The paperweight was a round red bead.
Normally, paperweights were square objects, all the better to hold down sheets of paper that the wind could easily blow away.
Yet although this bead was round, when placed on paper, it could cling to the desktop in outright defiance of the laws of physics, serving as a paperweight.
It was quite peculiar, supposedly thanks to the method used to refine it.
The material was ordinary red kite jade, which maids and the like in the Capital City often bought to make themselves hairpins and earrings. It was inexpensive.
However, a Great Confucian had given it to him. He had no idea how it had been refined, and it was not neatly squared off like other paperweights.
Most importantly, it was not a treasure, just an ordinary object that could serve as a paperweight because of its special refining method, so Lin Ke had kept it.
Otherwise, accepting something valuable would have left him beholden to the giver, and he would never have taken it.
It was rather interesting and not worth much, so he had accepted it.
After turning the matter over in his mind, he decided that although he could afford to give Lin Yu'er treasures and secret treasures, he understood the principle that possessing a precious jade could itself become a crime.
Better to give this bead instead. It contained some literary qi, which was of little use to Lin Ke but just right for a little demon like Lin Yu'er, who had only recently gained intelligence.
Splash-
Lin Yu'er caught the red bead in its mouth, sensed it for a moment, then happily swallowed it and leaped up again to bow to Lin Ke in thanks.
"Off you go. Keep your wits about you, and don't make me go