Reborn As Super Heiress

After confirming that Huo Sining was alright, Zhou Shitao rolled his eyes at her with a touch of mock annoyance and scolded:

”Why were you in such a hurry?”

”Those should be ritual artifacts inside, did you see the ritual carvings on the box?”

”The boxes are filled with items soaked in things like ox head and chicken blood, sealed for over a thousand years, it’s bound to stink!”

”Why do you think I called you to help lift it together, with two standing on each side of the box, the smell wouldn’t gush directly at us.”

”But you just rushed right up there, I couldn’t even stop you.”

Though Zhou Shitao was admonishing Huo Sining, there was a barely noticeable smile at the corners of his eyes and mouth, clearly finding great amusement in Huo Sining’s first mishap under his watch.

No wonder, usually that girl Huo Sining does everything meticulously and with calm assurance. Even Zhou Shitao may not be able to match her meticulousness.

Having such a student is indeed a source of pride, but sometimes it also leaves him lacking the sense of being a mentor, as his role feels too insignificant.

Similarly, the embarrassing moments often seen with Ji Kun and other students were naturally absent with Huo Sining, making things a bit less interesting for Zhou Shitao.

Now that Huo Sining finally slipped up in front of him, making such a big blunder, Zhou Shitao was overjoyed and was basking in the thought of this joke for a year, where would he hold back?

Huo Sining felt like shedding tears of frustration, especially after seeing the cheerful glint in her mentor’s eyes, she understood what he was thinking.

She was clearly set up.

Seriously, how could her mentor, already in his seventies, still be as mischievous as a child? It’s too much!

It wasn’t just Zhou Shitao, even Shi Qingyun and Xie Daoyuan were struggling to suppress their laughter, leaving Huo Sining practically in tears of exasperation.

With Azure Pearl, Huo Sining’s constitution had indeed improved significantly, but likewise, her senses were much sharper than others.

Once the stench inside the boxes had mostly dissipated, the team no longer perceived much smell and came forward to help.

Only Huo Sining stood a few meters away from the boxes, still extremely sensitive to the scent emanating from them.

Huo Sining’s face was just pure agony, her whole being off-kilter, desperately wanting to cover those boxes immediately.

Xie Daoyuan, seeing Huo Sining’s expression from the side, couldn’t help but chuckle and pulled a clean mask from his pocket to hand to her:

”Here, this one’s clean, use it. If you can still smell it, you might need a gas mask.”

Huo Sining was somewhat embarrassed, as everyone else had already removed their gas masks. Wearing one alone would make her stand out.

She didn’t want to be conspicuous and be ridiculed for being too delicate, it would be embarrassing not just for her but also for her mentor.

Thinking this, she had to endure it. After spraying a lot of cooling oil on the mask, she wore it, blocking most of the smell.

It wasn’t that Huo Sining was being overly delicate; in fact, the stench in the Burial Pit chamber was indeed unpleasant.

But since everyone there had some training and experience in archaeological tombs, they had encountered worse smells, so this wasn’t a big deal, and normal people could still bear it.

When Huo Sining’s team came for this tomb excavation, they actually brought an air blower, and the ventilation duct was set up in advance. As long as the blower aimed at the tomb chamber, fresh air could be brought in.

But everyone understood that each of these items inside was immensely valuable and could not withstand a large influx of air. Doing so would likely accelerate the oxidation of these artifacts, leaving nothing before they could process them.

With all the boxes opened, Zhou Shitao put on his leather gloves and started working.

As Zhou Shitao mentioned earlier, the boxes filled with overwhelmingly stinky items did indeed contain ritual artifacts.

Of course, the items weren’t pots or tripods but things like ox heads and sheep heads.

This might differ from what people currently understand as artifacts, but it’s not hard to comprehend.

Those who remember a Chapter from their student years might know that in the ancient text ”Cao Gui on War,” there is a phrase ”Sacrificial offerings of jade and silks, nothing added, must be sincere.”

In that phrase, ”sacrificial offerings” often confuse people, but it doesn’t mean sacrificing oneself for justice, but refers to offerings.

In ancient times, livestock slaughtered for rituals were called offerings.

Moreover, the term ”sacrificial offering” actually had a fine distinction in ancient times; livestock offered for rituals were called ”ox” if pure in color, ”sheep” if whole in body, generally including ox, sheep, and pig referred to as ”Three Sacrificials.”

However, cows, sheep, and pigs in ancient times were very valuable, especially oxen used in farming had a special status. Even if ordinary people owned cows, unless sick, they were not allowed to slaughter them casually.

Only during rituals were livestock slaughtered to honor the gods.

There were also differences in the specifications of offerings depending on the ritualist and the object of worship.

Only emperors used all three—ox, sheep, and pig—for state rituals; vassals didn’t use ox, opting for sheep and pig or using chicken and duck instead.

However, once these boxes were opened, two of them were filled to the brim with ox heads, Huo Sining quickly counted five or six ox heads.

Besides, other boxes contained a similar number of sheep heads and pig heads.

Such a grand gesture shows Ge Hong’s emphasis on the ritual ceremony.

These oxen, sheep, and pig heads would have been freshly slaughtered for the offering back then, but after over seventeen hundred years, they had naturally decayed to just bones.

The fermented rotten meat undoubtedly amassed an indescribable stench, and Huo Sining, unknowing, had directly opened the box, falling into the trap.

Though the stench was unbearable, Zhou Shitao comforted Huo Sining, repeatedly assuring her that it was merely a foul smell, not toxic, and she needn’t worry.

As Zhou Shitao joked, Huo Sining’s face went from green to pale, but she couldn’t do anything about her mentor.