Hu Changan smiled slightly, ordered someone to bring a small cup of white vinegar, and then carefully took a small amount of the ground cochineal with a spoon and put it into the white vinegar, and stirred it gently.
Suddenly, the originally transparent white vinegar turned bright red.
Now, Li Ming was puzzled.
Why do you need to use white vinegar to make lipstick? This is not cooking!
Li Ming couldn't help but have doubts about Hu Changan.
He grew up in a rouge workshop and had never heard of any process that required the use of white vinegar.
Vinegar is food. It is only used for eating. How can it be used to make rouge?
Could this Hu Changan be fooling around?
Is it possible that Hu Changan's achievements were actually blown out like those of those officials?
There are ghostwriters in modern times, and there were also ghostwriters in ancient times.
In order to secure a good future for their children, those officials and officials would often hire literary giants to write for themselves, and then lie to the outside world that those beautiful articles were written by their unsatisfactory children.
Doing so will not only make them stand out among their peers, but also pave the way for their future career.
You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, the ability to write articles was linked to official luck to a certain extent.
The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty only tested the Four Books, Five Classics and Eight-Part Essay. In fact, the main test was the writing ability of the candidates.
Therefore, people with excellent writing skills can easily stand out in scientific examinations and become important ministers in the court in the future.
Although you cannot cheat in the imperial examination, you can still find someone to write articles for you outside the court and publicize your talent.
Maybe those young men will one day be appreciated by high-ranking officials because of their false talent and reputation, and become successful in one fell swoop.
And those young ladies may be able to successfully marry into good husbands' families because of these false reputations.
Others may not know this kind of thing, but Li Ming has seen too much.
As a rouge merchant, he often visits these high-end houses to recommend new rouges to ladies and ladies, and he often hears the ladies chatting about gossips of one kind or another.
These young masters and ladies, who are full of straw and have no real talent or knowledge, often quickly become confused amidst the false praise from the public. They really think that they are like literary stars who have come down to earth and can write splendid articles casually.
Now it seems that Hu Changan is no exception.
This thing Hu Changan invented before was probably bought from other old craftsmen and then falsely claimed that he invented it himself.
It's good now. The young master is already dizzy from being praised. He actually dares to use white vinegar to make rouge?
Simply ridiculous!
But looking at Hu Changan's confident smiling face, Li Ming also sighed.
This young master is already suffering from moderate to severe symptoms and cannot be saved.
Let’s wait until he makes a fool of himself later.
However, looking at Li Ming's changed face, Hu Changan still felt a little strange: "Mr. Li, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Ah, it's nothing, I just don't understand why white vinegar is used. This white vinegar is edible, how can it be used to make rouge?" Li Ming's divergent thinking was pulled back by Hu Changan's words, and he said casually.
But as soon as he said this, Li Ming regretted it.
What does this young master know? Nine times out of ten, he is just messing around.
By asking this question, isn't it just a matter of insulting his face?
Li Minggang was about to speak to save the situation, but Hu Changan cleared his throat and said, "I want to use this white vinegar because this cochineal is different from ordinary petal juice."
"Petal juice can be soluble in water or oil, but cochineal is different."
"This cochineal can only be soluble in water, not oil."
"So here I want cochineal to react with a substance in white vinegar to generate a new substance that is soluble in oil."
"So I can take the next steps."
Li Ming couldn't help but look at Hu Changan with admiration.
Good guy, I didn’t expect this young master to be so eloquent?
However, Li Ming did not look at Hu Changan favorably because of this, but instead became worried about Hu Changan's mental health.
Li Ming couldn't understand anything like soluble in water or soluble in oil, and he didn't realize it was true.
Li Ming felt that Hu Changan's long speech was probably a manifestation of hysteria.
One of his cousins was like this before. He kept shouting nonsense about gods, Buddhas and the like all day long, and he spoke so confidently that no one could understand him.
In Li Ming's eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little more pity for Hu Changan.
Look, even the noble son of a distinguished family, who was the minister of the Ministry of Industry, had to endure the torture of hysteria. How pitiful.
Li Ming felt that before he left, he must explain this situation to the housekeeper of Hu's house, as a way of repaying Hu Changan's kindness for preparing tea for him.
Hu Changan looked at Li Ming's sympathetic eyes, and Monk Zhanger was also confused.
He didn't say anything, but they just chatted normally about the production process of rouge. Why did Li Ming look at him like this?
Simply creepy.
But this chemical reaction still takes time.
So Hu Changan had no choice but to have a casual chat with Li Ming under Li Ming's caring gaze.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Hu Changan finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered someone to fetch some beeswax and a lemon.
Although the name lemon sounds like an exotic thing, lemons have taken root in China very early.
As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, someone recorded this special fruit called citron in "Nanzi Foreign Objects".
Lemons are also recorded in the "Bencao Illustration" written by Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty.
However, in ancient times, most lemons were not eaten directly, but were used as seasonings in dishes or used as Chinese medicinal materials.
Hu Changan was located in Yingtian Mansion, the most prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty, so it was easy to get a lemon.
When Li Ming saw this, he couldn't help but feel sad.
He knew beeswax, which was usually used when making rouge, but what the hell was this lemon?
This looks like another kind of fruit.
What, could it be that this young master is not making rouge, but is preparing to switch to cooking?
However, Hu Changan ignored Li Ming's gaze and carefully mixed the beeswax with the white vinegar that had previously added cochineal red, and then squeezed a few drops of lemon juice into it.
The reason why Hu Changan put lemon juice in it is actually because lemons are rich in vitamin C.
In ancient times, there were no vitamin tablets, so we had to use the natural vitamins rich in fruits.
Adding vitamins to lipstick is mainly to prevent the lipstick ingredients from being oxidized.
Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant that can prevent lipstick from being oxidized and fading in the air, thereby ensuring that the lipstick color remains bright and long-lasting. This chapter has been completed!