Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 983: Chapter 979: Bird Script

Ji Kun was taken aback: ”Mr. Huang, didn’t you say you were in a hurry to go back to the museum?”

The old man looked perfectly natural: ”With treasures to see, why go back to the museum! Your little junior sister is quite capable; if she really gets hold of something good, I can’t miss the chance to take advantage of proximity!”

Ji Kun couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his mouth. He then remembered that Director Huang was indeed the kind of person who would trace feathers from a passing goose. Several things that his little junior sister had found were borrowed by the person in front of him for exhibition at the museum.

Seeing his little junior sister rush off, Ji Kun also felt a bit itchy inside. Initially, he was supposed to accompany Director Huang back to the museum, but now neither of them was in a hurry, so they turned around and headed back to Zhou Shitao’s study.

Huo Sining greeted Ji Kun hastily and then charged straight into Zhou Shitao’s study with her cloth bundle in hand.

Zhou Shitao was writing. The black rosewood desk was carved with the pattern of two dragons playing with a pearl. Zhou Shitao was standing in front of the desk, holding a brush with fine fur, focused and calm. The ink characters on the rice paper showed his skill, vigorous and forceful.

Huo Sining stood at the door, not daring to make a sound. The art of calligraphy is valuable in its continuity; if interrupted midway, the intended mood is lost, and the written characters would lack fluidity.

Zhou Shitao had long noticed Huo Sining but continued writing, only turning his head after finishing the last character. He then smiled at Huo Sining: ”Everyone is here, why stand at the door instead of coming in?”

Seeing him like this, she seemed to have disturbed Zhou Shitao’s elegant mood. Huo Sining felt a bit embarrassed and slowly walked in, craning her neck to look at the desk. On the desk was a four-foot-long horizontal scroll with four large and vigorous characters: ”Longevity and Benevolence in the World.”

Seeing these four characters, Huo Sining couldn’t help but freeze.

These characters describe the spread of benevolence like the wind, traditionally used to praise the virtuous governance of emperors or local officials, implying a stable society and benevolent governance, benefiting the people.

So these words are meant to praise others, definitely not to caution oneself. Given Zhou Shitao’s humble and modest personality, he would never write such boastful words for himself.

There could only be one possibility: this piece was written for someone else by Zhou Shitao.

This was exactly what puzzled Huo Sining. As far as she knew, although her master never stopped creating calligraphy and paintings over the years, his ink treasures had not been shared publicly for over a decade. Even if people pleaded with high regard, Zhou Shitao strictly refused.

But the evidence was clear; Huo Sining was sure that this piece was definitely for someone else—it was just unclear for whom.

”Weren’t you saying you were leaving? What brings you here again, so leisured?” Zhou Shitao glanced at Huo Sining, not bothering to put away the piece, and asked casually.

Only then did Huo Sining remember why she was here. She quickly lifted the item she was holding, swiftly unwrapped the cloth, and carefully placed the sword on Zhou Shitao’s desk.

Zhou Shitao, still holding his brush, was immediately intrigued when he saw what Huo Sining took out. He tossed the brush aside, fetched a pair of thick fur gloves from the drawer, put them on, and began to carefully examine the sword.

Zhou Shitao had only looked at it for a few moments when Ji Kun and Huang Zhenlong returned. Upon entering and seeing Zhou Shitao holding a precious sword, Huang Zhenlong was visibly shaken and quickly stepped up, trying to snatch the item from Zhou Shitao’s hands with quick reflexes.

”Stop!” Huo Sining was startled by the old man’s rash action, hurriedly grabbed his arm to stop him, and broke into a cold sweat. ”Sir, blades and swords are dangerous, better to be cautious!”

No one else knew, but she was well aware of how sharp the blade was. It could cut through hair mid-air and slice iron like mud. The name Longquan Sword wasn’t given in vain!

The old man hadn’t given it much thought before. Zhou Shitao suddenly exclaimed, laughed heartily, and shouted: ”Qixing Longyuan, haha, a fine piece, this gold inlaid script uses bird script. This thing, an ordinary craftsman can’t imitate; only a master craftsman can create it. It’s definitely the work of Ouyezi!”

Huo Sining was momentarily stunned: ”Bird script? Isn’t it large seal script?”

Zhou Shitao shook his head: ”Large seal script only became popular during the Western Zhou period. Bird script is a variant of pre-Qin seal script, also known as bird-worm script or bird-worm seal. It’s a special artistic font in bronze inscriptions, popular in the late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period in the southern states such as Wu, Yue, Chu, Cai, Xu, and Song. It often appears in gold inlay form, noble and splendid, with decorative effects, unpredictable and quite difficult to recognize.”

Feeling slightly awkward, Huo Sining instinctively scratched the back of her head.

She didn’t know what bird script was and thought the two characters on the sword were in large seal script. Fortunately, the ”Longyuan” characters in bird script and large seal script were similar, so she recognized them at a glance; otherwise, she would never have imagined any association between this sword and the Ten Famous Swords.

Fearing to make a fool of herself again, Huo Sining kept silent. Zhou Shitao held the sword, studied it intently, and explained while looking at it. After stating four or five pieces of evidence, confirming that the sword was indeed the legendary Longquan Sword, Ji Kun and Huang Zhenlong couldn’t help but swallow nervously.

From the moment he saw the sword, Huang Zhenlong couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. Now that Zhou Shitao had finished his show-and-tell, Huang Zhenlong couldn’t hold back any longer and yelled at Zhou Shitao:

”Elder Zhou, hurry up, let me have a look too. I’ve lived all my life, halfway into the grave, and I’ve never seen what a real sword from the Ten Famous Swords looks like!”

Zhou Shitao gave Huang Zhenlong a sidelong glance, snorted, and said: ”Weren’t you leaving? Why are you back again? What are you scheming, old guy? Do you think I can’t see it? You want to use the Forbidden City’s name to get my apprentice’s treasure to your museum, right?”

Caught red-handed by Zhou Shitao, a trace of embarrassment and guilt flashed in Huang Zhenlong’s eyes. However, he quickly recovered, brazenly putting on an indifferent face:

”So what if I do? I wasn’t borrowing from you; I was asking Huo girl. It’s up to her to say yes or no. You’re just her master; aren’t you being overly concerned?”

Listening to the two elders bicker, Huo Sining found herself confused, unable to grasp their situation.

Zhou Shitao wanted to retort a few more words against Huang Zhenlong, but seeing Huo Sining’s puzzled expression, he laughed and said to her:

”You don’t know him yet, do you? Let me introduce you. This shameless old guy is the director of the museum who borrowed your enamel ware and Cizhou Kiln Porcelain Pillow and wouldn’t return them!”