Hu Changan smiled slightly, ordered someone to bring a small cup of white vinegar, and then carefully took a small pinch of ground cochineal with a spoon and put it in the white vinegar, stirring gently.

Suddenly, the originally transparent white vinegar instantly turned bright red into blood.

At this time, Li Ming wondered.

How to make lipstick and still need to use white vinegar? This isn't cooking!

Li Ming couldn't help but have doubts about Hu Changan.

He grew up in a rouge workshop and had never heard of a process that required white vinegar.

Vinegar is food, it's just for eating, how can it be used to make rouge!

This Hu Changan shouldn't be fooling around, right?

Could it be that Hu Chang'an's exploits were actually blown out like those gentlemen?

In modern times, there is a dragon written by ghostwriting, and there is naturally a dragon in ancient times.

In order to give their children a good future, those official eunuchs often ask writers to write on their behalf, and then lie to the outside world that those splendid articles were written by their unsuccessful children.

Doing so will not only make a big splash among their peers, but also pave the way for their future careers.

You must know that in Daming, the ability to write articles is, to a certain extent, linked to official luck.

In the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty, the examination was nothing more than the Four Books and Five Classics and the Eight Strands, in fact, the main test was the writing ability of the candidates.

Therefore, people with excellent writing ability can easily stand out in the scientific examination and become important ministers of the court in the future.

Although you can't cheat in the imperial examination, it's still okay to find someone to write articles on behalf of you outside the venue and publicize your name.

Maybe those young masters will one day be appreciated by high-ranking officials because of their false fame, and they will become dragons in one fell swoop.

And those young ladies may also be able to marry a good husband smoothly because of these false names that have been blown out.

Others may not know about this kind of thing, but Li Ming has seen too much.

As a rouge merchant, he would often go in and out of these high-ranking households, recommend new rouge to the ladies and wives, and often listen to the wives gossip about this or that.

These young masters and young ladies who are full of straw and do not have the slightest real talent and real learning will often soon be unable to find the north in the false praise of everyone, and they really think that they are the stars of Wenqu who can write splendid articles at will.

Now it seems that Hu Changan is no exception.

It is very likely that Hu Chang'an invented something before was bought from other old craftsmen, and then lied that he invented it himself.

It's good now, the little young master has been touted as dizzy, and he dares to use white vinegar to make rouge?

It's ridiculous!

However, looking at Hu Changan's confident smiling face, Li Ming also sighed.

This little young master is already moderate to deep, and there is no way to save it.

Let's talk about it when he makes a fool of himself later.

However, looking at Li Ming's changed face, Hu Changan still felt a little strange: "Mr. Li, what's wrong with you, is there any discomfort in your body?" ”

"Ah, nothing, it's just a little bit of a misunderstanding why white vinegar is put in it. This white vinegar is something to eat, how can it be used to make rouge? Li Ming's divergent thinking was pulled back by Hu Changan's words, and he said casually.

But as soon as he said this, Li Ming regretted it.

What does this little young master know, nine times out of ten, he is messing around.

When I asked this way, wasn't it directly in his face?

Li Ming was about to open his mouth to save it, but Hu Changan cleared his throat and said, "I want to use this white vinegar, the reason is because this cochineal is different from ordinary petal juice." ”

"Petal sap can be soluble in both water and oil, unlike cochineal."

"This cochineal can only be soluble in water, not in oil."

"So here I'm going to have the cochineal react with a substance in the white vinegar to produce a new substance that dissolves in oil."

"So I can move on to the next steps."

Li Ming couldn't help but look at Hu Changan with admiration.

Good guy, I didn't expect this little young master to say that the head is the Tao?

However, Li Ming did not look at Hu Changan because of this, but worried about Hu Changan's mental health.

What dissolves in water or oil or something, Li Ming doesn't understand it at all, and he doesn't think it's true.

Li Ming felt that Hu Changan's tirade was a manifestation of hysteria.

One of his cousins used to be like this, shouting nonsense about gods, Buddhas, and so on all day long, and he swore like he swore an oath, and no one could understand him.

In Li Ming's eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little more pity for Hu Changan.

Behold, even the son of a noble family, who was a servant of the Ministry of Works, had to endure the torment of hysteria, and it was pitiful.

Li Ming felt that before he left, he must explain this situation to the housekeeper of the Hu Mansion, and it should be regarded as repaying Hu Changan for his kindness in preparing tea for him.

Hu Changan looked at Li Ming's sympathetic eyes, and he was also puzzled by the second monk.

He didn't say anything, but just chatted about the production process of rouge normally, why did Li Ming look at him with this eye?

It's just creepy.

But it will take time for this chemical reaction.

So Hu Changan had no choice but to look at Li Ming's caring gaze and chat casually with Li Ming's chicken and duck.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Hu Changan finally breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly ordered someone to get some beeswax and a lemon.

Although the name lemon may sound like an exotic thing, lemons have taken root in China for a long time.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, someone recorded this special fruit called citron in the "Chronicles of Foreign Objects of Southern Descent".

In the Northern Song Dynasty Su Shi's "Book of Sketches", there is also a record of lemons.

However, in ancient times, lemons were mostly not eaten directly, but were added to dishes as seasonings or as Chinese herbal medicines.

Hu Changan is in Yingtianfu, the most prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty, and it is naturally easy to get a lemon.

Seeing this, Li Ming couldn't help but choke his head.

He knows that beeswax is usually used when making rouge, but what the hell is this lemon?

It looks like it's another kind of fruit.

Why, isn't this little master making rouge, but preparing to change his career to cooking?

However, Hu Changan ignored Li Ming's eyes, and just carefully mixed the beeswax with the white vinegar that had been put in the annatto before, and then squeezed a few drops of lemon juice into it.

The reason why Hu Changan put lemon juice in it is actually because lemons are rich in vitamin C.

In ancient times, there were no vitamin tablets, so you had to use the natural vitamins rich in fruits.

Vitamins are added to lipsticks to prevent lipstick ingredients from being oxidized.

Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant that prevents the lipstick from being oxidized and faded in the air, thus ensuring that the lipstick color is bright and long-lasting.