Huo Lin – Blue And White Porcelain

In the Huo family’s warehouse, there was a batch of blue and white porcelain that were all in good condition. Among them were thirteen large sets collected during China’s Republican Era.

The handed-down items looked warm and delicate rather than cold and eerie like some of the other objects, so Xiangu adored them very much.

Huo Ling had been in and out of these warehouses since she was a child. The first thing that women from the Huo family learned was how to display objects and decorate places. The more precious the objects were, the more gentle and calm they had to be when holding them. They should never give people the feeling that they were showing off their wealth.

Many precious objects in the Republican Era were stored in the Huo family’s inner courtyard. When those objects went in, they smelled like dirt and rust; when they went out, the Huo family had revitalized their appearances and made them look polished.

There was one specific blue and white porcelain vase that Huo Ling liked the best. This had something to do with her personality. Huo Ling was a girl who was quite unpredictable and rebellious. Her family doted on her and never really prohibited her from doing anything, so she had to get whatever she wanted.

This special blue and white porcelain vase was about the size of a modern medium-sized thermos. Compared to other blue and white porcelain, it was neither big nor small. The special feature on this vase was that the porcelain was basically completely white without any patterns on it. There was only a tiny blue flower pattern of a bean sprout towards the bottom of the vase. The blue color was so dark that it almost looked black, and it made the bean sprout look like a stain.

Because of her family and her appearance, she could eventually achieve her goals even if there were obstacles. That was why she had such an unruly personality.

Blue and white porcelain had a fixed form, and the origin of most patterns on them could be explained. There were many priceless ones out there, but Huo Ling didn’t like them at all.

For her, if others said that something wasn’t good, then she had to disagree with them. She had to do it to prove that she was different from them. After a lot of arguing, she moved the vase away from the warehouse and put it in her room.

Most of the time, this kind of porcelain couldn’t even be called porcelain. No one knew why it had been put in the warehouse, but they mostly ignored it because it was too ugly. No one would take it out when they wanted to appreciate the objects, either. It looked even uglier when Huo Ling put it in her room. The more she looked at it in her room, the more she felt that it didn’t feel right. But for the sake of saving face, she had to keep insisting that it looked beautiful.

Er Yuehong was the only one whom Huo Ling didn’t dare act arrogantly in front of. At that time, Er Yuehong wasn’t a young man anymore, but he was surely different from impudent men. He would occasionally get on stage to sing opera, so he looked much younger than he actually was.

Er Yuehong was very quiet and very thoughtful about everything he did, and he was someone who didn’t act recklessly.

The women from the Huo family had seen too many people, so in their eyes, most men had many flaws. However, Er Yuehong was different. Among those in the previous legendary generation, Er Yuehong was probably the only one whom Huo Ling admired.

During the Spring Festival of that year, Er Yuehong held a small banquet. Huo Ling went there with a gift on behalf of the Huo family.

Her mother had prepared a carved jade statue of a blue bird standing on a branch. The color of the jade branch was brown, while the bird was very colorful. Although it hadn’t been carved with emerald, this kind of craftsmanship was already very precious. Huo Ling liked it very much and felt that such a gift was too valuable.

It was a custom for this generation of the Mystic Nine to attend the small banquet during the Spring Festival. It was a chance for them to visit each other, build connections, exchange gifts, and communicate with others. Many people in the Mystic Nine lived in a simple way and seldom went out, so this was the only time that they could really spend some time talking to each other.

This was also the time when those up-and-comers could introduce themselves to the prestigious figures. There were various gifts exchanged, but they weren’t too expensive. Many gifts would also be directly put into the warehouses without being opened.

After thinking about it, Huo Ling kept the carved jade blue bird for herself and gave the strange blue and white porcelain vase in her room—which she ended up hating—to Er Yuehong as a gift.

She thought that no one would find out about it, but to her surprise, the porcelain vase was sent back the very next day. Er Yuehong had even written a note: I feel guilty for accepting such a precious gift. I hope you can keep it properly.

Huo Ling was very clever, so after learning about this, she immediately made sure that the servants wouldn’t talk about it. She knew that Er Yuehong wasn’t the type to gossip, so as long as the servants kept their mouths shut, her parents wouldn’t know about it.

Since she was a little tyrant at home, the servants wouldn’t gossip about it, either. But she was very curious as to why this blue and white porcelain was so precious that Er Yuehong didn’t dare accept it.

She took the vase and went to find Er Yuehong. At that time, he was repairing a piano in his home. It wasn’t easy to get into Er Yuehong’s inner courtyard, so Huo Ling thought she might have to wreak some havoc. But she didn’t expect Er Yuehong’s underling to lead her directly to him.

Er Yuehong pressed hard on the piano board and slowly wound the strings. “Speak,” he said without raising his head.

“This vase…”

“I’m not taking it,” he said calmly. “There’s something I don’t understand. Why would you give me such a precious gift?”

“Is this vase really that precious?” Huo Ling suddenly became timid after seeing Er Yuehong. “It’s not very expensive. I have a lot of them in my house.”

Er Yuehong eased his strength and looked at Huo Ling. “You have a lot of them in your house?”

“Yes. Many of them are complete sets,” Huo Ling said softly. “Er Ye, you don’t look like someone who is unsophisticated.”

Er Yuehong was a little confused, but quickly got over it. He obviously wasn’t that interested in why Huo Ling had come to talk to him about this matter or why the Huo family would give him such an expensive gift.

He washed his hands in a copper basin on one side, wiped them dry, and then handed the cricket jar (1) in his arms to his underling.

He came to stand in front of Huo Ling, took the blue and white porcelain vase, and put it on the table. He then picked up the hot tea pot and poured the hot water into the vase.

Huo Ling watched as the blue bean sprout towards the bottom of the vase slowly started to grow. A trace of blue vines gradually began to spread until they eventually covered the whole vase. The lines were extremely refined and the vines grew so vividly that it was almost as if the bean sprout was alive. Huo Ling was dumbfounded.

“The color of this porcelain is specially made with a kind of herbal medicine from the southern lands,” Er Yuehong said. “It’s very rare, and the color will only appear when the temperature rises. The color is usually black, so this vase is even more precious considering how the color of the flower is almost blue. Needless to say, the process for these lines to appear and spread all over the vase from the bottom after the temperature rises is very particular. You’re extremely lucky to be able to find this kind of vase.”

Huo Ling was so shocked that she couldn’t react to his words.

Er Yuehong left her there and went to the courtyard. He looked at the bright spots on the ground from the sunshine and took a deep breath.

Many things were rare, and it was extremely lucky for those who were able to find even just one of them. For people, such a fact was really too cruel.

<The Mystic Nine Memories><Table of Contents><Talking About The Mystic Nine In The Rain Village>

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TN Notes:

(1) I’m not sure if the information is correct, but this is what I’ve found: Some wealthy people in Beijing would participate in cricket fighting back in the day. They would put crickets in a jar and put it in their arms to keep the crickets warm. It’s apparently still a thing. Some more info here.

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Translated by: Tiffany X
Edited by: merebear226