Hey, Qingniu Valley is holding a "Bead-Chain Quality Inspection Day" today! Old Qian carries a magnifying glass and crouches in front of the piles of herbs, muttering: "Abacus Bead! How come the leaves of this Rhodiola are a size smaller than last year? Could Huwa have plucked them to kick around as a shuttlecock?" With a rattle, Abacus Bead leaps up, morphs into a tiny scale weight, and projects an image onto a leaf tip: "Stop guessing wildly! There was less rain this year, so the leaves shrunk, but the medicinal potency is twenty percent higher! Don't believe me? I'll squeeze you a cup of 'Bead-Chain Leaf Juice' to taste!"
"Xiaoxiu! Come and keep your bead in line!" the quality inspection master shouts, holding a smoking testing furnace. Abacus Bead is busy tossing grape skins into the furnace: "Adding fruit acid to test alkalinity is ten times more accurate than your lousy test paper!" Xiaoxiu laughs heartily as she looks at the purplish broth: "So Abacus Bead has turned the inspection workshop into a 'juice laboratory'?" Abacus Bead projects a wink at Huwa: "What's wrong? My 'sweet-and-sour inspection method' yields a drinkable beverage after testing!"
While everyone is busy, an urgent message arrives from Chang'an Pharmacy: "A customer says our White Cogongrass Flower is 'insufficient in bead-alkali content'!" With a swoosh, Abacus Bead bounces down to the cold storage cellar and projects a "Bead-Chain Comparison Show"—on the left is Qingniu's White Cogongrass Flower, …
Chapter 316