Chapter: 3785

Smith said, "I don't know. My daughter is reading the English version of Journey to the West, which is a Chinese mythological story. Inside that book, immortals are usually preparing elixirs using square numbers like 777 or 9981..."

Rogers said awkwardly: "This is getting way too sloppy, isn't it?"

Smith said seriously: "So now this matter has become very esoteric, so we also need to think about whether there's some kind of esoteric aspect that we haven't noticed."

As he was saying that, Smith added: "By the way, I heard that traditional Chinese medicine itself has many strict requirements, such as how much water to add, how long to boil, and whether to use a large or small fire, and the outcome will be different..."

Smith suddenly thought of something else and quickly supplemented: "Oh, yes! It also says in Journey to the West that sometimes when preparing elixirs, one needs to use unrooted water before proceeding. If you use other water, you won't achieve the desired effect!"

Rogers massaged his temple and asked him: "What is this unrooted water?"

Smith said: "According to the explanation in Journey to the West, it's rainwater that falls from heaven. Because rainwater comes from heaven, it's called unrooted water."

Rogers almost fainted, blurting out: "No matter where the water comes from, isn't it all just H2O? What makes rainwater better than other water? Rainwater is also water vapor condensed from ocean evaporation, isn't it?"

"So, that's exactly what we're talking about! If it's based on scientific principles, then it's science. Because there are no scientific principles, that's why it's called 'Xuanxue'."

Rogers asked him, "So your idea is that each team should try to prepare this formula using different methods? For example, some use big fires, some use small fires, some dry naturally, and some bake at high temperatures. Then they can try out different water sources, such as rainwater from the sky, well water from the ground, or snowmelted snowwater?"

Smith said awkwardly, "I know this sounds weird, but I really think there's no better way to do it right now. The White House has given us such a big task, and we can't declare defeat in just one day, can we? Otherwise, everyone will be treated like a bunch of trash in the eyes of the White House."

Rogers was about to cry, but instead blurted out, "Smith... these are scientists! Letting scientists do this kind of Xuanxue thing is not professional at all..."

Smith said, "No way, we'll just have to do it then. What else can we do?"

At that moment, an Asian-faced research fellow mustered the courage to speak up, saying, "Mr. Rogers, I think it would be best to actually conduct a survey on site in Jinling, and then bring back environmental samples for further research. For example, the air, soil, underground water, surface water, and rainwater..."

Rogers noticed that he was Asian-faced and curiously asked, "Are you from China?"

"No, I'm Japanese."

Rogers asked again, "Do you think it's necessary to go all the way to Jinling to be so troublesome?"

The man replied with a serious expression, "Before I immigrated to America, I worked on microbial research in Japan for many years. At that time, Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth, and various industries were rushing to emulate overseas excellent products, not just cars, optics, steel, medicine, but even the brewing industry is like this!"

"No, I'm Japanese."

Rogers asked again, "Do you think it's necessary to go all the way to Jinling to be so troublesome?"

The man replied with a serious expression, "Before I immigrated to America, I worked on microbial research in Japan for many years. At that time, Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth, and various industries were rushing to emulate overseas excellent products, not just cars, optics, steel, medicine, but even the brewing industry is like this!"

The man continued to explain: "At that time, many Japanese breweries entrusted us with helping them reverse-engineer European whiskey and Chinese Maotai wine, then perform imitation. Western whiskey was very simple for us to replicate, and we quickly broke through. Before long, Japan's whiskey surpassed blue and white in terms of quality and taste, taking a large market share, but unfortunately, Chinese Maotai wine could not be replicated."

Rogers asked him, "Why? Is there something special about Maotai wine?"

"It is indeed very special." The Japanese researcher explained: "We used the same method to reverse-engineer Maotai wine and found that the taste was always significantly different!"

"Later on, we realized that local breweries in China also tried to replicate Maotai wine but all failed. The reason behind this is extremely mysterious; it's the same technique, materials, and recipe, but only at that specific location could they produce the unique flavor of Maotai wine. If you leave that place and try to imitate it, there would still be a gap in terms of soul." JrNovels.com