Author: Bai Xia

In the evening, when Tao Yue'er took the wooden box back, Hua Ling also burned incense in the room.

White smoke rises from the incense burner, with a faint fragrance of pine and grass, as if you are in a forest. Compared with the sweet fragrance in Shopkeeper Ruan's house, it makes people feel relaxed and happy.

"What incense was burned today? It smells so good..." Tao Yue'er was curious.

"The fragrance of pine and lotus." After Hua Ling finished speaking, she slowly opened her eyes.

The incense she burned in the past smelled better than today, but she had no interest in these things in the past. Returning today surprised Hua Ling.

I saw Tao Yue'er holding a huge box and reading a book that was twice the size of an ordinary book. Her frown was as big as a hill.

She doesn't know a few Chinese characters, so why is she reading a book today?

Hua Ling came closer and saw that the book was densely packed with records of spices, and there were only words and no pictures.

"Do you understand?" Hua Ling asked.

Tao Yue'er shook her head in frustration and closed the book: "I can't understand."

"Then you still watch?"

"No way, just to make money."

"make money?"

Tao Yue'er nodded and told everything that happened today. He emphasized: "As long as I recognize all these one hundred spices within ten days, I can officially become a member of Miaoxiangtang! At that time, I can

Let you have food and clothing for the rest of your life! You won’t have to do menial work anymore, and maybe... maybe I can even marry you a wife!"

Hearing this, Hua Ling glanced at her coldly. She did not feel happy at all. Instead, she said with a touch of disdain: "If your goal is to make me have enough food and clothing, it would be too simple. And...I will never

Nor will he take a wife."

"Why?" Tao Yue'er was stunned. She never expected that Hua Ling would say that. Marrying a wife and having children and carrying on the family line were the rules left by her ancestors. She had never thought that a man would not want to marry a wife and have children.

"If you don't marry, you don't marry. There is no reason." Hua Ling didn't raise her eyebrows and continued to close her eyes and meditate.

Tao Yue'er's joy of finding a job seemed not worth mentioning in front of Hua Ling.

Tao Yue'er glanced at the rice soup left by Hua Ling for lunch, and said a little discouraged: "We will talk about the future later, but now I can't even let you fill your stomach... But you believe me, I will definitely get Miao Xiangtang

A great job! Not only will I be well fed and clothed, but I will also be able to buy you lots of expensive spices and beautiful incense burners!"

Hua Ling said "Oh" and continued: "Then you have recognized all these hundred spices?"

"Not yet..." Tao Yue'er's ideals are very full, but the reality is very skinny for her.

"From left to right, they are agarwood, tangerine incense, chicken tongue incense, sandalwood, musk, rosin, maple dew..." Tao Yue'er was puzzled at first, but as Hua Ling talked, she remembered "Miao Xiang".

The spices in the chart "Tang Xiang Shi" corresponded to the spices in the box. I found that Hua Ling named most of the spices without even opening the small box to look at them, and there was no mistake.

"How did you do it?" Tao Yuer'er was stunned.

"smell."

"Can you smell them all from such a distance?"

"Um."

Tao Yue'er was shocked and dumbfounded: "Perhaps, maybe you are more suitable for this position, otherwise..." Tao Yue'er said, Hua Ling coughed twice, and her face became two points paler than before.

Realizing that the person in front of her was not suitable for public appearances, Tao Yue'er immediately shut her mouth.

How could he do odd jobs for others?

He was like a young master who was supported by a hundred servants. Now that his family was in decline, she had to find a way to maintain his dignity.

Tao Yue'er secretly warned herself that she had promised to support him, so she couldn't shrink from the battle, and she had to overcome it no matter how difficult it was!

After Tao Yue'er cooked dinner and fried the medicine, she lit an oil lamp and looked at the incense book to identify the spices in the box.

In the spice bottle, there is only a small amount of each spice, so small that it is difficult to identify their types by their appearance. Agarwood, sandalwood, and pine have similar shapes, and powders such as Angelica dahurica, Amomum villosum, and Asarum are even more similar.

Nearing midnight, Tao Yue'er will be able to distinguish the nature and smell of agarwood and sandalwood. At this rate, she may not be able to recognize all these spices in another month.

Hua Ling slept on the straw couch and woke up twice. Seeing that Tao Yue'er still had no intention of resting, she finally sighed, got up, moved the futon and sat down next to her.

Hua Ling: "There are many types of spices. There are more than 3,600 known spices, but no matter which one they are, they will be classified into four categories. These four categories are herbal, woody and

Kinds, resins, animals.”

Hua Ling's voice is very nice, clear and tinged with a hint of laziness.

Obviously, he hasn't woken up yet.

But he didn't wake up, and he couldn't watch Tao Yue'er studying hard alone. He continued: "Herbal spices, such as huoxiang, fennel, cyperus, mugwort leaves, asarum, Perrin, cogongrass, etc."

Hua Ling said, taking out the spices from the box one by one, and then placing the herbs in one place according to the type of spices.

"There are relatively few woody spices, such as agarwood, styrax, cinnamon, camphor, etc." As he said, he divided the woody spices into one place and used a stick of dry grass to distinguish them from the herbal spices.

"Resin, amber, frankincense, myrrh, benzoin. Finally, animal scents, such as musk, civet, castoreum, ambergris, etc." After Hua Ling finished speaking, she took out the last small bottle and put it aside.

He said: "There are only the lowest quality musk, civet, beaver and ambergris. It's hard to find them, so they won't give them to you."

Against the backdrop of the candlelight, Hua Ling's side face shone with a cold brilliance like moonlight, and her eyes reflected the dancing flames, as bright as stars.

Tao Yue'er was stunned for a while. With the help of Hua Ling, this originally boring and boring matter seemed to have become a matter of course. She didn't even need to spend time memorizing it by rote, as long as Hua Ling said

After going through it once, she can treat it as an imperial edict and write it all down.

Ten days later, after memorizing the nature, flavor and shape of each spice, Tao Yue'er's memories included not only the spices, but also Hua Ling's bright red lips and his delicate face that was as delicate as the white moonlight.

With each spice, the fragrance becomes more fragrant.

On the day of the exam, Tao Yue'er came to Miao Xiang Tang as scheduled. Shopkeeper Ruan got up early today just to personally check Tao Yue'er's learning results.

Ruan Yanluo picked up two incense pills from his sleeves and asked, "Come and see what kind of incense this is."

Tao Yue'er took it, put it a foot below her nose, fanned it with her sleeves, then savored the incense breeze, and said slowly: "Benzoin, ancient books record that burning it can help the gods. Most of the medicinal benzoin is produced in Chenzhou.

Before the Song Dynasty, benzoin generally came from Persia. Benzoin, frankincense, and amber are all resinous incense. The main ingredients of incense candles are amber and benzoin.”

Ruan Yanluo nodded and said, "That's right, where is the other one?"

Tao Yue'er looked at the fragrant pills on the plate and said without even smelling it: "Frankincense. According to ancient books, it is purple-red in color and has many uses. Its general effects are to ward off evil spirits, treat gout, and can also relieve tightness in the body and pain.

Emotions and relaxation. The lighter the color of frankincense, the better. The highest grade of frankincense is called silver incense. It is a very precious incense. More than a hundred years ago, Jingguo and Liuguo also caused a war because of frankincense.

"

Ruan Yanluo was very happy and nodded repeatedly: "Not only can he distinguish the nature and flavor of spices, but he can also tell allusions and draw inferences from one instance, which really surprises me. Lan Sheng, you have to learn from him."

Lan Sheng stood aside, not looking at Tao Yue'er, and nodded respectfully to Ruan Yanluo: "Yes."

She was very respectful to shopkeeper Ruan, but no matter how much the shopkeeper praised Tao Yue'er, she always looked down upon Tao Yue'er and looked cold.

Obviously, she doesn't like Tao Yue'er.

In her eyes, Tao Yue'er was just a layman who accidentally got into the job and couldn't afford this job.

Tao Yue'er didn't take it seriously. Regardless of whether she liked him or not, he still called her affectionately: "Hello, senior sister. Please correct me in the future."

Lan Sheng snorted coldly as an answer.
Chapter completed!