Chapter 241: The Art of Perfuming
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although she was confident in her own abilities, Qin Yu could still feel the increased beating of her heart.
Fortunately, she was among the remaining people.
There was almost no time to rest, they were immediately ushered into the second round of the competition- perfuming.
It was a free-for-all, and there were no rules. It only required the perfumers present to make a perfume representing their best.
It was Qin Yu’s first time participating in the competition. After hearing the competition rules, she was momentarily stunned. However, the other perfumers around her had already gotten up and walked up the wooden stairs to look for the perfume they needed.
It seemed that these perfumers who reacted immediately might not be participating in the competition for the first time.
Qin Yu calmed herself down and began to think about what kind of perfume she was going to create.
She had also done some research on the World Association of Perfume. The members of the association were all good at different styles of perfume, but without exception, they were able to hone their strengths to perfection.
A big shot in the association once had a famous saying — “The fragrance of a perfume illuminates life as it carries the maker’s soul.”
Therefore, in Qin Yu’s understanding, the best perfume contains warmth and soul, it combines the life experience of the maker and the realm of thought, conveying to its users through its scent.
All perfumers present here are at the top of their game. Without surprise, they’d create extraordinary fragrances.
In this intense competition, how could she stand out?
Qin Yu walked along the wooden floor. With each floor, her mind became clearer.
The air was filled with the smell of various spices. There were thousands of small squares on the wooden shelf beside her. The small squares did not have the names of the spices, but there was a heater behind the small squares, the heater allowed the smell of the spices to be fully released. It required the perfumer to identify the smell of each spice. This was undoubtedly a test.
The first layer was citrus spices, the second layer was wood spices, and the third layer..
Qin Yu walked up layer by layer. She was looking for the smell in her memory.
Finally, on the eighth layer, she found a rare incense wood spice.
This incense was not common, and the smell was very pungent. But in Qin Yu’s memory, this incense wood was planted by the hills of Qinghe Gang’s hideout.
Her mother often took this wood, and then distilled it into essential oil.
At the beginning of the distillation, the taste was very spicy. Qin Yu thought it was disgusting and always covered her nose.
But her mother was very patient. She kept distilling, making each refinement purer than the previous.
Finally, she obtained a drop of liquid, containing a light yet cool fragrance.
However, this fragrance contained a hint of warmth from the crackling of burning wood.
Qin Yu was ready to duplicate the smell in her memory.
Her current fragrance-making technique was much better than Zhu Yi’s. Therefore, she quickly refined a drop of wood essential oil with the set of modern purification equipment.
After a complex process, Qin Yu handed a small bottle of perfume she made to the assistant.
She completed the second round of the competition relatively early, so after it was over, she left the hall, waiting for the results.
She didn’t expect the results to be released later in the night.
This time, the number of participants in the competition, which was more than a dozen people, was reduced to merely three.
Qin Yu heard the man in the suit read out her name and felt relieved.
It was very difficult.
She was not confident at first. After all, the perfume she made was just an improved version of Zhu Yi’s fragrance. Although Zhu Yi knew a little about refining essential oils, she did not have professional knowledge.
But somehow, Qin Yu had Zhu Yi’s blessings and she qualified for the final round.
In fact, although Zhu Yi was not a professional perfumer, she had an acute sense of smell. At that time, there were tens of thousands of plants on the hills by Qinghe Gang. She had only chosen the incense tree that did not have an outstanding smell, it was because she knew that the true smell of this incense tree needed to be purified before it could be released.
After the judges smelled the perfume that Qin Yu had handed over, their first reaction was — what kind of fragrance was this?
After the discussion was fruitless, they asked the assistant. She replied that Qin Yu had used a kind of fragrant wood.
After learning that this fragrance actually came from fragrant wood, the judges were all very surprised. They did not expect that the fragrant wood could actually emit such a charming and unpredictable smell.
Although Qin Yu’s perfume was not the strongest in terms of olfactory stimulation, the after notes and changes were rich. More importantly, she was able to utilize the wood to its best, a daring move indeed.
Her superb perfuming techniques and the courage to be innovative made Qin Yu one of the remaining perfumers left after the second round.
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