Doted By The Regent King-Chapter 496 Gentle Mother Embracing Her Child

Lou Wanyuan did indeed love his deceased wife, and wanted to commemorate her. Carving her visage into that of Guanyin would naturally be pure and compassionate, but as a husband’s heart, there might be a little bit of awkwardness in there.

She believed that Lou Wanyuan would prefer a maid over Guanyin.

Wen Congrui, however, pondered over her words in detail. This was an estimation of human psychology, and he couldn’t tell that this girl, who seemed carefree and indifferent, possessed such delicate thoughts.

While they spoke, the judges had already recorded their scores on paper, then unveiled the second piece.

It was a sculpture of a maid holding a fan, carved from the same Mutton Fat White Jade. Like the painting, everything from the hair adornments and cloth patterns to the butterflies on the circular fan had been carved out, vividly life-like. He didn’t even know what techniques were used.

Wufu propped her chin up in admiration, noticing a flash of appreciation in the eyes of the master with the surname Gong. It seemed he was quite fond of this particular sculpture of the maid.

The judging appeared swift but was actually very detailed; they refrained from communicating with each other to avoid influencing each other’s impressions and hence the scores.

As she went along, Wufu felt a touch of amusement—there were four sculptures of Guanyin and three sculptures of maids, each unique in its own right. But, according to her own perceptive ability, or perhaps due to some preconceived notions, Yu Zhen’s piece was the most exquisite.

It just goes to show, he was really lucky. Among so many sculptures of Guanyin, his appeared first, earning high impression points.

Fortunately, she hadn’t been foolish enough to try carving Guanyin herself. Otherwise, she would have been utterly decimated.

"The Baby-Hugging Picture."

The eighth piece was revealed by the removal of the silk cloth, showing the sculpture and its nameplate.

"Here it comes." People from Hundred Treasures Silver Building were excited, their eyes wide open to see the piece, because everyone knew it was Wufu’s work.

Whether they were artisans or proprietors of Hundred Treasures Silver Building, or even the onlookers, everyone was curious why Wufu had entered the competition. Given her young age and shallow experience, she should have been easily defeated, yet it was she who participated.

Wufu still rested her cheek in her hand, clicking her tongue twice. The excited demeanor of her people made it difficult for others not to realize that the work was theirs.

But, so be it if they knew.

The piece used Green Jadeite as the material and was very cleverly designed. The whole piece was shaped into a round, polished until smooth and translucent.

In the jade, a woman sat on an intricately carved step-bed, leaning against a welcoming pillow behind her, with her hair down, wearing an open robe, and a blanket over her legs. In her arms was a swaddled baby, from which a tiny infant’s face peeked out. The woman had a gentle facial expression, her mouth slightly curled, gazing at the baby with a reluctant and tender look.

The whole Baby-Hugging Picture was extraordinarily three-dimensional, as if a scene had been vividly captured in time, and looking at the woman, it was as though through the jade, you could see her alive, looking at her child with reluctance.

Relief carving, this piece was carved by the technique of relief carving. And the woman’s visage, was that not Madam Gu? Although it wasn’t completely identical to her portrait, the charm made one feel that this was the real Madam Gu.

"This carving technique..." Wen Jian couldn’t help but stand up, wishing he could go up to observe closely, but Shopkeeper Lin firmly grasped him and audaciously pushed him back into his seat.

Clang.

When Lou Wanyuan saw that relief carving, his eyes widened, and the magnifying glass fell from his hand, his eyes reddening in an instant.