The other was "A Night Visit to Dai in the Snow" by the young jade carver Philip Garrett. He too had chosen a piece of ice-grade jadeite from Muna, brimming with white cotton clusters, with a base so pure it nearly reached glass-grade. "Wang Zian's snowy night visit to Dai" is a famous story from the Southern and Northern Dynasties: Wang Zian, son of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi, suddenly missed his dear friend Dai Kui on a snowy night and set out to visit him. He traveled through mountains and snow to reach his friend's door—only to turn around and go home. When asked why, he said, "I came in high spirits, and my spirits faded—I returned." What a free and natural state of mind! Looking at this piece, you too could find that inner tranquility. The pristine glass-grade jadeite was covered in falling snow, with only a single figure in a rain hat and cloak pressing forward through the storm—seemingly free of worldly cares and troubles.
The award ceremony host was curious and asked young Garrett and young Wells as they came onstage: "Did the two of you create these works together?"
Young Garrett and young Wells exchanged a smile.
Young Wells said, "I have a friend who has a lot of this kind of material but didn't know how to carve it. I spent half a year figuring it out, and this is my answer."
Young Garrett smiled slightly and said, "That friend is me. I also told Dongsheng that I went home to think about how to carve this material. And this is my answer. Who would have thought—great minds think alike!"
The beauty of "A Night Visit to Dai in the Snow" didn't match that of "Searching for a Friend in the Snow," but its artistic conception reached even higher. When both pieces debuted at the award exhibition, the judges couldn't bear to part with either one and truly couldn't decide which was superior. In the end, both received gold awards. From that point on, this Muna ice-grade jadeite with white cotton specks became famous—and even the cotton specks earned a name: "snowflake cotton." With their stash of Muna ice-grade snowflake cotton, young Garrett and young Wells made a fortune.
---
Uncle Harvey finished the story, and I sat in silence for a long time.
Gold rushes, gambling on jade, fortunes lost. Jade carving, reinvention, miracles created. There was so much to absorb.
Now young Garrett had a disciple like Uncle Harvey, and I was studying in Master Wells's workshop. I hadn't realized that our mentors shared such a bond.
Uncle Harvey finished his beer and said to me, "Although I'm a few years older than you, my teacher and Master Wells are of the same generation. So strictly speaking, you and I are peers."
I nodded.
Uncle Harvey continued, "Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"
"Why?"
"I want to recreate the magic of turning dross into gold. I'm telling you because I think you have the ability to do it."
"Seriously? Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, Uncle Harvey! You mean you want to do a batch of snowflake cotton?"
"No. Snowflake cotton prices have already been driven up. What I want to work with is a new kind of jadeite material—it doesn't look great, but it's unique, with character. I want to explore multiple creative possibilities on a new material."
"What does it look like?"
Uncle Harvey pulled out his phone and showed me a video he'd filmed. "Take a look first. I'll show you the real thing when we get back to Ruili—it's sitting under my sink."
I watched his phone. The material was black and white. Well, not exactly black and white—it was more like a white glutinous-grade base. The texture only reached glutinous grade, which wasn't considered high, but it was extremely fine. There's a term called "fine glutinous," which means after finishing, it would likely look quite beautiful. But within this white glutinous base, there were irregular patches of black—varying in size, scattered throughout.
Nature's creations are truly marvelous. How could jadeite like this exist—black and white intermingled? It looked like ink splashed across a sheet of paper, the ink blooming and spreading. Or like white walls in a humid southern climate, speckled with mold. And yet, to call it ugly would be wrong—it had a free, expressive, very Chinese kind of beauty.
"This is really interesting! Count me in on something like this."
"Of course I'm counting you in—that's why I'm showing you."
"This material shouldn't be expensive, right?"
"It wasn't expensive when I bought it—kilogram-grade pricing, basically. But I think we can make it beautiful, make it valuable, make it trendy." Uncle Harvey said, "I've found ten young jade carvers. We'll brainstorm together, figure out the creative direction. Whoever's design gets chosen gets forty percent of the profit, and the rest is split among everyone else."
"We can do volume? Uncle Harvey, this piece you're showing me is only a few dozen *jin*."
"Ha ha, right—this one's a little over sixty *jin*," Uncle Harvey laughed loudly. "But I've got nearly a ton in my warehouse! We could produce tens of thousands of pieces, no problem. Zach, what do you say? In or out?"
"Ha ha, absolutely in!"
"Great! Tomorrow we'll explore the old town, and in a few days when we're back, we'll have a proper meeting." Uncle Harvey raised his glass, and I raised mine to meet it. We both hesitated, then clinked our glasses on the table and looked at each other with a smile. Then we drained them.
Myanmar Beer really is good.
During those days in Tengchong, I kept thinking: my real vocation as a jade carver was finally coming back. I was a jade carver who made his way through skill and aesthetics. But I shouldn't speak too soon. Man proposes, heaven disposes. After returning to Ruili, my jade-carving path would once again be blocked by the stumbling stone of "jade gambling."