Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 465: Chapter 461 ”Love Rival

Song Leyin had been paying attention to Huo Sining ever since she entered the room, and when Huo Sining approached Ding Liang, she couldn’t help but whisper to Li Xuanbing beside her:

”Who’s that girl that Professor Ji Kun brought with him? She looks so young.”

”Probably just started college and wanted to tag along to gain some experience. She’s ninety percent likely a connection hire; you don’t need to bother with those types.”

”But Senior Brother Ding seems to be quite familiar with her.”

Song Leyin noticed a detail: as soon as Huo Sining entered the room, it was Ding Liang who first greeted her, and upon seeing Huo Sining, a smile actually appeared on the normally impassive face of Ding Liang.

This surprised Song Leyin, because in all the years she had known Ding Liang, this was the first time she had ever seen him smile.

”It’s just false politeness. How could Senior Brother Ding possibly be close with that kind of bean sprout? It must be the girl throwing herself at him!”

Li Xuanbing said this, but her eyes kept darting toward Huo Sining and Ding Liang, a flicker of envious light flashing in them.

Hearing the hostility Li Xuanbing harbored towards Huo Sining, Song Leyin quickly shut her mouth and didn’t bring up Huo Sining again. She subconsciously glanced over at Huo Sining, feeling a mix of shame and guilt.

If she hadn’t brought it up, Li Xuanbing might not have cared, but her words had stirred up trouble. Even if there was nothing between Huo Sining and Ding Liang, Li Xuanbing wouldn’t let Huo Sining off the hook now.

Seeing Li Xuanbing’s sullen face, Song Leyin couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Huo Sining.

Li Xuanbing’s crush on Ding Liang was no secret among their circle of peers; everyone was quite aware of it.

Li Xuanbing was also talented, and even Xie Daoyuan was quite satisfied with this girl. He had verbally teased the idea of matchmaking Ding Liang and Li Xuanbing. Unfortunately, the affection was unrequited; Ding Liang was very selective and simply had no interest in Li Xuanbing.

Li Xuanbing was obstinate. Once she fancied Ding Liang, no other man could catch her eye. She even declared that she would marry no one but Ding Liang, aggressively pursuing him and treating him as her possession.

Her possessiveness was extremely strong; any female who came close to Ding Liang would be tormented by her. Nine out of ten would be scared away, and the one left would be broken.

Even though the students weren’t allowed to enter the tombs directly, they still needed to assist with the work outside the tombs. The work in the following days wouldn’t be easy, and given Li Xuanbing’s vindictive nature, Song Leyin didn’t hesitate to suspect that Li Xuanbing would soon start causing problems for the ”connection hire.”

However, Song Leyin had no intention of warning Huo Sining. She disliked connection hires herself, and to those students who worked hard to study and accumulate archaeological experience and treasured every hard-earned opportunity, a connection hire was nothing but a rule-breaking disruptor.

The students looked down upon connection hires, but since these hires had strong background support, student were helpless against them and could only secretly throw stumbling blocks at these hires during work to vent their own feelings of injustice.

So if Li Xuanbing was going after Huo Sining, Song Leyin would be happy to just watch the drama unfold. Why would she intervene?

Huo Sining, on her end, had no idea that a mere greeting to Ding Liang had already garnered her a ”rival in love” and that trouble would soon follow.

If she had known that Ding Liang was a trouble magnet, with neurotic women sticking to him, she would not dare approach Senior Brother Ding even if she had ten times the courage!

”I heard from Captain Wu that there is a burial site not far from the ancient tomb?”

Regardless of the undercurrents among the trainees, Ji Kun and a few others had already reviewed the entire plan of the ancient tomb. Suddenly, Ji Kun thought of something, furrowed his brows, and asked.

Standing beside them, handling the handover was the director of the Taicheng Local Cultural Relics Research Institute. He initially thought he could leave once the handover was completed. But Ji Kun’s sudden question made him break into a sweat and nervously reply:

”Professor Ji, the burial site you mentioned is just behind this village, over the hill there.”

The director of postgraduate students’ statement immediately caught the attention of several professors. Xie Daoyuan’s expression turned grave, ”What’s going on?”

”That burial site was discovered before the liberation, but due to a lack of awareness for preserving cultural relics at the time, many items were stolen by tomb robbers and local residents.”

”When the archaeological team reached the burial site, many relics were already damaged by improper excavation from the tomb robbers, and most of the valuable items had been stolen, leaving behind few things of research value.”

Ji Kun nodded upon hearing this, while Xie Daoyuan was somewhat dissatisfied, ”Comrade, you are not diligent in your duties. You should have reported this proactively. Covering it up could cause serious problems. Can you afford the responsibility? Since there is research material on that burial site, you should have quickly collected it. It’s possible that this ancient tomb is related to the burial site!”

After a scolding, the institute director did not dare to retort. Even though he felt unjustified, he knew this matter was indeed serious. If something went wrong during the process, his career would probably come to an end.

After managing a few awkward laughs, the director hurried out to arrange for the delivery of materials to them.

They continued studying the materials until after three in the morning. Despite everyone’s exhaustion, no one dared to delay.

In the end, Xie Daoyuan thought it best to check out the ancient tomb and burial site in person, so everyone took a short rest in the prearranged plank dormitories for the workers.

Huo Sining and Song Leyin were assigned to the same dormitory. Since there was only a brief rest period, Huo Sining couldn’t afford to engage much with Song Leyin. She quickly washed up and lay down in her clothes to sleep. The next morning, the security team arranged for people to pick up the experts to the ancient tomb and burial site.

The location of the burial site was relatively secluded. The group arrived at the base of the mountain by car first, and after getting out, Xie Daoyuan couldn’t help but lament:

”Surrounded by mountains, with a river flowing at the foothill, there are wind-blocking layered mountains and air-gathering streams. No wonder there’s a burial site here; this is indeed a geomantic treasure spot as described in Kanyu!”

”If the weather is good here, you have blue skies, white clouds, green mountains, clear waters, and gentle breezes. The terrain and climate are simply perfect.”

The one responsible for leading the team to explore the burial site was a Kanyu researcher from the Taicheng Research Institute. Hearing Xie Daoyuan’s words, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly:

”It’s precisely because it’s too perfect that it attracts many tomb robbers. Although the holiday resort’s ancient tomb is not far from this burial site, it does not fit the geomantic standards. According to the demands of geomancy, the terrain and climate there are not suitable for constructing an ancient tomb, which is why it went unnoticed for so many years.”

Hearing this, Ji Kun laughed and said, ”If it weren’t like that, I’m afraid that the ancient tomb would have not been spared either; it would probably have been pilfered into a sieve by now.”