The red-haired man immediately leaned down, grabbed Xia Xun's palm, kissed it in a gentlemanly manner, and said diligently: "This is the etiquette for meeting our distinguished guests here. Mr. Xia, welcome to the romantic country of Frank."
Xia Xun smiled and asked curiously: "You speak Chinese quite well. How can you speak Chinese?"
Duck shrugged and said: "I have traveled to many places, to the far east, and lived there for several years..."
At this point, he seemed a little sad, so he changed the subject and asked: "Sir, is there anything I can do for you?"
Xia Xun said: "I heard that you are at war with Britain. I see that your place is very stable and prosperous."
Duck said: "Yes, because our place is relatively far away from the UK, and wars have never been fought here in the past. The wars have been continuous for more than a hundred years, and we are used to it."
This Dake was the French man who had a crush on Jeanne that Xia Xun had met in Besubali. However, Xia Xun had a beard at that time and deliberately disguised himself, which was very different from his current image. In addition, the two of them had only met each other before.
On the other hand, so many years have passed in time, so Dak didn't recognize him. He didn't recognize Dak.
Xia Xun said: "Okay, you take me around. I think if you serve me well in this city, I will take my women to visit the city tomorrow, and I will hire you then." He took out two
A gold coin exchanged in Morocco was handed to Dak's hand.
Dak was stunned. He put the gold coin in his mouth and bit it in front of Xia Xun. After confirming Xia Xun's generosity, he was immediately flattered and said: "Sir, you are so generous. Don't worry, I, Dak, will serve as your guide.
You will be satisfied. Although I have only been here for a few years, I know this city well..."
The talkative Dak started chattering endlessly while leading Xia Xun towards the city.
Although there were many magnificent buildings in France in the 19th century, the cleanliness of the streets and the planning of the cities were far from those in France. It was just the strong exotic atmosphere that was more attractive.
The houses in Marseille are small and dark, and the shops are all open to the street, just like the stalls in the Oriental market. All kinds of craftsmen: shoemakers, cobblers, tailors, carpenters, all do business on the street. Women gossip on the roadside.
, the children regard alleys and nooks and crannies as their paradise
Except for one main road, the other roads have not been paved. They are ordinary dirt roads with rutted tracks and busy traffic. Peasant women carry fruit baskets and sell along the street. Shepherds drive their sheep to compete with pedestrians for the road, while horse-drawn carriages drive tenaciously on the road.
During this chaos, the bell in the car kept ringing.
Many pubs don’t need signboards. The huge wine barrel at the door is the best signboard. From time to time, you can see a drunkard walking out of it. There are also places similar to Oriental hook-and-rail tile houses on the roadside, but they are open-air performances: juggling, flute, etc.
Six-stringed harp...
Paris at this time was not much better than Marseille, but by this time Paris's sewers had begun to be built underground in the style of the Romans more than a thousand years ago, while Marseille still had many drainage pipes in the open, so the streets were
Doesn't taste too good
When it rains heavily, the unpaved road becomes muddy, and the sewage from the drainage pipes overflows onto the street. The situation is really impressive.
Xia Xun walked along and saw all kinds of people. There were neatly dressed missionaries, lawyers and scholars on the street, and most of them were businessmen and ordinary citizens. Beggars were sitting listlessly outside the church, not shouting, just showing their deformity.
or crippled body in order to gain mercy
The thief moved around quietly in the crowd, with sharp blades hidden in his palms. Dak obviously knew these people and was very loyal to his employer. Before these people got close to him, he would immediately take a step forward and stand next to Xia Xun and
These guys in this world are very sensible and will walk away knowingly when they see this situation.
Duck led Xia Xun all the way, guarding against thieves, and also lost no time in showing off his knowledge and introducing the city to Xia Xun. It must be said that he is indeed a qualified tour guide.
When passing a high and narrow door, two boys of fourteen or fifteen years old who were standing next to the door suddenly ran over and said something loudly to them, while making gestures to invite them inside.
Dak blasted them away and said to Xia Xun: "They asked you to go in and take a bath. The steam bath can help you relax your body and mind. There is also a masseuse. Mr. Oh just got off the boat. So, do you want to go in and relax?
?”
Xia Xun said in surprise: "Is this a bathhouse? A public bathhouse? Don't you never take a bath? Oh, I mean, I heard that people here never take a bath."
"Never take a shower?"
Dak exclaimed in a fuss: "Oh my god, isn't that going to stink to death? How can there be such a thing? People here take baths very diligently. There are many bathrooms in this city, so many."
Speaking of this, Dak suddenly laughed a few times, moved around obscenely, and said in a low voice: "A long time ago, people here took off their clothes at home when taking a bath, and then ran naked to the bathroom to take a bath. At that time,
People often see a father running naked in front of him on the street, followed by his adult daughter, who is also naked.
But this is too unclear. When I was a child, my grandfather’s father could still be seen occasionally when he went to the city. With the promotion of aristocratic etiquette among the people, the naked buttocks on the streets have long disappeared, but the mixed bathing of men and women has always existed.
Now some clergy are strongly criticizing this matter and demanding that men and women bathe separately."
Xia Xun had heard that there was a period of time in Europe where men and women bathed together. He couldn't help but touch his nose and thought to himself: "Is it possible that the French people I met in those days never took baths, so they invented the best bathing system to cover up body odor?"
Are all the claims about perfume nonsense?”
In fact, Xia Xun was not wrong, and neither was Dak, but the time was wrong. Bathing was still a common thing in France at this time. There were public bathrooms everywhere. People not only bathed in the bathrooms, but also received guests, drank alcohol, and had haircuts in the bathrooms.
and bloodletting for medical treatment are all done in the bathroom.
It was more than a hundred years ago that the French did not take baths, but the reason for the ban on bathing was due to a war that took place more than a hundred years ago.
More than a hundred years ago, the Mongolian army began its western expedition. When they tried to capture a castle, they used their biological and chemical weapons: the corpses of some people who died of illness. Some people in the castle escaped when the city was breached.
Fleeed back to Europe and spread the plague virus from the prairie across Europe.
The physique of Europeans was obviously unable to cope with this virus from Asia. In just three months, the Black Death killed one-third of the population of Europe. The Black Death took three years to stop, but it did not disappear.
, since then, it will erupt again almost every ten or twenty years, but the lethality is not as good as the first time.
About a hundred years after Xia Xun set foot in the port of Marseille, French doctors made a major breakthrough in their research on the Black Death. These "Mongolian doctors" believed that when bathing, the pressure of the water, especially the fumigation of heat,
It will open the pores, allowing disease energy to enter the body
This theory led to the official ban on bathing. The French continued to promote this theory. They believed that bathing would not only cause people to contract infectious diseases such as plague and syphilis, but would also cause the body's essence to be lost through the pores.
If women are asked to bathe again, it will make them pregnant...
From then on, the French banned bathing for all people. Even the nobles only washed their hands with water every day. King Louis XIV of France never washed his legs before he was thirteen or seventeen years old. King Louis XIV of France was seriously ill. After bleeding eight times, the royal doctor had no choice but to wash his hands with water.
After cleaning the king's body with water, he immediately stopped this treatment with too many "side effects"
Even so, he was guided by other doctors
Xia Xun was lucky. He came to France a century early and didn't have to deal with a group of smelly French pariahs or French aristocrats smelling of pungent perfume. At this time, the French had no problem with personal cleanliness.
After Duck noticed that he mentioned mixed bathing, the wealthy oriental businessman immediately fell silent.
Duck didn't know that Xia Xun was thinking hard about whether the French could take a bath or not. He thought he was impressed by the mixed bath. For the price of two gold coins, he immediately laughed and said: "If Mr. Xia is interested
, I can take you to see it.”
Duck winked at Xia Xun and said with a smile: "Although some clergy are criticizing mixed bathing for men and women as immoral, and some separate bathrooms have been opened in the city, everyone still likes to bathe together.
You can get behind the curtains in the bathroom or in some small rooms where massage tables are placed...
Hey hey hey, you know, many nobles have bathrooms at home and will go there secretly."
Xia Xun frowned. He couldn't deny that he was quite curious about men and women appearing naked in a bathhouse, but he didn't have the courage to try it. But to be honest, he had never had a good bath on the ship.
I just want to take a quick bath
When I think of taking a bath, I think of clothes. It's time for them to make a few sets of clothes. It would be interesting to change Su Ying and Tang Saier into European-style ladies' or ladies' clothes.
Thinking of this, Xia Xun smiled and said: "In this case, you take me to a tailor shop and I want to buy a few sets of clothes. Then, you take me to the kind of bathroom where men and women have separate baths. I want to take a bath there."
Dak quickly agreed, and along the way he kept urging him to go to that "" to see the world, and tempted him by saying that he was handsome and handsome, and would win the hearts of many beauties. Xia Xun just laughed and said nothing.
There are many tailor shops on this street, as well as many ready-made garments. When Xia Xun walked out of the garment store, he had completely changed his appearance.
He was wearing a pure white shirt. Some thin French people would fill the front and shoulders of the shirt with wool or other rags to make them bulge. However, Xia Xun has strong and strong chest muscles and does not need so much at all. This shirt
It perfectly sets off his muscular upper body
Outside, he wears a black satin tube-shaped coat with loose sleeves and a slightly tight waist. The collar is raised up, just covering the ears. On his feet, he wears a pair of pointed-toe shoes. The tailor also gave him a cane for free.
When Xia Xun walked out of the clothing store by turning his cane with two fingers, he felt like a magician
The only thing that didn't match was probably his bun. This didn't bother Xia Xun. He tied his hair into a ponytail and hung it casually on the back of his head. Not only did it not match the Western style of the clothes, but it also made him look even more elegant.
Handsome and energetic
He also bought a set of clothes for Su Ying and Tang Saier each. With his eyesight, the difference in body size and fatness should not be too big. The clothes he chose for Su Ying were a high-waisted and loose skirt with some trailing.
placket, tight sleeves, lace at the collar, and a tall pointed hat with tulle
We often see princesses and ladies dressed up like this in European movies about the century. I believe that after dressing up like this, Su Ying will transform from a female pirate to a French noblewoman. Tang Sai
My son's clothes are basically the same, but the style and color are more lively and playful.
"Oh my god, sir, it's really... it's really..."
Dak rubbed his hands and racked his brains to think of words to praise him. Xia Xun laughed heartily and said, "Okay, stop praising him endlessly. Let's find a place to take a shower first. It needs to be clean."
"Yes Yes Yes……"
Dake led Xia Xun to a bathroom, as if he was serving a nobleman. Two doormen opened the door and invited the distinguished guest to come in. Not long after Xia Xun entered, someone hurriedly came from a distance.
One person, this person is wearing clothes commonly worn by French city dwellers, but his appearance is that of a typical Oriental.
This man was about fifty years old, with a pale face and a solemn expression. When he walked to the door, he asked a doorman something in French in a low voice, his voice was thin and feminine, and there was something sexual about it.
The doorman answered, and he nodded and hurried in.
In the lobby, Duck asked: "Sir, do you want a steam bath or..."
Xia Xun said: "Bucket bath must be clean and pure."
"Okay okay"
Dake told the people in the bathroom Xia Xun's request, and Xia Xun said to the interpreter Jiang Xu: "You also take a bath."
After hearing this, Duck was busy and told the person in the bathroom: "We need to prepare two bucket baths."
"I'll wait for you in the lobby"
Da Ke diligently took Xia Xun's coat, leather shoes, and cane. Xia Xun and Jiang Xu followed the bath boy into a bathroom. Da Ke sat down on the bench in the lobby and just ordered a glass of cold beer.
Less than half the cup was filled when the white-faced and beardless old man in his fifties hurriedly walked in and asked the bathhouse steward hurriedly: "Is Mr. Ribery still in the same place?"