Zhang Zhai has a good intention and is willing to accompany him to buy spices, how can Cui Xie refuse? After school in the evening, he said hello to the teaching assistant, and no longer left make-up lessons, but asked Zhang Zhaichang to accompany him to go shopping.
He rode a horse, but Zhang Zhai could not ride a horse. It was troublesome to call a car when he got home, so Cui Xie had to hire two sedan chairs. Zhang Zhaichang pressed his arm and said, "Don't need a sedan chair, these sedan chairs are stuffy and swaying, how about we go by ourselves. There are many shops in these hutongs before and after the Sinology, and it's only a few steps away."
Although Zhang Zhaichang is from Hejian, he has been studying in Guozijian for five years, and even his family has moved to Beijing. As he walked, he pointed Jiang to the major restaurants and Wenwan shops outside of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which were the best cooks, which used real materials, where the antiques were sold, and where the fakes were all glamorous.
More on spices and herbs.
Cui Xie said a few things to buy, and he said: "These are all whitening medicinal materials. You don't need to go to the incense shop. The Yongniantang behind them has them. Their medicines are good. The doctor in the hall came to see it, and the prescriptions are all real things, just take a few medicines."
With him by his side, Cui Xie would have more confidence.
When the two arrived at the pharmacy, Cui Xie asked someone to ask for Baizhi, Bailixiang, Baifuzi... They cost only one or two cents each, as long as they could see the shape of the slices, they asked someone to weigh them in person, and their names were written on the paper package. . I bought enough to make fragrant soap, and remembered that in the future, I might need to use other ingredients to make Yurong ointment, retting, and freckle medicine.
Zhang Luan looked at the medicine for him, picked up a piece of chopped herbs from time to time, observed the color and smell, and sometimes put it in his mouth to chew. He commented on the quality of the medicine with the attitude of a famous doctor, and told him how to distinguish several similar ones. herbs.
Cui Xie grabbed half of the medicine on the counter, and asked for a pestle and a copper grinder to grind the medicine, then he closed his hand satisfied, put out a few pieces of money, and asked the man to get a bamboo basket for him to pack. The guy said diligently: "The two young masters look like students of Sinology. Will this small drug store deliver you to the numbered room?"
As soon as Cui Xie stretched out his hand, he picked up the basket, weighed it, and said with a smile, "No need, we'll take it away. If the medicinal materials are good, I'll visit you later."
When Zhang Zhaichang saw him, he picked up the basket of medicine and sighed with a smile: "Good strength, it's not bad that I practiced writing while standing on my wrist every day. Just buy all you want, right? I'm here too. It's useless, let's go back to the dorm first."
Cui Xie said, "How can I let Zhai Chang go back like this! Please, brother, follow me to the restaurant across the street and let me be grateful."
Zhang Luan wanted to refuse, but looking at his sincere expression, his heart moved, and he replied with a smile: "Then I won't be polite to you, but the restaurant on the street is not good, I will take you to a restaurant for authentic Suzhou cuisine. small restaurant."
The small restaurant is hidden deep in the alley, and it is not easy for the gourmet to find it. On the way through the streets and alleys, there are also small stalls selling fake paintings on the roadside, and there are several long scrolls that seem to be depicting Cui Xie's characters from the Three Kingdoms.
Cui Xie quietly glanced at the imitation, and shook his head with a sense of superiority.
Zhang Luan also glanced at it with great interest, shook his head and said, "It's far less than the two hanging at the back of the Ju'anzhai store. Didn't their owner put it out from your house? Do you know that the big picture of his house can't be sold? Sell? If you can really buy a pair, it's worth the extra money."
Cui Xie said: "You can also buy it, but after the Qixi Festival..."
A gleam of stars flashed in Zhang Zhaichang's eyes, staring at him closely: "Is it after the selection of the Five Beauties of the Three Kingdoms organized by Ju'anzhai? I heard that Zhirong Bookstore held the election of the four beauties, it's a pity that I am in Beijing. I was not allowed to participate. Later, the bookstore asked a master who didn’t understand Lianxiangxiyu to donate it…”
Cui Xie coughed twice and told him that he was still standing here.
Zhang Zhaichang said apologetically: "I forgot my feelings for a while, and I forgot that you are the one who donated the bookstore. But we readers in Beijing have always thought that it would be difficult to see the original prosperity again, and even if there are imitations, they will not be as good as them. , but I don't think this Ju Anzhai was started by his guys, and everything looks alike, and even learned to hold this conference-"
He glanced at Cui Xie and asked suspiciously, "This beauty pageant method isn't what you think of and use it, right?"
Cui Xie pursed his lips and said solemnly, "Brother Zhang asked this! When I knew that his family was a female family renting my yard, I didn't even set foot in the bookstore. Brother Zhang really shouldn't question my character. "
Zhang Luan asked if he was thinking about this conference, but he didn't ask the last time. But seeing his denial so solemnly and firmly, even with a bit of anger that could not be misunderstood, he forgot what he was going to say, so he first reassured him: "Brother Yu has no intention of doing this. I just feel that his family's Tanabata beauty pageant votes It's interesting, just ask if you know..."
Cui Xie's righteous anger was just a pretense, so he naturally said, "My little brother is not really angry, it's just that the family used to be rented to women after all. I'm a dignified man, and I always want to avoid suspicion."
... You haven't even grown a single hair, and the child who was called a prodigy two years ago is still a few years away from a dignified man.
Zhang Zhaichang didn't hold back for a while and laughed out loud. Afraid that he would be very embarrassed and angry, after thinking about it, he found an excuse to coax him: "I just suddenly remembered something good. Didn't you ask me to find Mrs. daughter? There is such a person in my home county. I also studied for a few years. A few years ago, the man went away, and he did not give birth to a boy and a half girl. The uncle's family wanted to occupy their property and forced her to marry. She refused to marry again, so she returned to the sect and gave her People teach female students to make a living. My family has invited her before. She is a dignified and decent person.
"I wrote a letter for you a few days ago and asked her if she wanted to come to Beijing to have a look, but I haven't waited for a reply. It happened that there was such a lively Qixi Festival in Beijing, and I planned to bring my relatives into Beijing to have a look. By the way, ask them to bring someone over. Ask her to teach her at your home for two days first, or go back with my family if it doesn't work. If the two are suitable, how about you keep her?"
He originally said that it would take a few months for the news, but Cui Xie really thought it would be at least the end of the year. Now that people who have heard of Qixi Festival can come here, they are naturally overjoyed and thanked: "The person recommended by the head of the veil is naturally good, there is nothing suitable!"
The two chatted and laughed and went to the small shop for a meal. Zhang Zhaichang asked again how many female students there were in his family, whether they only taught one girl, or if they had a cousin or something to stay at his house.
Cui Xie smiled and said, "There is only one sister. Although my grandfather's family has several sisters, they are all in Shaanxi with their parents and will not come to my house to study."
Zhang Zhaichang lowered his eyes and smiled: "You are open, and you are willing to ask someone to teach a concubine to study. Most people pay attention to a woman's lack of talent, and it is virtuous, and even her own daughter does not ask her to study."
He still had unfinished words, but he refused to say any more. He shook his head and said, "I will ask that Mr. Song to come to Beijing before and after the Qixi Festival. Just wait."
The two didn't drink much, and it was not too late before they broke up and went back separately.
After Cui Xie got home, he took the medicine basket to the study, and then went to the upper room to meet his grandparents. First, he passed the news of the invitation to the female gentleman to his sister, and secondly, he wanted to see how the fragrance of his essential oil remained.
Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the upper room, the old lady and the two girls sighed and said, "I don't know who broke the flower dew! You were still smelling good when you came in in the morning, but I asked Xiao Songyan to bring the flower dew in to her. When they smear it on, it becomes a strange, bitter and astringent taste that is not fragrant at all!"
Cui Xie said in surprise, "Isn't it fragrant?"
Doesn't it mean that floral dew and essential oils are fragrant? He smelled it last night... Yes, it didn't smell too fragrant last night. The real fragrance was the flowers in his yard and the steam that came out when he steamed the flowers!
A girl brought the flower dew over, and Cui Xie smelled it, but there was really no fragrance. It had a bit of astringent grassy smell, and it didn't look like it was steamed from such a fragrant gardenia.
Could it be that his steaming method was wrong. He piled the flowers on the grate and steamed them, and the essential oil in the flowers could not be steamed? But he clearly saw a thin layer of oil floating on the water... Or is the smell too strong, and it can only be smelled if it is diluted
Dilute with water or alcohol
He designed several experiments in his head, smelled the smell that was not very offensive, and comforted his family in turn: "It's not that people broke it in the middle, I'm afraid I'm doing it wrong, don't wrong people. It doesn’t matter if I don’t do it well this time, I will try it a few more times, and there will always be a time when I can do it well.”
This light and light, he can also use it as a men's perfume to spray. He put away the bottle of perfume, told the old lady the news that he had found a female gentleman for his sister, accompanied the second old man for a few words, then went back and grabbed Cui Liang to redo the experiment.
Cui Liang knew early in the morning that the perfume was out of steam, and when he went back, he was scolded by his father, and waited for him timidly in the small courtyard at night, for fear that he would blame himself. Who would have thought that Cui Xie didn't blame him at all, so when they met, they said, "I probably shouldn't have steamed the flowers in water yesterday, let's steam them again."
Cui Liang was relieved, patted his heart and said, "You must watch the fire well today, and never let it go bad again!"
Cui Xie, a pure liberal arts student, also relies on Meng to make essential oils, so he is not much better than him. Thinking about how hard he stared at fire and exposed to dew yesterday, and knew how to stare at putting ice, in fact, he understood the whole process, so he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Then you are staring at the whole process today, I have to do something else. Slowly we have to withdraw. Let’s try a few more times, and if it doesn’t work, we can change to other flowers. There will always be a time to make it. Relax, there are no difficulties in the world, just afraid of those who are willing.”
He forced Cui Liang to pour a bowl of chicken soup, redesigned the experiment, told him to soak the flowers in cold water and boiled it, and made a new bottle.
This time it smelled...not like gardenia either.
Cui Xie had a failed experience once, and he couldn't believe their noses anymore, so he ran to the guest house before the night and asked Xiao Cui Qi to get up and smell it for himself.
Cui Qigang sent his father back from Tongzhou. He didn't dare to disturb him because he heard that his eldest brother was making perfume at home, so he kept drawing pictures in his room at night. Suddenly seeing him bursting in in a scented suit, he thought he had sprinkled a freshly made scented dew, sniffled and smelled it, and said with joy, "This scented dew smells so good, eldest brother really can do whatever he wants, Even that foreign incense didn't come out at once? Congratulations, big brother."
Cui Xie waved his hand and said, "Wherever it is, this foreign thing is difficult to do..." It's a pity that he was a complete liberal arts student at the time, and he returned all the chemistry to the teacher as soon as the exam was over. Otherwise, why would it be so hard now!
He handed the flower dew to Cui Qi and said, "My brother Xiaoliang and I are both fragrant, and we can't smell the flower dew. You can smell it or not."
He ducked into the room, Cui Qi took the incense and showed it, went to the air vent to blow the aroma on his body, then pulled the cork from the bottle and smelled it carefully.
Huh... why is it not fragrant
He smelled and smelled, washed his nose with water again, and finally had to admit that even his genius and omnipotent eldest brother had something he couldn't do well that day.
He squatted outside the courtyard for a long time before getting up and going back to tell Cui Xie the bad news. But I didn't think Cui Xie didn't take it to heart. He even drew a few pictures for him, but just shook his head: "There is no easy way to succeed in doing things. If it's a big deal, just sprinkle it yourself, and the smell is not bad."
He felt a pity that he couldn't even give away flowers that cost several taels of silver. But science is all about investing, where will the gains come from if you don’t invest
Gotta get the idea from somewhere else... make money to feed it!
Cui Xie made up his mind, and returned to the room with the flower water. Cui Liang was still burning distilled water to wash the steamer in the small kitchen, so he hid in the study, took out the herbs he bought at noon, took out the ink and paint, and drew a detailed and realistic picture according to the sliced herbs, and marked the name, The taste is organized into a medicinal herb illustration.
Smell... At this time, it can't be counted.
The drawn pictures and texts will automatically generate a PDF in his mind. In this way, in the future, even if there is no medicine at hand, he can also identify the medicinal materials against the documents in his head, and it is not easy to reveal the contents.
Fragrance soap is much easier to make than flower dew. Facing the medicinal materials with names, he recognized the medicinal materials sent by Cui Ting, marked the names on the paper packets, and weighed them out.
Brother Xiaoliang was in the kitchen full of cigarettes, steaming flower dew, from gardenia to roses, from flowers to dried flowers, from water to wine... He asked Cui Liangdong to find a few young men to develop medicine powder for him. He closed the door and used a small stove to boil sugar water, and secretly smashed the court formula soap of the Chongzhen year.
The prepared medicinal materials are mixed with a pound and a half of saponin powder, and the thick brown sugar water is rubbed into large honey balls. He is also a martial artist. He has strong hands. The soap balls he kneaded are stronger and rounder than those sold outside, and they are shiny and shiny. Then he personally string them on the thread and hang them under the eaves to dry.
After the fragrant soap was dry and felt almost like the one sold outside, Cui Xie took it and washed his hands.
The taste of the court soap is indeed better than that sold outside, and it will not be dyed into a pot of white muddy soup after washing. Perhaps because of the whitening medicine, he seemed to feel that his hands were a little white - this effect must be written into the publicity draft!
But the market is full of round soap balls. The shape of this kind of ball is too ordinary, and it does not show the high level of their palace soap. Cui Xie tried it a few times, and determined that it was comfortable to use and not easy to disperse, so he could take it out and sell it. a few models.
There are rectangles, squares, and mooncake-shaped ones, all of which are only the size of a mooncake, and are carved with fine lines around them, just like delicate dessert molds. He drew sketches of beauties with thicker lines according to the soap, and asked them to carve inscribed figures on the inside.
Those craftsmen who are accustomed to carving patterns in the positive direction are naturally extremely easy to carve the patterns in the negative direction. Cui Qi glanced at it and said with a smile: "You can get something like this in a day or two. Don't worry, big brother, I'll keep an eye on it and I'll make them do it quickly and well."
Cui Xie smiled and said, "It's not a dim sum mold, it's a soap mold. Different molds are placed with different soaps. I'll draw a few more beautiful pictures later, and ask them to print out the colored paper to wrap the soap, and then match the photos. Isn't the tin soap box lined with a decent quality?"