60 The Lost Lover

Chu Yu took a few deep breaths before she managed to calm the shock in her heart. She tilted her head to the side and darted Wang Yizhi a look. Then, she said, "I've already told you my name. You can fulfill your promise now." She had not forgotten that her initial goal was for Wang Yizhi to help her identify the spices. 

Wang Yizhi chuckled. His long and slim fingers tugged at the silk pouch to open it. Then, he took a whiff of the scent inside the pouch and began frowning slowly. 

Chu Yu could tell that something was wrong judging by his expression. "How is it?" Could it be that even he was incapable of identifying the spices?

Wang Yizhi shook his wrist once, then turned his head to the side and cast a glance at Chu Yu. "Who made this perfume pouch?"

She blinked her eyes in an unsurprised manner. "Would I still need your help if I knew the answer?"

"True." Wang Yizhi shrugged. He was no longer leaning against the wall. Instead, he brought Chu Yu into a room that was even cleaner than the outside. There was no furniture or decoration in the room but a round stone table stood in the center of the room. The surface of the stone table was as smooth as a mirror. 

Wang Yizhi made his way to the side of the stone table and scattered a portion of spices along the edge. Soon after that, he took out a silver small cubic spoon to scrape the spice bits apart slowly. "This piece of stone was growing in the ground even before this house was built. I noticed that it was a good quality stone with excellent shape. I found it to be intriguing, so I ordered the workers not to chisel it off the ground but polish it to become what it is now."

He shook his wrist once to pick up some spice bits with the spoon. Then, he brought the spices under his nose to take a whiff. His action was exactly the same as the spice master earlier, but his mannerism was much more casual and carefree. 

The lighting inside the house was dimmer than the outside. At present, Wang Zhi assumed a serious expression compared to his casual laziness earlier. There was a look of stern gravity that gathered in his eyes. The contour of his facial profile was growing even deeper in the dimly-lit room. 

A moment later, Wang Yizhi heaved a sigh softly. "The man that concocted these spices is an exceptional expert. If I have the opportunity to witness his work, I actually hope that I can invite this expert to come to Xinlan Marketplace."

Chu Yu refused to tell him the source of the perfume pouch naturally. She asked in a slightly anxious manner, "So, what about it?"

Wang Yizhi did not answer her question. He flicked the spices on his spoon away to the side before he picked up some other spice bits to smell cautiously. 

The spices were ground up so finely and mixed up so evenly that it was already very hard to identify the original spices just by judging from its appearance. As a result, Wang Yizhi gave up the idea of using his eyes to identify the spices. He chose to go to a darker corner sterile from any odors and used his sense of smell to identify the spices. 

A human being's five senses complemented one another at times. When one of the senses was missing, the rest of the four senses would be enhanced correspondingly. A person's sense of sight could not be utilized in the dark, so his sense of smell would be correspondingly sharper. 

He pondered, frowned and smiled occasionally. It almost took the time to burn through two joss sticks for Wang Yizhi to turn his wrist over and insert the silver spoon back into his sleeve. He poured the spices back into the silk pouch and said to Chu Yu, "Please hold on for a moment."

He walked back to the living room on the outside once again and opened the door to order his servant to prepare some fresh water for him. Then, Chu Yu watched as he removed many bottles and jars from a box closer to the wall and placed them on the floor one by one. At last, he sat cross-legged on the floor with a row of two inch-tall white porcelain bowls placed neatly in front of him. The porcelain bowls were almost the same size and appeared very uniform. 

Chu Yu wondered why the situation looked so familiar to her.

She squinted her eyes to ponder until she was jolted back to reality when the servant returned with a pail of fresh water. Wang Yizhi used a white ladle to scoop the fresh water to fill each porcelain bowl. Next, he retrieved some colored powder from a bottle and poured it in. Chu Yu was suddenly enlightened when she saw him stir the contents of the bowl with a porcelain spoon. 

No wonder it appeared so familiar to her. Everything that Wang Yizhi was doing before her eyes was so similar to her chemistry experiments during high school in her past life. He just did not have any glass test tubes with him and was using white porcelain bowls as his containers. 

Chu Yu was dumbstruck with bewilderment as she watched him dissolve the powder with water. Then, he scooped out a small amount of spices and soaked it in the liquid in the porcelain bowl. She observed the changes to the spice bits with close attention. After a long time, she finally could not refrain from speaking anymore. "Who taught you this technique?"

"Who taught me?" Wang Yizhi's train of thought seemed to be completely immersed in the spices. He repeated Chu Yu's question again just to comprehend the meaning behind her words. With a smile, he replied, "I came up with this technique on my own. Why? Have you ever seen anyone that uses the same technique as I do to identify the spices?"

Came up with the technique by himself?

Chu Yu felt a little disappointed and was even in disbelief. 

"I came up with this on my own truthfully. Some of the materials used are from the late imperial astronomer's suggestion such as these bowls and some medicines."

Imperial astronomer? Chu Yu recalled the position held by the psychic Tian Rujing in the palace. Even then, she had no idea about the background of this late imperial astronomer.

From a certain angle, Wang Yizhi's proceedings could almost be regarded as the germ of modern chemistry. The alchemists of the ancient times studied minerals frequently in order to produce alchemy elixirs. It could be said that they were the predecessors of chemistry. However, it was a waste that this particular germ had yet to grow much before it was snapped and squeezed to death by all sorts of causes.

The late imperial astronomer. 

Chu Yu hesitated for a moment. She did not attempt to inquire about the late imperial astronomer. Even though a possibility suddenly arose in her mind, she was not very certain about it yet. 

Wang Yizhi did not pay attention to notice the change in Chu Yu's expression. He kept his head lowered all the time while fiddling with the utensils placed before himself. He would add medicinal powder into different bowls occasionally and stir them evenly before pouring a small amount of spice bits to soak in the solution. Then, he observed the reactions and changes with close attention. 

Chu Yu found that she was suddenly not feeling worried anymore. On the contrary, she was at ease. She watched his actions that were not considered proficient and felt like she was brought back to the chemistry laboratory in her high school from her past life. It felt like ages ago and she cherished the memory very much.

She waited until Wang Yizhi was done bustling about. Then, he poured the discarded solution into the wooden pail by his side and ordered his servants to clean up the porcelain bowls and utensils. Chu Yu asked softly, "Are you very fond of spices?"

Wang Yizhi shrugged. He regained his earlier casual and erratic behavior as soon as he was done managing the serious matters. "I get by. The reason why I began studying spices back in the beginning and came up with such a special technique was because of a girl."

Chu Yu took a seat by his side to show her interest. She urged him to tell her more, "A girl? Tell me about her." She was curious about what sort of person could make a man like Wang Yizhi fall in love with her.

Wang Yizhi lowered his head to look at his long, slim, yet strong hands. A gentle look emerged in his eyes. "What's there to tell? It's nothing but something that happened ten years ago. She's gone now."

Chu Yu regretted asking the question. She spoke softly with a gloomy expression, "I'm sorry…" She had no intention to pick someone else's wound. 

Wang Yizhi stretched out his hand to push her hair aside. She could smell the remnant scent on his fingers. "There's no need to apologize. She left behind wonderful memories. She wanted me to live a good life before she passed away, so I won't allow myself to be buried in sorrow either."

Even though he had experienced sorrow and pain in the past, the grief was washed away by time at last, and in turn, a pearl glimmering with brilliant radiance called life was left behind. Wang Yizhi was a man that knew how to treat himself well. He knew how to live better and stop himself from clinging to the past. 

He relaxed and leaned his back against the red sandalwood chest. Wang Yizhi's tone was especially gentle when he spoke about his lover in the past. His voice sounded as soft as the ripples on springwater. "I've already figured out more than half of the spice content. So, what are your questions?"