Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 170 Perfume

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In October, Hainan has entered its most comfortable season of the year. Setting up a deck chair on the beach, hanging up a sunshade, smelling the sea air, and letting the cool sea breeze caress your body, Liu Ye let out a comfortable groan. Sunshine, waves, a private beach, and beautiful women surrounding you—what an ultimate enjoyment! Even if you have money, it would be hard to achieve this in the 21st century.

Tang Yu wasn't used to this relaxed lifestyle. She sat close to Liu Ye on the recliner, looking around idly. Liu Ye glanced at the delicate skin peeking out from Tang Yu's neckline, then at her shapely, long legs tightly wrapped beneath her skirt, and secretly lamented how beautiful it would be if they were wearing bikinis!

Tang Yu's voice interrupted his reverie: "Master, look, there are two people over there, they look like Master Liang?"

Liu Ye sat up in confusion, shielding his eyes from the glaring sunlight with his hand, and looked in the direction Tang Yu was pointing. Two people were searching for something on the beach, one of whom was Liang Xiaoming.

What was Liang Xiaoming looking for under the blazing sun? Liu Ye waved and called out, "Mingzi?"

Upon hearing the summons, Liang Xiaoming led the man over to greet him; it was Song Xiaobao.

"Are you going to make perfume with Lao Song? Why are you sunbathing on the beach?" Liu Ye asked, quite puzzled.

Liang Xiaoming wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and replied, "Didn't I tell you in Guangzhou? Old Song extracts essential oils. To turn them into perfume, you need a solvent and a fixative. The solvent is easy to find—it's just pure alcohol. The fixative is a bit more complicated; it must be an animal fragrance. And there are very few animal fragrances that can be used as fixatives. Musk is the most common, but it's produced in the southwest and is not easy to obtain. In Qiongzhou, the only one that is relatively easy to find is ambergris."

"Ambergris?"

"Yes, as the name suggests, it's dragon's saliva. Old Song said that this kind of thing can be caught at sea, and sometimes it washes ashore. We're just trying our luck on the beach. If we can't find it, we'll buy it from the fishermen at a high price."

Liu Ye laughed and said, "Does this world really have dragons? I'm not well-educated, so don't try to fool me."

Liang Xiaoming laughed and said, "Of course it's not a real dragon, it's just a rumor. In fact, modern science has solved the mystery. It's the secretion of sperm whales. Simply put, when sperm whales eat octopuses or similar creatures, their tough horny jaws and teeth are difficult to digest. The food accumulates in their intestines, irritating the intestines and causing them to secrete a special liquid that coats the food remains. This slowly forms a waxy substance. This substance is either excreted from the intestines or falls out with the decaying whale carcass. After floating for decades or even centuries, it is transformed into ambergris under the influence of sunlight and the washing of seawater."

Song Xiaobao added, "My lord, this ambergris has a fishy smell when it is first caught, and it is quite smelly, but after it is dried, it is more fragrant than musk. It is usually presented directly to the emperor for his enjoyment."

Liu Ye understood: "So you want to use local materials, find ambergris as a fixative, and make perfume?"

Liang Xiaoming nodded and said, "It can also be called a fixative. With it, we can just find plants and flowers as raw materials to start making perfume."