The Real Heiress Has an Appraisal System

When Gu Shengsheng asked this, the older man didn’t dare to say another word.

But the look in his eyes was clear enough. He had indeed dug up a tomb, he just didn’t know how to explain it.

He took a sip of tea to compose himself, then said, "It is a tomb, and I know it’s wrong. But we didn’t dig right into it. We just scraped away some dirt to see. The excavator had already dug there, so I took the chance to pick things up and stored them at the construction site."

"I was thinking... didn’t someone find treasure here before? I figured this might be something that person left behind, so I kept it."

Gu Shengsheng: "..."

’So my treasure-finding has set some kind of precedent, has it?’

She explained with a sigh, "That’s not how it works. What you did is different in nature from finding that treasure."

"That was digging for treasure. This is excavating an ancient tomb."

"Besides, these are all items passed down from ancient times. It looks like the tomb of a wealthy person, and things like that generally belong to the state. Copper Coins, gold, and silver aren’t a huge problem, but bronze-ware is a cultural relic—like the one you sent me a picture of tonight."

"If you possess that illegally, we could go to jail."

The man was so scared his legs nearly gave out. He stared at Gu Shengsheng in disbelief. "You’d have to go to jail, too?"

"Yes." Gu Shengsheng nodded. "We were about to conduct a transaction."

"It’ll be a huge problem if someone reports this. The best thing to do is go and explain everything tomorrow. We can plead ignorance. Nothing major has happened yet, so there’s still time to fix this."

He scrambled to his feet and threw on his jacket. "We can’t wait until tomorrow, let’s go now! There’s another guy, a coworker, I’ll call him to come over too. This is serious!"

"If I go to jail, won’t that ruin my daughters’ chances to study and take the civil service exams? I have three daughters!"

Gu Shengsheng nodded. "That’s right. But the offices aren’t open at night. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Oh, I’m so stupid! I had no idea this was against the law!"

"I even hid that cauldron... Oh my god!"

’It was a hot potato now, and he had no idea how to get rid of it.’

Gu Shengsheng said, "By the way, bring it out and let me take a look."

’First, I need to confirm something. If it’s also a cauldron from the Chu Country, then we’ll know it’s the tomb of a Chu noble.’

’From the picture on the phone, the shape looked a bit like the Four Sheep Square Vase, but it was too blurry to be sure.’

’If it really is the Four Sheep Square Vase, that would date it to the Shang Dynasty, which has little to do with the Chu Country. That would make things much more complicated.’

’But digging any deeper now is out of the question. I don’t have the authority for that.’

’For now, the most I can do is appraise this cauldron. That will save some time when Zhao Dehai gets here tomorrow.’

Just as Gu Shengsheng and the worker were carrying the cauldron out, the other worker rushed over in a panic.

He apologized profusely to Gu Shengsheng. "We didn’t understand how serious this was! We might have gotten you dragged into this by sending you that message about the cauldron!"

"It’s fine." Gu Shengsheng said with a smile. "In this line of work, you run into all sorts of things. I’m the one who bought that land, so if anything happens, I’m involved anyway. It’s better that we found out sooner rather than later."

As she spoke, she took out her trusty flashlight from her bag, along with her usual magnifying glass and a few other odds and ends.

One of the workers watched in amazement. "Miss, a bag like that would be perfect for us on the job site. It’s so small but holds so much."

Gu Shengsheng said, "I can send you the link for it. I’ve also got pliers, a wrench, a small hammer, and some saw blades in here..."

She pulled the items from her bag, rattling them off like a list of prized possessions.

Even the two workers, who used such tools regularly, felt Gu Shengsheng’s small bag was like a complete toolbox.

’This is incredible!’

By now, Gu Shengsheng had finished her examination and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t the Four Sheep Square Vase from the Shang Dynasty, but a Bronze Cauldron from the Chu Country.

The cauldron had an imposing presence. After she used a small brush to clear away the surface dust, its original color was revealed.

However, the Chu Country existed so long ago that the Bronze Cauldron was quite severely worn. Still, with some restoration, it would be a historically significant cultural relic.

After she finished her inspection, Gu Shengsheng said, "It’s more or less what I thought. It should be a Bronze Cauldron from the Chu Country. The tomb you found must be from that era."

"I can’t be sure of the specifics, but someone will come to investigate tomorrow."

One of the workers looked distraught. "At first, the excavator dug it up. We were just getting ready to start construction, and we just picked up a few coins we saw."

"We didn’t think much of it, but then someone said the coins could be sold for money. That got us interested, so we kept looking. Then we found that if we dug deeper, there was more stuff."

"We only just dug up this cauldron yesterday."

"When we saw someone coming to buy the land, we hid everything in that abandoned attic. We waited for you all to leave before we took it out again. We never imagined you were the one who was looking at the land."

Gu Shengsheng gave a wry smile. "What a coincidence."

’They had narrowly avoided jail time.’

’But it wasn’t time to be optimistic yet. Something unexpected could still happen tomorrow.’

Gu Shengsheng gave them repeated instructions. The two workers were honest men, and the next morning, they carried the cauldron back to the construction site.

When Gu Shengsheng arrived at the site, the Bean Juice Shop Owner greeted her, "Here to check on your land bright and early?"

"Treating it like such a treasure. I told you, it’s just a desolate patch nobody wants. It’s bustling with ghosts at night, and no one goes there during the day."

Gu Shengsheng just smiled and said, "I still want to take a look. I just bought it, and I like it."

With that, she hurried over.

The Bean Juice Shop Owner hadn’t said much more before he saw a handsome young man in a police uniform.

A team of people followed behind him, heading in the same direction Gu Shengsheng had just gone.

The Bean Juice Shop Owner was speechless.

’Could they be looking for Miss Gu? Her luck’s already turning bad! See, you shouldn’t just buy land next to a cemetery. Your so-called luck is bound to get a whole lot worse.’

And so, for years to come, the Bean Juice Shop Owner would spread this story. He’d tell anyone who would listen, and with each telling, the tale grew more and more outlandish...

But that is a story for another time.

——

Gu Shengsheng had just reached the building when she saw the two workers standing there.

They were facing a large pit.

Gu Shengsheng went closer and asked, "So this is where you dug it out from?"

The moment the words left her mouth, a gun was pointed at her neck!

She had never been in a situation like this before and was terrified. She became completely cooperative.

She said, "Officer, don’t do anything rash. Please, don’t. I’ll cooperate..."

Then, the young man leading the team flashed his badge. "We’re from the Cultural Relics Inspection Unit. We received a report that you’ve been illegally selling artifacts."

Just as Gu Shengsheng was about to patiently explain, the two workers became terrified...

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