When Yun Yan and Yun Sen approached Gu Zhiqi, she had already squatted down beside the crater formed by the explosion.
In her hand, she pinched a thin piece of firewood, leisurely prodding the soil that lay on top of the pressure cooker fragments, pushing the dirt to both sides.
Last time, when refining fragrance, it was built on a stove, so the ground hadn’t been blown too deep.
This time, the fire pit they dug caused a more severe explosion, burying many pieces of the pressure cooker underneath the soil.
It also took Gu Zhiqi several prods to shuffle the soil aside.
But to Yun Yan and Yun Sen, her appearance, clutching the stick and poking at the pressure cooker fragments, looked like the demeanor of someone downcast due to a failed alchemy attempt.
Yun Sen, observing Gu Zhiqi in such a state, worried she might become withdrawn because of the alchemy failure, moved his lips and spoke with a comforting tone, "Miss Gu, don’t be too heartbroken. Alchemy is no easy task, even the most skilled practitioners of ancient medicine sometimes face failure when making alchemy..."
The last word "failure," as Gu Zhiqi pried up a piece of the pressure cooker, got stuck in his throat.
As a large curved fragment was pushed aside by the stick, several greyish-black, round medicinal pills were revealed, lying quietly on another indented piece of the pressure cooker.
Previously, the heavy air was permeated with the scent of smoke.
Now, as the fragments were shuffled aside, Yun Sen seemed to catch a whiff of a faint medicinal fragrance spreading through the air.
"This... This is a success?" Yun Sen asked blankly.
Hearing the commotion from the backyard, Tang Yun, who was cooking in the kitchen, hurried over.
Seeing the billowing smoke in the backyard again, Tang Yun confirmed that the previous explosion during fragrance refining was not a fluke.
She finally understood why Gu Huaijin had repeatedly cautioned her not to let Gu Zhiqi into the kitchen.
Following closely behind Tang Yun was Gu Yuluo. At the time, Gu Zhiqi was squatting beside the crater that the explosion had made.
Given Gu Zhiqi’s proximity to the crater, it went without saying who had caused the explosion just now.
When Gu Yuluo saw the young girl squatting by the edge, her pupils contracted slightly, and she quickly walked over to Gu Zhiqi, "Young lady, are you alright? Are you hurt?"
It was only when she came closer to Gu Zhiqi that Gu Yuluo noticed that Gu Zhiqi was clean and unharmed, not even a speck of dust on her, just crouching silently by the pit.
In the pit, on the iron fragments, lay a few blackened little spheres, which looked remarkably like the dung balls rolled out by dung beetles.
Seeing Gu Zhiqi about to reach for the spheres, Gu Yuluo reacted instinctively, "No, where did these dung balls come from?"
Yun Sen, Yun Yan "..."
Gu Zhiqi’s hand, about to pick up the medicinal pills, paused slightly, and she turned back, giving Gu Yuluo a cool glance.
Feeling the chilly gaze of Gu Zhiqi, Gu Yuluo coughed lightly, "No, don’t you think, these things look a lot like the dung balls rolled by dung beetles?"
After being told so by Gu Yuluo, Gu Zhiqi suddenly wasn’t so keen on picking up the medicinal pills anymore.
She was silent for a few seconds before lifting the entire iron fragment out of the pit with her hand.
As Gu Zhiqi picked up the fragment, Gu Yuluo immediately leaned closer, sniffed gently, and the subtle scent of medicinal fragrance entered her nostrils, confirming that these were indeed not dung balls.
"What is this?" Out of curiosity, Gu Yuluo asked.
"Oh, dung balls," Gu Zhiqi responded lazily and nonchalantly to Gu Yuluo, glancing at her again, "You said it."
It was just a casual remark she had made.
The young girl, she was holding a grudge?