I'm going to find that bastard and beat him up

In a small overgrown backyard, barely larger than a big closet, behind a non-descript room that was in dire need of repair, in a small unimpressive city sat a youth approximately 16 years of age surrounded by various ingredients. The youth himself was unremarkable, his facial features were decidedly average, his heroic aura non-existent and his clothes of poor quality. The only distinguishing feature would be the dead-serious look in his gaze. This youth just so happened to be Bai Hao.

"I have to successfully concoct this salve, I have no other option" Bai Hao told himself. Gazing upon the pile of ingredients in front of him, he felt them weight down on his heart. This was his only chance to earn enough to pay the rent. One blood grass was needed to create a healing salve, which due to the presence of the frontier, could easily be sold for 10 coppers due to the presence of adventurers and fierce beast hunters that travelled through the city in preparation for entering the wilderness. After all, something as simple as a healing salve could mean life or death out there, so far away from any healer. With a serious expression that was rather uncommon for Bai Hao he set up his small furnace and started the fire. The most difficult requirement is to keep the temperature steady so that the heat can evenly spread through the pot and heat up the ingredients otherwise a violent reaction might occur between the different herbs. Waiting for the furnace to heat up, he started preparing the Blood Grass, the key ingredient for the healing salve. Slicing it up and depositing it in a mortar, he started crushing it into finer pieces, this was necessary so that the healing properties present in the grass can quickly be extracted from the grass. Adding several of the other herbs that he collected to counteract the negative side-effects and improve the healing efficacy.

Now came the important part, picking up the copper pot he had bought yesterday, he rinsed it several times with clean water he had collected from the river, and put it on the fire to burn of any residue from previous use. Any contamination would lower the quality of the healing salve and may even introduce negative side-effects. After repeating this a few times, he was satisfied that the pot was completely clean. Putting the pots on the fire, he excitedly waited for the pot to heat up. Now came the crucial moment that would make or break the healing salve. He had to keep the fire at just the right temperature, too low and it would not burn away the impurities that were naturally present in the herbs, diluting the mixture and even introduce side-effects to the concoction. Too high and the fire would burn away the herbs, completely ruining the healing. He gingerly placed the crushed blood grass and other various herbs in the pot, stirring them around gently so they would heat evenly as he used his remaining hand to furiously fan the fire, increasing its temperature.

Intently staring at the herbs in the pot, like a hawk would stare at it's prey from high up in the sky, he followed the concocting process as the temperature increased, a liquid light pink liquid started seeping from the crushed blood grass, mixing with the other herbs while the fire slowly burned away the impurities. Excited about the change, Bai Hao's spirit rose at this success and he put even more effort in fanning the fire, inciting it to roar higher and higher. Suddenly the herbs in the pot reacted violently and were engulfed in flames and black smoke started wafting from the copper pot making anything happening inside the pot invisible.

Anxiously putting out the fire, Bai Hao inspected the copper pot and only found a black slag left in the bottom, all medicinal properties were completely ruined. With a sigh, Bai Hao started cleaning everything up and sat down to review his failure. "What went wrong, I did exactly as the formula told me" he asked himself. Reviewing on his actions, he sat silently for hours while his mind raced with possibilities. Finally, he concluded "Fanning the flames in the rapid manner I did creates fast temperature fluctuations in the fire that will ultimately lead to a chaotic reaction between the different herbs. If I want to keep the temperature stable, I need to take a longer time at a lower temperature by using a steady rhythm while fanning the flame" Feeling like he solved a difficult puzzle, his motivation improved significantly. Sitting down cross-legged, he started off by calming down his mind preparing himself for another attempt he restarted the entire process.

Around 20 minutes later, Bai Hao was again in the critical stage of merging together the medicinal liquids of the various herbs, concentrating on the process and guiding it by adjusting the temperature of the flame, the liquids slowly started merging under his careful guidance. Just when the merging was about to succeed, the color of liquid changed quickly from a deep pink to a dark purple and started giving off a god-awful stench. The stench was so bad, that the few insects that were present in the small backyard fell to the ground, paralyzed from their brain overloading from dealing with smell. The stench was so unbelievably bad that it wafted from his courtyard across the entire neighborhood, stopping people dead in their tracks while making a face of disgust. People could be seen in droves leaving the neighborhood, while others prepared to find the source of the smell. Another failure he thought to himself as he efficiently disposed of the failed medicinal salve by burying it underground all the while holding his breath. Disappointed in his failure he was just about to sit down to review what he did wrong when he heard a loud banging on the door.

Opening the door, one of the neighbors from the same street that owned a small vegetable shop stood in front of his door. "This stench better not come from you, I'm going to beat whomever did this the point where even lying down would be too painful" the neighbor angrily said with a red tinted face. Behind the neighbor he saw a group of other people interrogating everyone in the street to in search of any kind of clue as to the source of the stench. Luckily no-one was aware that Bai Hao had started concocting medicine and since he was well known for lazing around wasting his parents' inheritance, no-one suspected him enough to gang up on him. Bai Hao's heart started beating rapidly when he thought about what would happen if they found out that he was the source of the stench. Seeing only one solution to this predicament he put on an outraged face and said "How dare anyone disrupt my sleep with this horrible stench. I'm going to find the bastard that did this and beat him up until even his mother won't recognize him". Looking outraged, Bai Hao marched past the angry neighbor and joined the search effort for the culprit all the while loudly cursing.

Later that day, Bai Hao could be found walking home, looking tired but still having that outraged look on his face. After safely arriving in his room and closing the door behind him, his face quickly changed from outrage, to relief "Sigh, I'm lucky they didn't find out it was me that did this, otherwise my little life would be in danger" Feeling rather proud for fooling so many people he couldn't help but smile, Bai Hao tired from a day off medicine-concocting and scouring the neighborhood, collapsed in his bed and drifted off to his dream.