Because York is close to the sea, even though it is winter, the weather is still not too cold.
The sea breeze is warmed by the sunshine, and it blows gently and warmly on your face, which is very comfortable.
Lin Zhiming supported Ryan Portman and walked in the market, just like everyone else who came to buy things.
"Good morning, Mr. Duke!"
"Mr. Duke, we are here to buy groceries again!"
"Mr. Duke, I heard that your birthday is coming, I wish you a happy birthday!"
Many vendors and customers in the market would take the initiative to say hello to Ryan Portman after seeing him.
Ryan Portman didn't reply one by one. At most, he nodded slightly to show that he heard.
From this point of view, Ryan Portman seems to be a very polite person.
However, people in the market were happy to greet him. Lin Zhiming could tell that these people were greeting Ryan Portman from the bottom of their hearts.
"Do you know how many kinds of peppercorns there are?" Ryan Portman asked while standing in front of a stall, fiddling with the contents of the box.
"I don't know." Lin Zhiming shook his head.
"Zanthoxylum bungeanum is botanically divided into oil-leaf Zanthoxylum bungeanum and hairy-leaf Zanthoxylum bungeanum. The more common types of Zanthoxylum bungeanum in production are: Dahongpao, large red pepper, small red pepper, white sand pepper and bean pepper. Zanthoxylum bungeanum belongs to the Rutaceae family, and Zanthoxylum bungeanum is deciduous.
A small tree, up to 7 meters high, with opposite leaflets, oval, elliptical, and sparsely lanceolate, with finely lobed teeth on the leaf margins and oily spots between the teeth." Ryan Portman said.
"So many?" Lin Zhiming asked in surprise.
"Yes." Ryan Portman said, grabbing a handful of something like peppercorns from a box in front of him, putting it into a plastic bag, and handed it to the boss.
"Mr. Duke, no need to pay, I'll give it to you," the boss said.
"Settling accounts." Ryan Portman said expressionlessly.
The boss smiled helplessly and said, "Then give me one yuan."
Ryan Portman took out a wad of bills from his pocket, took two and put them on the stall, then picked up the plastic bag containing Sichuan peppercorns and turned away.
"The market is my favorite place to come, because I can always learn a lot here." Ryan Portman said as he walked.
"They all seem to like you?" Lin Zhiming asked.
"I am their landlord, how could they not like me," said Ryan Portman.
"Landlord?" Lin Zhiming was stunned for a moment.
"This market is mine." Ryan Portman explained.
"That's it!" Lin Zhiming suddenly realized.
Just then, a middle-aged woman walked up.
"Mr. Duke, this is a small pumpkin from my field. It's delicious. I'll give you one," the middle-aged woman said.
Ryan Portman took the pumpkin and took a look at it, then put it into the bag carried by Lin Zhiming.
"Yeah." Ryan Portman responded, without saying much to the other party, and just turned around and walked away.
Not only was the middle-aged woman not angry at all, she actually had a bright smile on her face.
This made Lin Zhiming very puzzled. Logically speaking, if someone gives you something and you accept it and leave without even saying thank you, then everyone would be angry, right?
Ryan Portman doesn't talk much. What he occasionally says is basically related to things in the market.
Before long, Lin Zhiming had a lot of things in the bag in his hand.
"I'll buy you a cup of coffee." Ryan Portman said.
"That's great, this kind of weather is perfect for drinking a cup of coffee and blowing in the wind!" Lin Zhiming said with a smile.
Ryan Portman nodded and led Lin Zhiming through an alley skillfully, finally arriving at the entrance of a coffee shop.
There are several tables outside the door of the cafe, and the sun just shines on the tables.
With the support of Lin Zhiming, Ryan Portman walked to the table and sat down.
"The black coffee here is the best, go in and order it, two cups of black coffee, no sugar or milk," said Ryan Portman.
"Yeah!" Lin Zhiming nodded, opened the door of the coffee shop and walked in.
Inside the door, a young man was skillfully making coffee.
"Hello sir." Seeing Lin Zhiming come in, the young man said hello to Lin Zhiming.
"I want two cups of black coffee, without sugar or milk." Lin Zhiming said.
The young man was stunned for a moment, then glanced at the door, smiled and said, "You came with Mr. Duke, right?"
"How do you know?" Lin Zhiming asked.
"Because Mr. Duke has always drank like this, and he is the only one in the whole town who drinks like this." The young man laughed.
"You seem to be very familiar with Mr. Duke?" Lin Zhiming asked curiously.
"That's right, there is no one in our town who is not familiar with Mr. Duke. He is a good man." said the young man.
"Good man? How do you say that?" Lin Zhiming asked.
"He built schools, churches, and hospitals for our town, and also opened his market to us free of charge, so that we can sell the things we grow in the market. If anyone's family is in trouble, Mr. Duke will have it sent to us.
A sum of money helped them solve their difficulties. I was seriously ill when I was a child. My mother said that it was Mr. Duke who sent me to the capital and my illness was cured. Therefore, everyone in our town respects the Duke.
Sir." the young man said.
Hearing these words, Lin Zhiming was stunned. He really didn't expect that Ryan Portman would be such a person, and such deeds were not even mentioned in the materials he had obtained before.
It seems that he does these things in a very low-key manner and doesn't want too many people to know.
"Mr. Duke always has a straight face, as if he wants us to fear him so that we will not praise him all the time, but... our love for him comes from the bottom of our hearts. No matter what he is like, we will always
Love him." The young man continued.
Lin Zhiming turned to look at the door.
Ryan Portman was sitting there with his eyes slightly closed and a cigar he got from nowhere in his mouth. He looked like a lazy aristocrat enjoying the sunshine.
"I'll send the black coffee out to you later. You don't have to wait here." The young man said.
"How much?" Lin Zhiming asked.
"No need to give it." The young man shook his head.
Lin Zhiming thought for a moment, didn't force it anymore, turned around and walked out of the coffee shop, and then sat down next to Ryan Portman.
"I know everything about you last night." Ryan Portman suddenly said.
Lin Zhiming smiled and said, "It seems that gossip spreads quite quickly."
"You have made a big splash. Now the entire aristocratic circle is talking about you, saying that you are a nobleman from the mysterious East. They also say that Natalie has found you as her boyfriend. This is very important to our entire family.
Good thing." Ryan Portman continued.
"You can't be called a noble person, just because you know more things and have seen more things." Lin Zhiming said.
"I know what you are thinking about coming here this time." Ryan Portman looked at Lin Zhiming, his eyes were full of wisdom, and there was no trace of the fact that this was a dying old man.
"Oh?" Lin Zhiming raised his eyebrows but said nothing more.
"You actually had a girlfriend before you came here, but she broke up with her in the past few days. This seems to be to confirm your identity as Natalie's boyfriend, but... with your identity, you have absolutely no It is necessary to cling to Natalie. Although your net worth is not as good as mine, your status is no worse than mine, so you are willing to abandon your girlfriend to be with Natalie. This only shows that you are bringing It’s for a purpose.” Ryan Portman said.
Lin Zhiming smiled and said, "You think too much, old man."
"We are all smart people, so there is no need to continue acting." Ryan Portman looked at Lin Zhiming and said, "Actually, when Natalie told me that you were her boyfriend, I didn't believe it. I even went to investigate your background, and it turned out that you and Natalie just met by chance in Australia. Nothing happened between you two. Natalie deliberately stayed in your room when she left. For a while, it was just to create an illusion, don’t you think?”
"Yes!" Lin Zhiming nodded. Since Ryan Portman had already said this, there was no need for him to hide anything anymore.
"But I still told everyone at the royal dinner that you were Natalie's boyfriend. Do you know why?" Ryan Portman asked.
"You want to protect Natalie." Lin Zhiming said.
"Yes!" Ryan Portman nodded and said, "Natalie is my only daughter. She only came back to me when she was thirty years old. She has no connections or partners in the aristocratic circle. , she doesn’t even have many ordinary friends. Facing the several heirs behind him, she has no advantage. It can even be said that she is at an absolute disadvantage. She cannot be the successor to Bauhinia. The best candidate for Flower Duke."
"Indeed." Lin Zhiming nodded.
"So, I gave her a lot of time to strengthen herself, and her performance was pretty good. At least in these ten years, she managed to survive and achieved some results. "Ryan Portman said.
"She is actually quite smart." Lin Zhiming said.
"Yes... If we give her another ten years, when she is about fifty years old, she will definitely inherit my title perfectly, and this was my original plan, but... I didn't expect that I would be sick, and She fell ill so quickly. Because of my illness, she lost ten years to grow and strengthen herself. It also forced those careerists hiding in the dark to expose their fangs early. Natalie's safety became a big concern. A question, so, after Natalie said that she asked you to be her boyfriend, no matter whether it is true or false, I must make it true, and let you accept him as Really!" Ryan Portman stared at Lin Zhiming and said.
At this time, his eyes no longer only contained wisdom, but also had a strong sense of oppression.
The majesty of the Bauhinia Duke completely exploded at this moment!