Reborn As Super Heiress

Capítulo 1865: Chapter 1768: Something Fishy

Now that the Qilin Jin Xing Yan inkstone is in her hands, Huo Sining no longer feels so apprehensive. She holds the two inkstones in her hands, and through the Heavenly Eye, she examines these two uniquely shaped inkstones again.

The three-dimensional ancient inkstone in front of her becomes clearer, and the details inside the ancient inkstone gradually emerge before Huo Sining’s eyes. Even every hole on the inkstone is clearly visible.

Huo Sining senses unusual small details, precisely these small holes hidden inside the stone. These holes are distributed peculiarly, present inside both inkstones, invisible to the naked eye, but under the Heavenly Eye, they are very clear.

Furthermore, Huo Sining notices that these holes have traces of ink soaking them. This gives Huo Sining a vague sense of unease because these seemingly tiny holes do not appear to be formed naturally, but rather as if they were artificially pierced using some special tool.

After being soaked with ink, the mouths of these small holes are blocked by residual ink powder. Therefore, to the naked eye, these holes appear to blend seamlessly with the color of the inkstone itself, making the hole traces completely unnoticeable and easily overlooked.

Huo Sining recalls what Li Jun mentioned in the courseware about the legend of these two ancient inkstones, as well as the text recorded in the Minghua Lu describing the gifting of inkstones between Wang Zhao and Tang Bohu to Zhu Zhishan. After savoring it carefully, the more she thinks about it, the more something feels off.

Indeed, these two inkstones are She Inkstones, but compared to other inkstones, they’re just slightly more intricately carved. Considering the situation back then, the Yue Inkstones used by Tang Bohu and Zhu Zhishan weren’t that inferior. How did they end up being belittled by Wang Zhao to such an extent? Do these She Inkstones truly have such a high status?

Moreover, Huo Sining recalls several very peculiar words in the text record.

“Breath like clouds, golden brilliance.”

These are the adjectives used in the Minghua Lu to describe the She Inkstones gifted by Wang Zhao. However, Huo Sining can’t help but feel something’s off; these two She Inkstones are dark and heavy when held. Regardless of how they are appraised, adjectives like “breath like clouds” and “golden brilliance” feel utterly inappropriate.

The more Huo Sining reflects, the more she feels something’s amiss. Her gaze falls upon these two inkstones, suddenly having a eureka moment. She calls out to Qibao, who is playing on his phone nearby, “Qibao, please help sister get a few bottles of pure water!”

Qibao nods, puts down his phone, and runs to the fridge in the suite’s living room to fetch a few bottles of mineral water. Meanwhile, Huo Sining finds a clean basin from her storage ring. After receiving the pure water Qibao brought, she pours it all into the basin.

It is evident that these inkstones haven’t been used for a long time, untouched by water for years, so they can’t be soaked directly. Because they’re carved from stone, sudden contact with water might cause damage.

Huo Sining takes a handkerchief she carries with her, lightly wets it, and carefully wipes the two ancient inkstones. She then slowly drips water droplets onto the inkstones until the droplets gradually cover the entire surface.

After several rounds of wiping and soaking with water droplets, the ancient inkstones absorb the water, and the outer layer’s impurities are quickly wiped clean by Huo Sining with the handkerchief, revealing a pitch-black jade-like texture. The ancient, deep black hue surprises Huo Sining.

From Huo Sining’s experience, the inkstone’s material is stone; typically, the longer the time, the darker the inkstone’s color, but correspondingly, the glossiness significantly decreases.

However, these two ancient inkstones indeed have a deep color, but they haven’t lost the inherent bright gloss. It’s as if they’ve been polished by modern machinery, faintly emitting a sheen even under the light, which fascinates Huo Sining immensely.

Nonetheless, Huo Sining doesn’t show too much excitement. Now that the inkstones are fully saturated, she finally soaks them entirely in clear water.

As soon as the inkstones are submerged, they appear even clearer and more three-dimensional, especially the carvings on the inkstones, depicting dragons and kylins. Once in the water, they seem almost alive, very lively.

Under the Heavenly Eye, the holes in the two inkstones indeed fill with clear water. Huo Sining thinks that the carvings look so vivid in the water, and this must be linked with the holes. She’s becoming increasingly certain of her hypothesis; the carver deliberately created these holes inside the inkstone for a specific purpose.

After soaking for several minutes, Huo Sining takes the inkstone out of the basin and wipes the water off its surface.

The cleaned ancient inkstone appears filled with classical beauty, tempting Huo Sining to admire it closely, holding it in her hand.

After appreciating it enough, she searches her storage ring for a Hui Ink Stick. This ink stick is what she usually uses to mark lines during stone gambling, typically randomly stashed in some corner of her storage ring, yet it comes in handy now.

She gently pours a small capful of clear water into the recessed part of the Shenlong Shenhu Inkstone, then places the ink stick into the recess and slowly begins grinding it.

Nearby, Qibao finds it interesting and wants to join in the ink grinding. Huo Sining breaks the ink stick into two pieces, giving one to each of them, turning it into a competition to see who can grind the ink the darkest, smoothest, and in the largest quantity.

It has to be said that grinding ink on the She Inkstone is indeed different from the other inkstones Huo Sining has encountered before. Likely due to the stone’s unique material, when the ink stick contacts the recessed part of the She Inkstone, it noticeably feels exceptionally smooth, requiring hardly any effort to grind. However, the resulting ink is as smooth as oil, becoming quite thick in just a few minutes.

Once the ink is formed, Huo Sining doesn’t notice anything particularly special, feeling a bit disappointed. She wonders if she had overthought; silently chiding herself for her wishful thinking, she is somewhat relieved that she hadn’t shared this assumption at Master Li’s birthday banquet earlier—otherwise, it would have been quite the joke, damaging her own reputation.

Huo Sining is about to ask Qibao to stop grinding the ink, but as she lowers her head, she freezes, slowly widening her eyes, her mouth gaping as if she’s seen a ghost, staring dumbfoundedly at the two inkstones in front of her.

Qibao’s ink grinding motion also involuntarily pauses. He looks at the inkstone in front of him, then at Huo Sining’s, as if he’s discovered something unbelievable, his face full of shock and confusion.