The dumpling restaurant is located at a crossroads, and it has no name, but it is famous locally, as long as you mention the "Daokou Zhangjia" dumpling restaurant to the locals, almost everyone knows about it. Silva is naturally famous for opening his doors in the local area, so he brought Blanco over to try it.

"This is garlic, a vegetable that is often eaten by locals, usually used to accompany meals, and sometimes used to season when cooking. Well, the fact that the East Coasters season almost every dish with ginger, garlic, and the like, is really weird, but it doesn't taste bad, and the same goes for these dumplings. "Many Brazilian gentlemen who have tasted East Coast cuisine swear that Chinese cuisine is better than Brazilian or Portuguese food, if not better." ”

Blanco was startled by the rumbling of several cannons outside the door, but quickly reacted again: this is the East Coast people casting a New Year's celebration salute! Blanco had already seen it on the way here, and he was surprised at the time, because it was crazy that the people on the east coast would celebrate the New Year with three-pounder cannons and four-pounder cannons!

The tables and chairs in the house are made of cheap Paraná pine cut nearby, unpainted, and the style is completely oriental: the chairs and tables are carved with various patterns in many places, which seem to be oriental myths and legends; On the wall are some square Chinese characters cut out of colored paper, just like the red couplets on both sides of the gate; There is a plaque hanging in the center of the wall with four big characters on it: "Zhangjia Old Store".

Blanco had studied Chinese for many years, and knew more or less traditional Chinese characters, but he was still puzzled by the way the people of the East Coast or the Chinese people chose the name of the shop. The "old store of the Zhang family" in front of me is quite good. Look at the shop across the street that sells cotton cloth pù "Li Qizhou". It seems to be exactly a combination of the surnames of the three partners of the store; To the east of the dumpling restaurant, there is a "Yixing" that sells flour. It's not at all clear from the name what this shop does; The same is true of the leather goods "Heng Shenglong" at the west end of the street, the owner should have considered the name from the perspective of lip gloss, but this name also does not reflect the business scope of the store.

Since it was the first day of opening after the East Coast New Year's Day, and the owners of the dumpling restaurant were more hospitable, a small amount of oriental dim sum - usually sweets, and only one or two pieces were placed on each table. In addition, there are some jams, preserves, dried fruits and other knick-knacks, all of which are processed from various fruits produced in the orchards of Liming Town, this county, due to the unique process of making zuò. It tastes pretty good, too.

Of course, all of the above things are completely free of charge, and guests are completely free to enjoy them. You see, aren't there many children in brand new clothes outside the door rushing in to get some fruit to eat, and the owner of the dumpling restaurant with a shrewd and capable face not only does not blame, but on the contrary, he smiles and beckons his man to bring out some more dried fruit preserves. It is clear that these days are joyful for the children.

The smell of tobacco in the shop was very strong, and Blanco was not very interested in it, and he even felt a little sorry for the new silk jacket he had just changed into in the morning, which must have been stained with a strong and choking smell of tobacco. His servant Silva ordered another bottle of Madeira. This surprised Blanco even more, and at the same time it was a pleasant surprise. Silva told him that the origin of these wines was Madeira. After being transported to Brazil for a long time, it was exported to the Republic of the East Coast, where the people bought glass bottles, divided them, and then shipped them to various places for sale. As the industrial center of the whole east coast of Ping'an County, there are naturally many of these sweet wines for sale, especially in Baoan Township, which is quite well sold due to the large number of Portuguese merchants.

The dumplings were quickly served, and Blanco skillfully picked one with chopsticks and tasted it, well, it was lamb inside, and it tasted good. The meat has nothing to do with the smell of mutton, perhaps to the breed of sheep raised by the East Coasters - they have been working to raise a variety of sheep for meat or wool - but perhaps it has more to do with the cooking method. Of course, there must be many secrets in the process of handling meat, maybe all kinds of spices are used, maybe spices are used from the Dutch, but there must be their own uniqueness, otherwise it would not be so delicious at all.

Maybe I should hire a Ming chef? Blanco was eating the dumplings and thinking secretly.

There was a commotion outside the door, causing some diners in the dumpling restaurant to look up. Curious, Blanco also looked outside, only to see a group of people laughing around two clothed lions on the street. The two lions, small and made of brightly colored cloth, look lifelike and crawl on the ground. The person who manipulated the lion made some funny moves from time to time, which attracted the crowd of onlookers to cheer loudly and laugh at the same time, especially some children, who were excited to circle around the lion, and their little faces were red and fluttering with happiness, which was very cute.

"Strange customs!" Blanco shook his head, obviously not as interested in it as the East Coasters present, he took one last look and then lowered his head again to eat the dumplings - that was what he was really interested in.

The lion team was followed by a troupe of more than a dozen "musicians" from the East, who were playing vigorously with all kinds of strange instruments. Unfortunately, the surroundings were too noisy and noisy for their hard work to attract the attention of the passers-by, who watched the lion dance and laugh loudly, completely muffling out the music. In this noisy environment, you have to have a particularly good hearing to barely make out some gongs and drums from the various sounds.

Blanco and Silva ate the dumplings unhurriedly, then drank the remaining half of Madeira before getting up and leaving. There were more and more people on the streets, and many of the hawkers in costume didn't seem to care much about their business, standing absentmindedly at their stalls, and then grinning at the performances in the distance, and being a little less patient with the customers than before. A crowd of men with distinctly European faces poured into the streets, laughing and seeming to be a little drunk. The men took up an open space in the street and danced the dance of their homeland, and soon some Rivonian women in bright costumes joined in, and the street was immediately crowded.

Blanco and Silva struggled to squeeze out of the crowd, and by this time, Blanco's valuable clothes were crumpled. Ahead is the intersection, where there is a small empty square, but at this time it is also occupied by the crowd.

Blanco looked around and saw that a shed had been erected there, and a group of "street artists" from the Ming Kingdom of the East were performing various opera repertoire. The audience stood below, happily watching the performance, as if it was also a rare entertainment for them. So even though the sky was once again covered with tiny snowflakes and the cold wind was blowing, everyone endured the chill and watched the show while stomping their feet. When someone can't stand the cold wind, they run into the nearby noodle shop, drink a bowl of free noodle soup provided by the kind shopkeeper, and then run back to watch the show.

The drama is mostly comedy, the actors are gags, and they are humorous, especially a special play on the East Coast, which is known as the two-person turn, which has attracted a tsunami of applause from the audience. In addition to these repertoire with Chinese characteristics, a troupe from Italy also went up to perform a comedy, but unfortunately few people in the audience could understand what they were saying, but their witty performances and some interesting actions still won the audience's goodwill applause. According to some businessmen who talked next to him, it seems that this Italian opera troupe was privately invited by the county's "old parents" and the county magistrate Qian Hao, in order to let everyone open "foreign meat".

From time to time, a group of soldiers in khaki winter military coats, black-brimmed hats, fur shoes, and flintlock rifles on their shoulders lined up in the streets, and the residents who crowded the streets automatically made way for them. The officers who led the team rode horses, wore white gauze gloves on both hands, and their military coats were covered with medals. I saw him stroking the command knife in his left hand, grasping the reins in his right hand, and scanning the crowd with a slightly proud gaze -- these were the officers and soldiers patrolling the streets and maintaining law and order.

Blanco and Silva looked at the officers and soldiers of the East Coast in a neat line, marching in unison, and seriously shaking their hands and feet with a complicated gaze. The officers who led the team were proud, heroic, and confident, and followed the soldiers' movements meticulously and uniformly, showing that they had undergone years of mechanical training and strict discipline.

As long as these elite and proud soldiers of the East Coast Army survive, the civilized gentlemen of Brazil will always have a restless sleep, and they will have to bury their grievances against the East Coast in their hearts and then honestly play according to the rules of the game of the East Coasters. It's so bad, when have the great Portuguese gentlemen ever been so aggrieved?

Seeing this group of soldiers, Blanco suddenly lost interest in visiting the border trade market. He was suddenly disappointed with everything here, and seemed to be uninterested in everything. Silva was keenly aware of the change in his employer's feelings, and he asked him to go back to his shop to rest and discuss the future business layout. Blanco agreed, and the figures of the two quickly disappeared into the surging crowd. (To be continued......)