Chapter 389 - Private Purpose

“A pleasure to meet you!”

After a brief exchange of pleasantries at the docks, Wei Bachi accompanied the two men in inspecting the marine corps. After the inspection, they boarded a carriage and headed towards the trading post next to the customs house.

To prevent the Dutch from bringing in plagues, every time they arrived, they could only stay at the trading post. No matter how much the governor boasted about the esteemed status of the “prince’s diplomat,” in the eyes of the Yuanlao Senate, they were all potential carriers of germs.

The trading post was located in a corner of the docks, a beautiful three-story red brick building. It was surrounded by a half-man-high bamboo fence, on which climbing roses were entwined, now in full bloom. It looked very beautiful with its riot of colors, but in reality, it was covered with small thorns, serving the function of a barbed wire fence. The upper floor of the trading post was a hotel for merchants, diplomatic envoys, and high-ranking sea officers—this place did not receive the “scum of humanity”: sailors. They had to stay on their ships and were not allowed to come ashore to sleep.

The ground floor housed a canteen, a bar, and a duty-free shop. It had not only separate toilets but also bathing facilities. It was staffed with Korean public security soldiers from Jeju, armed with large batons. Their first priority was to urge the guests staying here to take a bath, otherwise, they would be met with the batons.

To ensure the safety of the service personnel working here, they had all been vaccinated against smallpox and had received experimental vaccines for various common infectious diseases of the time.

The envoy’s party, of course, did not have to enjoy such “courtesy.” Compared to the Europeans of that time, the Dutch were quite hygienic. Both the English and the French were deeply impressed by the cleanliness and orderliness of Dutch cities and homes.

“Please rest here for a while and recover from your journey,” Wei Bachi said as he escorted them to the main hall of the trading post. “We can talk about any business tomorrow.” He gestured to the service staff waiting for the guests in the hall. “Take good care of our guests.”

“Yes, Headman!”

Zhong Lishi said, “I’ll accompany them upstairs.”

Wei Bachi chuckled, “What, are you excited to see little Huygens’s father? Or have you taken a fancy to the little foreign filly?”

Dr. Zhong also smiled back, “I want to have more discussions with little Huygens’s father. He is also a scientist, and we have a lot in common…”

The entourage of Huygens and Banckert was accommodated on the second floor, while they were led to the third floor of the trading post—reserved for high-ranking guests or those willing to pay a premium for luxury. Four rooms had already been prepared here. A wooden plaque with the guest’s name written in German hung on the door of each bedroom.

The attendant opened the door of the first bedroom. “This is the young lady’s room,” Zhong Lishi said with a beaming smile.

Kretia couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s beautiful!”

Although the three men did not speak, their faces also showed admiration.

By 17th-century standards, this room was not luxurious, let alone beautiful. If one were to judge by the decorative style of the time, it was very “Dutch”: the room was small, the walls were painted snow-white, and the floor was covered with clean floorboards. The furniture was simple and practical, without many carved decorations. The only things that could be called decorations were a Chinese painting on the wall and fresh flowers in a porcelain vase.

Although the artistic style was different, the overall aesthetic taste was typically Dutch bourgeois.

If there was anything that aroused everyone’s admiration, it was the large glass window facing the bay, which offered a view of the azure sea and the verdant mountains in the distance—a pleasant scenery.

Dr. Zhong’s attention had been on Huygens’s father, but now he turned his gaze to Frans van der Banckert’s two children.

Because Caucasians mature early, it is difficult to estimate the age of young boys and girls. Dr. Zhong had had contact with many Europeans and Americans in his past work, and had even made friends with a few Germans, so he had some idea. From their appearance, Kretia was probably sixteen or seventeen, and Westerly should be two or three years younger than his sister.

Their hair was a beautiful shade of gold. Kretia and Westerly were not tall. Kretia was at most 1.60 meters tall, and Westerly was even shorter. Both had well-proportioned and beautiful figures, but the already mature girl showed no signs of being buxom—Dr. Zhong couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“Is this a suite?” Kretia curiously opened a small wooden door inside and immediately covered her mouth, exclaiming in surprise, “Good God!”

“What’s wrong, sister?” Perhaps due to his age, Westerly was much more extroverted than his emotionally reserved father. He immediately rushed over.

At the doorway, Westerly also let out a cry of surprise, “It’s… incredible!”

He turned his head and looked at Zhong Lishi with an eager gaze, “Sir… is this, is this the Australian lavatory…”

Dr. Zhong smiled faintly. The modern bathroom facilities were the most shocking equipment in this time. No native could resist its powerful charm. For Europeans, this shock was even greater because the entire bathroom was made of porcelain.

“Can these pipes really dispense hot and cold water by themselves?”

“Of course,” Zhong Lishi said. “The principle is actually not much different from a fountain.”

“Yes, I understand, but a fountain is just a fountain,” Westerly’s eyes shone with excitement. “This is amazing!” He said to his smiling sister, “It was so right for us to come here!” Then he ran from the bathroom doorway to Dr. Zhong. “May I ask you for instruction every day? I have always been puzzled by the law that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’…”

“Of course…” Dr. Zhong was a bit caught off guard. He had originally wanted to have more academic exchanges with Huygens’s father and also inquire about the current situation of Christiaan Huygens. He hadn’t expected this young boy to have such a great passion for science as well.

He quickly filtered through his mind the European scientists of this historical period, but it seemed there was no one named Westerly Banckert.

“That’s wonderful!” Westerly turned to look at his father. “May I, Father?”

“Of course, my child,” Mr. Banckert, though looking very serious, clearly doted on this boy. “As long as Dr. Zhong doesn’t object.” He then bowed slightly to Dr. Zhong again. “I hope this doesn’t cause you any trouble…”

“No, not at all,” Dr. Zhong’s penchant for teaching flared up again. “I am very willing.”

Dr. Zhong then informed them of a few points of attention—according to the regulations, foreign visitors could only move around the trading post and the civilian docks. If they wished, they could also go for a walk on the commercial street. To enter Kaohsiung city, they had to apply for a pass.

After the pleasantries were over, Dr. Zhong was about to leave when Mr. Banckert suddenly walked a few steps closer.

“Dr. Zhong, please wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

“I have a small personal request,” Mr. Banckert seemed a little embarrassed. “You know, smallpox has always been a very dangerous plague.”

“Yes.”

“I have heard in both Holland and Batavia that the Chinese have a surgical procedure to prevent smallpox, which can allow a person to contract a mild case of smallpox without life-threatening danger, and then be immune to smallpox for life—”

“That’s right. It’s called variolation,” Zhong Lishi nodded and asked in return, “Do you want to have your children inoculated?”

“You can probably see that my children have never had smallpox. I hope they can escape the clutches of the plague god… so this time I was willing to take the risk of bringing them to Asia. But in Batavia, I inquired about the specific method of inoculation from the Chinese—I know a little about medicine: this method of active infection is not very safe and has a rather high mortality rate…” Mr. Banckert looked very anxious.

Zhong Lishi nodded. Although variolation was an innovation in preventive medicine, it was much more dangerous than cowpox vaccination.

“At that time, someone told me that the Australians have a special kind of variolation that can make the inoculated person one hundred percent safe…”

Only then did Dr. Zhong understand: no wonder this high-ranking official of the East India Company would risk bringing his two children on a sea voyage of thousands of miles—from Holland to Batavia, a normal voyage took more than one hundred and sixty days—risking shipwreck to come to East Asia. Besides satisfying his son’s desire to “see the world” and become a naturalist, there was also this intention.

Indeed, Lingao now vaccinated all the refugees it received with cowpox—this was the easiest vaccine to obtain and basically eliminated smallpox infection. This reputation seemed to have gradually spread.

He then said amiably, “This is not a big problem. I will mention it to Mayor Wei.”

Kaohsiung already had professional epidemic prevention personnel vaccinating the refugees. Adding a few more people was not a difficult matter.

“Thank you so much!” Banckert was overjoyed to see that he did not refuse and immediately bowed. Dr. Zhong couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, “Pity the hearts of parents all over the world.”

“This is a small gift from me, as a token of my gratitude,” Mr. Banckert took out a beautiful small box.

“This… hmm,” although Dr. Zhong was very curious, according to the discipline of the Yuanlao Senate, Yuanlao could not privately receive gifts from natives. He immediately politely refused, “Mr. Banckert, we are not allowed to receive gifts privately. Your gift must be presented on a formal occasion…”

Seeing his firm expression, and having heard about the “integrity” of the Australian Yuanlao in Batavia, Banckert did not insist.

“Sir,” Westerly interjected, “where can I ask you for instruction?”

“Just come to the customs house. I am working on a project there,” Zhong Lishi pointed to the customs house outside the window and then said to Mr. Huygens, who was standing by with a smile, “I think Mr. Huygens might also be interested.”