Chapter 390 - Huygens

Zhong Lishi returned to the City Hall and reported the situation to Wei Bachi and the others. Although there were many Yuanlao present, most were on temporary assignment and not members of the Kaohsiung Forward Command Committee, so they were not required to attend the committee meetings. However, to formally respect the authority of the Yuanlao Senate, Bachi always notified them of meetings, leaving it up to them whether to attend or not.

Yuanlao like Hong Laojun and Shi Dafu never attended the Forward Command Committee meetings unless it concerned their own work. The naval Yuanlao also generally did not attend.

This time, however, the meeting room was filled with people, all smiling and with a spring in their step. Some were pacing back and forth, smoking cigars, with occasional bursts of laughter. The atmosphere was very lively.

As soon as Dr. Zhong entered, he felt something was off. He braced himself and first talked about the specific accommodation arrangements, then mentioned Mr. Banckert’s request.

“The cowpox vaccine is no problem, I can make the decision on that,” Wei Bachi said after some thought. He was holding a giant, corona-shaped South Sea cigar, which didn’t quite match his face. “What do you think is the real purpose of these two Dutchmen coming here? To negotiate with us?”

“I don’t think there’s any specific purpose,” Dr. Zhong said. “The envoy from the governor said it was a private visit.”

Liu Zheng said, “I think these two Dutchmen have ill intentions. They’re probably spies!”

“Spies for sure. Not just in this era, even hundreds of years later, diplomats still have the duty to collect intelligence,” Wei Bachi said dismissively. “Anyway, let’s show them some muscle. Maybe in the future, we can just tell the Dutch to get out of Dayuan, and it will save us the trouble of using force.”

What interested everyone most was the little foreign filly. The Yuanlao were puzzled why the Dutch would bring children all the way to East Asia. Now that they heard from Dr. Zhong that it was for vaccination, they were relieved. After all, in an era where everyone from emperors and nobles to common people paled at the mention of “the flower” (smallpox), a medical technique that could prevent infection was worth taking such a big risk for.

Moreover, given their status, although the sea voyage was arduous, they were not destitute sailors or small merchants. They didn’t have to risk sailing on dilapidated ships that needed constant bailing to stay afloat, nor would they die from prolonged consumption of poor food and overwork. Their safety was somewhat guaranteed.

“By the way, what are the identities of these two people?” Wei Bachi asked.

“According to the envoy from Dayuan, Huygens’s father is here representing the prince—that is, he represents the government of the Seven Provinces, not the East India Company. As for Mr. Banckert, he is a senior commercial officer of the East India Company, at least at the same level as Hans Putmans here.”

“I still don’t get it. Why would the Dutch send a diplomat and a senior commercial officer to Taiwan? And send a special ship? Just to get their children vaccinated and see our construction achievements? Are the Dutch sick?” Liu Zheng was still puzzled.

“I believe their purpose is to negotiate with the Shogunate to resolve the Hamada Yahyōe incident,” Wei Bachi had considered this question many times. He said, “The trade between Japan and the Netherlands has been interrupted since 1626. According to the historical trend, it was in this very year that the issue was finally resolved with the Dutch making concessions.”

With this explanation, everyone was more at ease. The trade with Japan was indeed the most important trade activity of the Dutch East India Company in East Asia. One could imagine their urgency in resolving this issue.

“The only thing I find strange is this representative of the Dutch government—Mr. Constantijn Huygens is not an employee of the East India Company, and the government of the United Seven Provinces generally does not interfere in the East India Company’s activities in Asia.”

Li Di said, “Huygens is probably more interested in us—after all, we are now a major power in East Asia.”

“That’s also possible,” Wei Bachi nodded. “Let’s entertain them and see what tricks they can pull.”

Then he said to Zhong Lishi, “I’ll leave this matter to you. I see you’re very interested in old Huygens…”

Zhong Lishi quickly defended himself, “I’m interested in his son…” He suddenly realized this was also inappropriate and quickly changed the subject, “They are our guests, so we should naturally be good hosts.” Then he looked at the other Yuanlao and said earnestly, “They are our guests. Please don’t do anything to frighten them—behave yourselves.”

Immediately, all the Yuanlao present expressed that they were “delighted to have friends from afar” and had absolutely no zombie-like intentions, that they were all “gentlemen” of the Yuanlao Senate. Then they all expressed that a grand reception should be held to entertain the Dutch distinguished guests. Wei Bachi was particularly enthusiastic about this:

“We must entertain our foreign… no, our guests well,” he said, waving his cigar. “Let them fully experience the hospitality of our Yuanlao Senate and our deep friendship with the Dutch people.”

At dusk, Zhong Lishi and several cooks began to prepare the dishes for the reception in the customs house kitchen.

Besides being a man of great learning, Dr. Zhong was also a bona fide “foodie.” He not only loved to eat but also loved to learn how to cook. In Lingao, he had started cooking for himself very early on. After the Taibai Observatory was completed, whenever his colleagues from the Ministry of Science and Technology got their hands on good ingredients or found a suitable excuse, they would gather at the observatory and have Dr. Zhong cook a meal for them. Some people joked that besides a lot of instruments and equipment, the Taibai Observatory also had a lot of kitchenware.

On this business trip to Taiwan, he had also made ample preparations for his own appetite. He had brought a full box of various kitchen utensils and seasonings. The long-vacant kitchen in the customs house was now his to use.

The kitchen was now bustling with activity. Zhong Lishi instructed Zhong Xiaoying to watch over the pot of simmering tomato soup, while he himself used a hammer to pound the meat paste for the Yanpi wrappers. After preparing the Yanpi, he turned back to tell Xiaoying to bring the seasoned meat filling, only to find that the person helping him was Huygens.

Zhong Lishi was surprised, “Mr. Huygens? Why are you…”

Huygens smiled slightly and said to Zhong Lishi, “I am also very interested in cooking. I just heard from your daughter that you are good at cooking, especially roast duck, which is very delicious. I wanted to see what’s the difference between your roast duck and our roast goose…”

“Welcome! Welcome! Just don’t mind the messy kitchen…” Zhong Lishi greeted Huygens while wondering to himself: when did Zhong Xiaoying learn to speak German? As for these few Dutchmen, it would be a great achievement if they could speak a few broken phrases of Cantonese.

Zhong Lishi looked back and saw Zhong Xiaoying skillfully inflating a duck, chatting and laughing with the blonde girl while she worked. Although he couldn’t make out what they were saying, he could see they were communicating.

“Xiaoying!?” Zhong Lishi was greatly surprised.

Huygens probably noticed his surprise and smiled faintly, saying, “You don’t need to be surprised. Your daughter doesn’t speak German, but Kretia learned a lot of Chinese from the Chinese sailors and merchants on the ship and in Batavia…”

“It’s Cantonese, right?” Zhong Lishi said.

Huygens was puzzled, “Isn’t that Chinese?”

Zhong Lishi was at a loss for words. This traditional misunderstanding, where any Chinese person in a Hollywood movie in the 20th century would speak Cantonese, had a long history indeed. He could only say, “You see, you speak Low German, while Mr. Banckert and I speak High German… You can’t say they are the same thing, can you?”

“Oh, I understand what you mean,” Huygens said thoughtfully. “But the German you speak is very strange…”

Dr. Zhong was about to explain further when he heard a burst of laughter from the two girls. Seeing Zhong Lishi had noticed her, Zhong Xiaoying gave him a mischievous smile and said loudly in Mandarin, “Father, I don’t understand her Cantonese very well either…”

Dr. Zhong reminded her, “Be careful with your work, don’t get burned!”

Zhong Xiaoying said to Zhong Lishi, “Kretia said she wants to teach me how to cook fish the Dutch way…”

“Is that so? That’s wonderful,” Zhong Lishi thought this was a good way to promote friendship. Of course, what specific use this friendship had was hard to say…

He suddenly realized that his own thinking had become too “Yuanlao-ized.” Everything had to have a meaning and a purpose.

Zhong Lishi hung the inflated ducks in the roasting oven—he had roasted six in total. Needless to say, the Yuanlao were big eaters, and the few Dutchmen were probably big eaters too, so six ducks were the minimum. He checked the fire, poked it with an iron hook, and seeing the fire was right, he closed the fire door and went to watch Kretia’s Dutch-style roast fish.

“Remove the bones, tail, and head, leaving only the meat… then add olive oil, bay leaves, onions, milk…”

It was clear that Kretia was a skilled cook, her movements very practiced. Dr. Zhong couldn’t help but praise her a few times. He felt that this girl should be considered a young lady from a good family, and he didn’t expect her to be able to cook.

“I used to help my mother cook,” Kretia said. “Later, God took my mother, and then it was just me who cooked…”

Dr. Zhong knew that the average life expectancy in this era was very short, but from her words, he could tell that the Banckert family was not a wealthy one in their early years. Otherwise, in this era of cheap labor, they wouldn’t have had the wife and daughter cooking in the kitchen. No wonder she and Zhong Xiaoying had a lot in common—they were both from working-class backgrounds.

“Miss Banckert is a very capable young lady. We are very grateful for her taking care of our lives on the journey,” Huygens said with a smile. He was a Dutch nobleman and a diplomat, but the social atmosphere in the Netherlands was different from that of other European countries. Nobles and the wealthy lived simple lives and valued labor, so their attitude towards labor was relatively positive.

Dr. Zhong took the opportunity to inquire, “Mr. Huygens, how is your young son, Christiaan?”