Chapter 7 Chapter 7 The open space outside the barracks. The day before yesterday...
The open space outside the barracks.
After a heavy snowfall the day before, half-man-high weeds mixed with the unmelted snow covered the loess. With the war approaching, the soldiers were training outside the city at this time, so the area outside the barracks was deserted. The open space was a mess, littered with discarded weapons, bloodstained armor, and bottles and jars captured from the Huns.
Jiang Wan bent down, parted the weeds, and searched carefully. The bottles and jars were covered in dust and snow. Some had been discarded next to the broken armor and were stained with dried blood. Even under the heavy snow, a slight fishy odor could be smelled up close.
"What are you looking for? Let me help you." Jiang An followed her with a bamboo basket on his back and asked in confusion.
"Looking for materials to make wine glasses to give as gifts for the New Year."
In recent years, the Great Zhou and the Xiongnu have been engaged in a constant war, both major and minor. All the spoils seized from the Xiongnu soldiers, whether usable or not, have been confiscated and placed in government, while the worthless have been discarded. However, there is a type of jade produced in the Xiongnu, crystal clear and translucent, that changes color with the light, making it a top-grade material for making luminous cups. This jade, called Linyu, is known as the "Linyu."
Fine grape wine in a luminous cup [1], no general disliked this kind of wine cup. The Xiongnu generals were no exception, and such cups were not uncommon in their tents. However, because the Great Zhou did not produce lin jade in its own land, and trade with the Western Regions had been rare in recent years, this material was extremely precious in the Great Zhou.
Unfortunately, Kirin Jade is fragile, and becomes turbid when it gets dusty, losing its original properties, becoming almost the same as ordinary white jade.
Therefore, after a period of war and horseback riding, the unicorn jade wine cups were often severely damaged and unusable when transported to the military camp, and were also covered in dust. It was difficult for the soldiers to identify this precious jade, so they mistakenly thought it was just an ordinary cup and discarded it.
What Jiang Wan wanted to find was the broken Linyu wine cup.
Jiang An didn't know what Jiang Wan was thinking. He glanced around and thought, there's nothing here to give as a gift.
"Brother, can you help me pick some blue grass?" Jiang Wan interrupted his thoughts.
"Ah? Oh, I'll go right away." Jiang An suppressed his inner doubts and began to look for blue grass.
In the past, he would have thought his sister was just fooling around. But now, listening to her confident voice and remembering how smarter and stronger she had become in the past two days, Jiang An actually felt that his sister must have her reasons for doing so.
Bluegrass, as its name suggests, has blue veins in the center of its leaves. It's very common in Xiaofangpan City. Whenever Jiang An sees a plant, he squats down and plucks the newly sprouted leaves from its tips. As he does so, he can't help but recall his childhood days with his sister, when they'd run to the outskirts of the capital, picking flowers and fruit for fun.
Later, when he grew up, he shouldered the burden of supporting his mother and taking care of his sister, and he dared not relax for a moment. It had been more than ten years since he had been close to flowers and plants.
Picking bluegrass leaves now felt familiar and fun, like returning to childhood. Jiang An enjoyed it and quickly picked up half a basket.
"Is this enough?" Jiang An stood up from the half-man-high pile of weeds and returned to Jiang Wan.
"That's enough." Jiang Wan squatted in the open space and glanced back at the bamboo basket. In her hand was a dusty, dirt-stained wine glass, with a chipped wall and a faint trace of coagulated brown blood visible at the break.
Jiang Wan put the wine glass into the bamboo basket.
Jiang An's eyes widened in shock: "You searched for such a long time, just for such a rubbish?"
Jiang Wan burst out laughing: "Brother, don't underestimate this thing, it's hard to find."
Jiang An lamented. He had thought his sister had grown up, but it turned out she was still a playful child. How could he have thought her actions were justified? Never mind. His sister had been in a bad mood for a few days, so he'd just play with her for a while. As for gifts, he could just move bricks at night for a few days and earn some money to buy them for his sister.
Jiang Wan searched along the way and picked up a few rusty bronze jars, placing them in the bamboo basket. Then he nodded with satisfaction and told his brother to go home.
The sun was shining brightly when the brother and sister arrived home.
In the corner of the hut were the brushes and adhesives Jiang Wan had requested. Madam Li had also given her two carving knives. Perhaps Jiang's mother was taking a nap, so she didn't disturb her and simply placed them against the wall.
Jiang Wan helped her brother unload the bamboo basket and asked him to fetch two basins of water. When he returned, she moved two stools and sat down with him against the wall.
She handed Jiang An a carving knife and asked him to scrape off the rust on the bronze jar, and then put some clean copper scraps in water.
He used a brush to dust off the wine glass, then placed the glass in another basin of water, rotating it while washing it.
As the clear water slowly turned turbid, the stains on the wine glass disappeared, revealing its radiant essence. The sunlight shone on the wine glass, which was clear and pure, with a hint of white light.
"It's really beautiful! I didn't expect that a dirty-looking cup is made of such fine materials," Jiang An exclaimed, "But it has a chip after all. It's fine for personal use, but it's not a good idea to give it as a gift, right?"
"Of course we can't just give it away like this," Jiang Wan patted his brother's arm mysteriously, "Watch it!"
I saw her repeatedly grinding the gap with the back of the carving knife. The gap became smoother and smoother, and finally formed a regular semicircle.
Jiang Wan took the indigo grass from the bamboo basket, squeezed out the blue-green juice, and mixed it with water containing copper shavings. He then stirred it with the handle of a knife and left it in the sun to dry.
A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Wan tiptoed back to his room and took out the spiral carving knife from under his pillow.
The water in the basin had already been thoroughly mixed, turning an emerald green. Jiang Wan dipped the carving knife into the emerald liquid and drilled a small hole in the bottom of the cup. As the carving knife continued to penetrate the cup, the liquid left a wavy pattern of light emerald green on the clear jade.
Jiang An stared blankly at his sister's actions. He had no idea what she was going to do.
"Okay, let's stop here for today." Jiang Wan put down the carving knife and carefully placed the wine glass horizontally where it could be exposed to the sun.
"We have to wait until it's dry before we can continue. Brother, take a break. I'll clean up." Jiang Wan quickly packed up her tools and hung the bamboo basket back up. With a quarter of an hour left before the afternoon shift, she needed to take a break.
Fifteen days later, at the Jiang family hut.
At noon, Jiang Wan was sitting at the door fiddling with a wine glass. Jiang An came back from work and saw his sister. He walked up to her and said, "Little sister, you've been fiddling with this glass for half a month and haven't had much rest. Why don't you go and rest for a while?"
As soon as the words fell, he saw the appearance of the wine glass in her hand.
The cup is a crystal white, surrounded by a circle of emerald green, rising and falling, high and low, like the surging water. Under the sunlight, the white reflection is mixed with dots of emerald green, shining brightly and catching the eye.
"So that's how it is!" Jiang An clapped his hands in admiration. "This emerald green represents water waves, and the notch on the top edge, which has been rounded, represents the sun. Putting it together, it looks like the sun rising over the East China Sea, symbolizing happiness and longevity, right?"
Jiang Wan smiled and nodded.
"This idea is so clever!" Jiang An said excitedly, "When we went to collect materials that day, I never thought that a dirty cup could be repaired so beautifully by you!"
Jiang Wan breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at his work. Using bronze to blend the waves was indeed a slow process. Each dye only added a few shades of color, requiring dozens of passes. The bronze had to dry before the next dye could be applied.
Today is the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. She must deliver the wine cup to Madam Li before tomorrow so that she can present it to the county magistrate on New Year's Eve. If time were not so tight, Jiang Wan could have dyed it more delicately, but the current blending was enough to show her the meaning.
Jiang Wan used adhesive to repair the small hole that had been drilled before and sent it to Madam Li's house.
She had deliberately blended the bronze and bluegrass into the interior of the cup, rather than the exterior, giving it a natural, almost emerald-green hue. This technique was rare in the modern Zhou Dynasty, and it was likely to please Madam Li.
When Madam Li heard that Jiang Wan had finished the work, she hurriedly ordered her maid to bring up the wine glasses.
"The sun rises over the East China Sea. Miss Jiang is so ingenious." She was immediately captivated by the shimmering wine glass. While exquisite, the cups made by the same craftsmen are often identical. The one Jiang Wan sent, though chipped, imbued it with a more beautiful meaning and added a touch of novelty, which caught her eye. She would present it to the master at the New Year's Eve family dinner; he would surely appreciate it, and then she wouldn't have to worry about being promoted.
Madam Li caressed the rim of the cup, unable to let it go. If she hadn't been about to be helped and needed to please the master, she would have kept it for herself. She could then ask Jiang Wan if he could make her another one exactly like it.
Madam Li thought so and ordered the maid, "Why don't you invite Miss Jiang in quickly!"
As Jiang Wan entered the room, he was met with Mrs. Li's enthusiastic smile.
"Hurry up and sit down, Wanwan, hurry up and sit down," Madam Li looked at Jiang Wan as if she were a treasure, even addressing her in a familiar way. "This cup is very well made! The day after tomorrow, at the New Year's Eve banquet, you can follow me. I will then present the cup to the master and, while he's happy, ask him to free you from your status as a slave. How do you think?"
Jiang Wanxi said happily, "Thank you, Madam. I will always remember your kindness."
As Jiang Wan saluted, a system prompt sounded in her mind:
"Innovation is the source of vitality. Congratulations to the host for creating a new handicraft and completing the task [Ingenuity], earning ten points."
Jiang Wan closed his eyes, and the remaining points on the system interface changed from 2 to 12.
Madam Li gave her a lot of silver as a reward, and also gave her many instructions on things to pay attention to during family banquets, how to talk to the master, etc. She also told her to buy a set of clean clothes and not wear the clothes of a criminal slave.
Jiang Wan agreed to all of their requests, thanked Madam Li again, and went directly to the laundry house.
It's almost time to go back to work. Convicts don't get annual leave, so they have to work even on the first day of the Lunar New Year, let alone the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.
Jiang Wan looked at her hands, which were cracked from washing clothes in the cold winter. Fortunately, she would be free soon. On the first day of this year, she should not have to wash clothes anymore.
[1] From Wang Han’s “Liangzhou Ci”: Fine grape wine in the luminescent cup, the pipa music urges me to drink.
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