Opening the door for Song Jiyun was Shao Qing.
"Miss, why have you come?" he said, winking at her incessantly without inviting her inside to sit.
Song Jiyun initially thought he had an eye condition and wanted to ask if he had seen a doctor, but he had already stretched out a finger and quietly pointed behind him.
Song Jiyun was puzzled.
Shao Qing gave a wry smile and said loudly, "Our young master... isn’t at home!"
As he spoke, he turned his head to glance inside the courtyard and gave Song Jiyun a meaningful look, saying, "Miss, you haven’t been seen for several days, have you been busy making porcelain?"
So, was Yuan Yunzhong angry? Unwilling to see her?
Song Jiyun was stunned, pointing to herself.
Shao Qing nodded repeatedly.
Song Jiyun felt a baffling urge to laugh, imagining a diminutive Yuan Yunzhong, dressed in a moon-white fine cloth Taoist robe, with an arrogantly held face, huffing at her.
Her eyes curving, she said loudly, "Didn’t Young Master Yuan accompany me to the kiln last time? He told me that nowadays people favor Guanyin statues over Luohan, so I thought things change so quickly, one can’t just sit and watch others take the lead. So I tried making some different porcelain at home."
Shao Qing visibly relaxed, joined his hands in gratitude, and bowed to her. His tone unchanged, he said, "So that’s how it is! I was wondering why you hadn’t come over these days!"
Song Jiyun played along: "What has Young Master Yuan been busy with these days? I haven’t seen him for quite some time either!"
Shao Qing gave Song Jiyun a thumbs up, saying, "You don’t know yet? A few days ago, didn’t our young master dine with the clan elders? Eleventh Grand Master Song arranged to meet our young master to help find teachers for the Song Clan School. Our young master may not dare to boast, but he knows the most scholars.
"The master wrote a letter to Suzhou, asking an old acquaintance to help find two teachers. They should arrive tomorrow! One to teach the primary classes, and one for interpretation."
Song Jiyun was quite surprised.
Indeed, she had not expected that.
Shao Qing hurriedly signaled to her with his eyes.
Coming back to herself, she quickly said, "That is really... I don’t know how to thank him enough! We must write your young master’s name on the school’s monument when it is erected."
Shao Qing grinned, replying, "What’s there to thank! Our young master is doing this because he and Miss are friends in adversity."
"Regardless, he has done me a great favor. We cannot fail to recognize his kindness just because he downplays it," Song Jiyun praised Yuan Yunzhong.
Shao Qing nodded happily at Song Jiyun.
Not until Song Jiyun felt she had said everything she came to say, and seeing that he had no intention of stepping aside, and with many things at home awaiting her decisions, she decided not to insist. She handed him a sweet white porcelain hand-pressed cup and said with a smile, "This is my creation. Only this one came out of the kiln; please pass it on to Young Master Yuan for me."
Shao Qing accepted the cup with a beaming smile.
But as soon as he took the cup, his expression changed dramatically, and he exclaimed, "What is this?"
White as jade, thin as paper.
"This is the new sweet white porcelain I’ve made," Song Jiyun explained softly, "I got only this one, and it’s specially for Young Master Yuan."
"Oh, oh, oh!" Shao Qing responded, cradling the cup and staring at it as if his gaze was stuck and unable to look away.
Song Jiyun pursed her lips in a smile, exchanged a few more pleasantries with him, and seeing that he was not present-minded, she promptly urged him, "You should go back to attend to Young Master Yuan. After I return from the Kiln Factory, I’ll come to visit him."
Shao Qing was slightly startled and spoke in a lowered voice, "Won’t you come in to have a look?"
"No," Song Jiyun also lowered her voice, laughing, "I’ll come and apologize to your young master after I finish the urgent matters at hand."
Although it might not entirely be her fault, Song Jiyun could feel Yuan Yunzhong’s kindness and was willing to be the first to concede.
Shao Qing felt it wasn’t quite right.
But Song Jiyun had already turned to leave, and he could only fold back.
Yuan Yunzhong stood on the steps under the eaves of the main hall with his hands behind his back, clenching a small compass.
Seeing Shao Qing come back alone, his jaw was clenched tightly, making his handsome brows and eyes appear even more penetrating, like a hidden sword in its sheath, enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Immediately, Shao Qing shivered as if his survival instincts kicked in, and he extended the cup in his hand, feigning delighted surprise as he exclaimed loudly, "Young Master, look! The new porcelain Miss Song has fired! Doesn’t it resemble jade carving?"
Yuan Yunzhong looked toward the cup in his hand.
In the sunlight, one could see the fingers holding the cup through its wall.
Yuan Yunzhong could not hide his surprise and picked up the cup.
Pure and translucent, its whiteness was like accumulated snow.
"This is," he mused, "the new porcelain fired by Miss Song!"
"Yes!" Shao Qing said joyfully, "Isn’t Miss Song impressive? She has actually fired new porcelain. I have never seen such a beautiful color before. It must be a tribute item, right?"
Yuan Yunzhong frowned slightly.
Shao Qing immediately added, "Miss Song specially delivered it. She said it’s for you, just fired, the first from the first kiln, unique in this world with not a second one made yet."
Yuan Yunzhong did not speak, but his expression softened a bit.
Shao Qing secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
The Young Master had been acting strangely ever since he came back from Miss Song’s place the night before last.
Yesterday, unable to hold back, he indirectly inquired about what Miss Song was doing?
Knowing that Miss Song hadn’t been looking for him all this while, his demeanor was like the depths of a freezing winter, capable of chilling someone to the bone.
Today, he acted as if he was on the verge of exploding at the slightest problem, and even instructed that if Miss Song came by, to tell her he was not at home.
Fortunately, Miss Song came today, bringing a cup with her, and giving the cup to the Young Master, and even said the cup was one of a kind.
He fawningly offered, "Young Master, shall I help you wash this cup? When you drink tea next, you can use this cup."
Yuan Yunzhong ignored him, holding the cup as he went to the study next door, placing the cup beside the crooked grey-white hand-pressed cup in the curio cabinet.
One like mud, the other as exquisite as jade.
Shao Qing couldn’t bear to look.
Yuan Yunzhong, however, took a few steps back and admired it for a moment, then stood by the large desk in the center of the room, spreading out Xuan paper.
Eager to please, Shao Qing approached and began to grind ink.
Yuan Yunzhong, however, indifferently instructed him, "Take the Compass that arrived from Nanchang Prefecture a few days ago and send it to Miss Song."
"Yes!" Shao Qing replied, then carefully added, "Are we not returning to Nanchang Prefecture?"
Yuan Yunzhong gave him a brief glance.
He immediately clamped his lips shut.
Yuan Yunzhong dipped his brush in ink and began to write.
The more Shao Qing watched, the more he felt that Yuan Yunzhong was distracted in his writing today.
He wondered what Miss Song would need the Compass for?
It had made him search the whole night on her behalf.
*
Song Jiyun left Yinyu Hall, told Madam Qian, and then proceeded to the Kiln Factory with Zheng Quan.
No sooner had she left the city gate in a mule cart than she encountered Zhou Zheng, who had rushed over from the docks.
"Miss!" he exclaimed in a panic, his mouth covered in blisters, "I couldn’t buy the clay for firing the Sacrificial White Porcelain—that shop’s Owner said someone came to him a few days ago and bought all the clay. If we want to buy, at the earliest we’ll have to wait half a month for stock to arrive."
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