I hope Miss Silla won’t blame you!"

"Why is it inconvenient? I have also seen many Central Plains women in the town. They are not like those Muslim women. They can only let their husbands see their looks, but they walk on the street very generously. Why does Mr. Zhou

The girls in your family can only stay in the inner house?" Although Miss Xila has some understanding of the cultural customs of the Central Plains region, she is still a little unclear about other customs and habits.

Zhou Zhong was stunned when he heard this. He thought about it for a moment and then smiled and said: "Miss Xila doesn't know something. Most of the women you met in Nanyang Town are from small families. They usually need to buy groceries in person."

Cooking naturally requires publicity, but a wealthy family like ours has many rules and restrictions for women. In addition, servants have to do the chores at home, so they can only stay at home. Generally speaking, they don't.

come out."

"What does a small family mean, and what does a big family mean?" Miss Xila was a little confused by Zhou Zhong's explanation because she didn't understand the meaning of the two key words.

Seeing that Miss Silla didn't understand, Zhou Zhong had no choice but to explain in detail. In fact, in simple terms, it was the difference between the rich and the poor. After saying this, Miss Silla immediately understood. After all, no matter where you are,

There are differences in status, and she also learned from Zhou Zhong that women from wealthy families are not forbidden to see outsiders. It’s just that the education they received since childhood means that they generally do not have contact with men other than their husbands, but the relationship between women

Interactions are still very common.

Hearing this, Miss Silla nodded in understanding. She knew that women in the Central Plains did not have contact with women other than their husbands in order to maintain their loyalty to their husbands. Nowadays, European men also do not allow their wives to associate with other men.

, and in order to prevent his wife from cheating, chastity belts are very popular in Europe, her hometown of Italy

This is even more true over there. Many unmarried or married women wear chastity belts, and she has also seen her friends wearing chastity belts. Fortunately, her parents are relatively open-minded and do not force her to wear such things. In comparison.

Under the Ming Dynasty, women in the Ming Dynasty were only forbidden to have contact with other men. In her opinion, this was much better than that inhumane chastity belt.

When Zhou Zhong personally brought Miss Xila to the inner house where his family lived, Wang Jinxuan and Zhuo'er had already known that a woman from Europe had visited yesterday, and they were also very curious about it, especially after Zhou Zhong told them

Some interesting stories about Europe made them even more excited about Miss Silla's visit.

As soon as Zhou Zhong entered the inner house with Miss Silla, he saw Jinxuan, Zhuo'er, and the three Bai Mengwan girls already standing on the road waiting for them. When they saw Silla, whose appearance was very different from that of the Central Plains woman, they all revealed their faces.

They were surprised. Although they had met Father John and Father Nader before, this was the first time they saw a woman from Europe.

Compared to Jinxuan and the others' curiosity, Miss Silla also showed great interest in Jinxuan and the others' clothes and accessories. Her two big blue eyes kept looking at Jinxuan and the others. Although she had not seen them in the town before,

I have come into contact with many people from the Central Plains

Women, but those ordinary women did not have too many clothes. Unlike Jinxuan, their clothes and jewelry were very exquisite. Miss Silla was dazzled for a while, and she only felt that the clothes and jewelry of the three women in front of her were useless.

One is not beautiful.

Seeing that both of them were interested in each other, he introduced them both with a smile. Then Jinxuan invited Miss Silla to the courtyard where she lived to talk. Miss Silla also readily agreed, so the four women of similar age chatted and laughed.

He left with a smile, leaving Zhou Zhong alone on the road.

Zhou Zhong originally wanted to go with Jinxuan and the others, but he heard that they were talking about women's topics. For example, Silla was very interested in the jewelry worn by Jinxuan and the others, while Jinxuan and the others were very curious about Silla's appearance.

Especially the other party's blue eyes and tall nose, these are very interesting to them.

Zhou Zhong was originally not interested in topics between women, and he thought that if the other party talked about some private topics between women, it would be inconvenient for him to be there, and he still had things to do, so he didn't

He went with him, then turned back to the front yard to continue doing his business.

Yesterday, he learned about the strength of the Portuguese from Father John and Chilawa, and he also knew that with his current strength, he could not prevent the Portuguese from occupying Malacca, so he only had one way left, and that was to take advantage of the situation.

Taking this opportunity to go to the capital to see Emperor Zhengde, he persuaded him to send troops to help him.

Since he was going to see Emperor Zhengde, he naturally had to bring some gifts, and these gifts must not be too ordinary. After all, the other party was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and ordinary gifts would not be able to catch his eye. Therefore, after returning yesterday, Zhou Chong has been

Consider gifts.

Giving gifts is a technical job. Generally speaking, you cannot give money directly when giving gifts, otherwise it will look too tacky. Moreover, the gift should match the identity of the recipient. For example, if the recipient's family is poor, then you cannot give something too expensive.

First of all, people may not be willing to accept the gift. Secondly, even if they accept it, they will definitely have to give a gift of similar value when they return for a visit in the future, which will cause a burden to other people's families.

Of course, Emperor Zhengde was the emperor, so Zhou Chong did not have to worry about the above issues. The more valuable the gifts, the better. However, Emperor Zhengde was rich all over the world. What kind of rare gifts have he never seen? Even if Zhou Chong can find some rare specialties from overseas.

, but maybe the Ming Dynasty

There are already many in the palace, and there are more and better ones than what he sent. After all, when Zheng He went to Nanyang, the whole ship was pulled back with rare treasures. Although after so many years of wear and tear, there must be some left in the palace.

I placed a lot of money, and the overseas specialties I gave away were not unusual at all.

It was precisely because of the above that Zhou Zhong was thinking hard about preparing gifts. It was not until Miss Silla came to visit today that he suddenly had an idea and finally thought of the gifts he wanted to prepare.

It turned out that when Zhou Zhong saw Miss Silla, he suddenly thought that the fleet transporting Miss Silla and others also brought other things, namely sweet potatoes and corn. The quantities of these two crops were not very large. He had planned to go through a year of

Breeding, and then slowly promote it, but now think about it, it is too slow to promote it solely by his personal power. If these two things can be given as gifts to Emperor Zhengde, and then with the help of the Ming Dynasty official

With the power of promotion, it can definitely be promoted to all parts of the country in the shortest possible time.

Although in the eyes of others, corn and sweet potatoes are not precious gifts, for Emperor Zhengde, who is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, these two crops are the most precious gifts in the world. After all, only the common people in the world can have enough to eat.

, Only then can his empire be more stable, and his position as emperor be more comfortable.

Thinking of giving sweet potatoes and corn as gifts to Emperor Zhengde, not only did he solve the problem of promotion, but he no longer had to worry about gifts. It was a double kill. Zhou Chong couldn't help but admire his quick wit.

But Zhou Chong soon thought that although sweet potatoes and corn were very important to the Ming Dynasty, only he knew the importance of these two things. Before their output came out, it was useless to rely on himself, so these two things
Chapter completed!