Concubine Survival Guide

Speaking of roses, the Long family was the first to use roses to make scented incense pills. With rose-flavored incense pills, the fragrance is not only long-lasting, but also has a long aftertaste. The concubines and empresses in the palace like this kind Taste, sometimes used as incense in the account.In the 28th year of the Tianxiang Dynasty, the emperor's new imperial concubine was from the south of the Yangtze River, and she most admired a kind of red rose pill, which was a new product produced by the Long family.This imperial concubine smoked clothes and quilts with rose-scented incense pills all day long, and was also good at burning incense, so she won the favor all the year round.Because of this, the Long family received a lot of gold and silver rewards that year, and the rose water that Dashi offered as a tribute was also obtained by the elder of the Long family.

"The rose water is really packed in wooden barrels?" Sheng Yan looked curious. He kept flipping through the first volume of "Pu Ze Fragrance Book", and found it strange that the rose water seemed to be poured from a can.

Long Bisheng put his fingers on the brocade sachet, shook the tassels hanging from the sachet slightly, and his eyes seemed to flow with layers of glazed light, "Actually, it's not, rose water is not directly packed in wooden barrels. But because Dashi is far away from our Tianxiang country, the glass bottle or pot inside would be broken, so it was put on a wooden barrel, sealed with wax, and tied with straw rope."

So that's the case, so rose water was originally contained in glass bottles or cans, so is it necessary to use glass bottles to make rose water?Sheng Yan nodded suddenly, and frowned unknowingly, never realizing that Long Bisheng on the opposite side was staring at him.

"Second brother, have you tried making rose water?" Sheng Yan thought for a while, but decided to ask directly.

Long Bisheng pursed his lips and smiled, his fingers stuck to the brocade sachet, and the corners of his eyes were raised, "Brother Ten, this is a secret."

That's right, he is not qualified to enter the incense burning platform. According to the rules of the Long family, without the permission of the elder, the heirs of the Long family are not allowed to teach and receive incense making skills in private.The second elder brother had told him a lot of common sense intentionally or unintentionally, and besides, I'm afraid it was wrong.

"But if you can smell what's in my sachet, I can make this secret a secret between you and me." Long Bisheng said while shaking the sachet between his fingers shook.

The second elder brother has been playing with this kit since just now, what new fragrance did he make?Sheng Yan rested his chin and looked over.

Seeing this brocade sachet embroidered with a picture of a hundred birds, the feathers of the bird are outlined in gold and silver threads, it is very delicate, and she leaned close to it and shrugged her nose, Sheng Yan couldn't help being taken aback, "So it was your sachet that I smelled just now The aroma is different from the aroma of ordinary xiangpianxiangwanxiang pancakes, it is so unique!"

Long Bisheng suddenly smiled and opened his eyebrows, took it off and let him smell it carefully, "Can you smell it?"

Sheng Yan took a deep breath and went straight into his lungs. He felt a fresh fragrance of roses wash away in his chest, but... there was another heavy fragrance suppressing it, which added the fragrance of roses, and made it more lingering. The aftertaste is long and lingering.

"There are roses!" But if he hadn't identified the roses all night last night, he might not be able to smell them so soon.

"Well, it's rose fragrance, but I didn't use rose flowers. You didn't guess the main spice." Long Bisheng raised his neck slightly in satisfaction, and Long Bisheng revealed a slender white goose-white neck.

Sheng Yan frowned now, "Second brother...just tell me!" He stretched out his hand and tugged at his sleeve.

"No, that's fine. I'll lend you this sachet for a few days, and I'll tell you when you guess the answer." Long Bisheng knocked on his forehead with a smile, and asked again: "Last time Have you memorized the homework I assigned to you?"

Rubbing his forehead, Sheng Yan glued his eyes on the brocade sachet handed over by his second elder brother, hung it on his waist with extra care, then raised his face with a smile and said: "Well, I know it by heart! I also found the "Fenxiang" What is the source of "seven essentials."

"Oh, then tell me one by one." Seeing him shaking his head, Long Bisheng's eyes were full of smiles.

"Gao Lian, a man of the Ming Dynasty, put forward seven points for burning incense in Volume [-] of "Eight Notes on Zunsheng". These are the "seven essentials for burning incense". Charcoal, fire-sand pieces, ashes and chopsticks... the ashes should be the pre-made frosty white incense ash, and the fire-sand pieces are used to put incense balls and fragrant pancakes, right?" Looking back The words in the book, Sheng Yan said, are also clear and proper.

Long Bisheng nodded and smiled, "Then... what are the chopsticks used for?"

"Well, it should be... used to fiddle with the incense stick." He missed this point, so Sheng Yan just guessed it casually.

Unexpectedly, he guessed right, and saw the second elder brother pat his head appreciatively, then picked up his slender hair and twisted it around his fingertips, saying: "You still work hard, then, today's homework Let's keep it simple... Go back and count the types of these seven things and list them on paper, it shouldn't be difficult, huh?"

What, isn't it difficult? ! There are hundreds of kinds of incense burners mentioned in the first volume of "Puze Incense Book", not to mention... But when Sheng Yan saw the twinkling eyes of his second brother blinking at him, he said, "No. "The words just couldn't come out.

Alas, I made an agreement with the little beggar at night to try making rose water... Now, why don't I stay up all night?

Sheng Yan bitterly sent Long Bisheng away, and went back to the house with a froze face. He found an excuse for Xing'er and Xin'er to find the servants to clean up the weeds in the backyard, and then lay down on the table and started reading.

The first volume of "Puze Fragrance Book" has hundreds of pages, but whenever he encounters something that needs to be recorded, he quickly writes it down on the rice paper. His small face is serious and solemn, and it looks more rosy than before. His complexion is It's getting better and better.

Outside the window, Xing'er and Xin'er were bent over and working hard, Xin'er mowed the grass with both hands, and whispered: "I don't know what happened to my little master today, but I actually put on such a big young master's airs."

Xing'er gave Xin'er a slight look, and said: "The little master is also the master, you should be glad that we were not sent to the sixth young master, last night... I heard Xiaohong crying under the wall again."

"What I'm talking about is that although our little master is not powerful, he... is still good to us." Thinking of the bowl of almond porridge given to her by the ten young masters last night, Xin'er smiled innocently.

Glancing at her ignorant sister, Xing'er sighed in her heart, hoping that the Ten Young Masters will always be safe and sound, and that they will do their best to serve him well, God blesses and thank God.

At night, Sheng Yan hurried to finish the homework assigned by the second elder brother before the little beggar appeared. He was so tired that he didn't even have dinner.

As soon as the little beggar showed up, Sheng Yan dragged him to the small kitchen in the backyard, letting him hold a bundle of roses, and holding a porcelain box and a porcelain vase in his hands.

Searching in the kitchen, I found a bowl of leftover rice, and I wolfed it down with smoke. The little beggar's eyes were straightened, and he became angry.

"Why, the young master of the Long family doesn't care if he is full?" Even if he has irregular meals three times a day, he has never been so hungry.

"No, no, I didn't have time to eat just now." Sheng Yan waved to him, put down the bowls and chopsticks, and directed him to go to the stove to light a fire.

The little beggar pouted and said nothing, squatted down and took out the firewood to blow on the fire. There was enough firewood in the stove, so they shouldn't need to chop wood in the middle of the night.

Sheng Yan looked at the porcelain box and then the porcelain vase, and after thinking about it tangledly, he decided to fill the petals separately, so he could try them all, and see which vessel had a better effect, and make improvements next time.

Since it is rose water, how do you get the water out of the petals?He thought about squeezing and crushing with his hands successively, but tried a few flowers and found it unsuccessful, because the fragrance of the flowers did not become stronger.Thinking of my second brother's method of drying and steaming Baihuaxiang tea, I thought of steaming the flowers on the pot.If it is steamed, the water in the petals should be steamed out. It may be feasible to collect these.

"It doesn't matter, let's try it first..." Sheng Yan was thinking about how to make it, and he became decisive when he spoke to the little beggar, "Little beggar, help me take out the steamer next to it. The pot is too big. I think it is better to use a steamer." good."

The little beggar turned his head and looked at Sheng Yan for a while, his eyes slipped past his waist, his mouth was pouted again, and after taking out the steamer and putting it away, he watched Sheng Yan hurriedly put away the porcelain box and vase filled with rose petals, She asked him right away: "You have a sachet... Did Xing'er or Xin'er embroider it for you?"

Staring at the retort, he was wondering if there was any problem with this, should he use a small fire, and Sheng Yan said casually: "Where, their female workers are not good enough, they need to practice more, this...it was given to me by my second brother. ..." Lent me some for a few days.

But the little beggar was obedient and only listened to half of it. He pushed the bangs on his forehead back, walked to his side to fix the steamer more firmly, and asked, "You, you like this sachet very much."

"Well, it smells so good, my brother made it himself, isn't it amazing!" Sheng Yan smiled lightly.

The little beggar took a second look at the sachet, muttered something in a low voice, he didn't know what he said, squatted down and blew up the flames, until Sheng Yan pinched his arm fiercely before reacting.

"Oh, oh, hurry up and turn down the fire! Oh, why is this steamer burning!" He jumped anxiously, pinching and hitting the little beggar. "It's all your fault, what should we do now?"

"You are so stupid, you don't add water to the steamer! If you don't add water, you won't burn it. There is no reason for dry steaming!" The little beggar stood up, touched his arm displeased, and said to himself: Yan looks thin and weak, why does it hurt so much to pinch someone!

Sheng Yan slapped his head, "Ah, I forgot!"

The two of them hurriedly added water to the steamer, but this attempt failed. Seeing that the petals were all steamed, Sheng Yan took out the porcelain box and vase. As a result, not much petal water was steamed at all. shriveled and stuck to the porcelain wall.

Sheng Yan also withered like flower petals in an instant, and sat on the threshold and said to the little beggar, "Oh, I know it's not easy, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult, how come there isn't even a little bit of flower juice."

Seeing his sluggish appearance, the little beggar wanted to comfort him, but he didn't understand. Seeing him staring at the sachet in a daze, he felt inexplicably blocked.

The two children looked at each other for a while, and the little beggar pulled Sheng Yan up, "The fire is still burning, you can read the book again and think about it, this is just one failure and you give up?"

"Who said I gave up, I'll go back and get the book right now, you wait here!" Sheng Yan snorted stubbornly, patted his buttocks and stood up.

Looking back at the wasted petals, the little beggar felt it was a pity. He tilted his head and looked at the things in the kitchen. A smile appeared on his face, and another stove was ignited, and the pot was added to it. There is half a pot of water in it.

Then, he found some rice and put some in it, and decided to cook some flower porridge with local materials.

When Sheng Yan came over with a book and sat at the door to read, the porridge in the pot was already boiling.Walking in smelling the smell, Sheng Yan touched his stomach subconsciously, why was he hungry again!

Quickly threw the steamed petals into the pot and stirred them. The little beggar pretended not to hear the sound of the smoker's belly, found jujubes, wolfberries, and rock sugar in the kitchen, and put them down one by one while watching the heat.Slowly, the smell of porridge filled the kitchen, and he added a bowl and handed it to Sheng Yan.

Sheng Yan took a sip, showing a contented expression, "Little beggar, it's delicious!"

"Really, this is my mother's favorite porridge. It's cheap for you today." The little beggar also added a bowl with a smile, and the two sat on the threshold and chatted without saying a word while eating the porridge.

I was really hungry too, most of the pot of rice porridge was filled with cigarettes, and I hiccupped at the end, saying: "This porridge is really delicious, does it have a name?"

"There is no name yet." Scratching his head, thinking that his mother did not mention the name when she made the porridge, the little beggar shook his head.

"Then... can I call it rock sugar rose porridge, okay?" Sheng Yan was satisfied with his meal, and now he smiled brightly, like a white rose in full bloom.

The little beggar thought the name sounded nice, "Rose, are you talking about Rose?"

"That's right, this is a name that came out of the palace, but it refers to a certain type of rose, not the one that grows in clusters, there are many colors... If we meet big red roses in the future Mei, you can also use it to make porridge!"

This is a good thing, the petals can't be made into roses, and they don't waste, they can be made into porridge easily.

"Then if there is a chance in the future, I'll make porridge for you to eat again?" The little beggar said, grabbing the hand holding the cigarette.

Sheng Yan nodded quickly, "Okay."

"Is that better for me, or your second brother?" After hesitating for a moment, the little beggar raised his chin and asked.

Sheng Yan was stunned for a moment, touched the sachet and stomach, "Hello."

"Hehe." The little beggar looked up at the sky with a smile, his eyebrows straightened, alas... the moon is so big and round tonight.

After they were full, the two began to try the second round of experiments. This time, Sheng Yan found out a Taoist refining method for making certain medicines. After referring to it, they thought they could try it.He still filled porcelain boxes and vases with petals, but this time he covered them with a layer of paper, sealed them, and steamed them in a steamer.

This time, I really got a little flower petal juice, which made Sheng Yan happy for a long time, but... the flower fragrance is still not strong enough, and even feels a little diluted.

"Forget it, let's try again tomorrow night!" The little beggar patted him on the shoulder.

Sheng Yan also felt that it was impossible to make much progress in one night, but at least he had a good meal of flower porridge, so he and the little beggar cleaned up the kitchen, brought new firewood and put it under the stove, and restored the kitchen to its original state. look.Fortunately, Xing'er and Xin'er were so tired that day, otherwise all ten Xing'er would have been woken up by the movement of the two of them working!

The end result of such a toss was that both Sheng Yan and the little beggar didn't bother to wash their faces and hands, and fell asleep with their heads covered when they got on the bed.When Xing'er came calling the next morning, the little beggar was still drooling and lying on top of Sheng Yan...

"Little beggar, little beggar!" Sheng Yan didn't dare to shout too loudly, and pushed the little beggar vigorously, but his hands and feet were wrapped around his body, and he couldn't push it away no matter what.

He had no choice but to yell to the door: "Myolie, go get the water first, I don't need you to help me get dressed...you can come in later!"

Fooling Xing'er away, Sheng Yan twisted the little beggar's ear around with one hand.

"Aww!" The little beggar kicked his legs, sat up in pain, and looked at Sheng Yan mournfully.

Why are you still not convinced?Sheng Yan pursed his mouth and stretched out his hand to pinch him, but the little beggar Bian Pianzui hurriedly jumped out of bed, rubbed his ears and complained in a low voice: "It hurts so much, you are so cruel..."

Get out, who told you to pretend to be asleep, don't think I didn't see your eyelashes move!Sheng Yan raised his hand and threw the clothes to him, lowered his voice and said: "Hurry up, Xing'er and the others are coming in!"

"Little master, are you awake? Outside the door, the second young master is here..." Unexpectedly, Xing'er turned back quickly.

"What?" The second elder brother came, what to do, what to do, Sheng Yan panicked all of a sudden, his clothes became more and more messed up, seeing that the door was about to be opened, he hurriedly pushed the little beggar into the clean room behind the screen.

"Hey, our little ten has also learned to be lazy." Long Bisheng stood at the door with a jade fracture fan in his hand, with a smile on his lips.