Chapter 161 — The Wooden Hairpin
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 4 of 4
A plain, simple long hairpin, its whole length pierced and carved with camellias of every kind: some buds just ready to open, some still mere tight buds, and others in wanton full bloom. The workmanship was nothing exquisite, the material nothing choice, yet the design was utterly novel. More than that, carved wooden things for the most part breathe a plain, natural air of good family breeding, but the blossoms on this hairpin clustered together each wore a hint of crowding, jostling eagerness to be first to bloom, so that it gave off a sense of shimmering, overflowing color.
The one who carved this hairpin had quite ordinary skill; the one who designed it was a painter of rare mastery!
The judgment surfaced in Han shi's mind out of nowhere... and then there rose before her the scene of Ji Yong as a child, standing on a little stool to make up the height, bent over the great painting table in the garden pavilion, sketching the camellias at home from life...
She could not help drawing a sharp breath, and with a "pa" she shut the box, and asked the maid urgently: "This is...?"
The maid smiled. "This is the box Zishang brought over yesterday." Then a look of puzzlement came into her eyes. "Last night I distinctly saw the young master put it away in the chest—how did it end up under his pillow..."
Han shi's head gave a great buzz, and a strange sense of dread rose in her.
She put the box back where it had been, hastily instructed the maid in a word or two—"Mind the young master never finds out someone has touched his things"—and hurried back to the inner rooms, where she charged her own wet nurse, Granny Han: "Wait by the hanging-flower gate. The moment the young master comes back, report to me at once."
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Today's update!
o(n_n)o~
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