Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 155 Investment in Talent

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Liu Ye then perked up. If he remembered correctly, lead type printing was introduced to China from the West at the end of the Qing Dynasty. This young man had actually brought it forward by two hundred years! Regardless of whether lead type printing would actually help his career, his dedication to research and exploration was worth cultivating. Who knows, he might come up with something else useful.

He verbally expressed his approval: "Young man, you have a bright future! How did you come up with the idea of ​​using movable type to print books?"

Shen Xiaoyang scratched his head sheepishly: "Just guessing. Woodblock printing is too rigid; one set of blocks can only print one book, and to print another book, you have to carve a new set of blocks. Wooden movable type is too easily worn out; copper movable type is too expensive; other materials are either too hard or don't hold ink. In the end, I tried lead, and it worked best. It's softer, easier to carve, and it holds ink very well."

Liang Xiaoming then introduced another person: "As for this one, his name is Song Xiaobao. Don't let his honest and simple appearance fool you; he does very romantic things—he and his wife run a cosmetics shop, and he even researches and develops perfumes!"

Liu Ye almost choked on his own saliva: "Perfume?"

"Yes, it's perfume! I went to his shop and saw that he made his own still using tin and used distillation to make perfume. And he actually succeeded. The neighbors all love it."

Liu Ye asked suspiciously, "Is perfume really that easy to make? Old Song, tell me how you make it?"

Song Xiaobao cautiously replied, “It’s not as easy as Master Liang makes it out to be. I call this kind of water ‘Floral Fragrance Dew.’ I’ve tried many methods, and the final one is to place flower petals and stems in a tin pot, add clean water, seal it, attach a long tube to the top, and simmer it over a low flame. The steam escapes through the tube, and as it cools down, it turns back into water. What flows out of the tube is the floral fragrance dew. It’s very fragrant, but too strong, and it doesn’t keep for very long. If it weren’t for my wife’s fondness for it, I wouldn’t have continued making it.”

Liu Ye clicked his tongue in amazement: "It sounds very plausible, but why is it too concentrated and has such a short shelf life?"

Liang Xiaoming replied, "The substance extracted in this way is called essential oil, not perfume as we understand it. I once saw a movie where they said that by using pure alcohol as a solvent and animal fragrances as a fixative, they could dilute it into perfume and preserve it for several months or even several years."

Liu Ye had gone from being amazed by Liang Xiaoming's breadth of knowledge and the variety of fields he had explored to being numb to it. He casually gave a thumbs up and said, "Dean Liang knows everything. I admire him!"

"Hehe, I've only heard about the principle behind this perfume. I couldn't actually make it myself. It's nothing special. It's like I know the principle of an atomic bomb, but I can't make one," Liang Xiaoming said modestly. "However, the method Old Song described is very close to modern perfume. We happen to produce distilled spirits and have the conditions to extract pure alcohol, so why not try making perfume? Maybe we can create a new flagship product."

Liu Ye never thinks he has too many ways to make money. He perked up and instructed, "We can't just try. We've already gotten to the point. We have to make it happen. Perfume can be sold as a luxury item! I believe the ladies and young women of wealthy families will definitely spend a lot of money to buy it."