jdhmnovel Chapter 1097 Alchemist
Chapter 1097 Alchemist
In the next few days, Mu Ruojue became Fang Ziyan's key protected person.
Out of guilt, Fang Ziyan followed him almost everywhere. On the fourth day, when the rash on Mu Ruojue's body completely disappeared, he said to Fang Ziyan for the third time in a few days: "Master Fang, please don't follow me anymore."
"Then, then will you hate me?" Fang Ziyan asked cautiously: "If I hadn't asked you to eat wontons, you wouldn't have felt uncomfortable for several days..."
"No." Mu Ruojue said in a low voice while looking at the drawing.
"Really?" Fang Ziyan chuckled and retreated step by step to the door. "Then you get busy. I'm going to play Monopoly."
After Fang Ziyan left, Mu Ruojue slowly raised his head.
Looking at the wide-open door, he felt mixed emotions.
......
Five days later, the ship passed Dezhou Prefecture and was only one prefecture away from Liuyang Prefecture. It would arrive at Tongan County in about five days.
Shen Zheng felt homesick and began to rehearse in her mind how to greet the people after arriving at Tongan Wharf.
——"Children, I'm back!"
This won’t do. It’s too indecent.
——"Everyone, I am back."
This won’t work either, it’s too pretentious.
"Oh——" Shen Zheng sighed. Saying hello is also a science.
After thinking about it, she decided to let herself go and go check on the progress of Mu Ruojue making matches.
Don’t underestimate a matchstick because it is not easy to make.
The most difficult part is applying the ignition agent on the top of the small wooden stick.
In the drawings she gave to Mu Ruojue, the ignition agent was a mixture of sulfur powder, orpiment powder, and saltpeter powder, but in fact these three raw materials were not the best, because sulfide was toxic when burned. It was fine to use a small amount, but if it was manufactured and used in large quantities... it would still cause harm to the body.
The best ignition agent is actually red phosphorus.
However, this thing is not available in the current Great Zhou Dynasty. If you want it, you can only find phosphorus stone and refine it yourself.
What surprised Shen Zheng was that Mu Ruojue didn't close the door today.
She stood outside the door and knocked gently.
"Lord Shen." Mu Ruojue put down what he was holding and slowly stood up.
Looking at his appearance again, Shen Zheng was still amazed in her heart.
When Nuwa shaped him, the mud she used must have been extraordinary.
"Mr. Mu, can I come in?" Shen Zheng asked.
Mu Ruojue thought for a while and nodded.
Shen Zheng took only one step inside, looked at the table, and asked, "How's your matchmaking going? Have you...perhaps you've tested it yet?"
Mu Ruojue remained silent and handed her a small box on the table.
She reached out to take it, and the matches in her memory appeared before her.
Just as she was about to take one to try, Mu Ruojue suddenly said, "Using sulfur, orpiment, and saltpeter as an ignition agent is not very good."
Shen Zheng was slightly surprised and tried to ask, "What's wrong?"
Mu Ruojue fetched sulfur and orpiment powder and whispered, "These two things are easily affected by moisture. Once damp, they won't spark fire."
Shen Zheng was silent.
The combustion of sulfides is extremely sensitive to temperature and humidity, which is indeed a major pain point of sulfide matches.
Just as he was thinking, Mu Ruojue spoke again: "I want to try using another material as an ignition agent."
Another material?
Shen Zheng was curious and asked, "What kind of material?"
"I don't know either." Mu Ruojue replied.
Shen Zheng: “?”
What are you talking about?
"I just happened to see it." Mu Ruojue whispered, "When I was in the Yu Mansion, alchemists would occasionally come to the mansion to make elixirs. They used a kind of fire-starting material that they said was very rare and hard to find. I think... that material is more suitable for use as an ignition agent for matches."
This was the longest sentence Mu Ruojue had ever said since he got on board.
But Shen Zheng's attention was attracted by the three words "alchemist".
Alchemists are also called "alchemists". Since the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty did not believe in the way of immortality, at least not openly, the position of "alchemist official" was not established in the court.
These alchemists mostly roam among the common people and gentry. If you say they are swindlers, they have many followers, but if you say they make real elixirs... Shen Zheng can't convince herself.
In general, in Shen Zheng's mind, alchemists are a group of "contradictory researchers."
They have both the superstition of "pursuing immortality" and the enthusiasm to explore the laws of minerals. They have brought the harm of "elixir poisoning" to society, and indirectly promoted the progress of chemistry and medicine. They can be said to be loved and hated by people.
But in the more than a year since coming to the Great Zhou, Shen Zheng had not come into direct contact with an alchemist, so she asked curiously, "Why do they want to go to the Yu Mansion to make elixirs? What kind of elixirs are they making?"
Answering this question is a challenge for Mu Ruojue.
What he wanted to discuss with Shen Zheng was only the ignition material that interested him, not "why the alchemist went to Yu Mansion to make medicine."
"I hope you can tell me." Shen Zheng said seriously, "Only by knowing what kind of elixir they are refining can we deduce...what kind of ignition material they are using."
In fact, Shen Zheng had already roughly guessed what the ignition material was.
As for why she said that...
Just pure gossip.
After all, what comes out of the alchemist's furnace may not be elixir, but poison.
"I..." Mu Ruojue paused for a moment before saying, "I only know that the patriarch invited them here. The elixir they refine is called 'Golden Elixir', also known as 'Nine-Transformation Elixir'."
"Golden elixir?" Shen Zheng was stunned.
I hope it’s not a mercury-arsenic elixir.
That's highly poisonous.
If a person takes a large amount at one time, he will be bedridden for a whole day.
Those who take low doses for a long time will not last more than two or three years and will eventually have to lie down.
The only difference is "early death" and "late death".
"Has the alchemist of the Great Zhou reached this point..." Shen Zheng murmured.
She couldn't help but start to worry.
They were worried that alchemists would gradually come into the court's sight, that the royal family would be misled by them, and even more worried that the emperor would be dissatisfied with the short human lifespan and begin to pursue immortality.
With all the worries, she no longer had the mind to gossip.
She said, "The fire starter you mentioned should be extracted from a phosphorus mineral. I'll send someone to look for it once we get to Tongan County. Don't worry."
"Phosphorus?" What Mu Ruojue was thinking of was another kind of "phosphorus".
Although he was confused, he nodded and said, "Okay."
......
Five days later, dusk arrived as expected.
Looking at the nearby Liuyang Wharf, Shen Zheng calmed her pounding heart.
Fang Ziyan ran frantically on the deck, shouting, "Go home, go home, go home!"
Cui Jinyin looked around curiously.
To her, everything before her was extremely new.
Yu Nanshu and Yu Shizhang packed their bags and waited for the ship to dock.
Yu Nanshu hugged Shen Zheng's arm and said coquettishly, "Sister Shen, my grandparents and I will only stay in the city for two days and then return to the county. It's one of these evenings. Can you... not tell me the story of the stone monkey for now?"
She had just heard that "The Stone Monkey was appointed an official by the Heavenly Court" and was very anxious. If she missed the rest of the story...
Regret for life!