As the lactic acid bacteria vats at the Chang'an Green Ox Dyeing House bubbled away, Abbas's camel caravan filed in with Persian craftsmen in tow. Abacus beads bounced across their turbans to spell out the word "STUDY": "Doctor Zhang, we are willing to pay patent fees! Please teach us the color-fixing technique!" Pei Hongxiu twirled an abacus-bead pointer with a light chuckle: "You want to learn? Fine—" The beads on her pointer rearranged themselves into the word "CUTE"—"First, you must perform the three-kneel-and-nine-kowtow ritual to Huwa's carving!"
Zhang Yifan walked over, shaking an abacus-bead fermentation tank, the beads at the rim spelling out "BACTERIA": "The secret to color-fixing has three steps—" The beads leaped into the craftsmen's palms, forming the words "LOOK," "SNIFF," and "TASTE." "Look at the bacterial bubbles like a string of abacus beads, sniff for the sweetness of yogurt, taste—" Suddenly, the beads shifted to "TEASE," leaving a hint of Blue Crystal Powder on a certain craftsman's tongue. "Just kidding! The true secret lies in Huwa's abacus-bead wooden tablet!"
Xiao Moli swung her writing brush to paint the *Abacus-Bacteria Teaching Illustrated Guide*, and the beads instantly hopped onto her painting, transforming the Persian craftsmen into little dwarfs hugging abacus beads and drinking yogurt. Huwa's carving handed over the abacus-bead textbook, and the beads between the pages hopped out to spell "JUMP"—with every turn of the page, beads sprang out …
Chapter 208