"Your Highness, this item is called 'ambergris'. It's a rare and precious spice in the world," the maid replied.
Although Princess Yongning had never heard of what this 'ambergris' was, as a lover of incense, she immediately became quite interested upon hearing this.
Seeing that she seemed eager to step forward and examine it closely, Li Ying quickly said, "Your Highness, please be patient. Although ambergris is excellent, these pieces of incense material haven't been refined yet. How about I refine them first and then invite Your Highness to appreciate them?"
Princess Yongning didn't suspect anything and nodded cheerfully. Only then did Li Ying finally heave a sigh of relief.
This so - called 'ambergris' is actually formed when sperm whales eat large squids in the sea. The indigestible squid bones accumulate in their stomachs. Over the years, they are finally excreted from the body with feces.
Whales are elusive, so ambergris is naturally very rare. Since ancient times, it has been a top - grade incense material only available to the emperor and the royal family.
The lower - grade ambergris, after being excreted from the whale's belly, is often swallowed by other fish or scattered on the sea sand. It emits a strong stench and fishy smell, making it extremely difficult to distinguish the original aroma of ambergris. In fact, it is almost odorless.
The medium - grade ambergris, known as 'sand - soaked', is washed ashore by the waves, then dried and buried. Its aroma seeps into the sea sand. After years of wind and rain, it emits a faint smell of sandy soil and the salty astringency of sea water. The aroma is stable and long - lasting, a perfect combination of the vast sea and the boundless beach.
The ambergris Li Ying obtained is called 'water - floating'. It was directly fished from the sea. It is of the highest quality and the purest texture, truly a masterpiece.
The flavor of ambergris is ever - changing and extremely complex. Besides the extremely rich and intense sweet amber aroma, one can also taste the gentle woody aroma, sweet fruity aroma, and even the rich floral aroma of competing flowers.
All the wonderful flavors in the world blend together seamlessly. Just taking a light sniff makes people involuntarily sigh at the divine craftsmanship of the Creator.
However, she really didn't dare to admit that 'ambergris' came from whale feces, for fear of being convicted of disrespect to the royal family.
Since Princess Yongning didn't ask further, Li Ying didn't delay. She just waited to prepare the excellent imperial ambergris according to the ancient incense recipe and present it to the emperor.
In addition to this top - grade ambergris, equal amounts of agarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, clove, rhizoma zerumbet, nardostachyos root, clove bark, and angelica dahurica should be taken, and a little borneol and musk should be added. Then they should be ground into fine powder.
Next, heat water to dissolve the pear paste, mix the incense powder into small cakes, and the process is complete.
Lu Xunguang watched Li Ying carefully weighing the incense powder. Feeling clumsy and unable to help, he simply gave up the idea of lending a hand and just stayed beside her, chatting with her to relieve boredom.
"Aying, if your ambergris wins the emperor's favor, I wonder if the prefect of Jingcheng will hunt whales on a large scale to gain promotion."
He had already noticed that although Li Ying was usually indifferent to most people, she was very kind to the birds and beasts in the world.
With her kind heart, she definitely didn't want to watch thousands of whales be slaughtered because of the ambergris she had personally prepared.
Li Ying was busy pressing the incense pills into cakes. Hearing Lu Xunguang's worry, she just smiled indifferently.
"It's okay."
Sperm whales are huge and mostly live in the deep sea. They are elusive. Even if someone with ill intentions wants to harm these sea giants, it will be like an ant trying to shake a big tree.
Just as they were chatting, they heard an urgent cry from a young servant outside the door.
"My Lord Lu, Miss Li, something terrible has happened!"
"That whale... for some reason, it has come back!"
Li Ying was shocked. Without caring about the incense pills in her hand, she quickly followed the servant out. Sure enough, outside the port of Jingcheng, there was the young whale, floating motionless like a reef.
When Princess Yongning saw her coming, she waved and ordered someone to tell her the whole story.
"Miss Li, for some reason, this young whale just won't return to the sea. It doesn't seem to be stranded either. The mother whale is missing. What should we do?"
Everyone involuntarily looked at Li Ying, waiting for her to come up with an idea.
Looking at the motionless young whale, Li Ying already had a hunch in her heart.
She waved and called Mao Mao over, gently patting the kitten's head.
Mao Mao didn't want to step into the water for fear of getting its fluffy fur wet. Li Ying coaxed it softly for a long time before the kitten reluctantly ran towards the young whale.
It jumped nimbly on the reef. Before long, it landed directly on the young whale's head.
A moment later, Mao Mao ran back with small steps, licking its wet paws and tail. It meowed at Li Ying in a long - drawn - out tone.
Li Ying's heart sank.
Sure enough, as she had expected.
The mother whale had suffered this serious and unexpected disaster. Although it finally managed to return to the blue sea, it couldn't hold on in the end.
The young whale had lost its mother and couldn't survive independently. Having nowhere to go, it finally came to the place where its mother had been stranded, wandering and wailing, and refused to leave for a long time.
Not long after, the emperor and Empress Pei also rushed over after hearing the news. They were also touched when they heard about the experiences of the whale mother and child.
The young whale was stubborn and refused to return to the sea, so they couldn't tie its tail with a warship as they did before.
The prefect of Jingcheng ordered the common people to beat gongs and drums and even set off firecrackers, hoping that the noisy noise would force the young whale to leave out of annoyance.
But the young whale remained unmoved.
For three whole days, the young whale neither ate nor drank. Everyone who saw it was heart - broken.
Li Ying was extremely helpless. Fortunately, Lu Xunguang had already sent someone to bring some well - trained otters from Dongshan County to help.
With the otters catching fish, they could barely supply the young whale's diet.
However, this was only a temporary measure, not a long - term solution.
How could Jingcheng keep a young whale in the offshore area!
Li Ying thought and thought but couldn't come up with a solution. She could only take Mao Mao with her every day, row a small boat, and quietly accompany the young whale for a while.
She didn't know if this method would work. She just relied on Mao Mao's spirituality and talked to it in soft and comforting words, asking the kitten to convey them.
She herself wasn't sure if these methods of comforting people who had lost their mothers would work on the young whale.
Anyway, she was just trying everything she could.