Chapter 7: A Useless Thing’s Craft

The six people from Yingniang’s side began carrying items into Fuqu Courtyard one after another.

In this way, it took nearly half a shichen before everything was finally delivered into Wei Lan’s empty room.

Seeing that all six of them were drenched in sweat, Wei Lan rewarded each person with twenty copper coins.

The porters hurriedly thanked Wei Lan in return.

After they had all left, Wei Lan changed into a set of light, practical clothing and went into the room next to her bedroom.

Looking at the various jade-carving tools laid out before her, a smile finally appeared on Wei Lan’s face.

She inspected everything carefully, checking each piece to make sure it was usable, then impatiently selected a piece from the pile of jasper offcuts, planning to test her hand first.

This piece of jade was likely leftover material from cutting a bracelet.

There were quite a few small black specks on it, but Wei Lan did not mind them.

As long as her craftsmanship was good enough, those black spots could all be removed.

The traditional method of jade-making generally required twelve separate processes.

The first step was pounding the sand and grinding the slurry, producing jieyu sand, without which none of the subsequent steps could proceed.

Pounding and grinding involved refining the abrasive sand used for carving jade to the required fineness.

The processed sand was placed into a vessel to settle, naturally separating into layers during sedimentation.

In the end, this produced stone sand with uniform particles and moderate hardness.

This kind of stone sand was jieyu sand¹, indispensable for both grinding and polishing jade.

Producing jieyu sand alone usually took a full day or even longer.

However, Wei Lan had already purchased ready-made jieyu sand from Yingniang, effectively skipping an entire production step.

As for the second step, opening the jade, Wei Lan did not need to perform it either.

The offcut in her hands came from the side of a bracelet blank, making it suitable for direct carving without removing the jade’s outer skin.

Thinking this, Wei Lan carried over a wooden stool and sat down.

She found a small brush, dipped it into the pomegranate juice prepared on the table, and began sketching a rough design onto the surface of the jasper in her hand.

Ink was not used because the jade’s surface would be rinsed with water during carving.

If ink were used, the design would smudge as soon as it met water.

That was why pomegranate juice, which did not run when wet, was chosen as the pigment.

Wei Lan’s hands were steady, but she had not yet fully adapted to this body.

She calmed her mind as much as possible, carefully tracing line after line across the jade’s surface.

When she felt it was sufficient, she sat down in front of the rotary lathe.

The rotary lathe was similar to a modern jade-cutting machine, except modern machines were electric and used circular steel blades of many sizes that were exceptionally sharp and required very little effort to cut.

Ancient rotary lathes, however, were quite different.

Broadly speaking, they consisted of a table fitted with a set of tools.

At one end of a wooden shaft was mounted a circular steel disk used to cut jade.

Though called a steel disk, it was in fact extremely sharp.

Two cords were wound around the wooden shaft, with a wooden pedal tied to the end of each cord.

These pedals were known as “deng boards.”²

Once Wei Lan was seated, she placed her feet on the deng boards below.

Like operating a sewing machine, she alternated stepping on the pedals.

At the same time, the cords drove the wooden shaft above to rotate, causing the sharp steel disk to spin along with it and cut into the jade.

But this alone was not enough.

A groove was carved beneath the steel disk, large enough to hold a small basin.

Wei Lan placed sand and water into a small copper basin and set it into the groove beneath the steel disk.

As she cut the jade, she continuously scooped sand from the basin and poured it over the jade’s surface.

This increased friction, allowing the steel disk to cut the jade more easily.

This step was the third stage of traditional jade-making, known as zha tuo.

If this were modern times, it would be easily completed, but in ancient times, it was far more demanding.

Wei Lan steadied her grip and cautiously pressed the jade against the steel disk.

She had to pay close attention to the shape of the cut while also making sure not to injure her own hands.

Just this process alone took Wei Lan roughly half an hour.

By then, the jade in her hands no longer resembled a mere offcut.

Instead, it had been cut into a rectangular jade plaque about the size of her palm.

Even so, it was only a rough shape and still far from meeting Wei Lan’s standards.

Wei Lan stopped and examined the jasper plaque in her hands.

A smile spread across her face.

At last, she had found a sense of reality in this world.

As long as she could carve jade, being a kept live-in spouse didn’t seem all that bad after all.

***

Meanwhile, Wang Yiding, who was responsible for guarding the back gate, quickly went to find the steward.

At this moment, the steward was still handling various affairs in the study at the front courtyard.

Seeing Wang Yiding, he asked, “Why are you here?

Did something happen at the back gate?”

Wang Yiding bowed respectfully to the steward and replied, “Nothing has gone wrong.

It’s just that the Mistress Consort bought quite a lot of items today.

I’ve never seen those things before, but they seem to be tools for craftsmanship.

In any case, several carts’ worth were delivered to the residence after noon.”

“She bought things?”

Huang Ming frowned slightly.

“Did the Mistress Consort mention this to our young miss?”

“I don’t know about that,” Wang Yiding answered.

Huang Ming nodded and said, “All right, I understand.

Keep a close eye on the back gate.

If anything happens, come report to me immediately, especially anything related to the Mistress Consort.”

“I understand.

Then I’ll take my leave, Steward.”

Huang Ming waved a hand at him.

“Go on.”

After Wang Yiding left, Huang Ming shook his head impatiently.

This Wei Lan had only been married into the household for two days, yet she was already making such a fuss.

If she were truly favored by the young miss, it would be one thing, but the problem was that she was not favored at all.

With all this needless troublemaking, she would only make the young miss dislike her even more.

Huang Ming shook his head again, his regard for Wei Lan dropping even further.

He called over a young servant outside and instructed him to summon Li Zhufeng for questioning.

The servant quickly went off.

As soon as MatronLi heard that the steward was calling for her, she immediately headed to the front courtyard.

Upon seeing Huang Ming, she greeted him eagerly, almost as though Huang Ming were her own master.

“Steward Huang, did you call for me?”

Huang Ming glanced at Li Zhufeng and nodded.

“Yes.

What’s going on with the Mistress Consort?

I heard she just bought quite a lot of things.”

Hearing this, Li Zhufeng hurriedly replied, “Yes.

The Mistress Consort asked us to clear out one of the rooms in the courtyard.

I told her it would take some time, and she became very angry.

After that, people came carrying items into the small courtyard.

I hadn’t seen those things before either, but they seemed to be tools for making jade.

When I went in to serve tea, I took a look, and it seemed the Mistress Consort was carving jade with them.”

“Heh.”

Huang Ming let out a cold laugh but said nothing more.

“I know about this now.

I’ll mention it to the young miss.

You may return and attend to the Mistress Consort diligently.”

“Yes, Steward.”

Matron Li read Huang Ming’s expression before taking her leave.

After Matron Li left, Huang Ming sneered.

“Does she think she’s Gong Jinsheng?

Carving jade, how ridiculous.

She’s nothing but a useless thing.”

After muttering a few more curses under his breath, Huang Ming picked up the documents in his hand and headed toward Lu Zijin’s courtyard.

At this time every day, he went to report the household’s affairs and daily expenditures to Lu Zijin.

Before long, Huang Ming arrived at Lu Zijin’s study.

He was extremely respectful in his manner toward her.

This young miss was nothing like an ordinary Kunze.

She tolerated no sand in her eyes, acted decisively, and surpassed even Qianyuan like them by far.

“Miss, this is today’s household expenditure record.

I’ve written everything down here for your review.”

Huang Ming respectfully placed the papers onto Lu Zijin’s desk.

Lu Zijin nodded and lowered her gaze to read the contents.

After some thought, Huang Ming still spoke up.

“Also, I heard from the guards at the back gate that the Mistress Consort purchased many tools for making jade today.”

Lu Zijin frowned slightly.

“Leave her be.

As long as she doesn’t stir up trouble, it’s fine.”

After all, Wei Lan was nothing more than a decorative piece she had bought.

She existed only to silence idle gossip and cut off others’ thoughts of coveting the Lu family’s estate.

Lu Zijin’s long lashes lowered as she continued reading the steward’s report.

From time to time, she asked him a question or two, appearing entirely indifferent to Wei Lan’s affairs.

In truth, she really did not care at all.

***

¹ Jieyu sand: a traditional abrasive used in jade carving and polishing.

² Deng boards: foot pedals used to drive an ancient rotary lathe.