Sky Curtain: With a vermilion mirror, Jing travels through the modern world, shaking all dynasties.

Chapter 131 The Little Princess's First Chemistry

The next morning, sunlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a golden line on the floor.

Jiang Chuan was already dressed and walked to Zhu Jingjing's door, raising his hand to knock.

"Jingjing, are you up yet?"

There was no response from inside, so he knocked twice more and raised his voice slightly: "Jingjing, it's time to get up."

After a moment, the door opened.

The little princess stood behind the door, rubbing her eyes, mumbling indistinctly, "Brother—what's up so early?"

Jiang Chuan looked at her tired appearance and smiled, "I received a last-minute invitation to go back to my high school today to give a speech to the younger students. Would you like to come with me?"

Zhu Jingjing was stunned for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up, her drowsiness vanished, and she nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes!"

Wait for me, I'll change my clothes right away!

After saying that, he slammed the door shut.

Jiang Chuan stood outside the door, hearing the sounds of rummaging through drawers and cabinets coming from inside, and shook his head with a helpless smile.

He had just sat down on the sofa and hadn't even had a sip of water when there was another knock on the door.

He got up to open the door, and standing outside was Lin Xiaoyu, carrying a paper bag containing a few fried dough sticks and two cups of soy milk.

"Xiaoyu? What brings you here?" Jiang Chuan frowned slightly and stepped aside to let her in.

Lin Xiaoyu shoved the paper bag into his arms, walked straight in, glanced at his clothes, and asked, "Are you going to give a speech at your alma mater?"

Jiang Chuan was taken aback: "How did you know?"

"With my excellent information network, you think you can hide anything from me?" Lin Xiaoyu said matter-of-factly. "I happen to be free today, so I'll go with you."

Lin Xiaoyu rolled her eyes at him and said unhurriedly, "That's my alma mater too. I want to go back and visit it. What's it to you?"

Jiang Chuan opened his mouth, but was speechless for a moment, and could only nod with a wry smile.

Yanjing No. 2 High School.

"Brother, why does this place feel completely different from Peking University, which we visited before?" The little princess tilted her head, her almond-shaped eyes full of doubt. "Everyone is wearing the exact same clothes. Is this the school uniform you mentioned?"

Jiang Chuan nodded and gently rubbed her head. "That's right, I'm surprised you still remember!"

Zhu Jingjing raised her head and puffed out her chest, saying, "Of course! Even my father has praised me for my intelligence and good memory more than once!"

"Have you forgotten that I also told you—" Jiang Chuan raised his hand and lightly tapped her head, "When you're out and about, you mustn't reveal your identity. How come you don't remember?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jingjing stuck out her tongue and said guiltily, "Anyway, no one heard us—"

Before the speech started, Jiang Chuan decided to take Zhu Jingjing for a walk around the campus.

Several classes were having physical education lessons on the playground. The students were wearing the same blue and white school uniforms. Some were running, some were practicing ball, and the sounds of bugles and whistles rose and fell.

Zhu Jingjing glanced at it curiously and muttered to herself, "So students in later generations also have to train, just like we did back then—just like how we practiced horseback archery."

Jiang Chuan suppressed a laugh, didn't reply, and led her around the playground and into the teaching building.

They passed by the physics lab first. There was a sign on the door that said "No Trespassing". Zhu Jingjing tiptoed and peeked through the glass window in the door. She saw rows of black tabletops with some strange metal racks and small cars. She couldn't figure out what they were, so she withdrew her head.

After walking a few more steps, I passed a biology laboratory, which contained several rows of microscopes and some specimens soaking in liquid.

Zhu Jingjing only glanced at the bright yellow specimen bottle before frowning and waving her hands repeatedly, "Brother, this isn't pretty, let's go, let's go."

Jiang Chuan smiled and shook his head, leading her to the end of the corridor and pushing open a door.

"This is the chemistry lab." He stepped aside to let Zhu Jingjing go in first.

Zhu Jingjing froze the moment she entered the room.

The laboratory was spacious and bright, with a long workbench in the center, on which test tube racks, alcohol lamps, beakers, graduated cylinders, and several rows of colorful reagent bottles were neatly arranged.

The cabinets against the wall were filled with a dazzling array of glassware of all shapes and sizes, which glittered in the sunlight.

The little princess's eyes lit up immediately.

She walked quickly to the lab bench, carefully picked up a test tube, examined it closely, and then brought it close to her nose to smell it. It was empty and had no smell at all.

"Brother, what is this?" she asked curiously, holding up the test tube.

"Test tubes are used to hold liquids for experiments." Jiang Chuan walked over, gently took the test tube from her hand, and placed it on the test tube rack. "For example, you can pour two different things together and see if they change color, bubble, or get hot."

Zhu Jingjing's eyes lit up, and she picked up a glass bottle with a long, thin neck next to her. The bottle had a round, plump belly and looked quite cute.

"What about this one?"

"Conical flasks are also used to hold liquids, and they are less likely to spill when shaken."

"Then this—" The little princess had already put down the conical flask, picked up the alcohol lamp, and reached for the wick with her other hand.

"Don't touch that!" Jiang Chuan quickly pressed her hand down, explaining, "The alcohol lamp is for heating; it's filled with alcohol, and it lights up as soon as you light it!"

Zhu Jingjing nodded, obediently put down the alcohol lamp, and her gaze was then drawn to a burette on an iron stand.

The slender glass tube hangs vertically, with a delicate stopcock at the bottom.

"What's this for?"

"A burette is used to add liquid to other bottles drop by drop. Sometimes experiments require extreme precision; not a drop more or less is acceptable."

Zhu Jingjing listened intently, looking up at Jiang Chuan, and asked a series of questions: "What will happen after adding it? Why do we need to heat it? When the things in those bottles are mixed together, is it like refining elixirs?"

Jiang Chuan was both amused and exasperated by her question. After thinking for a moment, he tried to explain in simple terms: "Chemistry is the study of how things change. For example, when you knead flour and water together, you get dough—that's a change. And when you put the dough on a fire to bake it, it becomes a steamed bun—that's also a change! Chemistry studies the principles behind these changes."

He pointed to the reagent bottles: "Alchemists wanted to turn lead into gold. Although they didn't succeed, they were still among the earliest chemistry enthusiasts. However, our modern chemistry is based on evidence and data, unlike their random mixing."

The Great Ming Dynasty, Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at the sky, gazing intently for a long time, seemingly lost in thought.

After a long pause, he stroked his beard and slowly said, "I suddenly have a feeling that if my Great Ming could comprehend this principle, perhaps we could refine fine steel to forge divine weapons, create medicines to save the common people, and even transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and turn waste into treasure!"