Chapter 16: The Turkey Historian

“Tell me, what do you think is the reason behind the faded inscriptions on these stone tablets?” Xu Chen asked Professor Ding, unwilling to believe that they hadn’t studied this issue before.

Professor Ding, holding his camera, replied, “There are many reasons, and each tablet is different, but most of the fading is due to natural erosion.”

“Natural erosion?” Xu Chen looked down at the stone tablet and felt it wasn’t that simple. If these tablets could be so easily eroded by nature, why carve them at all? Why not just record the words in books? The very purpose of erecting stone tablets was to preserve the inscriptions for future generations to admire.

Moreover, Xu Chen noticed this particular stone tablet still bore fine polishing marks that hadn’t been worn away by natural erosion, let alone the deeper carved characters themselves.

“That can’t be right. If erosion were the cause, everything should be worn down evenly. Look at these markings here...”

After finishing his photos, Professor Ding pulled out a magnifying glass and, clearing his throat, called over one of his students. “Li Ze, I remember you’ve been studying corrosion causes recently. Explain it to him.”

“Alright,” Li Ze responded, and began explaining to Xu Chen.

At first, it sounded reasonable, but the more Xu Chen listened, the more uneasy he felt. The archaeological community generally believes that all artifacts may suffer from a special type of corrosion, caused by multiple factors acting together. The older the artifact, the more susceptible it is to such corrosion.

For example, this tablet might have been affected by moss corrosion, water erosion, wind erosion, and microbial corrosion all at once.

On the surface, it seemed plausible, but Xu Chen knew this wasn’t the case. In his original world, such special corrosion never occurred.

Their archaeology was akin to the science of turkeys on a farm.

Imagine a flock of turkeys, fed every day at eleven o’clock sharp. One turkey scientist observes this without exception for nearly a year and concludes that a great universal law exists: food always arrives at eleven every morning. On Thanksgiving Day, however, no food appears—only the farmer’s axe.

They might be packaging a result of unnatural intervention as a natural outcome, much like the turkey scientist’s invented law.

Had Xu Chen not witnessed the truth himself, he too would have concocted reasons to explain these unreasonable phenomena.

Afterwards, Xu Chen was somewhat dazed, his mind repeatedly searching for flaws in this special corrosion theory. Unexpectedly, the explanation was quite thorough, and at least, Xu Chen could find no loopholes.

The stone tablets at Taihao Mausoleum were a major discovery. Professor Ding was satisfied just finding the palace tablet. He knew that with only himself and his student, exploring every location was impossible, so he submitted a report.

After all, as the first discoverer, he held considerable influence in the project.

While waiting for reinforcements, Professor Ding guarded the precious palace tablet like a treasure, occasionally chuckling quietly.

“Professor, I’ve made a discovery here.”

Both Professor Ding and Xu Chen turned to look toward Ma Yuelong, who was waving something excitedly in the distance. Professor Ding cast a reluctant glance at the tablet, then beckoned Xu Chen, “Come on, let’s see what my student found, he sounds so excited.”

When Xu Chen arrived, Ma Yuelong was holding a Luoyang shovel in one hand, pulling Professor Ding to look at the ground.

There lay long strips of soil arranged side by side—Xu Chen recognized this as the soil brought up from deep underground by the Luoyang shovel. The last section was distinctly different in color and texture. Professor Ding poked it and found it was not as soft as the upper layers.

“This is compacted soil. There must be something man-made beneath!”

Compacted soil usually appears during human construction, such as tamped earth walls or roads, which are stronger and more durable.

Xu Chen recalled that Taihao Mausoleum was not just about stone tablets; it had several buildings. More importantly...

He glanced around and noticed many trees, including some ancient, vigorous ones near the mausoleum.

If they dug here, they could surely uncover the true location of Taihao Mausoleum.

Upon seeing this compacted soil, Professor Ding no longer cared about the tablet. He took off his jacket and covered the tablet, fearing the sunlight might damage it. Then, retrieving the Luoyang shovel bag, he began directing his students in digging, while personally joining the effort.

When the university’s backup team arrived, Professor Ding was thrilled to greet them with a freshly drawn sketch of the underground architectural layout.

Xu Chen’s mission was to verify the existence of Taihao Mausoleum, and soon after arriving, they found the palace tablet. Though they didn’t know whose tomb it was, Xu Chen was certain there were many more stone tablets underground that could unlock secrets.

In time, historians would not only learn which of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors was buried here but also obtain a wealth of historical materials, many tracing back to their origins. This would finally provide the information about the two characters “Taihao” that Grandpa Yang wanted him to find.

...

Xu Chen felt something was amiss and tilted his head thoughtfully.

Suddenly, some ideas clicked into place, and he called Professor Ding over.

Professor Ding approached cheerfully. After all, such a monumental discovery was thanks to Xu Chen, and the more he looked, the more satisfied he felt. Were it not for not having a daughter, he might have introduced her to Xu Chen.

“Xu Chen, what’s troubling you? Ask me anything; I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“It’s simple. Have you ever heard of Taihao?”

“Taihao?” Professor Ding scratched his head, thinking hard, then shook his head repeatedly.

For an archaeologist at the Taihao Mausoleum site, wracking his brain to recall if he’d ever heard of Taihao was truly hellish.

“No, I haven’t heard of it. What is Taihao?” Professor Ding finally gave up, disappointed that he couldn’t help Xu Chen.

Xu Chen was stunned. “You mean, you’ve never heard of Taihao? You’ve never even seen those two characters in your work?”

Professor Ding shook his head, then his eyes brightened. “Wait, show me how the characters are written. There are plenty of old colleagues here; I’ll ask around for you.”

Eager for answers, Xu Chen quickly typed the two characters on his phone and sent them over.

Professor Ding looked and muttered, “Tai, Hao... so these are the characters.”

Then he patted Xu Chen on the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll go ask now.”

Professor Ding was a man of action, and as the first discoverer of Taihao Mausoleum in theory, he was able to get answers after asking around. He even mobilized his students just to inquire about these two characters for Xu Chen.

In the end, Xu Chen got the answer he sought: no one knew the meaning of Taihao.

Xu Chen’s expression changed. He stared at the email from Grandpa Yang in his inbox.

If even historians didn’t know this name, then how did Grandpa Yang know? If the meaning of these two characters was untraceable, why did Grandpa Yang ask him to investigate their significance? What exactly did Grandpa Yang want him to do?