Chapter 43 (2/2)
“Ratio? Yes, that’s about it.” Tian Can nodded and explained to Xiaobao, “Half a jin of Bodhi Dew is enough for 5 bottles of Qi-concentrating elixir, which is to say that 1 liang of Bodhi Dew is the amount required for 1 bottle. Given that a liang is too hard to grasp as it is too light, especially for liquids like the Bodhi Dew, medicines often get ruined easily even if a slightly more amount is used. That’s why Qi-concentrating elixir is so expensive and normally only has a 10% chance of success in refining.”
(TL: 1 jin = 10 liang)
Hong Xiaobao finally understood why that powder was so expensive. It was pretty simple: the units of measurement of this world was not quite accurate enough. For example, slightly different amounts of ingredients is often negligible. But for Bodhi Dew, the exact amount of 1 liang, or 50 grams, was required and it could not be more or less. To the residents of this world, it was quite hard to grasp an amount of one liang. If a refiner accidentally used 51 grams of Bodhi Dew, the final product would end up useless. The sensitivity of the units of this world was a big problem. However, this didn’t post too much of a problem to Hong Xiaobao.
“Well, it doesn’t seem that hard, actually,” said Hong Xiaobao. “We just need more sensitive units of measurements, right? I have just the thing for it!”
Having said that, he took the four ingredients and took the elevator to the third floor to go to his room. He took out a tool and placed it on a table. It was a weighing scale with two plates at each side. Hong Xiaobao introduced the ite, “This tool is called a scale.”
For normal people, it was quite impossible to get the amount for medicine ingredients perfectly. But with the scale, it became much easier.
“Scale? What’s a scale?” Tian Can had never seen anything like it and asked curiously, “Can this be used to measure the amount of ingredients needed?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t dare to say that it is 100% accurate, but it certainly works well when ratios comes into play.” Hong Xiaobao placed the ingredients on the table. According to Tian Can, of these four ingredients, Bodhi Dew and Mohe Ginseng were required in the most amounts, 2 jin of each. Hong Xiaobao decided to use that amount as a reference weight and took out 2 jin of the ingredients and placed it on the scale.
Hmm, it is a little slanted. The Bodhi Dew is too much. Let’s remove some of it… Great. It doesn’t matter if it was exactly 2 jins, as long as the ratio is correct.
“Oh? I really am speechless.” Tian Can nodded his head with satisfaction. “This method really is much better than simply weighing the ma.s.s.”
The scale really was useful for scenarios that involved ratios. As long as both sides of the scale were level, it represented that both ingredients had equal ma.s.s.
He quickly finished measuring the amount for Bluefall Gra.s.s and Mohe Ginseng and continued on to measure the Freeze Flower. First, he placed 2 jins of Mohe Ginseng and Freeze Flower on each side and made sure they were the same weight. He then removed the Mohe Ginseng and split the Freeze Flower to both sides of the scale until it became level, effectively splitting 2 jins into 1 jin! He then used the same method to get the right amount of Bodhi Dew.
However, this time it was a little harder, as Bodhi Dew was a kind of liquid. Hong Xiaobao placed two small cups on both sides of the scale, made sure it was level and placed 1 jin of Freeze Flower into the first cup. He then poured the Bodhi Dew into the other cup until the scale was level. After that, he repeated the process and divided each each cup to 0.5 jins of Bodhi Dew.
“Done!” Hong Xiaobao nodded happily. “Have I succeeded halfway already?”
“That’s right,” praised Tian Can. He was quite impressed with Xiaobao’s performance. “Haha, your method really is quite good. This will save us lots of trouble. With the scale, medicine refining will be much easier in the future, well, at least for the elementary levels that is.”
It’s no wonder Tian Can was in a good mood. It was exceedingly rare for teachers to have students like Hong Xiaobao who not only grasped the concepts taught easily but even managed to come out with a new method to approach a problem! Teaching him was a very relaxing and rewarding experience.
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