Chapter 63

It had always been Father Joao who was speaking with Zhou Chong, while the priest Nader remained silent, giving the impression of being a man of few words. However, Zhou Chong was quite surprised when Nader unexpectedly opened his mouth and presented him with a gift.

However, since there was a gift to be received, Zhou Chong did not hesitate to accept it, and he was also curious about what kind of gift this priest Nader would give him. Xie Lingyun, who was standing nearby, seemed equally curious about Nader's gift. She lightly stepped over to Zhou Chong's side, turned her head, and looked at the gift in Zhou Chong's hand.

However, as soon as Xie Lingyun saw the surface of the gift, her face turned slightly red with embarrassment, because she saw a painting on the surface of the box depicting a bare-breasted Portuguese woman nursing a child. As an unmarried young woman, she naturally felt uncomfortable seeing such a scene and turned her head away, not daring to look again.

Unfortunately, just as Xie Lingyun turned her head, Zhou Chong opened the flat box and took a quick look inside, then immediately closed it and placed it in his chest, maintaining a calm expression as he said, "Thank you for the gift, Father Nader. Now, let's talk about the New World!"

Father Nader, seeing that Zhou Chong did not seem to value the gift much, felt quite disappointed. However, when he heard that Zhou Chong was still interested in the New World, he began to gather his spirits and recounted everything he knew, hoping to win Zhou Chong's favor, as their fate now rested in his hands.

Father Nader had spent over two years in the New World and was quite familiar with the situation there. However, his activities were mostly confined to the islands in the Caribbean, and he only occasionally set foot on the mainland. This was because most of the Spanish outposts were located on relatively safer islands, while the mainland, though frequently visited by merchant caravans, had not yet been deeply penetrated by the Spanish due to time constraints.

In addition to the development of the Spanish in the American continent, Father Nader also introduced many of the customs and traditions of the New World, such as exotic animals, plants, and local customs. Unfortunately, Zhou Chong knew more about these things than Father Nader, so he was not particularly interested. On the contrary, Xie Lingyun listened with great interest.

After asking all the questions he wanted to ask, Zhou Chong felt that these two priests might still be useful, so he asked Xie Lingyun to take them to Shuangyu Port. Xie Lingyun, who also seemed very interested in these two Portuguese, nodded in agreement and instructed Uncle Hei, who was behind her, to arrange for Father Joao and the others to rest in the area where the sailors stayed. Then she bid farewell to Zhou Chong and returned to her room.

As soon as Zhou Chong closed the door to his cabin, his calm face immediately turned excited. He turned to the lamp, took out the flat box, and with trembling hands, gently opened the lid. Inside, he found a piece of bark, which he could not identify, but that was not important. What was important was the layer of flat, round seeds at the bottom of the box. With his extensive experience eating peppers in his past life, and with Father Nader's confirmation that these were from the Americas, Zhou Chong was certain that these seeds were definitely chili seeds.

Chili peppers! Just thinking about them made Zhou Chong incredibly excited. First, he was a super fan of spicy food, and having chilies would satisfy his craving. However, that was secondary. The key was that the Ming Dynasty did not yet have chilies. If he could cultivate them and sell chili products as a high-end seasoning, the profits would be enormous, enough to drive anyone mad.

Of course, as a crop, chilies could not remain a secret forever. Even if Zhou Chong tried to keep it a secret, others would eventually find a way to get the seeds once they saw the potential profits. However, even if he could control the production of chilies for just a few years, the profits during that time would be enough to drive anyone mad. The key was how he would manage it.

Thinking about the potential profits from the chilies, Zhou Chong became even more excited. He had already agreed to cooperate with the Xie family on soap production, but the Xie family would take 80% of the profits in exchange for taking over the people left behind by his father, Zhou Hai. The remaining 20% of the profits, though not insignificant, might not be enough to support his people and expand his business in the future. For now, he could not think of any other way to make money quickly.

Just when he was worrying about his lack of funds, this golden opportunity fell from the sky. Zhou Chong was so happy that he kissed the box a few times, then carefully examined the chili seeds inside. He found that although the seeds had been stored for nearly two years, they still looked good, and there were several dozen of them, which was a small number but not a problem. He could just spend an extra year cultivating more seeds.

He carefully hid the box close to his body, then lay down on the bed, dreaming of becoming rich. Eventually, he fell asleep in a daze. The next morning, when the fleet set sail again, Zhou Chong had another difficult breakfast on the ship. By noon, the legendary smuggling base, Shuangyu Port, finally came into view.

Even before the Xie family's ship entered Shuangyu Port, Zhou Chong could already sense its prosperity. Around their fleet, various sizes of smuggling ships were constantly coming and going. Sometimes, when the sailors encountered acquaintances, they would shout greetings across the ships, chatting about which casino was cheating or which prostitute was the most exciting, often causing a commotion and even more vulgar comments. This was one of the reasons why Xie Lingyun had stayed in the cabin for most of the journey.

Amidst the coarse laughter of the sailors, the fleet slowly entered Shuangyu Port. As previously explained, Shuangyu Port was not just one port but a collection of several ports, with the main ones being North Port, South Port, and West Port. North and South Ports were located on the larger Liuheng Island, while West Port was on the smaller Fudao Island.

The first port to appear before Zhou Chong was North Port. The entire port was densely packed with various types of ships, mostly Ming Dynasty merchant ships like the Fuchuan and Guangchuan, but there were also some that looked similar to the Fuchuan but were somewhat crude. Zhou Chong learned from a sailor that these were Japanese and Korean ships modeled after the Fuchuan.

After the Xie family's ship entered Shuangyu Port, it did not dock at North Port but instead sailed through Shuangyu Gate to the more distant South Port. Although Xie Lingyun did not explain, Zhou Chong could guess that the Xie family's influence was likely centered around South Port.

Sure enough, as soon as the Xie family's fleet entered South Port, a small boat came forward to guide them. The entire fleet then docked in a berth on the right side of the port. As soon as the ship stopped, someone boarded to welcome them, or more accurately, to welcome Xie Lingyun.

"Sister Lingyun, why haven't you come to see me for so long?" A robust young woman leaped onto the ship, her slightly tanned face beaming with joy.

The young woman looked to be around eighteen or nineteen, with an extremely tall and athletic build. Zhou Chong estimated she was over 1.8 meters tall. Not only was she tall, but her figure was also incredibly fit, with a high chest, round buttocks, and long, straight legs that made one's heart race and want to look again. Her face was also very delicate, with a pair of long, slender eyebrows and slightly angular eyes that exuded a strong sense of vigor. Though not as delicate as a classical beauty, she had the lively charm of a modern sunny girl.

After seeing so many classical beauties like Zhuo'er and Xie Lingyun, Zhou Chong couldn't help but look at this athletic, sunny girl a few more times. Just then, he heard a rather lecherous voice beside him say, "Brother, isn't this girl beautiful?"

"Beautiful, really beautiful!" Zhou Chong, who was admiring the girl's chest and legs, immediately responded. However, he soon realized something was off and turned his head to see a black, shiny face right in front of him, which startled him. He took a step back and noticed that the person was a young man in his twenties with a rather dark complexion but a decent face. His black skin and white teeth gave him a particularly shiny appearance when he smiled.

Before Zhou Chong could ask about the man's identity, Xie Lingyun came out of the cabin and, upon seeing the athletic young woman on the deck, quickly walked over and said, "Sister, I knew you would come to meet me!"

Compared to Xie Lingyun's elegance, the athletic young woman, whom she called her cousin, was extremely enthusiastic. She rushed forward, hugged Xie Lingyun, and spun her around on the deck, causing Xie Lingyun to scream a few times, which only made the athletic young woman laugh even harder. Then the two cousins, who had not seen each other for a long time, began to chat nonstop.

"Brother, you have a good eye. I haven't met someone with such keen eyesight in a long time. Don't look at my sister being a bit tall and a bit tanned, but she is actually a very virtuous woman..."

However, just as the dark, shiny young man said the word "virtuous," Xie Lingyun said something that made the athletic young woman burst into a hearty laugh, her white teeth gleaming in the sunlight, completely disregarding the traditional modesty of not showing her teeth when smiling.

"Cough, cough," seeing his sister's lack of respect, the dark, shiny young man felt a bit embarrassed. He cleared his throat a few times and, with a forced smile, continued, "Occasionally, when she meets friends, she can't help herself, but overall, my sister is still a very refined young woman..."

Before the dark, shiny young man could finish his sentence, Xie Lingyun mentioned something about Father Joao climbing onto the ship the previous night. The athletic young woman, not even finishing her sentence, slapped the ship's rail and shouted, "What? A scoundrel dared to climb onto your ship, Sister? I'll skin him alive!"

The dark, shiny young man's face turned green. If it had been anyone else, he might have drawn his sword and attacked, but since it was his sister and their father was watching over them, he could only suppress his urge to vomit blood and, with a nearly crying smile, said to Zhou Chong, "Brother, since you have such good taste and are still unmarried, what do you think of my sister? If you like her, I'll talk to our father and ensure you two are married within three days!"