Chapter 31: Qinglan Takes the Stage

Liu Bingkun of Zhenbao Ge remained motionless in his private room.

He simply didn’t believe there was any carver in Panyang City more skilled than him.

Besides Huo Feng, there was no one in the city who could rival him.

So he didn’t bother going out at all.

 

Xiao Nanyan smiled at Wei Lan.

“After today’s competition, you will be the new rising star of jade carving in Panyang City.”

“I hope so.

Then I can earn a bit more silver.”

After all, this was ancient times.

With silver in hand, there was no panic in the heart.

“You’re worried about money?

Doesn’t she have plenty?”

Xiao Nanyan hadn’t expected Wei Lan to think about saving up.

“She has money because she earned it with her own ability.

I also want to rely on my own skill to earn more.”

Wei Lan said with a smile.

 

Xiao Nanyan nodded.

That was true.

With Wei Lan’s talent, if she were really kept as a caged bird, her abilities would instead be buried.

“True enough.

Who doesn’t love silver?”

Xiao Nanyan laughed.

On this point, her views aligned perfectly with Wei Lan’s.

 

While the two were chatting, the servant boy had already brought the tray back to the first floor.

 

The plump manager on the stage downstairs, all smiles, looked at everyone.

He bowed to the crowd and announced, “Yuyaxuan’s minimum price for this landscape carving ornament is five hundred taels of silver.

Now, anyone interested can start bidding.”

 

In the crowd on the first floor, Yingniang from the Eastern Market had also brought an assistant to watch the excitement.

She was also a carver, but her skills were far inferior to those with reputations, so she could only do business in the Eastern Market.

“Boss, how much do you think this thing will sell for?”

“Although green jade itself isn’t valuable, this carver’s technique is extremely impressive.

It might sell for over a thousand taels.”

“Ah?

But we have a lot of green jade rough stone that we just throw away as scraps.

It can actually sell for that much silver?”

“That’s only for a top-tier carver who can remove all the black spots inside.

It’s not something an ordinary person could do.”

Yingniang murmured to the assistant beside her.

They had come just to observe and learn, after all, even standing-room tickets cost a hundred coins each.

 

Elder Li on the first floor was just about to bid when Young Master Zhou from the private room next to Wei Lan on the second floor beat him to it.

“One thousand taels.”

Young Master Zhou’s servant boy announced the bid from outside the door.

 

The round-faced manager quickly smiled.

“Young Master Zhou bids one thousand taels.

Any higher?”

“One thousand five hundred taels!”

On the second floor, Young Master Feng from the private room opposite Wei Lan and the others directly added five hundred taels.

Before the manager downstairs could even speak, someone else continued bidding.

 

This time the bidder was an out-of-town merchant.

His servant boy shouted loudly, “Our master bids three thousand taels!”

 

Young Master Zhou was furious.

He loved the carving craftsmanship on that ornament.

Aside from the green jade itself not being valuable, there wasn’t a single flaw anywhere else.

“Five thousand taels!”

 

Young Master Zhou directly had his servant boy bid five thousand taels.

For a moment, the venue fell silent.

Because green jade really wasn’t valuable, five thousand taels was no small sum.

 

Sure enough, after he bid, Bright Moon Tower quieted down.

Since Wei Lan had no reputation, although the carving was top-notch, for a green jade ornament to be called at this price was still quite exaggerated.

 

The round-faced manager was also stunned for a moment.

Then, he cheerfully spoke again, “Our Young Master Zhou bids five thousand taels.

Is there anyone with a higher bid than five thousand?”

 

Young Master Feng on the second floor hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, because the carver Qinglan had no reputation, he didn’t continue bidding.

He liked the item, but the price was a bit too high.

 

Since no one else spoke, the manager announced with a smile, “Alright, sold for five thousand taels.

After the payment is settled, we’ll begin the next auction item.”

 

Young Master Zhou immediately had his servant boy take the silver notes to pay.

Xiao Nanyan sent Qi Ji out to collect the money and also pay the ten percent handling fee to the tavern, which meant giving Bright Moon Tower five hundred taels in fees.

But even after the fees, they had still made a considerable profit.

 

Wei Lan also hadn’t expected that, with no reputation, someone would be willing to pay this price for that green jade ornament.

Five thousand taels of silver was equivalent to five million yuan.

 

***

 

Soon, the plump manager on the first floor had someone bring out Yuyaxuan’s second auction item.

This was a landscape, bird, and flower jade plaque carved by Wei Lan.

It was also openwork carving, and the precision of the carving was even better than the previous landscape ornament.

“Yuyaxuan’s second auction item is a green jade landscape plaque, also openwork carved.

Take it around for everyone to see.”

 

The servant boy carried the wooden tray.

On the tray lay a landscape openwork plaque about the size of a palm.

One glance and you couldn’t look away.

Simply put, the carving on this landscape plaque was so fine, it was as if the landscape was right before your eyes.

After removing the black spots from the green jade, carving landscapes actually turned out to be exceptionally beautiful.

 

The tray was carried by the servant boy down below for everyone to admire.

Murmurs of discussion arose from the crowd once more.

“A plaque this small can also be openwork carved?

How much effort and mental effort must that have taken?”

“Yeah, and have you noticed?

This new carver Yuyaxuan is cooperating with must be a person of stable character.

If it were me carving green jade full of black spots, I probably would have gotten angry and smashed the jade long ago.”

“Indeed.

It must be an experienced old master with a steady temperament who carved this.”

“I think so too.”

 

Jade carving most tried one’s patience.

A hot-tempered person simply couldn’t do this line of work.

Otherwise, with an unstable temperament, they would likely ruin the jade.

 

Elder Li on the first floor came out this time and stared at this plaque for a long time.

He really liked this jade plaque.

He had already regretted missing out on the jade ornament just now.

Now he felt he absolutely had to win this plaque, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sleep when he got home.

 

However, the plaque only stayed for a short while before being carried by the servant boys up to the second floor.

Huo Feng, unwilling to accept it, went out of the private room with Boss Wu to look again.

 

Huo Feng stared at the landscape jade plaque, clenching his teeth so hard they might shatter.

“No way.

Yuyaxuan must be playing tricks to attract attention.

Could one person really complete this technique?”

“No need to worry.

Isn’t there still the competition later?

Since this Qinglan’s technique is so superior, if they have the skill, let them compete.”

Boss Wu said with a smile.

“That’s true.

Later, there will be on-site carving.

If she didn’t carve these things, then the one who will lose face later is her.”

With this thought, Huo Feng felt a little more at ease and followed Boss Wu back into the private room.

 

***

 

At this moment, Lu Feng, the City Lord of Panyang, was also very curious about Wei Lan’s carvings.

A green jade landscape ornament, by an unheard-of carver, shouldn’t have sold for five thousand taels.

He wanted to see what was so special about this Qinglan.

 

When Lu Feng came out, the servant boy was just carrying the tray over.

Seeing that Lu Feng had also come out, the servant boy quickly stopped in front of him so Lu Feng could clearly see the plaque on the tray.

 

Lu Feng looked at the plaque, unable to speak for a long time.

Leaving aside the smooth lines of the jade, the uniformly sized openwork carving alone was enough to astonish.

What was more important was that this jade plaque was entirely openwork carved.

What kind of patience and skill must this carver possess to achieve this?

“This…

Yuyaxuan really does produce talents.

But who exactly is this Qinglan?”

“City Lord, could it be a reclusive master?

To be able to carve something like this, the carver should be at least over forty, right?”

Lu Feng’s trusted subordinate interjected.

 

Lu Feng nodded in agreement.

“That should be the case.

I just wonder how Xiao Nanyan managed to convince such a master to come out of seclusion.”

 

***

 

Meanwhile, Wei Lan sat in the private room, snacking on pastries while waiting for the upcoming bidding.

 

Soon, after the servant boy had made a full circle, he carried the tray back to the first floor.

 

The plump manager announced with a smile, “Everyone, Yuyaxuan’s minimum price for this openwork carved jade plaque is three hundred taels.

You may now start bidding.”

 

As soon as the plump manager finished speaking, the brass gong behind him sounded once.

Immediately after, Elder Li on the first floor began bidding.

“One thousand taels.”

“One thousand five hundred taels.”

 

Everyone looked closely; this time, the bidder was actually the City Lord’s servant boy.

Instantly, the crowd buzzed with discussion.

“Oh my god, look!

Even the City Lord is bidding!”

“Yeah, this is the first time the City Lord has bid.

This Qinglan is really something, to have already caught the City Lord’s eye.”

“This just got interesting.

From now on, Panyang City might no longer be the world of Liu Bingkun and Huo Feng.”

 

The crowd, enjoying the spectacle, watched on.

After the City Lord bid, the venue was quiet for a moment.

After all, everyone had to give the City Lord some face.

But the visiting merchants from out of town weren’t so polite; they continued bidding.

“Two thousand taels.”

 

Young Master Zhou, hearing that someone had surpassed the City Lord, quickly continued bidding.

“Three thousand taels.”

 

Young Master Feng opposite him, seeing that this Zhou guy wanted to buy this jade plaque again, quickly had someone add a bid, directly raising the price to four thousand taels.

 

Elder Li downstairs couldn’t sit still any longer.

If this continued, he would miss out again.

He gritted his teeth, thinking he would buy something he really liked.

Even if it meant buying fewer other jade carvings this year, so be it.

“Five thousand taels!”

 

The plump manager squinted his eyes with joy and announced, “Elder Li bids five thousand taels for this green jade plaque.

Any higher?”

 

Bright Moon Tower fell silent.

A piece of worthless green jade plaque – if not for the carver’s exceptionally exquisite skill, it never would have fetched this price.

But Wei Lan’s craftsmanship was precisely what multiplied the value of this piece of green jade, originally just scrap material, a thousandfold.

“Alright, sold for five thousand taels.

Elder Li, please go up and pay the silver, and this jade plaque will be yours.”

The plump manager reminded him.

 

Elder Li immediately sent someone to pay the silver, handing it over to Qi Ji.

Then he went downstairs and received the jade plaque.

 

Qi Ji, as usual, paid the ten percent handling fee to Bright Moon Tower, which was five hundred taels of silver.

 

***

 

Yuyaxuan’s third auction item was the same, another openwork plaque carved by Wei Lan.

However, this plaque was an animal plaque.

It depicted a robust horse with a playful monkey riding on its back, symbolizing “may you be instantly conferred a noble title” (Marquis).

This plaque was also frantically bid on by those present, ultimately sold to Young Master Zhou for six thousand taels.

Actually, the carving craftsmanship of this plaque was about the same as the previous landscape, bird, and flower plaque.

But because of its auspicious meaning, far more people competed for it.

 

In the end, Wei Lan’s three carvings sold for a total of sixteen thousand taels of silver.

After deducting the sixteen hundred taels handling fee for Bright Moon Tower, and after deducting the six hundred taels Xiao Nanyan had previously paid Wei Lan for these jades, Xiao Nanyan had effectively netted a profit of thirteen thousand eight hundred taels of silver.

 

She wasn’t a stingy person.

If she wanted to secure a long-term partnership with Wei Lan, she definitely needed to curry favor with her.

 

Xiao Nanyan took the silver notes Qi Ji handed her.

She took out five thousand taels from the bundle and pushed the notes in front of Wei Lan.

“This is for you.

A pleasure doing business with you.”

Xiao Nanyan smiled at her and said.

“This isn’t necessary.

I already sold you those jades, and you’ve already paid me.

Even if you sell them now for a higher price, it has nothing to do with me.”

Wei Lan said.

“Back then, your reputation wasn’t established yet, so I gave you a very ordinary price.

But now it’s different.

Your carvings, thanks to your superior skill, have sold for much more silver.

I naturally have to make up the difference to you.

After all, ours is a long-term business relationship.

If you accept this silver, I can feel at ease.”

 

Xiao Nanyan smiled and continued, “I can guarantee that as soon as this competition ends, many jade shops will undoubtedly extend an olive branch to you.

When that time comes, I hope you will remember our agreement.”

“Naturally.

Since I’ve already promised you, if I need to sell jade carvings in the future, I will give priority to Yuyaxuan.

Besides, you also know my true identity.

Rest assured, I won’t cooperate with other jade shops.”

Xiao Nanyan was, after all, the first person willing to buy her jade.

Wei Lan would remember this favor.

Besides, selling her jade was the same to whoever she sold it to; she might as well sell to Xiao Nanyan, since Xiao Nanyan knew her true identity.

“Then take the notes, so I can feel at ease.”

Xiao Nanyan pushed the five thousand taels in notes over again.

 

Seeing her insist, Wei Lan thought for a moment and simply put them away.

After all, Xiao Nanyan hadn’t lost money; even after giving her five thousand, she still made a profit of eight thousand eight hundred taels.

 

***

 

Soon, the next round of bidding began downstairs.

The bidding alone lasted until nearly noon.

 

Xiao Nanyan had already ordered food brought up.

After they ate, the real competition would begin.

 

Apart from Xiao Nanyan, basically everyone else had also ordered dishes from inside Bright Moon Tower.

Except for those with standing-room tickets.

Some had brought their own dry rations, others planned to wait until the entire competition ended and go outside to eat something cheap.

After all, the food and drink at Bright Moon Tower were very expensive; it was too uneconomical for ordinary people to eat here.

“Eat plenty.

This afternoon will be your jade carving session.

Because the time is very short, it’s a test of simple jade plaque carving.

Usually, it starts around noon and goes until early evening.

They’ll see whose jade plaque is carved best and most completely.”

Xiao Nanyan explained to Wei Lan as they ate.

 

Wei Lan thought about it.

The time was roughly from about ten in the morning to seven in the evening.

That was indeed a bit tight, but Wei Lan was very confident in herself.

It was just carving a jade plaque; she wasn’t afraid at all.

“Okay, I’ll do my best to carve.”

Wei Lan responded.

 

Sure enough, after a while, the servant boys inside Bright Moon Tower began setting up on the first floor.

The stage where the plump manager had been standing was removed, leaving a large open space in the middle.

The servant boys brought over several lathes.

Besides the lathes, there were also tools like bow drills and abrasive sand.

In total, ten sets were prepared, meaning ten carvers would participate this year.

 

It was at this moment that another group of people entered from outside Bright Moon Tower.

One of the private rooms on the second floor had been empty; it seemed this group had booked it in advance.

 

Servant boys led this group up to the second floor.

Wei Lan watched the people going upstairs and felt they looked a bit familiar, but didn’t pay much attention.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, in the first-floor main hall, the plump manager spoke amiably.

“Thank you all for coming.

Today’s jade auctions have all concluded.

Now, please welcome the ten participating carvers.

These ten carvers are: Liu Bingkun of Zhenbao Ge, Huo Feng of Zhuyu Pavilion, Zhou Fangdu of Feiyu Pavilion, Qinglan of Yuyaxuan…”

 

In previous years, almost everyone’s attention was focused on Liu Bingkun and Huo Feng.

But this year, everyone was particularly curious about Qinglan, wanting to see the true face of this carver.

 

Wei Lan glanced at Xiao Nanyan.

“I’ll head down now.”

“Mm, I’ll be waiting for you here.”

Xiao Nanyan had great confidence in Wei Lan’s strength.

Besides, she had watched Wei Lan carve jade before, so she wasn’t worried Wei Lan would have any problems.

 

Wei Lan pulled the hood of her cloak back over her head, covering most of her face, got up, and left the private room.

As she walked down to the first floor, murmurs of discussion erupted from the crowd.

“Look quick!

That strange person in the mask, is that Qinglan?”

“Should be.

Is it a man or a woman?”

“Can’t tell.

Can’t see clearly, all covered by the cloak.”

 

Liu Bingkun and Huo Feng had already gone down by now.

The two stood together and naturally saw Wei Lan coming down.

“What do you think?”

Liu Bingkun asked.

“Putting on an act.

Just a clown jumping around.

Old Brother Liu, it’s time for us to teach these people a lesson.”

Huo Feng, seeing Qinglan dressed like this, was even more convinced that the jade carvings just now couldn’t possibly have been completed by Qinglan alone.

It was clearly Yuyaxuan, for the sake of hype, deliberately hiring many carvers, each carving the part they were best at, and the final finished product could only be so perfect because of that.

“Hmph, I think so too.

Of these ten people, aside from you, I don’t take anyone else seriously.”

Liu Bingkun stroked his beard and said.

 

***

 

On the second floor, Chen Zhou, who had just entered his private room, had just sat down.

He naturally also saw the strangely dressed Wei Lan and asked, “Who is that person in the cloak?”

“Young Master, that is a new carver promoted by Yuyaxuan, named Qinglan.

I just asked around.

Today, that person has been a huge sensation.

One green jade plaque sold for six thousand taels.”

Su Er quickly reported.

“Green jade?

Isn’t that stuff full of black spots and worthless?”

Chen Zhou asked.

“They say Qinglan removed all the black spots from the green jade, using openwork carving techniques.

Anyway, these people are describing her as simply miraculous.”

Su Er quickly said.

“Is that so?

Then I’ll have to take a good look.”

Chen Zhou fanned himself a couple of times, his gaze fixed on Qinglan, who was wearing the cloak.

 

The Lu family’s decline had been halted.

Over the past year, all of the Lu residence’s various businesses had also stabilized.

This caused their Chen family to be suppressed by the Lu family at every turn.

Originally, the Chen family didn’t have any jade shops underneath them, but the people of the Great Zhou loved jade.

He wanted to overtake the Lu family by taking a different path through the jade business.

 

His purpose in coming this time was to try and poach some newcomers from among these carvers to work for him.

After all, those carvers with established reputations already had their own circles and cooperating shops; they were hard to get.

But newcomers were different.

Newcomers had limited vision.

If he offered a high price to poach them, there was still a great chance of success.

 

By now, Wei Lan had reached the first floor.

She looked at the lathes beside her and saw that each lathe had a piece of white jade placed on it, probably for them, the carvers, to use.

 

The plump manager cupped his hands towards everyone and announced, “The jade plaques each carver needs to carve have been placed on the lathes.

Now, please take your seats and begin carving.”

 

Wei Lan immediately walked to the lathe closest to her and sat down.

She took off her cloak’s hood, revealing her head.

But her face was covered by a silver mask, so these people couldn’t see her true appearance.

They could only tell she was a female Qiankun.

 

As soon as Wei Lan took off her hood, quite a few people in the venue started discussing again.

“Qinglan is a female Qiankun?”

“Looking at her hair, this person should be pretty young.”

“Pretty young?

How is that possible?

That carving skill should require at least decades of experience.”

“What’s going on?

Were those carvings really carved by her?”

 

Wei Lan ignored the chatter around her.

She had already picked up the fine brush on the lathe and began sketching the rough outline of what she wanted to carve on the white jade.

The others were basically doing the same.

 

To save time, the previous steps had already been done by someone in advance.

So what they received was a piece of jade that had already been roughly shaped and polished, and they could start directly from the carving the design step.

 

Wei Lan thought for a moment, simply sketched a ‘Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate’ pattern, and then began using the drill bit to carve the pattern on the jade’s surface.

She was the first among all the participants to start carving.

 

Liu Bingkun sat right next to Wei Lan.

Seeing that Wei Lan had only sketched a few strokes and was eager to start carving, he shook his head disdainfully.

Young people are always so impatient for success.

Without a clear sketch, the carved pattern would likely be crooked and the composition incomplete.

How could he know that Wei Lan had carved patterns like this thousands of times?

The pattern was etched in her mind; there was no way she would make a mistake.

 

Her speed using the drill bit was also very fast.

Every single line was carved in one stroke, without needing any retouching.

 

By the time Liu Bingkun finished his sketch and looked at Wei Lan beside him again, sweat had already formed on his forehead.

The reason was simple: Wei Lan had already carved out the rough pattern of the carp leaping over the dragon gate.

That was too fast.

 

Wei Lan didn’t care whether anyone was watching her.

Once she got her hands on jade, there was nothing else in her eyes.

 

After carving the rough lines, Wei Lan switched to a smaller drill bit and began detailed carving.

She carved quickly and had a steady temperament.

The first-floor main hall was quite noisy, after all, with so many people discussing.

Although the sound was low, it still had a certain impact on the carvers.

 

At this moment, Liu Bingkun’s back also began to sweat.

He had to admit that Wei Lan’s carving speed was indeed both good and fast, and it had already affected his own speed.

He was a bit panicked and quickly turned his head away to avoid looking at Wei Lan.

But the seed of fear had already been planted in his heart; how could Liu Bingkun not be affected?

 

By now, Wei Lan had spent one hour finishing carving the texture of the entire jade plaque.

She wasn’t just carving the texture; she also planned to do three-dimensional openwork carving on the dragon gate part.

This was also Wei Lan’s decision from the beginning.

After her three jade items were sold just now, there would definitely be people who suspected those carvings weren’t done by her.

And now was the best time to prove herself.

 

She was going to perform openwork carving on the jade plaque in front of everyone.

 

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