**Chapter 64: First Descent into the Tomb – An Eye-Opener**
Wu Tingxiu smiled faintly. "Since you consider me a friend, you don’t have to keep calling me ‘Boss Wu’ all the time."
I frowned. "Then what should I call you?"
"Whatever you like."
*Whatever I like?*
I thought for a moment. "Then I’ll just stick with ‘Boss Wu’..."
Wu Tingxiu chuckled. "I’m older than you. You could call me *jie* (elder sister)."
*Another ‘jie’?*
First, there was Ying-jie. Now, a Wu-jie?
After some hesitation, I said, "If you don’t mind, I’ll just call you Xiao Wu... Calling you ‘jie’ feels weird—like you’re taking advantage of me."
Wu Tingxiu pressed her lips together, looking amused and resigned.
---
Early the next morning, we set out again. By noon, Bai Hanyan suddenly exclaimed that she’d found the spot.
I glanced around, unimpressed. The feng shui here didn’t seem particularly auspicious—why would there be an ancient tomb?
Wu Tingxiu, however, seemed to trust Bai Hanyan implicitly. Without hesitation, she ordered her two men to get to work.
Song Bing pulled out a Luoyang shovel, drove it into the ground between his feet, and began twisting it downward with practiced ease. The motion was fluid, no wasted effort.
Soon, he had connected several extension rods, sinking the shovel nearly nine meters deep.
*"Boss Wu, we’ve got something!"* Song Bing called out.
Wu Tingxiu walked over, scooped up a handful of the excavated soil, and sniffed it. "Tiger, take a whiff."
Guan Hu did the same and nodded. "This is the place."
Wu Tingxiu gave the order: "Start digging."
Without delay, Song Bing and Guan Hu stripped off their shirts and got to work, bare-chested.
Wang Yang and I watched from a distance. I nudged him. "Should we help?"
He scoffed. "Help with what? Stay out of their way. You’re here to appraise artifacts, not dig graves. Don’t meddle."
Fair point.
Song Bing and Guan Hu were machines—barely pausing as the pit grew deeper. Soon, they vanished from sight, only the occasional clump of dirt flying out to mark their progress.
When they finally climbed out, I noticed Wu Tingxiu sketching something on a small drawing board.
*"What’s she doing?"* I asked Wang Yang.
*"Mapping the tomb layout based on the probe holes,"* he explained. *"Ancient tomb structures follow similar patterns. Once you pinpoint one section, you can estimate the rest."*
I knew antiques, but tombs? Completely out of my depth.
*"Most tombs around Yuncheng date back to the early Six Dynasties period,"* Wang Yang mused, half to himself. *"Wonder what she’s after?"*
*"How do you know about the Six Dynasties tombs here?"* I asked.
He shot me a puzzled look. *"You don’t know Yuncheng’s history during the Shu Han and Western Jin eras?"*
Ah, right.
During the Shu Han and Western Jin periods, Yuncheng had been a hotbed of rebellions but maintained close ties with the central government. By the late Western Jin, those ties had frayed—especially as the central government descended into chaos.
When the Eastern Jin established its capital in Jiankang, Yuncheng drifted further away, rapidly assimilating into minority cultures. By the Six Dynasties, it had become a minority stronghold—explaining the lack of later tombs here.
Wang Yang, seeing my realization, added, *"But judging by the feng shui, this should be a relocated burial..."*
Before I could ask how he knew, he stood and headed toward the pit.
I followed and found Song Bing and Guan Hu had already cleared a descending staircase.
Song Bing didn’t rush in. Instead, he climbed out and reported to Wu Tingxiu, *"We can enter in a few hours."*
She nodded. *"Everyone, rest up. Prepare your gear."*
I turned to Wang Yang. *"Why wait if the entrance is already open? Some kind of rule?"*
*"They’re airing out the toxic gases,"* he said. *"Tombs this old are full of foul air. Go down too soon, and you’ll keel over."*
Makes sense.
---
By nightfall, Song Bing added water to a carbide lamp, lit it, and jumped into the pit.
Within minutes, his voice echoed up: *"Self-locking stone! Tiger, bring the L-shaped key!"*
I knew about self-locking stones—a common tomb security mechanism. Essentially, a stone pillar with a groove at the base, making it nearly impossible to open from the outside.
*Nearly* impossible—unless you had an L-shaped key. Slip it through the door crack, hook the stone, and push gently to lift it.
I’d read about it in one of my grandfather’s old books.
The fact that they’d even brought an L-shaped key? As Wang Yang put it: *"Professional."*
Half an hour later, a loud *thud* echoed from below, followed by a cloud of dust.
Guan Hu emerged, covered in grime. *"Boss Wu, the door’s open."*
Wu Tingxiu turned to us. *"Let’s go down."*
Carbide lamps in hand, we followed her into the pit. Guan Hu stayed behind—apparently on guard duty.
Bai Hanyan, who hadn’t spoken to me since yesterday, seemed content to ignore me. Fine by me.
The staircase led us to the underground chamber. The stone door lay toppled—clearly the source of the earlier noise.
The tomb was shaped like a blade (*dao*), with an unusual arched ceiling. Wang Yang identified it as a *siyuquanjin* vault, popular during the Western Jin dynasty.
*"So this is a Western Jin tomb?"* I asked.
*"Likely. And judging by the structure, it’s high-status—maybe even nobility."*
Along the walls were niches shaped like the character "凸," housing eternal lamps. Below them, lattice-patterned windows and decorative brickwork adorned the chamber.
Though no tomb expert, I recognized the artifacts instantly.
Remarkably, the tomb was pristine—completely undisturbed.
As I studied the walls, Wang Yang approached the central coffin platform—and froze.
*"Where’s the coffin?"***