By the time it was Zheng Qing's turn to wash his hands, more than half an hour had already passed.
The Mulberry Leaf Bath Water in the Bronze Basin still gave off a faint warmth, just as it had on the podium. Pure white magnolia blossoms, emerald cattail grass, and mugwort leaves bobbed and rolled in the clear High Noon Water like swimming fish.
On the podium, Professor Li was emphasizing that they must not confuse "High Noon Water" with "Dragon Boat Water."
"...Let me stress this once again: High Noon Water is well water drawn at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival; Rootless Water broadly refers to water that comes from the sky; Dragon Boat Water, meanwhile, has nothing to do with the previous two medicinal waters. It refers to widespread, continuous torrential rain. You must clearly understand the difference between these three."
"During the final exam in 2007, Liu Xiaoyue from Starry Sky Academy wrote 'Dragon Boat Water' instead of 'High Noon Water' on the test paper. On a twelve-point essay question, six whole points were deducted! High Noon Water played the most crucial neutralizing role in that potion... That mistake nearly caused him to fail the entire paper!"
"You must all remember this lesson firmly..."
Zheng Qing listened intently as the professor prattled on about those examples, secretly amused. In final-term classes, professors always talked about much the same things, constantly using upperclassmen's mistakes to remind lowerclassmen like them not to repeat them.
But the effectiveness of this approach was debatable.
Because often, after hearing those mistakes repeated too many times, everyone forgot the correct answers instead and would inadvertently write down the memorable wrong ones.
The Mulberry Leaf Bath Water in the Bronze Basin looked scalding hot, but it was actually quite comfortable.
Zheng Qing estimated