Chapter 4: Qing Hua Ci Ji

  "...get up early to run, then recite books...can't eat too much for dinner, and...oh yeah, drink a cup of milk every day, and make a milk moisturizing face mask. Hmm, that's about it." Jiang Ruyu muttered to herself as she wrote and drew, and before long, a "Beautiful Girl Cultivation Plan" was born. She picked it up to take a look, making sure there were no omissions. Finding some transparent tape, she slapped it onto the bedside table.

  "OK, from now on I'll follow this plan to rest." Jiang Ruyu hugged her shoulders and nodded in satisfaction, closing her eyes to imagine what she would look like if she lost weight. She had never been thin since her previous life, with a height of 160 cm and a minimum weight of 65 kg...

  "It's raining lightly, let's eat!"

  "Ah, here it comes!"

  Jiang Ruoyu responded with a "yes" and quickly jumped out of bed, put on her slippers, and ran to the kitchen. If Mom's orders weren't carried out immediately, she would be scolded.

  In the kitchen, Li Jing was just putting a big plate of stir-fried potato shreds on the table. Seeing Jiang Ruoyu running over, she glanced at the washbasin, and Jiang Ruoyu immediately understood, hurrying to go wash her hands.

  "Come on, Little Rain, your meal." Jiang Hongwei filled a large bowl with rice and placed it in front of Jiang Ruoyu. "Not enough, fill it up again."

  "Jiang Yu hurriedly shook her head, 'Dad, I don't want to eat that much. You have this bowl of rice, and I'll serve myself another half bowl.' She said as she pushed the rice bowl in front of Jiang Hongwei and went to serve herself another small portion."

  "What's wrong, don't you like tonight's dishes?" Li Jing narrowed her eyes.

  "What? No, mom's stir-fry is the best!" Jiang Ruyu hurriedly smiled flatteringly.

  "You're eating so little!"

  Oh no, the volcano is going to erupt! Jiang Ruyu quickly grabbed a spoon and scooped potato shreds into her rice bowl, "No, it's just that mom's stir-fry is too delicious, I wanted to eat more vegetables, so I ate less rice."

  "Hmm, this is about right." Li Jing nodded in satisfaction and gave Jiang Ruoyu a piece of fried knife fish.

  Jiang Yu weighed her rice bowl and calculated the calories in her mind. Unintentionally, she saw a large plate of shredded potatoes, and while slowly chewing, she narrowed her eyes.

  This plate is very large and thick, it looks very heavy, because now it's full of potato shreds, the decorative pattern on top can't be seen clearly, but Jiang Yu still thinks this plate has value.

  "Mom, where did this plate come from? We didn't have it at home before?"

  "I went to the shed this afternoon to split firewood, and found it under the pile of firewood. This plate looks pretty good, it's just right for holding fish or something, so I brought it back."

  "Oh." Jiang Ruyu lowered her head and peeled rice, but her eyes stared at the plate.

  The more you eat, the less food there is, and the pattern on the plate gradually appears. The pattern is blue with gray, mainly with deformed lotus flowers, the middle picture is very full, and upon closer inspection, there are dozens of layers of various patterns, and the hierarchy is clear, complex but not chaotic.

  She put down her chopsticks and picked up the plate, looking at the bottom of it. There was no mark or signature. The weight, the texture... Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat this time. With over ten years of experience and her keen intuition that had never failed her, she could tell that this was clearly a Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain plate! There was no mark, and with a diameter of almost 40 centimeters, it must have been something from the imperial court of the Yuan dynasty. Her family actually had such a treasure, and they were using it as a makeshift tray under the pile of firewood in the shed? National treasures were lost like this?!

  Jiang Yu put the plate back on the table, and was so delighted that she almost drooled. If their family had such a plate in their previous life, they would have become rich long ago.

  "Bang—"

  "Ah yo!"

  Li Jing slapped a chopstick on Jiang Ruoyu's hand, startling her.

  "Eat well, after eating I'll test your vocabulary by dictation!"

  "Yes, yes, yes, but Mom, our dishes are treasures." Jiang Ruyu said seriously.

  Li Jing squinted at her daughter: "Baby? I think you're daydreaming! Hurry up and eat, don't try to avoid studying vocabulary. Don't think that just because I don't know the words, I won't be able to test you - at least I still recognize pinyin!"

  Jiang Yu wiped the sweat and quickly nodded: "Yes, yes, mom, how dare I avoid testing vocabulary? Others want to ask you to test but can't. But I said this plate is a treasure, it's true, look at this plate, the embryo is thick, the head is big, and look at this pattern, this is absolutely Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain!"

  "Really?" Jiang Hongwei glanced at the large plate in the middle of the table, "There's nothing special about it. It seems like your great-grandmother used to use this plate, and then your grandmother thought it was too big and threw it into the attic."

  "Hey, Dad and Mom, trust me, I've seen it in a book, it can't be wrong. This plate is definitely a treasure. Take it to an expert and ask, it might be worth a lot of money."

  At the sight of Jiang Ruoyu speaking so seriously, Li Jing and Jiang Hongwei exchanged a glance and nodded.

  "Alright, hurry up and eat your meal."

  Jiang Yu saw the look in her mother's eyes and knew she was half-believing, would definitely go to find someone to identify, finally smiled satisfactorily, lowered her head and ate seriously.

  With this dish, if they can sell it for a good price, then their family will easily become a high-income household. Not to mention small businesses, even big ones would be handled with ease, and at that time, Dad and Mom wouldn't lose money, so they won't go work for Wang Yishi, and not going to work means no accidents or death, all of their fate would change.

  Jiang Yu thought about it more and more happily, eating while humming. "Love is a ray of light, so wonderful..."

  The next sentence hadn't even been sung out yet when it was slapped silent by mom with a chopstick.

  "Ai ai ai, at such a young age you know what love is! Hurry up and eat!"

  "Yes!"

  "Look at you, don't be so fierce with the child."

  "A doting mother will spoil her child! What do you know!"

  ……

  Jiang Ruoyu listened to her parents bickering, savoring the potato shreds stir-fried by her mother, looking around at the familiar and warm home, although it was small, the house was old and they had to burn their own fire, but it was especially cozy. She glanced at the Qinghua porcelain plate on the table, Jiang Ruoyu felt that a happy life was unfolding its wings and flying towards her, the future was simply too beautiful.

  That night, Jiang Ruyu was having a beautiful dream, dreaming that she had successfully lost weight and even dreamed that she had gone to college, her family had money, and her mother wore four gold rings on one left hand. When the alarm clock rang in the morning, she didn't want to wake up. But thinking of her "beautiful girl training plan", Jiang Ruyu still gritted her teeth and opened her eyes, washed up, put on her sports suit, brought her English book, and went running with great enthusiasm.

  She ran all the way to People's Park, where she recited words for ten minutes and read a few lessons. Breathing in the crisp autumn air, she felt her mind unusually clear, so she thought about it and reviewed the vocabulary of the next unit again. Because she had learned it before, now facing the phonetic notation to memorize words was not so tiring, twenty minutes later she ran home with English books, feeling very satisfied. She thought that such a morning was indeed fulfilling. If she persisted in the future, not only would her weight loss be successful, but her studies would also make great progress.

  "What's the hurry so early?"

  As soon as she entered the door, Li Jing held a scoop and asked solemnly.

  "Oh, I'm going out for a run and will memorize some vocabulary along the way." Jiang Ruyu put away her English book and washed her face with a basin of water.

  Li Jing looked at her daughter's positive attitude and nodded in satisfaction, continuing to go back to the kitchen to make breakfast.

  After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Jiang Ruyu carefully examined herself in the mirror. She looked much better now than she did at 28, and wasn't as fat either - at most, she could be described as plump and rounded. Her face was round, her eyes were bright and prominent, and her hair was very black, thick, and straight, except that it was a bit messy, without bangs, and pulled back into a big bun with a coarse braid tied around it. Overall, this canvas still had great potential for refinement.

  "Bang! Splash!"

  Just as Jiang Yu was nodding in satisfaction in front of the mirror, a sudden crashing sound came from the kitchen. Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat and she rushed over to see the shattered fragments on the floor, almost crying with despair.

  Li Jing is sweeping the floor with a broom and dustpan, muttering to herself: "Last night your dad washed the bowls, why didn't he put the plates away properly."

  I'm so sad! Jiang Ruyu had an urge to wail, but what could she say at this time? The plate was already broken. Happiness is indeed winged, it flew over and circled around, passing by for a moment, then flew away!

  Just as she saw her mother about to throw out the trash bag through the window, Jiang Yu ran up to stop her.

  "Mom, I'm going downstairs to throw it away." After finishing speaking, she seemed to be afraid that Li Jing would catch up with her and rushed out with the trash bag.

  Next to the trash heap, Jiang Yuru carefully picked up the fragments of the Qinghua porcelain and wrapped them in a plastic bag. There wasn't an entire plate left, but there were several pieces that could be pieced together.

  Jiang Yu let out a weak sigh, it seemed changing one's fate wasn't an easy matter!