Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 912: Chapter 908: Take As Much As You Want

”My Fair Princess” was a nationwide sensation back in the day, and Huo Sining was no exception, having watched it several times. Back then, she cried her heart out over the love story of Xiao Yanzi and Ziwei, but as she outgrew her teenage phase and her worldview returned to normal, she realized the TV series was filled with destroyed values and countless plot holes.

However, there was one thing that the owner of this Yidao Pavilion got right. The most famous period for Khotan jade artifacts was during the Qianlong Era, and this is closely related to Emperor Qianlong himself.

”Boss, you said you got the inspiration from ’My Fair Princess,’ because of that Fragrant Concubine, right?”

Huo Sining suddenly recalled the owner’s words. If there was any character in this TV show connected to Khotan jade, it would be none other than the Fragrant Concubine, who would attempt to escape multiple times due to her natural fragrance.

Indeed, the owner perked up at Huo Sining’s question, nodding repeatedly, ”Yes, after watching the show, I found the Fragrant Concubine fascinating. Thinking she was a fictional character, I looked up the Qing Dynasty history from your Huaxia Country.”

”As a result of my research, I discovered that Emperor Qianlong indeed had a foreign consort, but she was called Concubine Rong, not the Fragrant Concubine. This consort was of Uyghur Ethnicity and the daughter of Alihezhuo, a prominent Uyghur leader of the time.”

”The tale about her body emitting fragrance might just be a legend, but she was indeed a historical figure. Moreover, as the daughter of a Uyghur leader, she brought a considerable dowry when she married the Emperor, which included Khotan jade that she took to the Forbidden City.”

Huo Sining couldn’t help but smile at this. It seemed that the owner had done substantial research and was well-prepared.

When Concubine Rong married Emperor Qianlong, she brought many items with her. Among them were jade artifacts that had thin bodies, exuded a strong exotic style, and were crafted using a unique water-polishing technique, making the jade as thin as a cicada’s wings.

These jade pieces felt light and delicate, reminiscent of floating clouds. Emperor Qianlong was amazed when he saw them and even commented, ”The workmanship of the Western jade is unparalleled, polished thin as paper.”

Because both Emperor Qianlong and Concubine Rong cherished this jade, it soon became fashionable in the palace. With demand, there came suppliers. Upon learning that the Great Qing Country’s Emperor favored Khotan jade, the regions of Kashmir, Afghanistan, and western Pakistan responded swiftly, tributing a large number of jade artifacts. From then on, Khotan jade started to enter the heartland and became popular during the Qianlong Era.

The supply-demand relationship adjusted the market, but because Khotan jade was genuinely practical, bringing finished jade products from Khotan could no longer meet market demand. The jade-obsessed Emperor Qianlong highly praised them, requesting large quantities and ordering the Qing Palace Manufacture Department to replicate them, thereby creating the second type of Khotan jade: the court craftsmen imitating the genuine Khotan jade to fabricate similar artifacts.

This type of jade, which has slight differences from authentic Khotan jade, was historically known as ”Western-style work.”

Nevertheless, both genuine Khotan jade and Western-style works belong to the authentic Khotan jade category and are genuinely old artifacts.

However, the Western-style Khotan jade, despite being exquisitely crafted, was very labor-intensive and consumed a lot of jade, and was also easily damaged in use. Therefore, production ceased by the late Qianlong period, and not many survive today, making them extremely precious.

Up to now, Khotan jade is rarely seen on the market, and any pieces that appear, especially as complete sets, are treasures of immeasurable value.

”The most typical feature of Khotan jade is its thinness. This jade crafting employs water-polishing technology, enabling the body to be ground down to an almost transparent thinness. This method is entirely different from the jade carving techniques practiced in Huaxia Country at the time, where jade carvers mainly focused on quality and appearance and demanded high standards for jade texture and carving, rarely carving jade so thin.”

Hearing Huo Sining’s words, the Yidao Pavilion owner beamed with pride, ”Yes, I love this set of jade tea wares because they are very thin and look incredibly delicate and beautiful. I’ve never seen such thin jadeware before. It looks just like glass. I fell in love with it at first sight.”

The owner pointed to the set of jade wares on the museum shelf in front, looking quite proud and smug.

However, Huo Sining merely shook her head lightly. She only pointed out the characteristics of Khotan jade but did not confirm that this set of tea wares was indeed Khotan jade.

Huo Sining couldn’t help but sigh quietly; seeing a Dongyang person so fond of Huaxia culture, she didn’t want to shatter his illusions. But this tea set before her—she could see discrepancies from genuine Khotan jade without even handling it.

”Boss, where did you acquire this tea set? How much did it cost you?”

Instead of directly pointing out the issues with the tea set, Huo Sining took a different approach, asking about its origin and price.

The owner, thinking Huo Sining wanted to buy it, quickly explained, ”I purchased it from a friend who specializes in selling Huaxia antiques. It cost me ten million. Miss, are you interested? But I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. I am very fond of this set of jade tea wares, having collected them for nearly two years with plans to pass them down to my descendants, so it is not for sale. I’m truly sorry!”

The owner’s candid refusal to sell with such forthrightness made Huo Sining feel amused and slightly helpless.

The owner said he paid ten million for this tea set, which was not in RMB but in yen.

Yen has little value, and Huo Sining did a quick calculation in her mind: ten million yen is approximately worth fifty thousand RMB. Buying a seven-piece Khotan tea set for fifty thousand is ridiculously cheap—if it’s genuine, the seller must have had a lapse of judgment.

Huo Sining had never personally encountered genuine Khotan jade, but she remembered clearly that back in 2004, Sotheby’s Hong Kong auctioned a Khotan ”Western Kun Jade” Buddhist-scripture script basin, with estimates of five to seven million Hong Kong dollars, ultimately sold for 9.2464 million Hong Kong dollars, which translates to roughly 7.5 million RMB.

In 2004, an individual jade wash sold for over seven million, not to mention that several years had passed since then, and the item in the owner’s hands wasn’t a single jade piece but a complete tea set, including one teapot and six teacups, all intact without damages.

Such an authentic jade set would at least be worth tens of millions. If fifty thousand could acquire it, she’d buy as many as possible!