Chapter 23: CH 23

Yet again, the car found itself parked outside a somewhat dilapidated alley, and the potholes in it were still full of water. Pei Yan carefully got out of the car and escorted Hua Jin up to the entrance to the stairs.

“Mr Pei, thank you for today.” The man following behind her was as quiet as the night, though the pride in his eyes was like the reflection of the moon in a lake. One could take solace in the tranquil atmosphere.

“Don’t you think I’m quite unfortunate as I keep on running into trouble when I see you?” Pei Yan remarked before waving his hand lazily, “I’m going.”

He stopped when he reached the entrance of the alleyway and turned to look at Hua Jin who was still standing there, “Aren’t you going to repay me the gas fee for tonight?”

“Nope,” Hua Jin smiled and raised an eyebrow, “With how familiar we are with each other, we could say we’re practically friends already. Isn’t it natural for friends to give free rides to their friends? Wouldn’t asking for payment hurt our friendship?”

This was the first time that Pei Yan had heard the phrase ‘practically friends’, but he was too lazy to correct her anyways, “You’re quite talented in making up excuses if it gets you out of paying for the gas fees.”

Hua Jin smiled innocently.

After Pei Yan left, as Hua Jin was walking up to the second floor, she suddenly remembered the fact that Pei Yan had initially asked her to help him rate the authenticity of the dishes, so why didn’t he ask her anything during the meal?

Deep in thought, she screamed in fright when a figure suddenly came up to her in the corridor, “Grandma Chen?!”

‘It’s almost 10 in the evening, but this old lady was still up to scare people?’

“I saw,” Grandma Chen said with a smile, “That young man was really handsome. Much better looking than that other boy that person introduced to you. You’ve got good taste.”

Hua Jin smiled helplessly, “Grandma Chen, he’s just a friend of mine.”

“Yes, yes, yes, don’t you young people all start as ordinary friends?” Grandma Chen nodded again and again, “I understand.”

Hua Jin: “……”

‘What do you elders always know?’

“The bottle of bean paste you gave me last time was delicious, and the fried dishes were particularly fragrant.” Mrs Chen saw that Hua Jin was reluctant to talk about it more, thinking that she was too shy. She stuffed a bottle of home-made fermented bean curd into Hua Jin’s hand and said, “Take this back and try it. If you like it, come and get some more from me again.”

“Thank you, Grandma Chen.” Hua Jin didn’t refuse. She was very familiar with most of the tenants in the building. They usually shared seasonings or side dishes they made with each other and it made their lives quite lively.

Finally on the fourth floor, Hua Jin saw that the lights to Sister Qin’s house were still on, so she guessed that her son might still be doing his homework. Hua Jin had already taken out her keys but before she could open her door, the door to Sister Qin’s house opened. The person who came out was not Sister Qin, but a buzz cut young boy wearing black-rimmed glasses.

“H-hi,” he said when he saw Hua Jin. His eyes were a bit fidgety and shy.

“Hello.” Hua Jin unlocked her door but didn’t go in yet as she looked over and asked, “Need anything?”

“Xiao Hua, have you just arrived from work?” Sister Qin leaned out from her apartment’s door and made eye-contact with her nephew somewhat embarrassed before pushing him inside her house, “You must be quite tired after a long day, so you should sleep early today.”

Seeing Sister Qin’s embarrassed expression, Hua Jin guessed that this boy might be a distant relative of the matchmaking suitor she recommended last time. But she pretended to have not noticed and simply went inside her house, locked the door, before throwing herself onto the couch.

‘What just happened?’

It was only then that the day’s events had finished did Hua Jin find the energy to think about everything that had happened. After a long session, she visibly sighed. In her mind, she knew that if nothing changes, the gradual decline of the traditional arts was only a matter of time.

She then opened Weibo which only reinforced this conclusion of her as the topics that were popular just a few days ago were already nowhere to be seen.

After posting a few photos of Tan Yuan’s recent lacquer plate and bracelet, Hua Jin couldn’t help herself and publicly lamented.

[Fan Hua]: Finding successors isn’t the only problem facing the art of lacquerware not only, but even finding lacquer trees has proved difficult as of late. A good friend of mine made these gorgeously glossy pieces. She’s been learning how to make them since she was a child, and it’s been many years since then. [Picture]

After a while, a few people came and gave the post a thumbs up and two people even praised the bracelet in the comment section, but after that, no one bothered with it anymore. It almost seemed that Weibo’s usual liveliness was just a dream. Fortunately, she had already expected such an outcome, otherwise, she herself might not have been able to mentally accept it.

The next morning, she rushed early to the store before Tan Yuan arrived. It was only after she had cleaned up that Tan Yuan arrived late, her eyes were still a little red and swollen. Hua Jin pretended to not notice her current disheveled state and casually handed her a cup of tea, “Have you finished the earrings order yet? Isn’t the pick-up date in two days?”

“I’ve already finished it a long time ago,” Tan Yuan replied while sipping tea, “So for now, tell me what’s going on with you and Mr Pei?”

“Our friendship is as pure as it could be between a man and a woman, and you can call me puppy if I’m lying to you.” Hua Jin yawned and lazed on the table, “If I was really in an intimate relationship with such a rich and good-looking man, how is it possible for me not to post at least 10 messages on social media to show off?”

“The man and the woman are both unmarried, so what kind of ‘pure relationship’ can they be in?” Tan Yuan looked at Hua Jin suspiciously, “Aren’t you the one having evil intentions because of how attractive he is?”

“Am I that superficial?!” Hua Jin clicked her tongue, “Although Pei Yan is indeed very attractive, with his thin waist and long legs, one can’t just judge a person based on their face.”

“Nope. You’re super superficial,” Tan Yuan rolled her eyes, “Stop trying to deny it because you’ll never convince me otherwise.”

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“In fact, if I wasn’t imagining things, you seem to treat Mr Pei extra specially,” Tan Yuan followed up as she put her cup back on the table, “Hua Hua, you’re really quite reserved to most people, aside from those you’re already close with. You’re especially distant to unfamiliar men too. But I didn’t feel any distant feelings from you when you were talking with Mr Pei.”

“That… maybe it’s because he is too good-looking.”

“Hmph!” Tan Yuan wanted to get to the bottom of this, but she didn’t want to rock the boat too much, so she simply gave up and walked to her workbench, sighing, “I no longer have a handsome man to flirt with, so I better hurry up and make more money to become the Ms Perfect that men can’t afford to pass on.”

Hua Jin felt happy and relieved about Tan Yuan’s optimistic attitude.

If she’s even joking about becoming a Ms Perfect, it showed that Tang Yuan was still hopeful in life.

A few days went by before Hua Jin was fully relieved because Tan Yuan seemed stable and optimistic while Cao Yi never showed up to the store to make trouble. In a blink of an eye, it was already the opening day of the exhibition. She deliberately chose to wear clothes that made her look elegant and intellectual before rushing to the exhibition venue by car.

After passing through several layers of security checks, Hua Jin finally entered the venue successfully. She then took a brochure off of a shelf and slowly walked inside.

Near the entrance were two rows of displays that featured various porcelain potteries that proved popular at the time. Hua Jin took her time to look over each of them, while making her way through the somewhat lonely corridor, as there were only a few elderly people around who wore glasses or had magnifying glasses in their hands. They even leaned in closely towards each display to very carefully inspect them, acting as if each one could shatter into dust if one breathed on them wrongly.

There were many things in the main exhibition hall: wood and bone carvings, ceramics, clay sculptures, weavings, woodblock prints, puppets, embroidery, and so on and so forth. When she arrived at the embroidery area, Hua Jin was awed by the exquisite embroideries on display.

The pieces were perfect combinations of embroidery and fabrics, with no apparent flaws to be seen. The embroidered dewdrops and petals on a certain dress all seemed to be on the cusp of gently falling down, depicted amazingly beautifully, and yet, this piece could be considered an unearthed cultural relic, having been buried in the soil for hundreds of years, and yet it could still seem so delicate. This very fact is a testament to how high the level of embroidery was at the time of its making.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many exhibits related to embroidery in the main hall, but there were many lacquerware pieces on display.

“What a pity, what a pity.” Two old men could be seen standing in the lacquerware area who were shaking their heads and sighing, “Some of the techniques of our craft have long been lost, and only a few records of them could be found in ancient books.

Hearing the old men say it was a pity, Hua Jin felt like she was a lone hero at the precipice of a dark era. The more beautiful and splendid things she saw in this exhibit, the deeper her sadness became of the gradual decline of the traditional arts.

A problem that has plagued the lacquerware industry comes from the fact that lacquer from lacquer trees* have become much more difficult to find, while even the embroidery industry has had its own problems with supply. In the past, planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms were so widespread, an entire city was even named ‘The Land of Mulberry’. But with the development of the economy, the scale of silkworm breeding had shrunk significantly. If one wanted to buy an authentic Shu brocade that uses real silk spun from silkworm cocoons, there were only a few workshops left that still produce such things.

*Note: Lacquer trees are where you can get the resins/oils required to to paint and treat lacquerware into their customary glossy and reddish brown color naturally.

Setting aside the difficulty in obtaining the raw materials, it’s even difficult to find willing young people who are willing to mentor under and inherit the techniques of the older generation. Given all of this, it wasn’t hard to see how dire things have become.

“I really don’t understand what’s so attractive about these ugly and old-fashioned things.” Two young men had walked in, one of whom she knew as he had already bought a few things at the store, while the other one looked unfamiliar to her. It was the latter that spoke up a few moments ago.

Though the man’s voice wasn’t too loud, unfortunately, the exhibition hall had been too quiet. As soon as he said those words, he suddenly felt countless pairs of eyes staring at him. Many of the guests present were masters who’ve devoted their entire lives into the study of their traditional crafts, and they attached great importance to fostering the appreciation of their art to the younger generation. But hearing a fellow, yet younger Chinese person say that these things were ugly and old-fashioned made all their faces turn ugly for real.

Being suddenly glared at by that many people, said person wanted to put Chen Jiang in front of him to hide behind, but Chen Jiang was just a beat faster than him and had already distanced himself from him, as if he was holding up a signboard that said “I don’t know this person”.

Chen Jiang then carefully scanned the exhibition hall to see if he knew anyone, but it was then that he saw a certain woman who he had an ambiguous relationship with Pei Yan.

He sucked in a cold breath. ‘How could I have forgotten that she was also in this industry? Did she perhaps hear what Meng Tao said just now?!’

Though Chen Jiang’s heart was flipping inside him, he was still able to maintain the smile on his face as he walked towards Hua Jin to greet her softly, “Hello. I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“I just got an invite a few days ago. Since this is a rare opportunity, I came to have a look.” Hua Jin tried to keep her voice as soft as possible, “Is he your friend?”

“We just happen to meet at the entrance, so I wouldn’t really call him a friend.” Chen Jiang denied with a smile, “I didn’t expect the exhibits to be so radiant, beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and charming…”

“Shh.” Hua Jin put her index finger to her lips, “Enough.”

She was afraid that if this person continued speaking, he would eventually burst into poetry.

Chen Jiang didn’t dare to continue to speak and simply followed behind Hua Jin as she looked around. When the two had arrived in a far off corner, it was only then that Chen Jiang opened his mouth again, “Isn’t Mr Pei coming to see the exhibition with you?”

Hua Jin looked at Chen Jiang with a subtle expression. ‘I’m only here to take a look, so why do I need to have Pei Yan accompany me?’

When Chen Jiang, who didn’t like seeing any woman sad, saw Hua Jin’s ‘lonely’ expression, he quickly tried to console her, “Don’t think about it too much. Mr Pei must have had something to do, so he couldn’t come with you.”

Hua Jin: “……”

‘No. I’m not the one overthinking things, it is you!’

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The Author has something to say:

Meng Tao: Wait, Chen Jiang, I am your cousin!

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