Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Perfume
The fall of Impatiens means that there is no longer anyone on the front lines in Qingzhou to share the pressure on Nanyang. The Rebel Army can penetrate deep into the rear of Qingzhou via Impatiens, and can also bypass to the rear of Nanyang, effectively encircling it.
If no miracle occurs, the fall of Nanyang is a certainty.
This is truly a calamity of immense scale.
The most crucial point is, his term hasn’t even ended yet.
There’s no way to keep this news under wraps for long.
Outside the city, there is already a rebellion from Chen Mo. Once news of the fall of Impatiens reaches the county town, who knows how many more will rebel.
And before the fall of Impatiens, many refugees did head south.
When that time comes, chaos in the county town is inevitable.
Chang Yuan, becoming the County Magistrate of Pingting County, had a far-sighted vision. He quickly considered the chain reaction this event might cause and immediately said, "Someone, come here."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Go notify the Wang and Yi Families; I will host a banquet for them tonight at Wanhe Building."
"Understood."
"Also, call Commander Sun; I intend to conscript local braves."
...
Fu Ze Village.
Chen Mo was unaware of the fall of Impatiens. He had instructed people to build a mud kiln in the village to burn oyster shells into quicklime, working tirelessly.
Additionally, the task of boiling saline, processing quicklime into lime milk, and adding lime milk into the saline to precipitate, along with the subsequent boiling process, was delegated to different people by Chen Mo.
By doing so, he aimed to prevent anyone from leaking the full set of procedures for refining coarse salt.
As for the final proportion matters, Chen Mo would oversee that himself.
Regarding Han Wu, who had watched the procedure once, Chen Mo had no worries.
In less than two days, two hundred pounds of coarse salt were refined.
It was still Hu Changsheng and Zhang River leading the people for the task.
Chen Mo also instructed them to bring along twenty more followers.
A day after Hu Changsheng and the others left, the weather changed drastically, and a continuous drizzle began to fall from the sky.
The saying "spring rain is continuous" proved true.
Construction work on the mountain fortress had been temporarily halted.
Chen Mo shifted the villagers from the construction team temporarily to the fishing team.
While construction of the fortress could pause, fishing was an indispensable daily activity.
Light rain continued for three days.
During these three days, Chen Mo’s cultivation speed slowed but did not stop entirely.
During his downtime, Chen Mo fiddled around and, after several failures, finally managed to create a simple distillation device.
Wearing a hat and a raincoat, he personally went up the mountain to pick some wildflowers.
...
In the kitchen, Han Anniang and Song Min squatted on the ground, carefully plucking flowers from their branches, placing them into a wooden basin filled with water, and cleaning them thoroughly.
"Uncle, are you planning to eat these flowers?" After Han Anniang washed the flowers, she shook off the water, filled a bowl with them, and watched Chen Mo build a fire. She knew some flowers could be stir-fried and tasted quite good.
"You just watch, sister-in-law."
Chen Mo took out the strong liquor Zhang River had brought back last time, poured half of it into a pot, and then crumbled the cleaned petals into the pot, stirring until they mixed with the alcohol.
Han Anniang and Song Min didn’t understand what he was doing, but they only knew that soon, a unique fragrance filled the kitchen.
Under the curious gazes of the two women, Chen Mo brought over the distillation device he had made and put the half-boiled floral water from the pot into the small pot on the distillation device.
Since the distillation apparatus Chen Mo made wasn’t very large, he had to use an oil lamp to heat the small pot again by lighting it and placing it underneath.
As the water content gradually evaporated, Chen Mo added oil to the lamp twice.
Finally, a jar of strong liquor yielded a small half-bowl of condensate.
About the size of a rice bowl.
And this small half-bowl of condensate was the perfume.
"Have a smell." Chen Mo smiled as he spoke to the two women.
Han Anniang and Song Min took turns sniffing it, then said in unison, "It smells so good."
"Uncle, what kind of flower wine is this?" Since Han Anniang had never used perfume, her first thought wasn’t of perfume but rather wine made from wildflowers.
It wasn’t uncommon for people to make wine from flowers like chrysanthemums, osmanthus, roses, and peach blossoms.
And Chen Mo’s actions indeed resembled wine-making.
Chen Mo dipped his finger in the floral water and flicked it onto Han Anniang’s hair.
"Uncle, what are you doing?" Han Anniang pouted, looking a bit reproachfully at him.
"Sister-in-law, this isn’t some sort of wine; it’s perfume." One drop wasn’t enough, so Chen Mo dipped a few more drops, flicking them onto Han Anniang’s hair. Leaning in for a sniff, he squinted slightly, "It really is quite fragrant."
Han Anniang blushed, lifted a strand of hair to smell it, and indeed, it smelled quite nice.
What woman doesn’t love beauty? Han Anniang simply didn’t have the means before.
After realizing it was perfume, Han Anniang, in a bit of vanity, dipped a few drops and rubbed them on her hand.
Chen Mo initially intended to tell her that perfume wasn’t used in this manner, but realizing that this bowl contained genuine natural perfume and not some chemically-produced concoction, he thought it didn’t matter if she used it this way—it was her choice.
"Uncle, is it fragrant?" Han Anniang extended her hand.
"Fragrant." Chen Mo responded, grabbing Han Anniang’s hand, first gently kissing the back, then suckling on her little finger.
Han Anniang’s face turned beet red instantly. She seemed about to speak, but Chen Mo swiftly pulled her into his embrace, gently wrapped her full waist, and kissed her on the lips.
Han Anniang’s body stiffened at once, her cheeks burning.
As their lips parted, Han Anniang quickly broke away, protesting, "Uncle, Min’Er is still here."
"I didn’t see anything." Song Min said childishly, covering her eyes, but the flush on her cheeks betrayed her.
Han Anniang shyly turned her head away, while Chen Mo ruffled Song Min’s small head, chuckling, "You little imp."
This was merely a whimsical flirtation from Chen Mo, spicing up the somewhat mundane daily life.
"Sister-in-law, this perfume is a gift for you," said Chen Mo.
Han Anniang regarded it as a gift from Chen Mo, nodding shyly.
"By the way, sister-in-law, you need to use up this perfume quickly, otherwise, it won’t retain its fragrance for long." Currently, Chen Mo didn’t have any small porcelain bottles to store it properly; if left in the bowl for a couple of days, the scent would dissipate completely.
After saying this, Chen Mo thought of something and immediately summoned someone to fetch Liu Gui for him.
Once Liu Gui arrived, Chen Mo explained his requirements to him.
Liu Gui confidently promised there would be no issues and promptly left.
...
Time moved to April.
Due to the rain, Zhang River and the others were delayed by two days before returning.
It was morning, and two mule carts heavily laden with cargo, along with three donkeys, immediately attracted the attention of many villagers.
Children clustered behind, giggling and watching the spectacle.
The villagers themselves might not have noticed, but their children had become more lively and vibrant compared to before.
Even the adults, though still somewhat tired, possessed much more Essence, Qi, and Spirit than before.
Without debts.
Though not fully satisfied, at least they weren’t worried about going hungry.
What they didn’t realize was that they had gradually and unconsciously begun to rely on Chen Mo.
The convoy reached outside the Chen Family Courtyard, and only then did the following children disperse.
For their parents had instructed them not to cause a racket or misbehave at Immortal Master Chen’s home, and to hold a sense of reverence in their hearts.