Chapter 7: Tomatoes and Eggs (Collect Them)

  What was under his feet wasn't anything else, but rather one of the things he liked to eat in his past life - tomatoes. However, the thing under his feet now looked like a strawberry in shape, completely without the smooth skin and perfect shape he remembered, nor was it as big as he recalled. He squatted down and used his hand to dab some juice on the tip of his nose and took a sniff, a sour smell assaulted his nostrils, surprisingly even more pungent than those unripe green fruits.

  Just a few feet away, a group of people gathered around, and then heard a rough voice loudly saying: "Look, this is what we brought back from the sea, I'm not bragging, I've asked about it over there, this thing is called wolf peach, don't look at its bright color, if you eat it, you'll immediately get blisters and boils."

  "What are you bringing back here for? Are you trying to do something illegal? Don't think we won't catch you and report you to the authorities right now?" The person speaking in front of him was a 50-60 year old farmer, wearing straw sandals and carrying a hoe on his shoulder.

  "Old man, do you think I'm the kind of person who would deceive you? This trip is also too far away, otherwise I would have picked a few more of these things to broaden your horizons,"

  "On this half-person-high tree, there are so many red small fruits, how festive... Never mind, I won't be able to explain it clearly now. Anyway, I asked someone else for the seeds and when I grow them out, you'll see."

  Zhang Lei squeezed into the crowd and saw the man who was speaking. Due to his long-term activities at sea, his skin had been blown by the sea wind to become dark and dry, with wrinkles like old tree bark. His lips were very thick, his eyebrows were very dense, and his hands were covered in calluses. In front of him, there was a basket of not-so-fresh tomatoes.

  "You sell me the seeds and I'll give you ten taels of silver," Zhang Lei said after some thought to Hu Han San.

  "Huh?"

  His words were like throwing a stone into a calm lake, and everyone turned their heads in incredulity to look at him. Ten silver coins? You must be joking, how many piculs of rice can you buy with that? On a day when pigs are slaughtered, not even a few coins can be earned, and yet he opens his mouth and it's already worth several pigs!

  Hu Han San jumped down from the half-person-high wooden platform and walked in front of Zhang Lei, saying: "This gentleman is really good at telling jokes." He shook a small box in his hand, which was filled with flat, grayish-yellow things that looked like kidneys and were only slightly larger than sesame seeds. "Ten taels of silver?"

  Zhang Lei nodded and directly took out a ten-tael silver note, saying: "The money is right here, you give me the seeds, I'll give you this money."

  Seeing Zhang Lei speaking so formally, with so many people around as witnesses, Hu Han San felt at ease and handed the seeds over to Zhang Lei, taking the silver note from his hand. His face broke into a smile like a wrinkled dried tangerine peel: "This gentleman is really straightforward, may I ask, what do you want these seeds for?"

  "This is none of your business, I like this thing, everyone has seen it, and we've settled the bill. Zhang Lei didn't want to expose the secret of the tomato, so he said again: "Also, this thing is poisonous, throw them all away, or if someone accidentally eats one, you'll be in big trouble."

  This tomato is still in a semi-wild state and is considered an ornamental plant in the Americas and Europe, requiring cultivation to be edible.

  Having obtained the good stuff, Zhang Lei's mood seemed to have brightened up a bit. Holding the seeds in his hand, he seemed to be able to see that not long from now, tomatoes would be flourishing under his care.

  After a while, Zhang Lei said: "You risked your life to go out to sea and won't just bring back this little thing, I'll go up and take a look, is there anything else."

  Zhang Lei was originally extraordinary in temperament and generous in his actions, how could he refuse his requests? Hu Han San hastily said with enthusiasm: "There's more, I've brought back some things that are rarely seen in the Central Plains."

  Zhang Lei listened, and it seemed that a large sum of money had appeared in front of him again. However, he couldn't reveal his excitement, so he could only pretend to cough and calm down, saying: "Take everything out, if there's anything else like this..." He waved the tomato seeds in his hand and swallowed the second half of the sentence into his belly.

  "Yes, yes, yes." Hu Han San didn't dare to be slow and quickly took out several small packages. Zhang Lei rushed over to take a look and almost fainted from excessive excitement.

  "Nettle......" Zhang Lei saw something good again.

  "Hmm, how can you bring these things back to the Great Ming Empire? If the authorities find out... Alright, I've helped you once, so I'll help you again." Zhang Lei took out twenty taels of silver notes and said, "Give me all the goods, and from now on, if you bring these things back when you go out to sea..." He made a slashing motion across his neck and said, "Did you hear that?"

  "Yes, yes, I understand." Hu Han San nodded hastily while holding the money.

  Zhang Lei pretended to be calm and turned around to leave.

  "This man has a broad forehead and thick eyebrows, with a shiny face, and is dressed in fine clothes. Isn't he one of the officials?"

  "Huh... isn't some royal relative going out for a casual stroll?"

  "It's probably done, can't bear to see this harmful thing spread throughout the world, so I'll buy the seeds... Old Hu, hurry up and throw the things into the sea, otherwise when the government comes to catch you, you'll be finished..."

  “……”

  Everyone talked more and more absurdly, so that Hu Han was stunned, putting the two 100-tael silver tickets in his pocket, and then under everyone's persuasion, he poured all the tomatoes into the sea.

  At the corner of the street, Zhang Lei saw this scene and walked towards his own residence with ease.

  "What have you been up to? It's been two days already." William asked as he saw Zhang Lei come in, while eating a boiled egg.

  Zhang Lei sat opposite him, looking at the egg in his hand and said: "I'm going to find something. I was thinking, what thing is most fragrant when eaten with eggs?"

  "Huh?" William brought the egg in his hand to his eyes and said: "Did you find it or not?"

  "I've found half of it... Never mind, I won't tell you. I still have things to attend to." He said a few words and then started tinkering in his room. It wasn't until after dark that he came out.

  This dinner was eaten with each having their own concerns, and time also slowly passed by for more than two hours. Sitting in the courtyard, looking up at the sky, the stars were twinkling, it was really beautiful. Zhang Lei let out a sigh, propped up his legs, one hand picking his teeth and the other supporting his head, saying: "Look, the night sky has these stars as decorations, it's so beautiful. It's just a pity that two stars will never be together."

  William said: "That's not necessarily the case, sometimes you look up at the sky and there are comets, right? At that time, it's possible for two stars to be together. It just needs to be at the right time and in the right place."

  "Right time, right place... I never believed in fate, what's destined is to be strived for, and the conditions are all created by oneself, don't you think?" Zhang Lei had always been a person with strong self-awareness, and in his previous life, he was most disgusted by so-called astrological theories. In his view, anything wasn't about seeing hope before persisting, but rather persisting tirelessly would lead to seeing future hopes.

  "Caesar interrupted: 'I have something to say to you.'"

  "I also happen to want to discuss something with you all." Zhang Lei sat up straight and said seriously.

  "This is a telescope I made." Caesar said, taking out something that looked like a pen holder.

  Zhang Lei brought the thing over to try it out, although the magnification wasn't very high, but at least the thing was made, he asked: "Are you planning on taking it to see the Emperor?"

  Caesar nodded, and Zhang Lei said: "That's good. During this period of time, due to your careful teaching, my foreign language level has also improved a lot. Considering your eagerness to meet the emperor, I think we can put off the translation for now. If you can establish yourself in the capital, I will definitely find you to complete this great undertaking later. My departure time is almost here, and it's just right that I take advantage of this opportunity to return home. Why don't we leave early tomorrow morning?"

  The next morning, the three of them packed up their things and set off on the journey home, with Zhang Lei tightly clutching those packets of seeds.

  He came from Pinghai Town along the official road to Guangzhou Prefecture, and then rushed to Ganzhou Prefecture. From Ganzhou Prefecture, he took a boat along the Gan River and headed north, passing through Ji'an Prefecture, Linjiang Prefecture, Jiujiang Prefecture, and Anqing Prefecture. After more than a month, he finally arrived at Songjiang Prefecture. He rested for a while and finally set foot on the land of Xujiayang, Xian County three days later. This was his hometown in memory.