Chapter 26.1: Mixing Ink and a Forged Contract
Chief Wu was torn.
His apprentice had only reported to the Municipal Bureau yesterday. If he rushed over today, outsiders would think Jiang Xia was still tied to his apron strings—and that he was fussing over her like an overprotective mother.
But if he didn’t go, he couldn’t put his mind at ease.
Heaven knew what Jiang Xia might get up to at the Municipal Bureau.
Logically, it was only her second day. She had just arrived, so she probably wouldn’t cause any trouble.
But the way she’d agreed so readily yesterday made Chief Wu even more uneasy.
A quiet child is definitely up to no good.
Maybe… I should go take a look. If she really lets something slip… I-I can at least help smooth things over.
Having made up his mind, Chief Wu gathered several case files that were due to be delivered to the Municipal Bureau, stuffed them into his bag, and rode his bicycle there.
He was delivering case files.
Not checking up on his apprentice.
…
Municipal Bureau, Technical Division Office.
Jiang Xia was organizing the bottles of printing ink on her desk.
Just as Lu Yixing had said, the Technical Division really wasn’t busy.
How unbusy was it?
While the First and Second Investigation Squads were running themselves ragged, Photographer Zhao could sit comfortably in the office, sipping tea and reading the newspaper.
Teacher Li, the trace evidence examiner, wasn’t much different. He just wasn’t quite so blatant about it, hiding his leisure behind a few documents.
Among all this idleness, however, two people were obvious exceptions: Forensic Examiner Sun and his apprentice, Yang Lihua.
Perhaps because he’d made too many mistakes during autopsies, Sun was carrying a chip on his shoulder. Every day, he buried himself in forensic medicine, desperately cramming, with no time whatsoever to slack off.
And if the master was working that hard, how could his apprentice possibly escape?
So even at noon, when everyone else was trying to squeeze in a nap, Yang Lihua was still forced to memorize an anatomy textbook.
“The proximal end of the femur articulates with the hip bone to form the hip joint. Its distal end, together with the tibia and patella, forms the knee joint. Along the middle of the femoral shaft runs the linea aspera…”
The longer Yang Lihua recited from the book, the more unfocused his eyes became. He looked utterly drained of the will to live, as if he were only moments away from bursting into tears.
“So tragic. This is seriously tragic.”
Huang Xueling expertly stuffed two balls of cotton into her ears and said with lingering relief,
“Thank goodness I never planned to study medicine. Otherwise I’d have to suffer like this every single day.”
“‘Convince someone to study medicine, and heaven will strike you with lightning’—that’s what they say.”
Carrying a cardboard box in her arms, Jiang Xia headed for the door.
She also felt sorry for Yang Lihua, but there was no helping it. A forensic examiner was still a doctor. If you wanted to become truly competent, you had to immerse yourself in an ocean of medical knowledge and absorb as much as possible.
Of course, whether you were swimming through that ocean or on the verge of drowning in it… was another matter entirely.
“Xueling, could you get the door for me?”
“Sure thing.”
Huang Xueling responded cheerfully. Taking three quick strides to the doorway, she pulled the door open and peeked curiously into the cardboard box.
“That’s a lot of ink. What are you planning to do with it?”
As Jiang Xia walked out, she replied, “One of the veteran printers at the printing factory gave me a formula for fast-drying ink. But I still have to work out the exact proportions myself, so I’m going to experiment with it now.”
“Hey, that actually sounds pretty interesting.”
Huang Xueling’s eyes lit up. She raised her wrist to show off the watch she was wearing.
“Let me help. I’ve got a watch, so I can time everything for you.”
“That’d be perfect. I was just wondering how I was going to keep track of the time.”
Jiang Xia readily agreed.
Now that she’d joined a new department, she ought to make a friend or two.
Besides, Huang Xueling was Trace Examiner Li’s apprentice. If they chatted more and got familiar, she could figure out Trace Examiner Li’s temperament—and then maybe persuade him to do a little research into lock-picking with her.
“I’ll open the room next door.”
Pulling the cotton from her ears, Huang Xueling bounded over to the neighboring room and pushed the door open.
The sign on the storeroom door hadn’t been changed yet, but the room itself had already been tidied up. Wooden shelving lined the left wall, while two tables had been pushed together against the right wall. Resting on top of them was an oversized sheet of glass.
That suited Jiang Xia perfectly.
Mixing ink required a proper surface, and the glass sheet was smooth, level, and non-absorbent—the ideal makeshift palette.
She set the cardboard box on the table, then went back to fetch a stack of paper.
Huang Xueling sat beside the cardboard box, absentmindedly sorting through the bottles of ink inside.
“Hey, Jiang Xia, why do these three bottles of red, yellow, and blue look different from these other three? Huh? And this gold-colored one isn’t ink—it’s powder? It can’t actually be gold powder, can it?”
“I wish it were.”
Jiang Xia laid the stack of paper on the table.
“If it were real gold powder, there’d be over a hundred grams here. I’d never have to worry about money for the rest of my life.”
“This is brass powder, and the silver one is aluminum powder. Mix them into ink and you get metallic ink. It has a metallic sheen, catches the light, and sparkles beautifully.”
“Really?”
Huang Xueling’s interest was immediately piqued.
“Then how about we mix up some metallic ink first?”
Jiang Xia had always found mixing colors relaxing, and Huang Xueling’s suggestion only made her more eager.
“Sure, why not?”
Work hadn’t started yet, so it didn’t count as slacking off on the job.
Simply mixing the black, white, red, yellow, and blue inks with the metallic powders wouldn’t produce anything attractive. Fortunately, she also had the secondary colors and white ink to work with, so she decided to mix everything from scratch.
Taking up a palette knife, she blended the three primary colors together, adding white as needed to create the secondary colors—orange, green, and purple. Using those six colors as a base, she carefully adjusted the mixture until she arrived at a rich pine green. Then she divided it into two portions, adding brass powder to one and aluminum powder to the other.
Watching from the side, Huang Xueling’s eyes grew wider and wider.
It was like watching a magic show.
A little yellow over here, a little blue over there. Stir in some white, and suddenly there was green. Add just a touch of a few other colors, and the overly vivid green became deep and elegant. Then, once the brass powder was mixed in, it transformed into a shimmering metallic green that glittered in the light.
It was gorgeous.
“This green ink is so pretty!”
Huang Xueling’s eyes sparkled with delight. She loved it so much she almost reached out to touch it.
“Can this ink actually be used for printing?”
“Of course.”
Jiang Xia admired the metallic green ink she’d just created.
“But don’t even think about using the mimeograph machine in Personnel. That thing’s full of black ink. Pour this metallic green into it, and you’ll never get the color to print.”
“Huh?”
The answer was disappointing.
Huang Xueling pressed her lips together and asked reluctantly, “So… does that mean this ink can’t be used after all?”
“Let me think…”
It would be a shame to go through all the trouble of mixing the ink only to leave it unused. Jiang Xia pondered for a moment before saying,
“If you can find a piece of sponge and a small metal tin, you can cut the sponge to fit inside the tin, then pour the green ink onto it. That’ll make an ink pad. You can use it for stamping seals from then on.”
“An ink pad?! That’s a great idea! I’ve carved tons of seals!”
Huang Xueling instantly brightened. She sprang to her feet.
“Wait here, Jiang Xia! I’ll go find those things.”
With that, she dashed out in a whirlwind.
She didn’t return for over half an hour.
Fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and she was breathing a little heavily. In her hands was a bulging cloth bundle. When she opened it, it revealed three pieces of white sponge, along with quite a few small metal medicine tins and little glass medicine bottles with stoppers.
“I ran over to the hospital next door and got a bunch of empty glass bottles and metal tins from my sister-in-law. They weren’t using them anymore, so now we can mix several different colors.”
As she spoke, Huang Xueling took out the sponges, tins, and bottles one by one. After setting everything down, she added,
“Hang on, I’ll go get my seals too!”
Two or three minutes later, she came back carrying more than a dozen seals in both hands.
Jiang Xia glanced at them without finding it strange.
Private seals were extremely common these days.
After all, many people couldn’t read or write their own names, so they had a name seal carved specifically for themselves. Whenever a signature was required, they simply stamped it instead.
Over time, this had led many workplaces to recognize only seals, not handwritten signatures. As a result, even literate people who could write their own names had no choice but to have personal seals made. Jiang Xia herself was no exception—she’d had a name seal carved for collecting her wages and mailing letters.
And once people got used to using seals, it was only natural that some would start wanting something a little more distinctive. Since having a seal carved didn’t require ration coupons and only cost a bit of money, anyone who enjoyed collecting them would inevitably accumulate more and more over time, multiplying like thread spools in a sewing basket.
Jiang Xia was certain Huang Xueling owned far more than just these dozen or so seals.
“Let me try…”
Huang Xueling cut the sponge to size with a pair of scissors and placed it inside one of the small metal medicine tins. Then, using the palette knife, she scooped up the metallic green ink and spread it over the sponge. She tapped the tin against the edge of the table a few times to help the ink soak through.
Once the ink had fully absorbed into the sponge, she picked up a seal carved with a Chinese dragon, dabbed it onto the ink pad, then pulled over a sheet of white paper and pressed the seal down.
A moment later, a metallic green five-clawed dragon appeared on the page. Under the sunlight, tiny flecks of golden light shimmered across its surface.
It was stunning.
“That’s gorgeous!”
Huang Xueling exclaimed, handing the paper to Jiang Xia.
“Look, Jiang Xia! The ink even reflects the light!”
To Jiang Xia, who had lived in the modern era, a metallic stamped image like this wasn’t particularly remarkable.
But in this day and age, when all anyone ever saw were documents written in plain black ink, suddenly seeing a metallic green seal that glittered under the light was dazzling enough to make people reluctant to put it down.
Looking at the rows of glass bottles on the table, Jiang Xia thought that turning the three primary inks into a line of colored stamp-pad inks might actually be a pretty good idea.
“I think it looks great too.”
Picking up the palette knife again, she said,
“Since we have so many bottles, I’ll mix a few more colors.”
“Yes, please!”
The prospect of having even more colorful inks for her seals made Huang Xueling nod enthusiastically.
Jiang Xia resumed mixing.
Ordinary colors no longer seemed flashy enough, so she decided to experiment with fluorescent pigments as well.
A flash of inspiration struck her. Trusting her instincts, she blended the colors together. She had just finished mixing a pale fluorescent blue when the familiar system notification rang in her ears.
[Ding~ Congratulations, Host! You have successfully created a Pseudo Anti-Counterfeit Security Ink under the most hazardous conditions. Experience +20!]
…Huh?
What?
What on earth did I just mix by instinct?
Startled, Jiang Xia looked down at the ink in front of her.
Then it hit her.
Oh no.
No wonder it had felt so natural.
I’d just recreated the anti-counterfeit security ink used on banknotes!
While Huang Xueling remained happily stamping away, completely oblivious to what had happened, Jiang Xia quickly mixed a generous amount of purple into the fluorescent blue ink to erase the evidence.
Phew. That should do it.
She let out a sigh of relief.
After waiting for a while and seeing that the system hadn’t revoked the experience points, her thoughts immediately began racing.
Looks like as long as I successfully recreate an ink used on banknotes, the system awards experience.
So what am I waiting for?
Time to farm EXP!
I can always mix in another color afterward and destroy the evidence.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Jiang Xia got to work, recalling the colors of various banknotes from memory.
A little red, some white, just a hint of green to tone down the saturation… then a touch of yellow to shift the hue…
Before long, she’d recreated the printing color used on the one-yuan note.
Sure enough, the familiar system notification sounded beside her ear.
Joy surged through her.
This is ridiculously easy!
Forget practicing penmanship. Mixing colors is so much faster.
From now on, my hobby is officially mixing printing inks. I’ll do it a hundred times a day if I have to!
Beaming, Jiang Xia stirred a little more yellow into the ink, turning it into an orange-red to destroy the evidence, poured it into a bottle, and prepared to mix another shade of red.
This time, however, after she finished mixing and waited…
Nothing.
Not a peep from the system.
…?
What’s going on?
She switched to the green used on the old two-yuan banknote instead.
Ding!
The system rewarded her again.
It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head.
Seriously?
So that’s why the reward was so generous—it only counts once for each kind?
Thinking about it, that made sense.
After all, she was only reproducing the ink, not manufacturing it on an industrial scale. There was no way the system would keep handing out experience forever.
Jiang Xia consoled herself.
Oh well.
One-time rewards are still better than no rewards at all.
If I recreate every banknote color, that’s still two hundred experience points in total.
Enough to raise my Trace Evidence Examination skill to Level 2.
She wiped her face, forced herself to calm down, and quietly began mixing the colors of the remaining banknotes.
…
Meanwhile, Chief Wu delivered the case files to the First Investigation Squad. After chatting aimlessly for quite a while, he finally steered the conversation toward Jiang Xia.
Although it was a little embarrassing that his own squad leader had been so thoroughly outmatched the day before, now that Jiang Xia’s master had come in person, they naturally had to say a few words about her.
So Chief Wu learned that Section Chief Liao had assigned Jiang Xia her own private workspace and even approved a full eighty yuan for her to purchase equipment.
That put his mind at ease.
If the leadership valued her this much, then Jiang Xia would certainly be well looked after. At least he no longer had to worry about how others would treat her.
As for Jiang Xia herself…
That was another matter.
Remembering why he’d come in the first place, Chief Wu excused himself after chatting long enough with the First Squad and headed for the Technical Division to check on her.
When he knocked and entered the office, however, Jiang Xia wasn’t there.
Looking even more wilted than an overcooked vegetable, Yang Lihua pointed next door.
“Jiang Xia’s in the room next door… mixing ink.”
Ink?
What was she mixing ink for?
Chief Wu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
After thanking him, he closed the Technical Division office door behind him. Then, instead of knocking, he strode straight to the storeroom and pushed the door open.
Click.
The sudden sound of the door opening was startling enough to make Jiang Xia shiver instinctively.
Palette knife still in hand, she turned toward the doorway, ready to see who had such terrible manners.
The moment she recognized the visitor, however, her expression froze.
“Master?! You really came? Wait… Master, why are you here already today?!”
“What? Am I not allowed to come to the Municipal Bureau?”
Chief Wu shot back.
As he walked into the room, his eyes swept rapidly across it before settling on the palette knife in Jiang Xia’s hand and the glass mixing plate behind her.
Several blobs of colored ink lay scattered across it.
Spread out in the center was a muted grayish-purple.
It looked strangely familiar.
Chief Wu stared at it for several seconds before realization dawned on him.
Isn’t that… the exact color of the old fifty-cent banknote?!
His vision darkened.
His heart began pounding wildly.
A single day.
She’d only been here for a single day!
He’d taken his eyes off her for just one day, and she’d already started tinkering with printing inks—inside the Municipal Bureau, no less!
What was she planning?
Was the next step going to be carving printing plates by hand?
Taking a deep breath, Chief Wu forced himself to calm down before asking,
“What are you doing making colored printing ink? And where did you get all this?”
The moment Jiang Xia saw the look in his eyes, she knew she’d been suspected…
Again.
<< _ >>