Chapter 333 — A Gift
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Pomegranates symbolize many sons and abundant blessings.
Just as Song Yan was hoping with all his heart that Dou Yan's wishes would come true, Chen Jia sent over several pomegranates carved from mutton-fat jade.
He could not help picking one up and turning it over in the lamplight. "This Chen Jia—who would have thought he had an eye for such things. I've underestimated him."
His words carried a note of approval for Chen Jia.
Dou Yan also took a "pomegranate" from the box to examine. "It's carved from a single piece of mutton-fat jade. A mottled stain like this would ordinarily be worthless. But in this jade carver's hands, he has actually turned the stain into a pomegranate, making it a piece worthy of being a family heirloom. What's rarest is that he managed to gather four or five that are nearly alike..." She picked up the remaining "pomegranates" and ran her fingers over them carefully. "They must have been cut from one large block of stone... I suspect this stone was originally discarded material... I wonder which master jade carver's handiwork this is. Truly, it rivals the work of heaven itself..."
Song Yan shared Dou Zhiwei's view.
Each of these "pomegranates" was the size of a child's fist. Mutton-fat jade is prized for being pure white and flawless; if it had been a single intact block of mutton-fat jade, even with such mottled staining, once cut open it could always have yielded several small pendants or even large display pieces. Now, however, it had all been carved into "pomegranates" one after another, which showed that although the stone was large, the jade fit for carving was not a single whole piece, and the stain had penetrated deep into the jade. Even as a small pendant it would not have been top grade.
Seeing how interested Dou Yan was, Song Yan smiled and said, "Tomorrow I'll have Chen Jia come and ask him—then we'll know whose carving this is."
Dou Yan shook her head and placed the pomegranates back in the box. "An exquisite thing like this—even if it is not a shop's prize piece, it is a treasure in a collector's hands. Not to mention a newly promoted Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—even for a family like ours that runs a curio shop, we could not lay hands on such fine goods on short notice. I fear this thing came by no honest road. Better to send it back!"
"What you say makes sense," Song Yan said, and perhaps put the pomegranate in his hand back into the box. "Though the Guard's Zhenfu Bureau has its fingers in every pie, for a newly promoted Assistant Commissioner to obtain several jade pieces like these is no easy matter."
There was something else he did not say.
The Zhenfu Bureau of the Embroidered Uniform Guard dealt entirely in things that could not bear the light of day. He liked this gift because he hoped it would bring good fortune to himself and Dou Yan. But if it were tainted with blood, then better not to have it at all.
He summoned Chen He and handed the things over to him. "Have Du Wei look into where these came from."
Chen He answered and withdrew.
Song Yan no longer dared to fool around with Dou Yan. He told Gan Lu to attend her while she washed, and once she had finished, he insisted on carrying her to the bed, as though she were fragile glass.
Dou Yan did not know whether to laugh or cry. "I'm not ill. It's not as though I'm too weak to walk."
"Better to be careful," Song Yan said, yet in the depths of his eyes was a seriousness and insistence that brooked no argument.
This Song Yan made Dou Yan's heart both glad and helpless. And she understood all the more clearly that a Song Yan who had made up his mind was not easily persuaded to change course.
She let Song Yan carry her to the bed.
Song Yan was somewhat excited. After washing, he held Song Zhao in his arms and talked to her.
"Tell me, is it a boy or a girl?" He stroked her raven-black hair now and again.