Contrary to his expectations, the Mute House owner looked very young. He wore an exquisitely embroidered long robe and had a pair of slender phoenix eyes with an indifferent expression. After quietly listening to Lu Zigang explain his purpose, the boss nodded faintly and led him to the back courtyard to arrange a side room for him.

Lu Zigang settled into the antique shop like this. He was naturally a person of few words, and the boss was even more silent. The antique shop didn’t see even a few customers coming and going in a day. This gloomy antique shop truly lived up to the name “Mute House.” Lu Zigang wasn’t initially accustomed to such an atmosphere, but as days passed, he gradually calmed his heart. At first when he had free time he would still run to the restaurant next door, several times almost asking the little girl’s name, but each time the words reached his lips, for some reason he just couldn’t ask. Not long after, the little girl left for the capital with her family. This parting would probably last a lifetime.

In Lu Zigang’s heart, encountering that bright, laughing little girl was the most beautiful moment of his life. But this was merely a stone thrown into a lake—though it created ripples, the lake would eventually return to calm with time’s passage.

Heaven allowing him to meet her was already the best thing that had happened to him since birth. After the best encounter comes parting—fate truly loves to toy with people. From that day on, Lu Zigang rarely left the Mute House, becoming increasingly silent and withdrawn.

Lu Zigang’s daily work at the Mute House was simple—just cleaning the shop and dusting the displayed items. The remaining time he could spend contemplating the jade objects, even holding them freely in his hands.

Everything in this antique shop was absolutely precious.

Yet however valuable the shop’s contents, they were still far inferior to that raw jade stone hanging around the little girl’s neck. The boss could casually give away such precious things? Lu Zigang knew it wasn’t good to speculate about others, but having stayed long enough, he also knew this antique shop contained all sorts of strange and unusual items.

For example, the candle with a missing piece in the west wing room burned endlessly; for example, the King of Yue sword in the brocade box under the counter occasionally emitted humming sword sounds; for example, the red dragon on the boss’s body was lifelike… Thinking these thoughts, Lu Zigang couldn’t help but let his gaze fall on the boss reading behind the counter. The boss wore ancient Han-style clothing, yet surprisingly there was no sense of incongruity—as if he had merged with this antique shop. The dragon head on his sleeves fluttered and swam with his page-turning movements, like a living creature.

The boss closed the book in his hands, met Lu Zigang’s eyes, and smiled faintly: “Zigang, I heard you hope to become a jade carver in the future?”

Lu Zigang immediately straightened up and respectfully answered yes.

The boss narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and stood up: “Wait a moment.”

Lu Zigang watched the boss go upstairs with confusion. He knew the Mute House was actually quite large—what was displayed in the first-floor shop was only a small portion. Though he could move around freely, his range was limited to the first floor. He had never been upstairs. Before long, he heard footsteps returning as the boss came down carrying a dust-covered wooden box. Seeing this, Lu Zigang wrung out a cloth from the water basin and deftly handed it over.

The boss casually wiped the wooden box, then opened it toward Lu Zigang: “This is the Kunwu knife. I’ll give it to you.”

A small knife lay quietly in the wooden box, its pressing cold radiance almost stopping his breath. This knife was entirely black, only seven inches long, with flowing lines, smooth and lustrous blade surface, and sharp, straight edge—so exquisite it seemed almost like a work of art. Most remarkably, this knife was made of some unknown material—the blade and handle were naturally formed as one piece, entirely black, with strange wave-like patterns on the blade.

“I only have the Wu knife here for jade carving. I don’t know where the Kun knife for cutting jade has ended up.” The boss understood Lu Zigang’s confusion and explained coolly, picking up the Wu knife to show him.

Lu Zigang indeed saw a complex seal script character at the bottom of the handle. Though he didn’t know many characters, he knew this should be the character “Wu.”

“The ‘Records of Ten Continents in the Sea: Phoenix and Qilin Continent’ in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ states: In ancient times during King Mu of Zhou’s reign, the Western Hu presented a Kunwu jade-cutting knife that could cut jade like mud.” The boss handed the Wu knife to Lu Zigang. “Since you aspire to become a jade carver, take this Wu knife and use it.”

Lu Zigang blankly accepted the Wu knife. It felt heavy in his hand, ice-cold and bone-piercing, unlike ordinary iron blades—more like stone. He fondled the blade lovingly, feeling the cold blade gradually warm under his body temperature, and couldn’t help asking: “This isn’t made of iron, is it?”

The boss was satisfied with Lu Zigang’s undisguised affection. In his view, this was much better than the Wu knife gathering dust in darkness. “Have you heard the saying, ‘Stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade’? The Kunwu knife is made from stones of other mountains.”

“Stones from other mountains?” Lu Zigang touched the blade with his finger. Having watched his uncle carve jade since childhood, in trade terminology, jade-making wasn’t called carving jade but treating jade, or polishing jade, grinding jade. Jade-working tools weren’t knives but rather involved gradually grinding bit by bit with jade sand mixed with water, using round discs or wheels. If this knife could truly cut jade like mud, it would be a formidable weapon indeed.

“I also have some jade materials here. Take them to practice well.” The boss brought out another box. With his movement, the box jingled crisply—clearly containing fine raw jade stones.

Lu Zigang pressed his lips together, gripping the Wu knife that had warmed to match his body temperature, and spoke with difficulty: “Boss, I…” Though he suspected the boss sometimes casually gave away precious items, when truly facing this moment, Lu Zigang found it hard to accept. In his years of growing up, he had learned equivalent exchange—how could anyone in this world be good to another for no reason?

The boss seemed to see through Lu Zigang’s hidden worries and chuckled: “Don’t think I’m giving you these to practice for free. I want you to become the world’s best jade carver—a master craftsman—to polish a piece of jade for me.”

Lu Zigang was stunned for a moment, then nodded firmly: “Good, I will work hard!”

The boss’s smile faded as he seriously instructed: “Use this Wu knife well. Be careful when using it—don’t let the Wu knife touch human blood, and don’t use this knife to kill.”

Lu Zigang nodded heavily again.

In the following days, Lu Zigang buried himself in studying jade carving techniques. This wasn’t easy—as the saying goes, gold has a price but beautiful jade is priceless. Every piece of jade has unique patterns, and one careless stroke could ruin the entire piece.

Lu Zigang wasn’t without failures. Whenever he felt disheartened, he would always remember the scene of the little girl making fried rice for him the first time.

Though it was just a small thing, he simply couldn’t forget it.

The boss said he wanted him to carve a piece of jade for him. That little girl also had a peerless beautiful jade around her neck. When his skills were honed to satisfy the boss, perhaps… if he met that little girl again, could he also carve a jade piece for her?

If fate could let them meet again, he would definitely… definitely…

He gripped the Wu knife tighter and focused again on honing his craft.

Late at night, the boss carried a lamp past the back courtyard and saw Lu Zigang’s room still lit. Looking inside, though the room’s lamplight was dim, Lu Zigang was completely absorbed, bent over his desk, carefully carving the features of a human figure stroke by stroke. Jade materials were scattered around the room, along with many unfinished works.

Jade pots, jade cups, jade ornaments—though half-finished, they were already exquisitely masterful. The horses he carved seemed ready to gallop forward; the fish he carved seemed they would swim gracefully upon touching water; the flowers he carved seemed to emit enticing fragrance if one approached…

The boss entered Lu Zigang’s room and added some lamp oil. The room brightened again, yet Lu Zigang still seemed unaware of anything, as if his entire soul was devoted to the jade carving in his hands.

The boss looked at the somewhat familiar face of the figure and quietly closed the door as he left.

Heh, he ultimately hadn’t misjudged… This youth called Lu Zigang would someday create the finest work for him.

Ten Years Later, Imperial Palace of the Capital

Xia Zelan smoothed her hair and followed Eunuch Li through the back door of the Imperial Workshop. As a member of the Imperial Food Service, she often visited the Imperial Workshop’s confectionery kitchen, but she wasn’t here solely for that purpose today.

The Imperial Workshop was outside Xihua Gate, the most extensive inner palace bureau among the Ming Dynasty’s Four Departments, Eight Bureaus, and Twelve Supervisates. The Imperial Workshop and her Imperial Food Service were the most profitable and largest. The “Shang” in Imperial Food Service meant reverence, and “Shan” meant meals. The Imperial Food Service managed imperial meals, palace food, offerings for Fengxian Hall, and dining for all major inner palace bureaus. Xia Zelan wasn’t anyone important in the Imperial Food Service—just a cook who had earned her position with a few family recipes.

As for the Imperial Workshop, it was the inner palace bureau responsible for manufacturing items exclusively for the emperor. Though it served only the emperor, everything in the palace—from furniture and dragon beds to brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones—wasn’t it all for the emperor’s exclusive use? Imperial seals had to be manufactured by the Imperial Workshop, and even the boxes containing the seals had to be complete sets without repetition. The Imperial Workshop covered vast grounds: the eastern side had outer and main storehouses, the west side had flower rooms, the south had ice cellars, and further in the center was the main hall. Left and right were four major workshops: Buddhist works, lamp works, jade grinding works, and wood lacquer works. The remaining small workshops were distributed throughout—too numerous to believe.

Every time Xia Zelan came to the Imperial Workshop, she had to walk for a long time. Eunuch Li beside her smiled apologetically: “Miss Xia, you’ve helped me with such a great favor this time—I’m truly grateful beyond words!”

Xia Zelan smiled sweetly: “Eunuch Li is too kind. Taking money to do work—we settle accounts clearly.” Though the Imperial Food Service also handled meals for inner palace bureaus, they didn’t send food daily from the Imperial Food Service. Instead, people were sent directly, and each inner palace bureau had its own meals on a rotating basis. But these rotating staff made the same recipes daily. If someone wanted special meals, they had to go to outside restaurants or privately contact Imperial Food Service to hire individual cooks like them.

Eunuch Li smiled even more brilliantly. He liked Xia Zelan’s reasonable nature—it saved future complications and troubles.

“But Eunuch Li, why did you think to hire me this time?” Xia Zelan wondered. In the Imperial Food Service, she wasn’t particularly outstanding—at best just someone making do with odd jobs.

Eunuch Li sighed: “We invited a jade carver from Suzhou. Our supervisor wanted to hold a welcome banquet and thought to find a cook who could make his hometown dishes. Miss Xia doesn’t need to make much—just for three or four people, six dishes and one soup will suffice. We’ve already prepared all the ingredients.”

Xia Zelan agreed. Six dishes and one soup sounded simple, but just deciding what to cook required considerable thought. Fortunately it was dinner—she could still manage. She was always making hometown dishes, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Seeing Eunuch Li’s nervous expression, she couldn’t help laughing: “You’re lucky you hired me. If you’d hired someone else, they might not have been able to make such a complete spread.”

Only then did Eunuch Li relax, not finding Xia Zelan’s words exaggerated at all. There were few all-around talents in the Imperial Food Service. The Food Bureau alone was subdivided into over ten departments: Soup Bureau, Meat Bureau, Vegetable Bureau, Pastry Bureau, Dried Dishes Bureau, plus wine-making, vinegar-brewing, sauce-making and other supporting bureaus. Many palace officials and cooks could only make one type of dish. The Miss Xia he had hired was said to have inherited a restaurant before entering the palace—preparing a table of Suzhou dishes shouldn’t be a problem.

Relieved, Eunuch Li naturally became more talkative. Chatting this way, they walked faster. It was currently morning when craftsmen entered the palace for duty, so the Imperial Workshop was becoming busier. Eunuch Li clearly had good connections and status—craftsmen and eunuchs frequently greeted him.

Xia Zelan was getting old among palace women. If her parents hadn’t died of illness, she should have married long ago. But using the excuse of having no parents as household heads to arrange her marriage, she lived quite comfortably alone.

The closer they got to the jade grinding workshop, the more aloof the craftsmen they encountered became. Sometimes when Eunuch Li took the initiative to greet them, they ignored him. More often, they treated both of them as invisible.

Eunuch Li smiled bitterly: “Miss Xia, don’t mind them. Jade carvers are just like this. If there’s any offense, I apologize on their behalf.”

Xia Zelan raised her eyebrows in surprise: “What? Such arrogance?”

She knew skilled people often thought highly of themselves, but this was the imperial palace, gathering the world’s most talented people. It was hard to say whose skills were superior. Moreover, she always felt jade carvers shouldn’t have such temperaments—they should be gentler… more honest…

Eunuch Li sighed and explained: “Miss Xia, you don’t know. The Imperial Food Service has very detailed divisions. It’s rare for two people to complete the same dish, right?”

Xia Zelan nodded. There were countless dishes, and many people handled several types. Eunuch Li continued: “Your Imperial Food Service must strictly follow recipes when cooking. Adding even one extra ingredient requires long deliberation, fearing adverse effects on the imperial body. So actually who cooks isn’t the point—with recipes, anyone could be substituted. But the Imperial Workshop is different. Though beds, cabinets, dining tables, and lamps for various palaces all have regulations, craftsmen can still largely express themselves freely. The jade grinding workshop is even more so. Setting aside materials, consider that finished jade pieces are placed on tables for use and handling—how can they be the same as chairs and tables for sitting and lying?”

Hearing this, Xia Zelan understood immediately. If it were her, she wouldn’t pay much attention to what was special about tables and chairs, but an exquisite jade piece was different. No two jade materials were exactly alike, and with carving work it became even more remarkable. Jade carvers with superb skills could create truly unique pieces in the world. Food could be eaten repeatedly until one tired of it, but jade pieces became more delicate and spiritual with handling, capable of lasting through the ages.

After understanding this, Xia Zelan felt a trace of admiration and thought those jade carvers had good reason for their arrogance. She couldn’t help touching the raw jade stone under her chest clothing. She vaguely remembered someone once saying they wanted to become a jade carver, but the years were too distant—recalling only brought scattered images without clear memory.