Shen Le stared at the crooked, haphazard handwriting before him, and in an instant felt as though he had been transported back to the Compendium of Materia Medica.
Lead, also known as qingjin, black tin, metal duke, gold in water.
Red lead, also known as yellow lead, cinnabar powder, vermilion powder, lead white.
—Could you people just give things one precise name?
One name for one thing, okay?!
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Sigh, modern chemistry was still better. Every mineral had a scientific name; failing that, even if you did not know its scientific name, you at least knew its molecular formula—
For example, "chalk ash, xi ash, stone chalk, five flavors, dye ash, loose ash, white ash, flavor ash, calcined stone, stone calcine, mineral ash, white tiger"—this huge heap of names was enough to make anyone dizzy.
Yet whether or not you knew its scientific name, as long as you could determine that its molecular formula was CaCO3, you could be sure:
This thing was calcium carbonate!
Taking the old retainer to shop at the market solved some of the problems, but not all of them:
"Water jade? This is water jade, this is also water jade, and this one is water jade too. I don't know which kind the masters used..."
"Square stone? The masters never bought square stone. They always went into the mountains to quarry it!"
White stone fat was supplied by one of the master's distant clansmen, near Mount Tai. It was delivered twice a year..."
"Moonstone was ordered from a merchant caravan. They came once a year and delivered enough for a year's use. The kiln kept three years' worth in reserve... Where did the goods come from? I don't know. I only know the caravan came from Guanzhong..."
Shen Le: "..."
Could I just