Chapter 2051: Chapter 1954: The Tsundere Master

After they returned to the hotel, Zhou Shitao gave a detailed analysis of the new findings they had gathered during their field investigation in Anmin Alley.

Based on the descriptions given by those old men, they found maps and related materials from before Fucheng’s early urban redevelopment, and reconstructed the terrain of the Anmin Alley area as it had been decades ago.

"This was a mountain. I checked—back then it was called Wushan. Calling it a mountain is an exaggeration; it was basically just a small earthen slope, not even a hundred meters high."

Zhou Shitao pointed at the restored topographic drawing and spoke.

"The character ’Wu’ here is interesting. Can we trace the origin of this name?"

Zhou Shitao froze for a second, then looked at Huo Sining with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "What, you think there’s an article to be written around this character?"

Huo Sining nodded. "I’ve looked up quite a lot of materials. In the paper I wrote for you earlier, there’s a passage you can take a look at. My conclusion is that the owner of this Han Tomb was a Princess from the Royal family who was sent to the southern realm for a political marriage. That’s why her tomb could reach such a scale."

"Yesterday I asked Su Qingqing to make a trip back to S University. She spent the whole day in the library, and she really did dig up something. In the Han Chronicles, she found a clue."

"The book does record a Princess who was once sent to the southern realm for a political marriage. It’s just that this Princess had a short life. After she arrived in the south, she couldn’t adjust to the climate and environment, and within a year she died in her prime. So the textual accounts of her in the historical records are extremely scant."

"However, I made an interesting discovery."

At this point, Huo Sining deliberately paused, keeping them in suspense.

Sure enough, once they heard this from Huo Sining, not only Zhou Shitao, but even Ji Kun and Gu Xu all raised their heads and looked over at her.

Huo Sining smiled, turned around, and took out her tablet. She quickly opened an email inbox and clicked on one of the messages.

"This is the email Su Qingqing sent me last night. It contains the photos she took of that section from the Han Chronicles. Take a look at this part."

Seeing this, Zhou Shitao put on his reading glasses and leaned in. After skimming a few lines, his expression changed dramatically. Beside him, Ji Kun’s expression also turned subtle.

Yue Shuwen and Wu Jun also looked at those photos, but what Su Qingqing had sent to Huo Sining were screenshots of passages from the text, and all those records were in classical Chinese. To them it was like reading through fog; they had no idea what was going on. Seeing the reactions of Zhou Shitao and Ji Kun, their curiosity grew even stronger:

"Professor Zhou, is there something wrong with this passage?"

Zhou Shitao shook his head. "There’s nothing wrong with the wording. What’s problematic is the title—this entry’s title in the Han Chronicles. This section describing the Princess’s political marriage to the southern realm comes from Chronicles of Witch Monarch."

"Is there something wrong with that title? Why can’t I see it?" Yue Shuwen was completely confused.

Huo Sining chuckled. "You’re not in our line of work, so you’re not that sensitive to these things. Only people engaged in archaeological research will be this nitpicky, never letting go of any clue, no matter how small."

"If I hadn’t just found what I did, I wouldn’t have sensed any problem when I saw this title either. But perhaps you forgot—just now my mentor said that in the Anmin Alley area there used to be a mountain, and it was called Wushan."

"So I speculate that the Princess who was sent to the southern realm very likely had the personal name or title ’Wu’, which is why this piece of text is titled Chronicles of Witch Monarch."

"After that Princess died, she was given a lavish burial in the Anmin Alley area. It’s highly possible that the ruler of the southern realm at the time, in order to show respect for this Princess, renamed the mountain beside the Princess’s Tomb as ’Wu’."

After Huo Sining’s explanation, Yue Shuwen finally managed—after all sorts of twists and turns—to straighten out the chain of reasoning. She couldn’t help widening her eyes and staring at Huo Sining in disbelief:

"You’re saying that this Wushan name came along with that Princess? But the ’Wu’ in ’Witch’ and the ’Wu’ in ’black’ are different characters. You can’t just lump them together, right? Aren’t you overthinking this?"

Huo Sining raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Many place names may not strike you as anything special when you hear them, but if you really trace them back to their roots, they might go all the way back to the Shang or even earlier. It’s just that after the changes of dynasties and eras, some toponyms also evolve—with shifts in pronunciation or written form, or through repeated mis-hearings and mis-writings—until they become something else entirely." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Yue Shuwen frowned. "So what you mean is that the mountain that used to stand where Anmin Alley is now was actually called Wushan—’Witch Mountain’—and that over thousands of years of oral transmission it was unconsciously altered, and ended up being called Wushan—’Black Mountain’?"

Huo Sining nodded. "Yes. It’s the only explanation, and also the most reasonable one."

Yue Shuwen still felt this explanation was far-fetched, and couldn’t help turning back to look at Zhou Shitao. "Professor Zhou, you think so too?"

Zhou Shitao smiled. "It’s not just that I think so. It’s that this explanation of Huo girl’s fits the logic of historical development very well. Besides, I’ve found something that may serve as supporting evidence for your argument."

Zhou Shitao opened a document on the computer. "This is a Fucheng newspaper from several decades ago. It contains a report about Wushan. In fact, in ancient times, Wushan was indeed called Wushan—’Witch Mountain’. But for some unknown reason, that mountain later grew thick with ’wu grass’ all over its slopes. Wu grass can be used as medicine, so the mountain gradually became famous. Many villagers came here to gather herbs. Over time, ’Witch Mountain’ was distorted through folk usage and came to be called ’Black Mountain’ instead."

After hearing this cause, Huo Sining also found it both funny and exasperating. "That really is quite an Oolong."

With this corroboration, Zhou Shitao became as excited as if he’d just gotten a shot of adrenaline.

Earlier he’d still had doubts about whether Huo Sining’s inference was accurate, but now they first had those Han Dynasty Pottery Jars as physical evidence, and now they also had the character ’Wushan’ as textual corroboration. Zhou Shitao now had confidence; he knew this matter was basically nailed down. It really did seem, just as Huo Sining had deduced, that the Anmin Alley area should be where the Han Tomb is located.

It’s just that the area was now full of high-rise buildings and concrete roads, with no intact natural terrain visible. It was simply impossible to survey the entire ancient tomb clearly.

If they couldn’t figure out the exact location and scope of the Han Tomb, they couldn’t break ground. They couldn’t possibly tear down all the buildings in and around Anmin Alley, could they?

Feeling the situation grow tricky, Zhou Shitao instinctively turned to look at Huo Sining. "Huo girl, will your Dragon Vein Seeking and Acupoint Technique still work its usual miracles this time?"

Huo Sining almost laughed out loud. Her mentor really had an overblown sense of dignity. When he couldn’t solve something himself and needed her help, he still couldn’t just ask properly—he had to say it in this tsundere, roundabout way.