Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Master Qiao, that’s the gist of it. If you ask me, those little bastards just don’t want to work. Look, that mud print had to have been smeared on by someone.”

Zhu Hongsheng led me over to the wall where the rules had been written.

Old Zhou and the other workers were gathered off to one side, lowering their voices as they whispered among themselves.

“Are they kidding? What kind of master is a little girl like that supposed to be?”

“Exactly. And they said the big boss paid a fortune to invite her here. She isn’t his daughter, is she? Maybe he just grabbed someone at random to put on a show.”

People on construction sites were used to talking loudly. They thought they had lowered their voices, but in reality, they were speaking at about the same volume as anyone else. Zhu Hongsheng glanced at me awkwardly.

“Master Qiao, don’t take it personally.

“Come take a look at this mud print first. And these words-do you think we should stick up a talisman or something to drive off the evil spirits?”

The mud print on the wall was about the size of an average adult’s palm, with all five fingers spread. At first glance, there was nothing special about it. I leaned in, scraped off a bit of the mud, and examined it carefully in my palm.

The mud was grayish white. Its surface had already dried, but the inside was still damp, and it carried a faint bluish-green tint.

My eyes widened in surprise.

“This is green plaster clay! Is there an ancient tomb beneath this site?”

Green plaster clay, also known as white plaster clay, appeared bluish-green when damp and turned white after drying. In ancient times, people made it by mixing glutinous rice juice with lime. It had a fine texture, strong adhesive properties, and excellent airtightness. It was mainly used to seal tombs and was commonly found in Qin and Han dynasty burial sites.

Zhu Hongsheng’s expression changed drastically.

“No, no, absolutely not. There is no tomb here! Where would a tomb even come from?

“Master Qiao, you can’t just say things like that. Xi’an is very strict about this. The first thing our company did after acquiring the land was hire an archaeological survey company to conduct an on-site investigation. Only after they confirmed there were no issues could we proceed.

“Look, these are the documents they issued. There are no tombs here, so we really can’t make careless claims.”

Zhu Hongsheng handed me a thick stack of files stamped with the seal of Bowen Archaeological Survey Engineering Co., Ltd.

Xi’an was a special place. As the saying went, above ground stood the city of Xi’an; below ground lay Chang’an City.

As the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, Xi’an had more tombs than anyone could count. For example, the construction of Metro Line 8 alone had uncovered 1,356 ancient tombs.

Build a subway, and you dug up a tomb. Build a school, and you dug up a tomb. Develop real estate, and you could basically count on hitting one with every dig. The people of Xi’an had long since become thoroughly familiar with the process.

Before nearly any surface construction project began, a professional archaeological survey company would be invited to investigate the site. Only if no ancient tombs were found could the work proceed smoothly.

Bowen Archaeological Survey Engineering Co., Ltd. had a decent reputation in Xi’an. They probably wouldn’t have helped the developers falsify anything.

Could someone have transported the soil here from somewhere else?

I pushed down the suspicion in my heart and turned to examine the lines of bloody writing.

One look, and I was even more shocked.