Chapter 47
The next day, the gers arrived on time and pestered Wang Jin to teach them how to play the flute. Wang Jin, overwhelmed by their persistence, glanced at Yuan Heng for approval. With Yuan Heng's tacit consent, Wang Jin began teaching the gers how to play the flute.
Well, "teaching" was a bit of an overstatement...
Most of the time, Wang Jin let them practice on their own.
Meanwhile, he asked Yuan Heng to bring back the red flowers from around the stone stage, and together they began processing the flowers.
These red flowers, known as "lucky flowers" in this world, had multiple layers of petals, somewhat resembling the roses from Wang Jin's world. Their vibrant red petals bloomed brilliantly.
Processing these flowers was much simpler than the dye-making process Wang Jin was familiar with in his previous life. All they had to do was boil the flowers in water until the water turned red, then add white cloth to the mixture and continue boiling. After a while, they let the cloth steep in the dye, and when they took it out, the white cloth had turned red.
Wang Jin instructed Yuan Heng to handle this task while he picked out some intact petals to try making rouge.
The petals needed to be crushed in a stone mortar that Yuan Heng had made earlier. The goal was to extract the juice from the petals, but crushing them required strength. After just a few attempts, Wang Jin felt his hands aching. When he opened his palms, they were already red and sore.
He instinctively looked around for Yuan Heng, wanting him to take over, but Yuan Heng had just been sent to dye the cloth and was nowhere to be seen.
Wang Jin pushed the stone mortar away, feeling frustrated.
He realized that without Yuan Heng, he couldn't do anything!
Mu ger wasn't particularly interested in the bamboo flute. Seeing Wang Jin in low spirits, he put down the flute and came over to sit beside him.
In front of Wang Jin was a stone mortar, something Yuan Heng had made a while ago for grinding coarse materials. It was very useful.
At the moment, the mortar was filled with half-crushed petals...
After spending so much time together, Mu ger had come to understand that Wang Jin always had some novel way of creating useful and interesting things. Everything Wang Jin did seemed strange at first, but when the final product appeared, it always made perfect sense.
At first, Mu ger found Wang Jin's actions odd, but as he saw more and more useful and innovative creations, he grew accustomed to it. He began to expect something new whenever Wang Jin started tinkering with strange materials.
This time was no different. From the moment he saw Wang Jin placing the lucky flower petals into the stone mortar, Mu ger had been paying close attention to Wang Jin's actions.
Of course, he also noticed Wang Jin looking around for Yuan Heng and, failing to find him, pushing the mortar away in frustration.
Wang Jin was good at many things, but his physical strength was far inferior to that of a normal ger.
Mu ger found it amusing and sat down beside Wang Jin, pulling the mortar toward himself and starting to crush the petals in Wang Jin's place.
Wang Jin blinked at him, a look of surprise on his face.
Mu ger teased him with a playful wink, "What? Are you so picky that only your 'Brother Heng' can do this for you? Can't anyone else help?"
The remark was lighthearted, poking fun at how dependent Wang Jin was on Yuan Heng. Wang Jin, caught off guard, felt his cheeks flush. He touched his nose, his gaze still frank.
"I just can't do without Brother Heng, so what? Don't you rely on your A-Yuan too?"
Wang Jin spoke with such confidence that, if not for the faint blush on his cheeks, Mu ger would have thought Wang Jin had become shameless after getting married!
But the redness of his face and the increasing moisture in his eyes betrayed his embarrassment.
If he got any more embarrassed, the corners of his eyes would turn red. When Wang Jin was shy, he looked as if he had been wronged, his face revealing a unique charm that seemed to draw people in.
Wang Jin himself was unaware of this, but if Yuan Heng saw him like this, he would surely feel jealous again.
Mu ger chuckled softly, not daring to tease him further. Instead, he turned his attention to the stone mortar below, grinding the contents for a while until they were completely crushed.
Mu ger then asked, “What should we do with these after they’re crushed?”
He didn’t ask Wang Jin what he was planning to make this time. He had asked before, but Wang Jin’s explanations were always too complex for them to understand. They usually only figured it out after seeing the final product…
So, from then on, they stopped asking. Whatever Wang Jin wanted to do, they just followed along.
Wang Jin glanced at the stone mortar and said, “Pour the juice into this bowl, but make sure there’s no residue.”
As he spoke, Wang Jin thought for a moment, then went inside and brought out a loosely woven cloth. He stretched it over the mouth of the bowl and asked Mu ger to help filter the mixture.
Meanwhile, Wang Jin went back inside to fetch the beeswax he had made earlier.
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