Pipi had never been to C City Museum before even though she grew up in this city since she was young and passed by it every day when she went to school. She also didn’t know what style of design it was. The whole museum looked like a coffin, with a long and narrow squareness and lifeless silver gray color. The newspaper said that the museum had been renovated several times, and the decoration and facilities inside were extremely sophisticated, making it the main window to the outside world and cultural symbol of C City.
However, when she was little, Pipi’s parents preferred to take her to the park than to the museum. They also scared her by saying that there was nothing in the museum, only several ancient coffins. Later, they confessed that the main reason for not going to the museum was that the restroom was bad. They were not accustomed to seated toilets.
What they said was pretty accurate.
C City Museum is proud of its collection of Warring States tombs and ancient corpses of the Han Dynasty. In addition, there is an abundance of bronze and jade.
The sky was already completely dark. The snow fell silently. Pipi got out of the car, mercilessly wrapped her scarf one more time around her neck, and looked at her watch which read eight o’clock. Feng Xinhua was waiting for her at the door of the security guard room. Entering the front doors, she was faced with warm air. Looking at the thermometer on the side, it said twenty-six degrees. Pipi felt hot and quickly took off her scarf and coat.
Don’t know whether it was to generate income or to enliven the local culture, but the museum held many children’s classes in the evening: art class, pottery class, calligraphy class, recitation class, Go class, etc. They had all kinds of administrative levels. The children came in and out from another door, laughing and joking. People coming and going plus parents waiting on the side, it was very lively.
Crossing this door was the administrative and reservoir areas of the museum. The long corridor was quiet, yellow lighting spilled across the floor, and the patter of footsteps echoed.
On the way, Feng Xinhua explained, “We are heading to the library area of the museum. I am a security guard. I hope that you will guarantee that you will not touch the things in the museum.” He pointed to a Buddha statue placed on the side of the path, “Don’t look at how this isn’t in the exhibition hall. This item is from the Song Dynasty.”
It was a broken head, the nose already gone. Suddenly placed on a mahogany bracket, it had the rarely seen vicissitudes of life.
“The Red Guards* did a lot of bad things in those days.” Feng Xinhua said.
*T/N: I think he means the destroying of religious artifacts
There were several unlocked office doors in the corridor, and bright lights came from inside of them. Feng Xinhua’s words were true. There really were researchers working at night.
After a while, Feng Xinhua suddenly stopped and said, “I have already inquired for you. Recently, A Provincial Museum* exchanged with us a collection of jades from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Mr. Helan has been doing research in the storeroom this entire week. We are almost at the storeroom. Have you thought about what to say to him after you go in?”
*T/N: Like how the city they live in is called C City, the province is called A Province
“En… I’m just going to say that I am your cousin, am very interested in ancient jade, and would like to ask him a few questions about ancient jade. Is that okay?”
“En, this idea is not bad.”
Pipi’s next plan was to invite Helan Jingting to give a lecture on ancient jade knowledge in the name of the student council of the Chinese Department of T Lake University. Because the museum has close collaboration relations with the local cultural and educational departments, it generally does not turn down requests from the school. After the lecture, she will take the opportunity to tell Helan Jingting that the school newspaper wants to do a simple interview. The circulation of the school newspaper is only a few hundred copies, so she believes that Helan Jingting will not mind. As for whether this interview will be ‘carelessly’ reprinted in other newspapers, it is hard to say.
After several cumbersome security checks, Feng Xinhua entered the storeroom with Pipi.
Separated by a row of huge storage cabinets, he pointed to a figure not far away and whispered, “He’s right there, go on.”
Don’t know why, Pipi suddenly got a little nervous. She didn’t move right away but instead hid behind the cabinets and observed for a bit.
Looking from the back, Helan Jingting was a young man. It was so cold outside, but he was only wearing a thin linen shirt, revealing fair skin. His build was a little thin, but not frail. He was cleaner than any man Pipi had ever seen, as spotless as a piece of suet white jade that had been smoothed down by someone over the course of many years.
The storeroom consisted of a group of cabinets. The space was large, and there was a chunk of empty space in the center with an arrangement of antique square tables and round-back armchairs. All around were groups of sofas with elegant patterns and exquisite workmanship. Helan Jingting sat in a chair by the window, pencil in hand, facing a carved jade cup on the mahogany tea table, gently outlining it in a sketchbook. In addition to the jade cup, the tea table also had a small magnifying glass and a cigar-sized flashlight spotlight.
Suddenly, Pipi smelled the smell of the remote mountain wood fern from this morning. She was in a daze when she realized Helan Jingting’s back suddenly turned frigid. He quickly took out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put it over his eyes, turned around, and looked at Pipi.
Not waiting for him to speak, Pipi quickly said, “Good evening, Mr. Helan. Today’s snow is really a lot! Isn’t it? It’s probably the most snow in the past hundred years! I never expected to see you here. I forgot to introduce myself. I am a student who isn’t worth mentioning, your admirer, and very fascinated with ancient jade.”
Her words were said too quickly, Pipi only felt her lips and tongue were dry, and she couldn’t help but look at Helan Jingting’s reaction.
Helan Jingting had no reaction.
Guan Pipi secretly thought that if the man took off his sunglasses he would definitely be good looking. Definitely not as strange and secretive as he was now, with the corner of his mouth slightly hooked, half sarcastic, half mocking.
She thought that it was difficult to link this person to this year’s ‘Top Ten Cultural News’. At least from an interviewer’s point of view, the degree of difficulty rises by how much, not to mention whether this person was worth interviewing or not.
But Pipi’s dream can’t be crushed that quickly!
She turned around and leaned over to look at the jade cup, “Ah! This jade cup is really exquisite! Is it from the Han Dynasty? Looking at this design, it’s cloud-and-thunder pattern right? Jade cups with this type of handle are hard to come by! At first glance, it looks like an Irish beer cup. Mr. Helan, can I ask you a few questions? It’s a bit late now, it’s not very troubling right? Can you explain to me in detail what is xinshan jade, what is laoshan jade? Also, how to make sure a piece of jade is an antique rather than a fake? Oh— your magnifying glass is really compact, how many times can it magnify? Can it contract?”
Although it was a lively opening remark, Pipi was frightened by her poor acting skills, a little doubtful whether or not she could really be a good journalist.
Helan Jingting kept silent for a while, and only after some time passed did he slowly ask, “You are—”
“I am Guan Pipi, a T Lake University graduate.” She shook his hand enthusiastically, “Glad to meet you, please look after me!”
Just as their hands were shaking, Guan Pipi suddenly felt nauseous. Seeing a spittoon next to him, she vomited in the spittoon. Vomiting while apologizing, “Sorry, I think I ate something bad…”
Helan Jingting silently watched her finish vomiting. Without demur, he suddenly pulled her out of the storeroom at a quick pace, pulling her all the way to his office.
Then he gave her a cup of water.
“…Recently my stomach has been a bit uncomfortable.” Guan Pipi’s face was white from vomiting. In order to complete the task, she forced a smile at Helan Jingting.
“Is it somewhat better now?” He did not laugh, remaining unmoved.
“Better, somewhat better.”
“How much pay do you make in a year?”
“Eh, pay?”
“We have to talk about the issue of compensation.”
“Compensation?” Guan Pipi was baffled, “What compensation?”
“Did you throw up just now?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you throw up?”
“In a spittoon.”
“One, that isn’t a spittoon. Two, even if it is a spittoon, it’s a Shang Dynasty spittoon.” Helan Jingting smiled bitterly, “Do you know the corrosive power of a human’s gastric juice on bronze?”
“Oh…” Pipi got a cold sweat. But she still felt nauseous, so she lowered her head again and looked around for a spittoon.
Sure enough, she found another one on the floor beside the table and was about to vomit when she saw the spittoon was engraved, base glittering, both ends also engraved with two dragons, seeming to be pure gold. She swallowed the nauseating things back down again, “…Excuse me, which dynasty is this spittoon from?”
“Tang Dynasty.”
“This… this one then?” She pointed to a celadon vase.
“Yuan Dynasty.”
Then she saw a big bowl on the desk, probably for washing calligraphy brushes, simple in form, estimated to be inexpensive, and held it in both hands. Unexpectedly, within a second, the bowl was snatched back by Helan Jingting, “Don’t touch this, this is also Tang Dynasty.”
Pipi was really anxious, stomping her feet and disregarding the situation to shout at him, “Mr. Helan! I need to throw up! You have to find something to let me throw up in!”
Helan Jingting looked at her with a shadow of a smile, saying, “Why don’t you directly throw up on the ground?”