MTL - Into Unscientific-Chapter 9 Not an ideal start (Part 2)
Chapter 9 is not an ideal start (Part 2)
“Make your own wooden dinner plate?”
Xiao Niu’s request may seem harsh to ordinary people, but Xu Yun did not hesitate this time, and readily agreed:
"No problem, leave it to me."
Xu Yun is very clear that making wooden dinner plates by himself is a very special and common phenomenon in the current era.
Britain in 1665 was still in the first stage of colonial expansion. It would not be until after 1689 that the national economy would see a substantial increase.
So at this stage, most ordinary Britons are still in the barren period of taking a bath every 5 months.
If you take a sharper attitude, it is not an exaggeration to say that the last sentence is particularly barbaric.
In this era, rich people use plates made of solder. This plate seems to be quite tall, but there is a fatal flaw:
Foods high in acid can allow some lead to leach into the food, causing lead poisoning and even death—since this is most likely to happen when eating tomatoes, they were considered poisonous for the next 200+ years.
And ordinary manor owners like Newton—or the Isaac family, most of the tableware used is wooden food plates, that is, a piece of wood is hollowed out into a bowl shape.
This dish is also often made with stale homemade bread:
Due to a long time, the bread will become particularly hard, and it can be used for a long time by hollowing out the middle.
When the bread bowl can't hold anything, everyone will grind it into powder and feed it to the pigs.
Those who don’t raise pigs will periodically collect the waste bread, and when the time is right, they will sell it together, which is similar to local waste paper recycling.
no way.
In this era of lack of productivity, the so-called manor owners are actually a little better than ordinary people.
It’s like the local ancient landlords. They actually have to go to the fields on weekdays, and the food they eat is not often meaty, and in many cases it is even just clear soup and little water.
Of course.
The economic level of Newton’s family is actually not that low, but as mentioned earlier, the family funds are mainly in the hands of his mother Hannah, and Newton himself was a poor poor man until 1669.
Therefore, Newton's request for Xu Yun to make tableware by himself is indeed not contemptuous or abusive, because he himself did the same.
And just when Xu Yun's mind was fluttering, Xiao Niu suddenly thought of a rumor about the Orientals, and asked aloud:
"By the way, Fat Fish, can you cook?"
"Let's say it's Raindance, let's say it's a fat fish."
Xu Yun sighed slightly, gave up the idea of correcting Newton's pronunciation, and nodded at the same time:
"Of course it will."
Xu Yun's answer is with strong confidence, because his cooking skills are indeed much better than ordinary people—especially when the comparison object is British cuisine in the seventeenth century.
Mentioned earlier.
Xu Yun had been an exchange student at Trinity College in his previous life, so he had some experience with the ‘food’ of Great Britain.
As for the look and feel.
In the 21st century, Britain has a nickname called the Food Desert.
But many people who say that British food is unpalatable have never eaten British food.
This approach is obviously not objective. If you want to evaluate the food of a country, you should taste it yourself to have more say.
And once you have tasted British food for yourself, you will find
British food is really tm unpalatable.
be honest.
British fish and chips are really good, York pudding is also quite suitable for the appetite of Chinese people, and there is nothing wrong with the serious British breakfast. If you are not used to it, it is mostly a matter of taste, not a dark dish.
But other than this, other British dishes are really hard to describe - looking up at the starry sky is an introduction, and the Hellfire series is called ruining the three views.
So during the two years of staying in the UK, Xu Yun has practiced a pretty good cooking skill, and also used it to meet a school girl - of course, a large part of this is due to station B Teacher Wang Gang and his planetary engine stove.
all in all.
Relying on the accumulation of culinary skills in his previous life, Xu Yun finally uttered the most confident sentence so far:
"Mr. Newton, to tell you the truth, my hometown is a powerful country famous for its gourmet food, and I have also learned the skill of cooking since I was a child.
Take Britain as an example. This place is near the sea, and the cooking of offshore and coastal creatures happens to be my specialty.
Such as roasted lobster, braised sea crab, steamed Fujianese, etc.”
Then he paused, thinking of his mission, and continued to hint with words:
"In addition to cooking, I also have some experience in academics - I am a teaching assistant at the School of Natural Sciences of the Leiden Institute of Higher Education, and I am quite proficient in mathematics and physics. If you are interested, Mr. Newton"
However, before Xu Yun finished speaking, Newton lowered his eyelids and interrupted:
"Thanks, I see.
How about this, Fat Fish, I will prepare some ingredients for you tomorrow, and then I will see your craftsmanship—I have read some ancient books in Cambridge University, and I heard that the oriental cuisine is completely different from what I usually see in Britain. Hope to taste it.
The other is the maintenance of the fruit trees in the manor, at least twice a day to visit the garden.”
Newton's words were all focused on Xu Yun's work, as if he hadn't heard the second half of his introduction.
Xu Yun nodded mechanically, and blinked in a daze:
This script is wrong!
According to the normal situation, Newton should not be surprised after hearing his introduction. He looked at him with a mixture of surprise, suspicion and scrutiny, and then threw a question that had been stuck for a long time, and he was ecstatic when he solved it. , Shout out that my way is not alone, then pull myself to hold a candle to talk at night, and finally go to sleep, and when I wake up, will I find that the task is completed?
But soon, Xu Yun figured out the reason:
There is no other reason, because the opponent is Newton!
Newton who is so proud that he doesn't even care about his mentor!
He must have heard the second part of Xu Yun's words clearly, and probably won't have doubts—but so what?
There are many students at the same level as Newton or even advanced students at Cambridge University. Have you seen Newton manage them?
In Newton's view.
For those problems that cannot be solved by oneself, no one else can solve them except for a few people—and those few people are either in the Royal Society of England, or in the Berlin Academy of Sciences, or in the Paris Academic Union. It is even more impossible to be the same age as him!
This is the arrogance born of extreme self-confidence, but Newton is also worthy of this arrogance.
Newton’s academic attitude towards others is like people walking on the road who don’t care about the ants under their feet.
Summer worms, you can’t speak ice.
This is Newton, this is Newton.
A genius who cannot be regarded with common sense, has a deformed and unpleasant personality, but is brilliant!
So naturally, Xu Yun was ignored by Newton as a rare person.
In addition, when things have come to this point, Xu Yun has roughly determined his status:
The guest who is between the guest and the servant does not need to salute the calf or others like a servant, but he still has to help with some work on weekdays.
If Xiao Niu is satisfied, Xu Yun may have to work part-time as a cook.
As for the timing of academic entry, I am afraid that we need to observe it separately.
There are definitely opportunities, but the variables are not small.
all in all.
This is an unsatisfactory start, and it takes a bit of thinking to complete the task.
(end of this chapter)
