Chapter 93: Carving
After eating and drinking their fill, they played with the two cute little ones and Little Round Circle for a good while longer, until the old man and the children were all sleepy and called it a night.
After bidding farewell to Zhang Ze who had escorted her back, Su Ning closed the gate securely and wandered unsteadily with Little Round Circle to the corridor to sit down.
After just sipping a mouthful of rice wine, her cheeks flushed red like peach blossoms in March.
Sitting on the grass mat with her hand propping up her forehead, there was a hint of laziness and a tipsy haze in her brows and eyes?
“Woof woof~”
“Little Round Circle, stop spinning around, it’s making my head dizzy.”
“Woof~”
Only when the alcohol hit did she realize her tolerance was so low—one sip and she was drunk?
She ladled a cup of spring water from the space, shook the enamel cup, “Spring water can relieve fatigue and restore energy, I wonder if it can sober one up?”
Muttering to herself, she gulped down several mouthfuls until the dizziness faded and the double image of Little Round Circle in front of her disappeared before stopping.
By happy accident, she learned another use for the spring water.
With the discomfort in her chest gone, Su Ning smiled, set down the cup, picked up Little Round Circle beside her, and roughly stroked its black fur.
Tonight’s moon was yellowish with a fuzzy edge, the stars twinkled, forming a brilliant Milky Way.
One person and one dog nestled together, admiring the beautiful night sky.
Until she caught sight of the wooden box on the low table in her peripheral vision, and recalling the Old Master’s teachings from earlier in the day, she suddenly felt inspired to carve.
She set down Little Round Circle in her arms, sat up straight, and Su Ning pulled the ink jade with a fine crack from her pants pocket.
“I’ll use you to practice my hand.”
She opened the wooden box and laid out the tools one by one on the table, then opened the book and carefully read it through from beginning to end several times before starting to try.
Time slipped away unnoticed as she watched the ink jade in her hand gradually take shape as imagined in her mind.
Toying with the still very crude little jade pendant, Su Ning smiled with unusual satisfaction.
She found a red string, wove it into a chain, threaded the jade pendant onto it, and directly wore it around her neck.
“How’s it look, Little Round Circle?”
“Woof~”
“The next one will be for you.”
“Woof~”
Unable to quell this carving enthusiasm for the moment, she not only took out one piece of each color of jadeite from under the spring water, but also selected several pieces from the scrap material Mom had left in that yard.
First using the scrap material to grind and carve the simplest shapes, then moving on to the jadeite from the bottom of the spring.
Only when she felt her entire neck stiff and half her body numb did she suddenly realize she had gone crazy carving all night.
After easing the soreness in her body with a big stretch, she looked down at the works from the night on the table and couldn’t help but show a satisfied smile.
From the successive failed pieces at the start to later ones that actually took shape… cough, at least recognizable as some carved thing, that counted as remarkable progress, right?
Like this red peanut carved from red jadeite—though without the masters’ craftsmanship, the ridges on the peanut shell were visible…
But at a glance, anyone could tell it was a peanut, not two round balls stuck together!
“It won’t be long before I can carve flowers and plants or even little animals, right? Then carve one of Xi You’s zodiac sign… oh no!”
Gripping the red peanut in her hand tightly, as she thought of Xi You, she suddenly remembered what she had forgotten!
Slapping her forehead, Su Ning hurriedly put away the tools and book into the wooden box, returned the spring-bottom jadeite to the space, and left the rest for now.
In her haste, she also forgot the bracelet woven with the red peanut she had been holding, and slipped it directly onto her wrist.
Before she could even wash her face or change out of her clothes covered in debris, there was a knock knock knock at the gate.
“Coming.”
Her steps paused, and Su Ning turned to open the door, “Who is it?”
“Ning Bao Gai, it’s me, open up quick!”
It was just getting light— so early?
Hearing the voice, she quickly opened the door, and Luo Shuangshuang bounced right in from outside.
“Ning Bao Gai, yesterday after I got off work and went home, I found out you hadn’t come to my place, and you weren’t home when I came over at night—was something wrong?”
“My two brothers and family got back yesterday, and after a hot pot meal, I completely forgot.”
“Hahaha, you have times when you forget things too? No matter, as long as you’re fine—I was worried and came to check on you on my way to work.”
Luo Shuangshuang habitually took her hand, and at a glance spotted the red peanut on her wrist.
“Huh? I don’t remember Ning Bao Gai wearing something this ugly…”
Whoa~ what was that look?
Could it be?
“You made it?”
Seeing her nod with narrowed eyes and a dangerous smile, Luo Shuangshuang chuckled foolishly, immediately changing her attitude to sincerely praise.
“Wow, the first time and you carved something this good-looking—two grapes! Our Ning Bao Gai is amazing!”
“What grapes, it’s a peanut.”
“Uh… peanut, you say it’s… ah, right right right, it does look like—pfft~ hahaha~”
“Hahaha~”
Unable to hold back any longer after Luo Shuangshuang’s laughter, Su Ning burst out laughing too.
Examining the red peanut dangling from the bracelet several times, “It really doesn’t look like a peanut? More like grapes?”
“If the peanut is round and plump, then… saying it looks like isn’t wrong!”
“Alright, you make a good point, then… grapes it is.”
Taking the bracelet from her hand, Luo Shuangshuang held it close to her eyes—the two plump ones stuck together looked more and more joyful the longer she looked. “Don’t say, though the shape is simple, for some reason it just makes one feel happy.”
“You wasteful girl, using such good jadeite to practice?”
“See, I’m wearing it—doesn’t count as waste.”
This explanation made her chuckle helplessly—good thing she wasn’t petty or narrow-minded, or she’d be green with envy.
“Alright, since I know you’re fine, I’ll head to work~”
“So early? Work’s still an hour or two away—you gonna stand at the gate drinking northwest wind? Come in first and eat something, you haven’t had breakfast, right?”
“Nope, I was just gonna eat at the canteen, hehe, but of course eating Ning Bao Gai’s cooking would be even better!”
“Come on in quick.”
Seeing her keep toying with the smooth, delicate red… um, grapes in her hand, it seemed she really liked it from the bottom of her heart, as she said.
Closing the gate and leading her into the yard, Su Ning shook her head inwardly: she still hadn’t figured out the use of this red jadeite…
If it had some exaggerated special effect like the blue jadeite that worked instantly, it wouldn’t be good to just give it to Xi You.
Thinking it over, she sneakily took out a piece of ink jade from her pocket that she had just put away.
“I’ll keep this peanut as a memento—if you don’t mind this one, it’s for you.”
Ink jade was the most mysterious jadeite color besides the purple-eyed one.
Flawless, uniformly clear, lustrous, and as rare as the red jadeite carved into grapes.
With this bit of discernment, Luo Shuangshuang suddenly felt the grapes in her hand burn hot, and quickly shoved them back into her hand. “Early in the morning, don’t scare me like this—something so precious, I can’t accept it.”
“I was originally planning to carve you a zodiac jade token once my skills improved, but since you like it so much, this can be a placeholder…”
Teasing as she handed over the ink jade, Su Ning raised an eyebrow, “Take a good look first.”
Curiously examining this ink jade pendant, it was a square little token with no special patterns, but on the front were two characters carved in some unknown script.
One was Ning, the other… Shuang?
The script made the two adjacent characters look like two blooming flowers no matter how you saw it.
Luo Shuangshuang rubbed the two characters on it fondly, “I like it!”
“Want it?”
“Absolutely!”
She had treasures too, could pick one to exchange later. “Does this count as our token of exchange?”
“Cough cough cough~”
Was a token of exchange meant to be used like this?
“Haha~ thank you Ning Bao Gai, I’ll carry this little pendant close to my body for sure—even won’t take it off for baths!”
“Good, remember what you said.”
“Of course~ rest assured, I’ll wear it for life.”
With smiling eyes like a pool of autumn water, Su Ning took the chattering person to the kitchen to make breakfast.
This ink jade pendant was regarded by Luo Shuangshuang as a symbol of their friendship, and as she said, she never took it off lightly again, though it didn’t get the chance to be worn for a lifetime.
At that time, both recalled this day with relief.
“Right, Xi You, I’ll send over that meat later—will someone be home?”
“Yes, Mom’s off today and probably won’t go out too early.”
Their voices gradually faded in the courtyard, leaving only Little Round Circle sleeping soundly with snores.
