Water-Levigating Cinnabar

After Su Ziyang went upstairs, the woman recovered and asked the woman at the registration window, "Ma'am, was that doctor really that good? Which clinic does he see patients in? I want to go thank him."

The lady at the window said with a smile, "That was Doctor Su. His consultation room is upstairs in room 203. No need to thank him; he's the youngest doctor in our clinic. He's very skilled. You're getting a good deal today; you don't need to pay."

The woman thanked him repeatedly and went upstairs to thank Su Ziyang in person.

"Oh, you're welcome. It was nothing. Please take the child home quickly and let him rest and recover."

This wasn't Su Ziyang showing off; it was truly a trivial matter, and Su Ziyang genuinely didn't take it to heart.

After the woman expressed her deepest gratitude, she finally held the child tightly.

Su Ziyang had just sat down when Fairy Li called, "Xiao Xiao Su, could you open some cinnabar there? Give me some, I need it!"

"Yes, I do. The better quality ones are 4 yuan per gram. How much do you need? Are you in a hurry? No, I'll bring them back to you after get off work."

Su Ziyang turned on his computer, clicked the mouse to check the price of cinnabar, and then spoke to Fairy Li.

"No rush, about 20g should be enough. Just bring it back to me tonight. You can go ahead with your work!"

Fearing he might forget, Su Ziyang quickly used his own name to order 20g of cinnabar while there were no patients around. He went downstairs, paid the fee, and picked up the medicine from the pharmacy.

The afternoon was busy as usual. After work, Su Ziyang returned home and found that Fairy Li had cleaned the table spotlessly, with a small incense burner on it.

"What are you doing, Zijun?" Su Ziyang asked, looking at Fairy Li dressed so formally.

"I'll draw a few talismans in a bit, don't make a sound. Where's the cinnabar I asked for?"

Fairy Li looked at Su Ziyang Su Ziyang for a way out.

"How could I forget the task that Fairy Li assigned me!" Su Ziyang took out the cinnabar from his backpack and gave it to Fairy Li.

Fairy Li took the cinnabar, frowned, and said, "It's so thick. And it's selling for 4 yuan?"

Fairy Li made a comment, and Su Ziyang felt a little embarrassed.

Cinnabar is also called Dansha because of its bright red color. Because the best quality cinnabar comes from Chenzhou, good cinnabar is sometimes also called Chensha.

The Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica records cinnabar as follows:

It tastes sweet and is slightly cold in nature. It treats various ailments of the five internal organs, nourishes the spirit, calms the soul, invigorates qi, improves eyesight, and kills evil spirits and demons. Long-term use leads to spiritual enlightenment and longevity. It can be transformed into mercury.

Modern people often use it to calm the nerves and relieve anxiety. However, generally speaking, this mineral is not suitable for large doses. Moreover, it is rarely prescribed in clinics.

Therefore, this cinnabar looks very rough and not very fine.

"Fortunately, I have a solution."

Then something even more shocking happened to Su Ziyang: Fairy Li pulled out a box from somewhere, containing all sorts of experimental equipment, from measuring cups and grinding bowls to distillation flasks and alcohol lamps.

What else are you hiding in this house?

Su Ziyang looked at what Fairy Li had taken out in surprise and grinned as he asked.

"Go away, go away, don't pry into other people's business."

Fairy Li, as if talking to a child, nudged Su Ziyang and began arranging things on the tea table next to her.

"You want water-based cinnabar?"

Su Ziyang watched as Fairy Li took out a grinding bowl and several measuring cups.

"Huh? You can do that?" Fairy Li looked at Su Ziyang with considerable surprise.

"I know a little," Su Ziyang said softly, scratching his head.

"That's great! Hurry up and get started. I didn't want to do it anyway, I'm so lazy! Hahaha!"

Fairy Li chuckled and stuffed everything in her hand into Su Ziyang.

"I'm going to wash my hands, I'll get it for you when I get back!"

During the processing of cinnabar, it needs to be water-processed, because cinnabar turns into mercury when heated, which is poisonous.

Therefore, it needs to be done in water, and cinnabar is not used in decoctions, meaning it cannot be boiled or heated.

Water levigation can purify cinnabar to an extremely fine state, making it easier to prepare and take, while also reducing its toxicity.

Realgar also needs to be water-processed, because when heated, it turns into arsenic, which is commonly known as arsenic trioxide and is highly toxic.

Therefore, the preparation method is extremely important; otherwise, it could kill people...

Su Ziyang hadn't expected the cinnabar to clump together so violently.

So I could only use a small grinding hammer to roughly break up the cinnabar first, and then I found a small magnet at home.

Roll a magnet back and forth in the cinnabar powder to draw out the iron filings and purify the cinnabar.

After completing this step, Su Ziyang put the cinnabar into the grinding bowl.

At the same time, some water was added, and stirring and grinding began. After a while, the water began to become cloudy as the cinnabar was ground up, turning the water in the bowl into a paste.

"Wow, that's impressive. Xiao Xiao Su, your technique is quite skilled!"

Fairy Li sat to the side, watching Su Ziyang's technique and praising it repeatedly.

"Tch. Don't flatter me. You just want me to do the work, right? Just get it done for you."

Su Ziyang was grinding cinnabar, joking with Fairy Li.

Fairy Li chuckled and stuck out her tongue at Su Ziyang.

After grinding it into a paste, Su Ziyang gently ground it for a while and found that almost all of the cinnabar had been crushed.

So he added more water to the grinding bowl and continued stirring, stirring clockwise until Su Ziyang poured out the suspension.

After the turbid suspension on top is poured out, there is still a lot of sediment at the bottom.

Su Ziyang added an appropriate amount of water again and continued grinding until it became a paste again. He then added more water and poured out the turbid liquid.

After repeating this process several times, the cinnabar finally became very fine when rubbed between the fingers, and there was no glitter on the surface.

After discarding the impurities, mix the previously poured-out suspension together.

The next issue is time; it needs to be left to stand.

After letting it stand, pour off all the clear water on top, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the measuring cup. This is the water-processed cinnabar.

By this time, the cinnabar had become an extremely fine powder, meeting the quality requirements of Fairy Li.

Prepared cinnabar can be eaten directly; it is primarily used in the Heart Sutra.

It has the effects of calming the mind, relieving anxiety, and detoxifying. Clinically, its products are often used, and when taken internally, they are often used for palpitations, easy fright, insomnia, excessive dreaming, epilepsy, and swelling.

However, Fairy Li did not use it internally; she mainly used it to prepare cinnabar liquid for drawing talismans.

This was the first time Su Ziyang had ever seen anyone prepare cinnabar solution, and what shocked Su Ziyang even more was that the cinnabar solution wasn't made with water, but with alcohol.

Cinnabar dissolves in alcohol but not in water!