The Samentos stayed for three days in a small courtyard in the hall, and only then were they informed that the emperor would entertain them at 3 p.m. one morning.

Sadto, who had been a little anxious, finally relented, and he prepared to change into his most gorgeous outfit as a way to show his respect for the Chinese emperor.

However, after receiving a bribe from Sarmento with a bag of silver coins, one of the officials who arranged for them to meet the emperor suggested that he should change into a simple and loose dress to avoid sweating too much when he met the emperor, which would affect his appetite.

The official's blunt suggestion made Sarmento look embarrassed. In fact, compared to his European compatriots, Sarmento was a very clean and tidy European.

After the Renaissance, the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages were moving away from Europe, but some of the habits left over from the Middle Ages had not yet been changed.

For example, in the Middle Ages, people believed that bathing would lead to weakness and eventually infection. This statement was even confirmed by doctors of the time, and many European doctors declared that the best way to prevent the Black Death was not to bathe.

So in medieval Europe, from the commoners to the kings, they all tasted the same. Although the fear of death made the European aristocracy choose the vulgar of not bathing.

However, because of the body odor problem caused by not bathing, these nobles also gave up many pleasures in life. As a last resort, the European aristocracy introduced perfume-making techniques from the Arabs to improve their body odor.

Derived from Egyptian mummification-making techniques, this perfume soon became popular in Italy, Eastern Europe and other regions. However, the perfume manufacturing technology of this era is not enough, and the volatility and durability are not high.

Therefore, the way the aristocracy used perfume, in addition to spraying clothes and furniture, was to make perfume gloves.

Although there are a lot of spices in India and Southeast Asia, there are no perfume workshops, so it is difficult for these Europeans to replenish their perfumes. And in tropical Goa, perfume alone can't suppress the body odor brought by not bathing.

Whether it's Japan, China, or India, cleansing the body is seen as a way to expel the source of disease. In the spirit of following the local customs, most Europeans who sailed to Asia largely embraced this oriental way of life, and Sarmento was no exception.

The formal suit that Sarmento had prepared was too thick. Basically, starting from the neck, the body is wrapped tightly. In such a hot weather, he will soon give off an unpleasant smell from sweat.

Having been trading in the East for nearly a decade, Sarmento clearly knew how to enlist the help of the attendants of these Eastern princes.

After paying two more small bags of silver, the chamberlain asked the staff of the guild to prepare bath water for Sarmento, and handed him a wooden box of the same strange shape.

According to the waiter's explanation, this wooden box contains scented soap, and this object made of brass and glass is a tool used to spray the perfume contained in the glass** below.

As long as you pull the handle, you can draw the perfume in the glass ** from a tube, and then push it out, and it becomes a perfume mist. This tool is said to use the power of science called vacuum.

Samento feels that this gadget in his hand is particularly amazing, the perfume in the perfume ** is used up, and it can be removed and refilled, and it can be used repeatedly. He felt that if he could bring one of these toys back to Lisbon, he would definitely win the favor of a noblewoman.

He sniffed the scent left by the perfume mist in the air, the smell was fragrant and mellow, like the smell of roses. "Those favorite concubines of the Indian kings will be fascinated by this perfume." He thought to himself.

Samento was thinking about how he would open his mouth to the Emperor Ming and buy some perfumes and sprayers later, when he walked into the bathroom specially arranged for him with his head down, but was stunned by the glass bust hanging on the wall.

Although glass mirrors are no longer a treasure in Europe, they are still an expensive luxury.

Since the invention of the glass mirror by the Venetians more than 100 years ago, the glass mirror has brought an endless source of wealth to the Venetians, replacing the spice trade that the city once monopolized, and becoming the new pillar of Venetian trade.

In Europe, glass mirrors even have an alias called Venetian mirrors. When the glass mirror first appeared, a silver-framed glass mirror was worth £8,000, which was almost three times the price of a Raphael painting.

The problem is that it takes at least 2 or 3 years for Raphael to paint a painting, but it certainly doesn't take that long to make a glass mirror.

But even if this kind of glass mirror has the disadvantages of fragility and other shortcomings, it still makes European princes and nobles flock to it. Just about 30 years ago, the Duchy of Venice presented a beautifully decorated glass mirror to the Empress of France as a wedding gift.

It was about the size of the mirror in front of her, and was said to be worth as much as 150,000 francs, making it the most expensive wedding gift the queen had ever received. Although the value of silver in Europe has depreciated, 150,000 francs is equivalent to the salary of 30 musketeers for a year, and 60 musketeers can be equipped.

Samento was suddenly excited and cautiously walked to the mirror, which he looked at carefully, and found that although it was a little yellow in color compared to the Venetian mirror, and there were many bubbles, it was definitely a glass mirror.

If you remove the decorative part of the mirror, and the price of the glass mirror has fallen over the years, the mirror in front of him can be worth at least 3-50,000 francs, but this is the price in Europe.

In Asia, he had never seen such a large glass mirror, except for some small mirrors the size of palms. Because the road is too long, and the sea is stormy, no one will bring such a precious and easily broken mirror on board.

"Why is this kind of glass mirror, which is considered a luxury in Europe, hanging in this bathroom at will? Although this bathroom is used to entertain VIPs, the mirror is only framed by a layer of wood and is not decorated with gold and silver, and it is obvious that these Chinese do not regard it as very important. ”

Sarmento's heart suddenly moved, "Could it be that this is not a mirror shipped from Venice, but made by the Chinese themselves?" If I can get this secret, what else can I do at sea? ”

This sudden thought suddenly made his mouth a little dry. After a moment of calming down, he hurriedly finished his bath in the large wooden barrel of the bathroom, tidied up his appearance in front of the mirror, and walked out of the bathroom.

The waiter, who was already waiting a little impatiently, saw that he finally appeared, so he nodded and said to the interpreter on the side: "Let him follow, the time is almost up, let's go to the hall and wait for Your Majesty first." ”

After listening to the interpreter's message, Samento immediately replied cautiously: "Please wait a little longer with this noble person by the emperor's side, I hope to go back first and bring some gifts for the emperor." ”

Although he felt that this Westerner was procrastinating, the eunuch still nodded and agreed to his proposal.

When they returned to their lodgings, Sarmento's retinue was already waiting in the courtyard with their gifts, but the eunuch refused to allow them to go to the banquet with them, and instead ordered their gifts to be taken.

Feeling insulted, Sedom and several of his entourage all stared at Sarmento, waiting for his instructions. However, it was obvious that Samento was not in the mood to pay attention to these trivial matters now, so he simply asked his entourage to hand over the gifts to the servants sent by the museum, and also selected some other gifts for the eunuchs and interpreters.

Sammento's actions obviously won the favor of these Chinese, and the eunuch's expression became softer towards him.

Sarmento took the opportunity to pretend that nothing had happened, and asked the eunuch about the story of the glass mirror in the bathroom.

As he expected, this glass mirror was indeed made by the Chinese themselves. Unfortunately, the eunuch did not know how to make mirrors.

However, he got two useful pieces of information from the eunuch, one is that in Beijing, the price of glass mirrors is not high; Second, the mirror in the bathroom is only a defective product, and the quality of a good mirror made by the Chinese is about the same as that of a Venetian mirror.

Samento waited for a long time in a banquet hall large enough to accommodate dozens of people, and when he felt hungry, he finally met the long-awaited Chinese emperor to the singing of a Chinese eunuch.

According to the etiquette taught by the previous Chinese eunuch, Samento honestly bowed to the young emperor who was surrounded by several eunuchs, as reverent as he was when he met the pope.

After waiting for Sammento to finish the bowing ceremony, Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "You are not a citizen of my Ming Dynasty, in fact, you don't need to practice such a ceremony." ”

Sammento suddenly paused, and hurriedly replied humbly: "Since you have arrived in China, you should abide by Chinese etiquette." We Portuguese are peace-loving and love to trade with countries all over the world, so we respect local customs everywhere we go. Your Majesty, Please, don't mind. ”

Chongzhen smiled and didn't answer his words. Then he walked around him, took his seat on the top platform of the hall, and sat down.

After Chongzhen sat down, he greeted Sammento, "You can also sit down, you came all the way to Daming, you are a guest." Today, I invite you to eat and drink, and then enjoy the music and dance of our Ming Dynasty. Then tell me about the strange experiences you had while sailing overseas..."

Chongzhen's words suddenly blocked what Samento wanted to say. He fidgeted and accompanied Chongzhen to eat, although he was hungry, he still didn't know how to eat.