Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1477 Fighting
The band's ensemble was better than the previous one, but the audience was no longer as enthusiastic as in the garden, but the atmosphere had been relieved from the embarrassment created by the governor's secretary.The baroness seized the opportunity to announce that she would present a wonderful drama to the guests. Following her clapping, the servants quickly moved away the extra tables and chairs, cleared an empty space, and set up a simple stage and scenery .The musicians began to play melodious idylls and performed "Cristino and Phoebea" by the great poet Juan de Encina.

The actor who played Friar Cristino caused a burst of laughter when he first appeared on the stage, and the audience saw that "he" was actually a girl.The girl's dark skin, the contrast between the soft face and the steep facial features all showed the characteristics of mixed blood.Her cunning, intimate, wandering eyes are completely out of character, and her flirting with the fairy Phoebea seems restrained, but it is actually sophisticated.When Christino finally decided to succumb to love and give up the practice, she sang with air:
monk life,

holy as it is,

because of them,

All are elderly.

While coyly taking off the monk's toga, revealing his slim figure wrapped in men's tights.Cheers and applause suddenly swept through like a storm.Many people only stared at the girl's two slim thighs wrapped in men's tight stockings.

"Flora is very clever," said the baroness, "and is the quickest of the girls who serve me."

Esteban Sanabria heard what the mistress said and felt that the long-awaited opportunity to show off had arrived. "Good! Great! Great! Take your bounty!" He applauded enthusiastically, while raising the money bag and throwing it at the feet of Flora who played the role of a monk.The girl backed away in fright with a bang, and the gold coins rolled out of the purse, shining brightly all over the floor.The guests were agitated, and the wealthy colonial businessman was so triumphant that he didn't notice the frown of the baroness at all.

The count shook his hand, "It's my fault for not preparing a gift for such a lovely girl. Ma'am, if you allow me, I want to make up for this fault." He stood up and picked up a few dendrobium orchids from the vase in the corner of the living room, A sprig of jasmine, took off the ring from her hand, put it on the bouquet, and threw it towards Flora.The girl deftly caught the precious bouquet, ran down the stage with it in her arms, tiptoed and kissed the count's face, and then hid behind the hostess pretending to be shy, not forgetting to leave the count with an affectionate smile. eyes.

The governor's secretary exclaimed, he forgot to maintain his self-important image, and stared at the dazzling ring on the bouquet, "Oh, my God, such a big diamond is worth at least a thousand pistols !"

The crowd immediately became commotion-everyone knew the Earl's wealth, and the so-called spending a lot of money was nothing more than that.

Eugenio greatly overestimated the value of this "diamond ring".Gem resources in Hainan and Lechang, Shandong are quite rich, and all kinds of gemstones were not valued very much in the Ming Dynasty. Lechang sapphires were not even cared for by the early 20th century.Of course, such a wealth of gem resources cannot escape the attention of the industry.In addition to applying diamonds to cutting tools, Dr. Zhong from the Ministry of Science and Technology has also spent a lot of energy on developing gemstone watch movements, but the advent of the Lingao version of the 24-diamond mechanical watch is still far away.

However, by accident, the Ministry of Science and Technology took this opportunity to find out a method of heating and coloring the red zircon, a specialty of Hainan. The zircon after tempering and decolorization is carefully cut and polished according to modern processing methods, which is comparable to real diamonds. .Because Chinese people didn't pay much attention to gemstones at that time, the sales prospects of similar zircon jewelry in Daming were bleak, so the trade department prepared to send them to Macau, and put them on the sample cabinets of Zizhenzhai's Macau branch for sale in Yangzhuang.What Weiss just took off from his hand was such a ring.He glanced at Sanabria out of the corner of his eye. The rich colonial businessman's face had turned blue, and his eyes turned around the count, Flora, and the mistress in a panic.

Many guests were very interested in this additional stage play, especially when the hostess ordered the servants to pick up the gold coins scattered on the ground and return them to Sanabria, the face of the richest merchant in the colony turned from blue to green. Pale.There was malicious laughter from the crowd.For the next time, Sanafria refused to dance, but buried himself in the poker table trying to regain his dignity.By the time the dinner began, he had lost his purse with nothing left, not a single gold coin left.

The baroness's family banquet was much more high-end and fashionable than most banquets in Manila. Many guests fiddled with the silver fork clumsily while watching the earl's movements.Italians have been used to eating with a two-pronged fork more than a hundred years ago, but this is still a novelty for the Spaniards.As for the remote Manila, Weislando has seen many noble Europeans still reach out to eat meat from the plate, wipe their mouths with their sleeves, and don't know what handkerchiefs and napkins are.The dishes were brought out like water, some of which tasted great, and some made Weiss frown: the chef was superfluous and covered the roasted duck with its feathers that had been plucked before its death. For famous dishes such as oxtail stew, Weiss didn't thank him at all, but kept sipping the sweet Madeira wine.This wine is really good, even better than the famous sherry.

The effect of the food and wine was quite rapid, and there was clinking of glasses everywhere, and after a while, people were shouting toast to the health of the king and the beauty of the mistress.Alfonso has an intimate relationship with his neighbor, a beautiful young mixed-race woman whose husband is still far away in the citadel in Cebu.Another old, gray-haired councilor came straight to Lucrezia's seat with a glass of wine, and told how passionately he loved her, poured out his admiration, and the latter responded with a coquettish smile. .Sanabria also came up and asked the hostess if she was satisfied with the gift he gave: a pair of huge Chinese porcelain vases with colorful patterns.

To celebrate his promotion, Lieutenant Colonel Alfonso downed a lot of wine, and he was convinced that he had won the heart of the beautiful Creole wife.He laughed loudly: "Sir, it's best to ask His Royal Highness Van Nova to open your eyes. In his private residence in Malata, the entire bathroom is made of tiles. Not this kind of rough clay block "He pointed to the Portuguese painted mosaics on the wall of the baron's living room, and continued drunkenly: "It is authentic Chinese porcelain, as smooth as ice. The washbasin is a large porcelain basin that is fired whole. There is no blemish, and the enamel is smoother than crystal."

"Isn't that the palace bathroom owned by the emperor of China?" the baroness asked in surprise.

"I'm afraid the Emperor of China had no similar enjoyment. If the count doesn't mind, I'll go on. In his washroom, near the china wall, stands a curiously large china altar, the best of Chinese goods. Guess what?" What is the beautiful china pie for?"

The young Creole woman whispered a few words, and Alfonso laughed again: "You guessed wrong, madam. Let me tell you, the porcelain altar looks strange, but the ladies can sit on it." It's very comfortable, and the men will be very comfortable standing in front." Facing the mixed eyes of the female guests, Alfonso twisted his mustache, as if he was very proud of being a decryptor of a great anecdote.

"And you don't have to worry about getting dirty. After His Royal Highness Van Nova finished his service, he only needs to pull the handle of a machine, and the machine will spray clean water. In a blink of an eye, all the filth will be flushed into the sewer, and the porcelain altar and bucket will be rinsed." As clean as new, whiter than the snow on the Sierra Nevada. So his bathroom is always clean and fresh. Now, Mr. Sanabria, what do you think of the thing about using china as a bucket? His Royal Highness Novartis lives too luxuriously, or Chinese porcelain is not so noble now?"

"The count doesn't value porcelain very much," Andrade said. "One time, in order to test his marksmanship, he took out a whole set of Chinese porcelain tableware as a target. At a distance of 25 watts, he shot those beautiful butter with a pistol. Dishes, saucepans, and soup plates were smashed to pieces. If I had gone through the same shooting practice, I admit I would have been bankrupt within a few times."

Sanavria blushed from drinking too much, thinking he had found a straw to save his face, he yelled loudly: "Nonsense, it's a lie! No one, with any pistol, can never 25 Hitting a saucer at Vala's range. Only the most shameless liar would be so absurdly boastful. I believe that even at half the distance of 25 Vala, he could hit nothing, even if the target was a dining table."

"Hey, beware, Monsieur Sanavria, you are dishonoring a nobleman, perhaps two."

The richest businessman in the colony didn’t take the warning seriously at all, and the resentment accumulated throughout the party burst out together with the smell of alcohol: “Italian noble titles are only worth 100 ducats! A fake family tree is not worth that much money."

"That's true," began the Secretary of the Governor's spit, "I've been in Naples for a while. When I left there, I had 119 princes and 156 dukes on my guest list." , 173 marquises, and counts no fewer than three hundred. A Genoese broker, or a Venetian gambler, buys a barren piece of land in Mezzgiono with the money he wins at the card table, and he earns himself one It's a knighthood. It's a lucrative business, and it's worth bragging about."

(End of this chapter)