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墨書 Inktalez
Marquis had once advised me that during his absence, if there were any signs of the Sang Family in the city, I must inform you so that you could be mentally prepared.
I understood.
Qi Shuo then asked for instructions, saying he was about to head to the entrance of the tomb chamber. Would the lady prefer to return to her room to rest or accompany him to investigate?
"Let's go take a look," I replied. "The Royal Tomb is a rare sight."
When the three of us arrived, the people from The Office of Censors were cleaning up excrement. Upon seeing Qi Shuo approach, one of them came forward holding a cloth containing some milky, irregularly shaped large particles.
"What is this?" Qi Shuo inquired.
"They are small animal bones, too fragmented to identify accurately," came the reply. "However, considering they are mixed in with the Crowd of Crows' droppings and recalling the traces of rodents along the way, it’s likely these are bones that crows couldn't digest after eating mice."
"Crows eat mice?" Qi Shuo asked again.
His subordinate responded, "When food is abundant, crows will eat readily available food, primarily insects, but they also consume rotten flesh and grains. However, it is winter now, and food has drastically decreased, so they will eat whatever they find."
Since this might be related to the Crowd of Crows, Qi Shuo instructed them to continue searching for traces of the rodent population.
The droppings had been cleared from this area, and on the sparse yellow earth with scattered grass roots, at first glance, it was indeed hard to see where the entrance was located.
Qi Shuo methodically stepped around and soon found the entrance. A thick cover was lifted, releasing a wave of earthy odor.
Qi Shuo stared at the heavy lid; according to Shopping, it had fallen down. His words did not indicate any action of lifting it. Judging by his demeanor, he seemed truthful; this meant someone else had opened it and intentionally lured him inside.
Sang Qingxiao urged him not to analyze too much and to hurry inside for a look.
A subordinate from The Office of Censors entered first to scout ahead. After some time, he reported back that everything was safe.
Only then did Qi Shuo lead Sang Qingxiao and Huo Qi down into the tomb passageway.
The passage was lit by torches carried by those who entered before us; it wasn't overly bright but sufficient to see the path clearly.
The tomb passage was narrow enough for only three people to walk side by side. The walls were covered with a thin layer of stone bricks; due to environmental factors and years without maintenance, many had fallen away, exposing the earthen layers beneath and giving it a particularly shabby appearance.
There were some carvings on the walls that could be roughly understood, accompanied by inscriptions that Sang Qingxiao could not decipher.
As we suspected, this was a tomb from a previous dynasty, Qi Shuo interpreted. Before the Great Jing Dynasty was the Langyue Kingdom, which was not strong and was suppressed by several neighboring countries, nearly surrendering as a vassal state.
At the time of our Great Ancestor's uprising, its territory was less than one-fifth of what it is now.
The Langyue Kingdom actually started off well but suffered due to its descendants' incompetence; they feared pain and would easily back down after being struck a few times. They managed to maintain seven dynasties by ceding land and selling territory.
Recalling the character "Qin" inscribed on that jade pendant, it likely referred to Qin Xiaoxiao, the favored consort of Ming Mo Emperor, the penultimate monarch of Langyue Kingdom.
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