Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 381
"Then what kind of fragrance does Fourth Aunt call 'Zhongsihe'?"

The fourth aunt said with a smile: "It's my nonsense. After all, the small Sihe was a bit weaker, and it didn't go well with the orchid fragrance in the small courtyard, so I added a flavor to the Xiaosihe, using its penetrating nature, Let 'Little Sihe' blend with the natural fragrance of orchids and complement each other."

Speaking of this, the fourth aunt tilted her head mischievously: "Ancon, guess what this spice is added?"

Zhou Zhi rolled his eyes: "Bao Zhao's "Zhongxing Song": Caiqi disperses orchid musk deer, and the wind produces its own fragrance. The ancients always liked to juxtapose orchid musk deer, and in modern perfumes, musk is also commonly used as a penetrating agent. I guess The fragrance added by the fourth aunt is musk!"

"Elbow is really smart!" Fourth Aunt laughed and said, "It's exactly Musk."

"Cao Xueqin described Jinghuan Fairy: Fairy coats are floating, smelling the fragrance of musk orchids, lotus clothes are about to move, listening to the strong general wearing rings."

"The combination of musk orchid is also the norm of the ancients."

"What is the fourth aunt doing now?"

"These are incense utensils, yours is the stove, and the rest are seal molds, ash presses, incense spoons, incense shovels, incense sweeps, and mats."

"Incense burners are the most common incense utensils, with various shapes. For example, you have found Boshan furnaces, cylinder furnaces, and tripod furnaces from the county cultural center."

"Metal stoves are not afraid of heat, and their shapes are changeable. For incense burners made of other materials, insulating sand such as quartz and crystal is often placed on the bottom of the furnace to prevent the furnace wall from overheating and bursting."

"Now I am smoking and roasting incense ash. The incense ash used for making incense seals is very important. If the incense ashes are wet, it is easy to break the fire. For incense ash that has not been used for a long time and is damp, you can use the method of burying the charcoal to bake, or The oven roasting method restores the incense ash to dryness."

"This is called an incense shovel. Now that the incense ashes are dry, we need to shovel out the incense ash in the furnace with the incense shovel, put them in this furnace, adjust them to be soft and even, and then use the ash press to compact the ash. It can be over-pressed, because over-pressed ash will make the powder less flammable."

This is a meticulous job of nourishing the mind. Watching a batch of fluffy and messy incense ash, under the skillful and elegant movements of the fourth aunt, gradually being scraped and gently pressed by the ash pressure, it became extremely smooth, and even some small scattered ash on the edge I didn't let it go, and finally it became a little distance away from the furnace mouth, which was very flat, which was really a pleasing thing.

"Pressing incense ash is about leveling off, but not pressing too hard. After pressing, you can spread another layer on top of the incense ash, and then press it lightly with an incense press." The fourth aunt explained while operating: "This layer It is softer than the bottom layer, and it doesn’t need to be too flat, because the incense seal will be stamped on it next, so that the incense powder can be burned and more oxygen can be supplied in time. Well, you see, this is what it looks like after the incense ash look."

"This is fun." Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "I guess some of my female classmates will like it."

"Children still focus on their studies." The fourth aunt said with a smile: "But if you do well in your studies, you can play with it in your spare time. It's good to cultivate and cultivate."

"The next step is to make incense seals. This requires seal molds, incense spoons, incense shovels and incense sweeps."

"That's what seal molds look like." The fourth aunt handed Zhou Zhi a strange metal plate with a complicated pattern of auspicious clouds carved in the center.

Looking carefully, this complicated pattern is still a single stroke, and the strokes do not cross from beginning to end.

"Most of the seal molds are made of copper." The fourth aunt waited for Zhou Zhi to finish reading, then took the seal molds, pressed them on the incense ash, and then began to adjust carefully: "Its function is to make loose incense powder, use the seal mold The shape is engraved on the incense ashes, so in the notes of the Song people, the multi-tube incense seal is called "Yinxiang".

"There are many types of seal molds. According to the material, there are metal and non-metal. According to the handle, there are single and double ears. According to the pattern, there are simple and complex."

"The patterns are generally auspicious. For beginners, it is good to choose simple and thick seals, which are easy to master."

Then the fourth aunt opened a porcelain jar: "Here, this is the Zhongsihe I prepared. Orange peel, lychee shell, coriander fruit core, pear dregs, mixed with musk."

"Then it shouldn't be called Zhongsihe, it's five."

"If you want to argue like this, you have to add Lan Xiang, it has to be six." The fourth cousin rolled his eyes and defended the fourth aunt.

"It's okay to call it the fragrance of six gentlemen." The fourth aunt didn't bother with the two men in front of her: "It's just that one is too penetrating, like a villain is better than a gentleman; the other can't last forever, there are always a few days , will break the companionship."

Fourth Cousin and Zhou Zhi looked at each other, women can be provoked? !This is called not care? !Is this talking about you or is it talking about me? !
I heard the fourth aunt continue to say: "If the seal mold is too complicated, it is good-looking, but it will have the characteristics of complex script, more turns, narrower and thinner seal mouth, so the typed incense seal will be thinner."

"If you use a relatively oily incense powder, when this type of incense powder burns, it will shrink back, which will easily cause fire failure."

"The biggest trouble for beginners is the loss of fire. This is because they are not familiar with the characteristics of various incense powders, lack seal-making skills, do not know how to control the density and thickness of incense seals, and do not choose suitable seal molds. of."

While telling the story, the fourth aunt used the incense spoon to fill the mold with the powder.Repeatedly and in small amounts, fill the hollow lines of the seal script with the powder little by little.

"Okay, the seal script has been typed, and the next step is to write the seal script." The fourth aunt said with a smile: "This step requires calmness, and the speed and movement of the hand are even and stable. If you don't pay attention, the delicate seal script will be interrupted by shaking, and all previous efforts will be wasted. .”

"This step is the most difficult for me." The fourth cousin shook his head: "I can't play."

"Then I guess it's mysterious." Zhou Zhi said, looking at the complicated seal characters in the furnace.

The fourth aunt smiled slightly, and lightly flicked the lifting rod in the center of the seal mold with her hand, and lifted it out.

In the center of the censer, on the off-white ashes, lies a complex pattern of brown incense powder, which is a series of four characters "Fu Shou Kang Ning", which is very beautiful.

"So simple?" Zhou Zhi couldn't help being dumbfounded: "This script is so beautiful!"

"Hehehe... Don't be fooled by your aunt's actions." The fourth cousin smiled with complacency and teasing: "You will know if you try it yourself when you have time someday."

"what's next?"

"The next step is to burn the seal." The fourth aunt took out a thin stick of incense stick from an incense tube and ignited it on the pine cone carbon, and then used sparks to get close to the seal head of the incense seal. There was no contact, but soon the head of the Xiangzhuan was ignited by the heat of the incense sparks.

"Okay, that's the process." The fourth aunt said, "It's a pity that your incense burner is missing a cover."

(End of this chapter)