A friend told me her neighbour's child returned home from a great aunt's with plates, bowls and other crockery pieces. Moments later I recalled a story I heard seated on my grandma's lap many years ago.
Long ago and far away in a great city of China, an important man with everything he could want in life lost his wife in childbirth. What could he do? There were five children left by his beloved wife. After mourning for a year, he looked for a second wife. The matchmakers looked high and low and found a match.
The seemingly perfect second wife arrived with an entire set of kitchen ware. The cook's husband was the master's coach man. He was sent to ask the master as to what he wanted to use: his old dishes or his new wife's. The master asked his new wife why she brought what she brought. She answered that her forebears were master porcelain makers. Those were her dowry, actually family heirlooms. She tactfully said that they were only meant for display.
Life went on. The second wife was good to her stepchildren. Her own children were born by and by. Then tragedy struck, the eldest step child, a girl of fifteen years old, died. It was an unexplained death. The girl was not sick, she died in the night. The serving maid noticed that the stepmother cooked one dish that evening, but the entire household partook of it. Anyway she was a humble servant and kept her peace.
The second child of the first wife was a boy. The servant boy who served this young master happened to be a younger brother of the serving maid mentioned above. A year later, the stepmother cooked a delicious dessert and served everyone in the household after dinner but before bed time. The humble but observant serving maid noticed her mistress took out an ornate bowl from the display cabinet to serve the young master's portion. She hurriedly took it to her brother, whispered that young master should not consume it. This interference actually saved the young man's life.
Five years flew by, child number three and four who were girls, both died at different times and in different ways. By now, there were three people who suspected the stepmother: the serving girl, her brother and the young master. On the eve of the young master's departure to take the Imperial Examination, the serving girl quietly packed a few sets of clothing for the youngest girl of the first wife. The maid's brother secretly placed the bundle amongst the young master's luggage. At the last minute, the fifth child was bundled into the carriage and taken away.
Young master passed the examination and became a Magistrate in a nearby town. His youngest sister from the same mother was safe at the maternal grandma's house. The Master, who had a second wife, seemed to accept his daughter's long visit in her mother's childhood home.
Years passed, the small girl grew up under her grandma's care. In the traditional way, a match was made and the stepmother persuaded her husband to throw a big wedding do in their home for the nuptial of this daughter. It was a good thing her brother the magistrate heard about it. He reacted by taking his sister straight to his own home, and quietly held her wedding there. A court case ensued: the father sued the son for kidnapping his precious daughter, son sued the father as accessory with his second wife to the murder of three daughters. The Emperor's physicians, porcelain experts, poison experts... were all called as expert witnesses to carefully examine and inspect all possible evidence available. All three tombs of dead stepdaughters were exhumed, and it was found that each of the three girls had died of ingested poisoning. Their bones showed without a doubt that poison had been administered over a period of time before leading to their deaths.
Apparently, certain rare color pigments used to decorate expensive bone ware not fully fired in the kiln, were poisonous to humans. But if one served ordinary food on it, no one would suffer. It took an initiated person to cook a common dish with unusual ingredients to bring out the poison in the utensil. The second wife came from a family with such knowledge. Had she been able to have her way, every single one of the first wife's children would have perished, yet each death would occur at a different time in varied ways. Needless to say, she spent the rest of her life behind bars.
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