I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 491 I'm going to show you a magic trick

The banquet that Xia Qingdai attended with Owen at the Dinghai General Town Government was generally very grand. Although there were not many participants, there were many rules.

From seating arrangements to table manners, everything is in good order. From a bowl of white lotus paste to a bonsai tree, everything shows the brilliance of the civilization of a great country.

Xia Qingdai looked at the dazzling array of delicacies and decorations in front of her and wished she could pack them all up and take them away.

The delicacies are fine, as they can only fill your stomach, but the exquisite bonsai in front of you, if brought to modern times, would be even more amazing than micro-carvings, and would definitely sell for a good price.

This kind of precious stone and wood, which is only two feet high but extremely ancient, has a unique shape and is full of strangeness. It seems to have placed a small world in it, and it has the style of Chinese literati at first glance.

Xia Qingdai's favorite is the pot of Bolan placed next to Owen. It looks expensive! Of course, the acacia and hibiscus placed on the side tables in the hall are also full of artistic beauty and are priceless.

Not only Xia Qingdai was drooling over the bonsai used for decoration, but British Deputy Envoy Staunton also had the same expression. During the dinner, he could not help but express his amazement and kept asking how it was cultivated.

After listening to the missionary's translation, Dinghai Town General Ma Yu smiled with a hint of veiled smile and looked at the county magistrate Zhang Yutian: "Zhang County Magistrate, I am a rough man and I can't explain these things well. Why don't you introduce them to them?"

"Yes." Zhang Yutian took the responsibility. Although he was just a small county magistrate, he was a Jinshi who fought his way through thousands of troops and had excellent cultural accomplishment.

When it comes to bonsai, an art of miniaturization that combines gardening, literature, painting and other arts, it is a piece of cake.

At this time, they all had a psychological sense of superiority over the British. In their conversations, they would always reveal their mentoring side, giving the "red-haired card boys" some knowledge and shocking them with the vastness of the Celestial Empire.

Unfortunately, the translation skills of the Catholic missionaries who served as translators were so poor that Xia Qingdai could hardly continue listening.

The beautiful Chinese words in Zhang Yutian's mouth turned into very poor English words in the mouth of the missionary, which made bonsai look much less cool, just like translating "Journey to the West" into "monkey" in a crude way.

Xia Qingdai leaned her head slightly towards Owen and asked curiously, "Owen, why don't you act as a translator? This missionary's language expression level is really worrying."

Owen glanced at Xia Qingdai, covered his mouth with tea and whispered, "I don't like it."

"Oh, I see." Xia Qingdai understood.

Little Owen has never been a talkative person, and it is really difficult for him to act as a translator and keep talking nonstop.

When the banquet was almost over, Owen suddenly spoke in more standard Chinese than the missionaries: "Master Ma, Master Zhang, I have an unwelcome request, but I don't know if I should say it or not."

Ma Yu and Zhang Yutian were shocked to hear this handsome man who had been silent all the time suddenly speak, and speak fluent Chinese. They were speechless for a while before saying, "Please speak."

Then, without waiting for Owen to speak, he immediately asked, "Your name is Owen, right? I didn't expect you to speak Chinese so well. How did you learn it?"

Owen smiled faintly, without explaining, and said mysteriously: "I know a little magic, and I want to show you one."

"Magic?" Ma Yu and Zhang Yutian looked at each other, and the former extended his hand and said, "Please."

Staunton and John Barrow looked at Owen in confusion, not knowing what the always low-key Earl Fucui was going to do.

The missionary at the scene was not a competent translator. He was so absorbed in Owen's words and actions that he forgot to translate for Staunton and the others. Owen raised his lips mysteriously, stretched out a pair of slender hands with distinct knuckles, and shouted to Bolan beside him, "Get up!"

The words were said to the Bolan bonsai, but the eyes were directed at Xia Qingdai. The latter understood, smiled, and walked forward to pick up Bolan.

In the eyes of those who could not see Xia Qingdai, this was equivalent to Bolan flying up because of Owen's shout of "Get up"!

My goodness, what a weird trick! Could it be that this red-haired guy is a demon? Although Ou Wenming is obviously golden-haired, in the minds of the Qing people, he is from England, so he is red-haired.

In the 18th century, the British were nicknamed "Red Hair" by the Qing people, and both the government and the people called them that. The emperor Qianlong, who was addicted to eating, even wrote a poem for this delegation, called "The King of Red Hair Ji Li sent his envoys Magarni and others to present tribute and write poems to record the event."

No matter how good the poem is, you don't need to memorize it anyway. But it can be proved that in the 18th century Qing Dynasty, Hongmao Cardinal was the official name of the British.

After the Opium War, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Nanjing, in which "Red Card" was renamed "Great Britain".

The mentality of the Chinese people here can be seen from the words alone.

When the Qing officials present saw the floating bonsai, they couldn't help but lift their buttocks slightly, as if they were ready to run away if they disagreed with something.

Ma Yu, who still had military power, was the first to calm down and asked in a deep voice, "Are you really the Earl of England?"

"It's absolutely genuine." Owen smiled and looked sincere, definitely not like a monster.

But he is certainly different from other Englishmen.

Other people's hair was mostly red, and their skin was tanned red by the ultraviolet rays at sea, but Owen was the only one who had a pure white appearance from beginning to end.

"Do you know magic?"

"No, it's just a magic trick." Owen gave Xia Qingdai another look and said calmly, "Fall."

The Bolan bonsai flew in front of him and was placed quietly on his dining table.

Xia Qingdai looked at Owen with a smile. She already knew why Owen did this.

Sure enough, the next moment, Owen smiled and said, "My magic trick doesn't always work. It will only work when I encounter something that is particularly predestined for me. It seems that I have a predestined relationship with this tree today. I wonder if you two adults can give it up?"

Xia Qingdai covered her mouth and laughed. Owen saw that her eyes lit up when she saw the bonsai, so he bought it for her! He didn't know if the other party was willing to sell it.

She quickly turned around and looked at Ma Yu and Zhang Yutian with sharp eyes.

This kind of top-quality bonsai is definitely not available on the market, and it is not something you can buy just because you have money. Artworks are like antiques, they will not circulate in the market, but only in certain circles.

And to be honest, since the British people disembarked, they were followed by servants even when they went to the toilet. It was called leading the way, but in reality, what was the difference between it and surveillance? It was not easy to contact the locals and buy something.