Chapter 643: GG (1)
Actual archaeological excavations were far less stimulating and interesting than one might imagine. To be precise, they actually tested one’s patience and pa.s.sion a lot. Also, this sense of exertion would persist over time, spreading unceasingly from not having any pleasant surprises.
Every inch of soil would have to be carefully handled and go through a sieve. After going through the sieve, the earth that remained would still have to be concentrated together before going through another sieve...one’s sense of antic.i.p.ation would slowly be lost just like that till only a sense of boredom and tediousness remained.
Xu Tingsheng proposed several times, “Teacher, why don’t we directly cut it from the top using an excavator...flipping the entire mausoleum’s roof?”
Each time, Yan Zhengyu would just glance at him, saying, “I think I regret it. Can you not call me teacher anymore?”
Progress was slow. With the great door of the mausoleum still yet to be opened, one batch after another of experts left.
After capturing the initial footage, the student reporter squad began working in s.h.i.+fts too. Most of them would be returning with the experts who had come from Yanjing, continuing their busy studies.
He Yutan had already gotten on very close terms with most of the experts these past few days, especially those from Yanjing.
From Xingchen, two non-tech female workers who had been hired just this year stayed behind. The reason was apparently that since they both had no boyfriends and would be far away from home, it didn’t matter where they went to work. Also, as instructed by Old He, coordination work was secondary in their duties as their main job was to serve Xu Tingsheng.
Old He had smiled in a very suggestive manner when saying this. He had also said: The days are boring and solitary. Why not make use of this chance to choose a personal secretary, Boss Xu?
If anything, he himself really wasn’t able to stay on in this G.o.dforsaken place for any longer.
The remaining employees returned to Xingchen’s headquarters in Shenghai. Old He himself took the same plane to Yanjing as the experts returning there.
He said, “I already can’t wait. I want to go to Panjiayuan to wrest back all I once lost…”
Xu Tingsheng knew that he had prepared a large sum of money that he was prepared to waste. This was how it was. In the line of collecting antiques, those eager to dispense their money were always likeliest to fall for scams. Meanwhile, the ones who could patiently wait for opportunities and ‘fated encounters’ were comparatively harder to swindle.
This was why wealthy people were most welcome in this line, also being the fastest to enter and the fastest to leave.
Wu Yuewei was one of the reporter squad’s three members, making up the first batch, to stay behind. The reason was apparently that she had already gotten many academic units ahead of time. The other two members were a fourth year female senior and Xiao Yanxu.
One day, when a female employee from Xingchen was helping to sort out the clothes in Xu Tingsheng’s room at night, her skirt was too short and she was wearing nothing at all inside besides stockings. Facing away from Xu Tingsheng, she bent her waist, busily at work...she judged that her boss was finding it hard to bear his solitude and gave it her all to seduce him once. After that, she was deployed back to Shenghai.
From start to end, neither openly expressed knowledge about this scheme. Xu Tingsheng too did not give her any additional punishment.
While the female employee had not succeeded, it was actually just almost. She had caused Xu Tingsheng to realise one thing. His will in that area seemed to be gradually getting diminished.
This might be related to the solitude, having been in a swelteringly dry environment with nothing to do. It might have spurred some natural functions. Even as the female employee who could not be considered beautiful left the site, Xu Tingsheng who looked totally unperturbed was actually thinking: Maybe, while it won’t be exposed, it would be okay to find a woman, purely for mutual benefit, to fill up the emptiness.
If this thought and this urge had appeared two to three years earlier, Xu Tingsheng would very likely already have a harem now.
In the meantime, Wu Yuewei kept a proper distance from Xu Tingsheng, diligently maintaining this relations.h.i.+p of ordinary friends for many years, not estranged but also not too close.
Xu Tingsheng felt comfortable with that. Still, one could only imagine how hard Wu Yuewei had worked to achieve this.
Xiao Yanxu had stopped stirring up trouble. Xu Tingsheng was already happy enough with that.
The problem was that even though they were all working very hard, after a short-lived popularity, the live broadcast of the excavation was now seeing increasing impatience, disappointment, disparaging remarks, doubt…
In the words of the netizens, “It’s okay even if you show us a dumpling! Everyday, if it isn’t the local culture, it’s pile after pile of soil...what the h.e.l.l?!”
Wu Yuewei’s fourth year female senior caved in to the pressure and began to propose ‘fabricating’ some rumours, such as capturing a few blurry images of some figures in the night, uploading them and giving no explanation.
Xu Tingsheng and the trio on the reporter squad held two meetings. The reporting channel on Weibo began to upload pictures of four theft caves discovered in the surroundings of the mausoleum.
The netizens finally grew interested. Various a.n.a.lyses, various projections...one colourful tomb-raiding story after another were automatically born.
While the crisis was temporarily resolved, everyone was clear on the fact that this was only a short-term solution and would surely fail if things went on like this.
As compared to that, there was much more pressure on Yan Zhengyu. The old man who had already quit smoking for many years asked Xu Tingsheng for cigarettes four times over this duration, on the four respective days when they discovered the theft caves of prospective raiders.
The first two times, it was just one stick. The third time, he asked for another after the first. The fourth time, he took the rest of the packet of which most was still remaining before sitting alone for more than two hours by the pile of cleared soil.
Xu Tingsheng had not even known how to comfort him.
He was actually not of much help in staying at the site. In recent days, Professor Yan was already not even letting him partic.i.p.ate in the handling of the soil layer as his work was not meticulous enough.
Because of this, besides helping to coordinate in some matters, Xu Tingsheng was staying behind more to avoid things and rest. Besides that, he was waiting for the moment that the mausoleum opened. He wanted to see if there was a different result from in his previous life, making for a pleasant surprise.
The project was much faster in this life than in his previous. On the day the mausoleum’s door appeared, Xu Tingsheng was standing beside Yan Zhengyu.
The old man’s body was trembling slightly. Xu Tingsheng could sense that the four theft holes in the surroundings had already raised Yang Zhengyu’s worry to a peak...so, had the underground palace of the mausoleum been raided, the chamber infiltrated?
This might be immediately revealed now.
Actually, Xu Tingsheng’s nervousness was no less than Yan Zhengyu’s at all. He had seen the situation in his previous life before. Had the premature protection and excavation led to the same result? It largely rested on this moment to find out.
The door of the mausoleum’s underground palace opened. A long pa.s.sage was revealed.
“Let me see...let me see...good, there are no mineral water bottles,” Xu Tingsheng cheered excitedly inwardly.
This was all he could tell. He did not have the expertise to judge any more than this.
“For the time being, there seem to be no signs of infiltration. We just don’t know about inside, though…” Yan Zhengyu said beside him.
From his voice, one could tell that he was working hard to suppress the excitement in his heart.