Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 581: Chapter 579: The Change in the Ancient Painting

”Buzhou Mountain?”

Yan Feng’s eyes flickered with surprise when he heard the term, and his expression momentarily froze as he looked at the painting on the table.

”Mm, the name of this painting is Buzhou Mountain. I’ve looked into it, and the information about Buzhou Mountain in ancient texts is actually very vague and unverifiable,” Huo Sining nodded, explaining.

A puzzled look appeared on Yan Feng’s face, ”What do you need to verify this for?”

An embarrassed smile appeared on Huo Sining’s face, ”I don’t know how to explain it to you; when I look at this painting, I have this feeling of familiarity, as if I’ve seen this place somewhere before, so I just couldn’t resist the urge to investigate it.”

Yan Feng paused inwardly, thinking about Huo Sining’s unusual background, and subconsciously turned his gaze toward the painting on the desk.

”In the past, Gonggong and Zhuan Xu contended for the throne. In anger, Gonggong collided with Buzhou Mountain. The pillars of heaven broke and the bonds of earth snapped. The heavens tilted towards the northwest, thus the sun, moon, and stars drifted there, and the earth was left incomplete towards the southeast, therefore the waters and dust flowed there. This Buzhou Mountain should only exist within mythical stories, how could you have possibly visited this place?”

Huo Sining shook her head, ”I don’t know, maybe I saw it in a dream.”

Without delving further into this, Huo Sining enlarged the article page on her computer, and curiously asked:

”Let’s not worry about that for now. Can you take a look at this article for me? You study medicine, you must also understand chemical reactions. This talks about how ancient people brushed a special chemical substance onto the surface of silk paper and then wrote on it. The writing would remain hidden until it came into contact with a specific substance that would cause a reaction. Is that really possible?”

Yan Feng pondered for a moment and nodded, ”It’s not hard at all. It’s like how starch turns blue when it meets iodine. Martial arts novels often write about heroes finding wordless heavenly books that reveal their characters when dabbed with alcohol or rice soup; it’s really just using a simple chemical principle. But what does this have to do with the painting you are researching?”

Yan Feng was perplexed, and Huo Sining didn’t find it strange. Yan Feng wasn’t from the circle of antique aficionados and didn’t understand the Hidden Mist technique, so naturally, he wouldn’t associate these things with the painting.

But it was different for Huo Sining, she keenly felt that this painting might, like the previously encountered Opal Glaze and the ”Li Duanduan Drawing,” have had something deliberately hidden within it.

”What are you guys talking about?” At this moment, Su Qingqing walked in from outside. Seeing that Huo Sining and Yan Feng seemed to be discussing something, she couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Huo Sining naturally wouldn’t reveal what she suspected in her mind and had to shift the topic, ”How did you get here?”

Having not visited Antique Street for several days, Su Qingqing was itching for a look around, she turned to Huo Sining with an ingratiating smile:

”My brother’s birthday is in a few days, and I want to go to Antique Street to find something to give him. It so happens you’re free now, why don’t you accompany me for a stroll?”

Seeing Su Qingqing’s demeanor, Huo Sining knew what she was up to. This girl wasn’t very skilled herself, feared making a bad purchase, and now knowing Huo Sining’s extraordinary talent in appraising, how could she let such an assistant go to waste?

Huo Sining felt helpless at heart, shook her head but found it hard to refuse.

Su Qingqing acted spoiled towards Huo Sining, and no one dealt with Heitan and Lei Shi, who followed behind her into the study.

These two large loyal dogs frolicked under the table. In the midst of Su Qingqing’s persistent badgering, Heitan suddenly raised his head, fixating on the box of candy cookies in the center of the desk.

The candy cookies looked a lot like the food Huo Sining fed to the ornamental fish in the living room. Thinking that the cookies were also infused with Spiritual Energy by Huo Sining, Heitan’s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing them.

Huo Sining, salivating profusely, took advantage of the moment when a few people weren’t paying attention and leaped onto the table, aiming to snatch the box of cookies with a wide-open mouth.

Yet, this jump turned out to be a disaster.

It did manage to grab the box of cookies accurately, but also inadvertently knocked over Auntie Li’s teapot placed to the side.

A full pot of cool boiled water tipped onto the desk and quickly spread over a good portion of it, not only wetting several books Huo Sining had placed on the desk but also inevitably damaging the ”Buzhou Mountain” ancient painting positioned not too far away.

”Heitan!”

Huo Sining was immediately infuriated, rushing to the front of the desk.

Knowing it had caused trouble, Heitan bolted out the door with a biscuit box in its mouth after barking at Lei Shi.

Huo Sining felt a mix of amusement and despair, hastily grabbing a box of tissues nearby and moving to cover the painting.

She had yet to unravel the mystery of this painting, could it really be destroyed by Heitan’s reckless act?

Before Huo Sining’s tissue could touch the ancient painting, at that moment, her eyes caught the painting that was soaked by water, and her entire being froze in an odd posture.

Yan Feng and Su Qingqing glanced at Huo Sining with a puzzled look and then turned to look as well.

The next moment, the three stood petrified in the room, watching the surreal scene before them in disbelief.

With her mouth agape in astonishment, Su Qingqing wore the expression of someone who had seen a ghost.

It’s common knowledge that ancient calligraphy and paintings, treated with a pasting process, must not come into direct contact with water; hence, many priceless works are often mounted, entirely extracting the air from the surface to prevent damage from moisture.

But the scene before them completely overturned Huo Sining and the others’ understanding.

As the boiled water from the pot flowed from the desk onto the ancient painting, seeping into the painting the moment the clean water touched it, the painting began to change.

The thick ink on the paper loosened, creating a mist when it met the water, shrouding the mountains behind the Taoist, as if the painting had come to life.

As the pot of water was not poured at the center of the painting, only a small amount of water on the left side of the paper was affected, causing only that section of the mountains to change, and soon the mist dissipated into the air.

This strange phenomenon was witnessed by everyone, so shock was evident in the eyes of all three in the room.

Huo Sining stared at the painting, speechless. During her research, she had come across a paper on the special treatment methods for ancient calligraphy and paintings, one of which was the Hidden Mist technique.

The so-called Hidden Mist technique involved applying a layer of special material, like lime, to the surface of the paper using a unique method, which would only reveal the contents within the painting after a chemical reaction was triggered by contact with water.

However, this technique had been lost since the Ming and Qing Dynasty Era, and not many people were aware of it. Huo Sining had planned to take the painting to the Imperial Capital for Zhou Shitao to see if he could understand what was going on, never anticipating that an unintentional act by Heitan would accidentally unravel it.