Chapter 4 Magical Spring Water

Talking about the spring liquid in her hand, Selena thought of the miserable life she had spent with a balsams' seller in her previous life. The hand holding the cup couldn't help but clenched. Although the incident has long since passed, she still trembles. 

She could tolerate a little bit, but the balsams' seller was a beast with no humanity at all. When he was happy, he would give her something to eat. When he was unhappy, he would be tortured in every possible way. She was originally such a beauty-loving person, but she was tortured when she was only in her twenties. He tortured her until she looked like an old woman in her forties or fifties.

Thinking of this, Selena couldn't help but take a deep breath before relaxing. Fortunately, a few years later, the drunkard beast fell to death. Otherwise, she really doesn't know how long she would have had to endure. Although the incense seller was cruel, he had some skills in making essential oils and perfumes. Apart from the pile of unsold spices left behind after his death, he also hid a precious treasure.

She dug in the corner of the room for a long time before digging out a wooden box from the mud bricks. If she hadn't woken up in the middle of the night and found the incense seller squatting in the corner of the room hiding something, she probably wouldn't have known that there was such a thing in the house. 

When she opened the wooden box, there were some silver coins hidden by the incense seller. There were several secret recipes, and a palm-sized green transparent bottle.

Selena has been sold to balsams for several years, she knows some of his past. The man was a rogue, robbing and stealing. 

He even robbed other people's houses, so the items in this wooden box were probably stolen o rubbed from wealthy people. The secret recipe in the wooden box records the proportions of many products like perfumes and essential oils, etc. Each recipe describes the production method very clearly. 

The popular essential oils production methods in the metropolis are all listed on it. This can also explain why the guy can suddenly make money.

The small light green bottle is empty. Selena didn't pay much attention, her attention was focused on the recipes and the silver coins. She just picked up the small bottle and looked at it. She probably scratched her hands while digging for masonry, and her blood was on the bottle. 

Suddenly, the small bottle disappeared from her hand, and Selena was really shocked. Since then, there has been a strange phenomenon of a few drops of spring water condensing in the palm of her hand every day.

It took Selena more than a year to accept and understand the use of this liquid. She was really ecstatic at that time. 

With a dozen silver coins in the wooden box and the mystery spring liquid in her hand, coupled with the dozens of recipes for making perfume and essential oils, and her not bad talent, made her life much more comfortable by relying on her own hands in the years after the beast died. But her body was hollowed out. She had suffered too many miscarriages and was beaten and abused for many years. She died of illness before she was thirty.

She was very satisfied and grateful to be reborn unexpectedly, especially when she discovered that the magical liquid in her hand still existed, she almost ran to the church to thank God.

Selena put the cup in her hand back on the table. The only pity is that the amount of spring liquid is small, and the storage time is very short.

It is of little use to people. It only improves the fragrance and effectiveness of flowers, plants, and trees. The previous liquid, she used it to make flower tea and drank it. She used a few drops to make jasmine oil, but the effect was still the same as in the previous life. 

Adding a drop to soak the flowers and plants will keep the original fragrance longer. The more you add, the more floral fragrance will be. The richer it is, the better the taste will be if you use flower tea soaked in liquid as a dessert.

Although Selena has become accustomed to the existence of magic liquid, it is still very weird to others and may not be able to accept this magical liquid. Therefore, the existence of magic liquid will only be a secret to her, even not going to tell her parents.

Selena's family now has no fields and no poultry, so she only needs to do some handwork and cooking. Selena barely ate some wheat bran bread for lunch, soaked some magic water in water and drank it, then washed her hands and face and leaned on the bed. 

She used a coarse cloth to carefully apply some jasmine essential oil that she had poured out before to her hair. She combed it evenly with her hands and twisted it into a bundle. 

She wrapped her head in a coarse cloth and went to sleep. Covering it like this would allow her hair to absorb enough of the essential oil, and she would grow it into a beautiful hair as bright as satin in the future.

Her afternoon nap was very sweetly with the fresh scent of jasmine. After Jose came back at noon and had a quick meal, he took the small half can of jasmine essential oil and carried the  basket and continued to sell goods through the streets. Unexpectedly, Jose came back in the afternoon and gave Maria, Selena, and her daughter a big surprise.

After Selena had a full sleep, she lazily moved a small wooden stool and sat in the shade of the house. She lit a fire to dry some osmanthus flowers. She covered the osmanthus flowers with a  basket, and then put some lace handkerchiefs with seams made by Maria.

Place it on a  basket and smoke it, and the aroma of the burned osmanthus clings to the handkerchief.

She also wanted to make perfume directly and put it in the handkerchief, but now she didn't have the materials to make perfume, and she didn't have money to buy them, she could only use this simple one to make the handkerchief temporary scented.

The weather was very hot, but fortunately the fire was only burning slowly, and the flames were not big, but Selena still felt sweat dripping from her cheeks. While looking at the fire, she thought that she would not do such things if she had money in the future.

It was smoked over a low fire all afternoon, and the fragrance of flowers was quite strong. Selena picked up the flower-scented handkerchief and put it under her nose to smell it. The natural scent of osmanthus lingered on the tip of her nose. 

Afraid that the aroma would dissipate quickly, Selena smoked it for more than an hour, and the aroma was indeed very strong. As soon as she put down the handkerchief, she saw Jose coming back carrying a load.

Selena immediately put down her handkerchief when she saw it, and went up to him with a smile on her face. She said sweetly: “Dad, why did you come back so early today? The sun has not yet set.”

At noon, Jose learned from Maria that his daughter knew how to make essential oils. Maria asked him to take half a small jar of jasmine hair oil to a wealthy family and ask about it. He didn't have much hope at first, but he just didn't want his wife to be disappointed. 

Who knew that the essential oils were really taken by a young lady from a wealthy family. She bought all the half of the bottle together and gave him a full 50 copper coins. A bottle of essential oils he used to buy in the grocery store only cost 20 copper coins. His half bottle sold it for 50 copper coins, which made Jose very happy.

Since a half bottle of essential oil earned fifty copper coins, Jose spent about twenty copper coins cruelly to buy a small bag of white noodles and a few pastries that his daughter loved. The family had not seen white noodles for more than half a year, so it didn't matter to him, but his wife is in poor health and his daughter is young. 

Wheat bran bread is not nutritious enough. Although Jose is a man, he is also very attentive. His daughter's face is so thin that it is only as big as a palm. She can't eat after only a few bites of food. He is also anxious, so he bought some things after selling essential oils and came back early today.

"Dad, are you buying this for me?" Selena looked at Jose with her big eyes, holding honey bread wrapped in oil paper in her hand. She had not eaten enough in the past few days since she was reborn, and her stomach was empty. 

Yes, smelling the aroma of red honey bread, her mouth had already secreted a lot of saliva. While secretly cursing herself for being embarrassed, she made a deer-like look in anticipation, because she knew that if she looked like this, Jose would definitely will come back with more delicious food next time.

The place at the foot of the mountain is relatively remote, most of the residents are relatively poor. There are only a dozen households nearby. The fields are also scattered, and there are no neighbors whose houses are next to each other.

Jose still touched his daughter's hair and said with a smile on his rough face: "It's all yours, come into the house to eat it."

Putting a small bag of white noodles beside the pot, Maria counted the twenty or so copper coins given by Jose. 

She was very happy for a moment, “finally, We were able to pay the two hundred copper coins for the stepmother. And I got the medicine at Dr. 

Andres last time. You can pay back the twenty copper coins we owe for medicine. After a break, you can send the money to the stepmother and Dr. Andres.” Jose wipe sweat with the soaked cloth handkerchief, and replied to Maria, “I'll do it later.”

Jose and Maria are both honest people. Although the stepmother kicked their family out, because the law stipulates that legal children must provide for their parents in old age, this law is like a mountain that cannot be shaken off. They just have to grit their teeth and pay the monthly pension of 200 copper coins required by his stepmother.

Selena carefully opened the greased paper bag. She first let Jose and Maria eat a piece of  cake. Finally, she washed her hands, picked up a piece and put it to her mouth, then took a bite, and immediately half-squinted her eyes. 

And I felt that the honey cake was sweet and fragrant. The fragrance of the berry was completely immersed in it, and it melted in my mouth. It was really delicious, even better than the expensive pastries she had eaten at the Earl's Palace.