Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1908: Chapter 1811: Hydraulic Clock

Her eyes lit up. Su Qingqing stared at Huo Sining in surprise and curiosity. ”I get it, Ningning, has Professor Zhou already guessed what those two finale items are? Tell me, tell me, quick!”

Huo Sining had originally wanted to keep her in suspense for a bit, but Su Qingqing was just too hard to deal with. If she didn’t tell her, this girl could stare at her and nag nonstop, even if it made calluses grow on her ears.

Huo Sining thought for a moment and said, ”You should still remember the clue that Clayflo gave us yesterday, right?”

Su Qingqing nodded. ”Of course. She said the two finale items are both connected to the Changxin Palace Lantern and that Imperial Court painting by Lang Shining.”

Huo Sining asked with a smile, ”So, have you figured anything out?”

Su Qingqing shook her head.

”I’ve been thinking about that clue ever since I got back last night, but I still can’t figure it out. The Changxin Palace Lantern is from the Han Dynasty, and that court painting is from the Qing Dynasty. What on earth could be connected to both the Changxin Palace Lantern and a court painting at the same time? Something from the Emperor’s harem? Maybe some sort of phoenix seal or something?”

The corner of Huo Sining’s mouth twitched. ”Why did your mind go straight to the harem? Even if it were a phoenix seal, it wouldn’t be two of them.”

Su Qingqing scratched the back of her head and said awkwardly, ”Right, there are two pieces. I got influenced by that Imperial Jade Seal you mentioned. And the Changxin Palace Lantern was used by Empress Dowager Dou; in Lang Shining’s painting there seems to be Qianlong’s wife, so I figured it had something to do with the Empress.”

Huo Sining laughed. ”Strictly speaking, these two items really do have something to do with an Empress Dowager, but it’s not Qianlong’s wife, and it’s not Empress Dowager Dou—it’s Empress Dowager Cixi!”

Su Qingqing was stunned on the spot, her mind even more muddled. ”How did this suddenly drag Cixi in? I feel like my brain’s running out of RAM.”

”Why does it involve her? Because these two items were stolen by the allied forces while she was in power!” Huo Sining said, both heartsick and angry.

Anglo-French Alliance or Eight-Nation Alliance... Su Qingqing stared wide‑eyed at Huo Sining. The things looted during the invasions of Huaxia were countless; how was she supposed to know which specific ones?

Seeing Su Qingqing still completely at sea, Huo Sining couldn’t help prompting, ”Think again—what is the Changxin Palace Lantern cast from? And while Lang Shining was serving during Qianlong’s reign, aside from painting court paintings, what else did he do?”

Su Qingqing rummaged desperately through the pitifully small pile of historical facts about Lang Shining in her brain. Finally, after slaughtering countless brain cells, a light went on and she suddenly recalled something.

Bronze, Lang Shining, casting, designer—her eyes lit up and she exclaimed in surprise:

”Back when Qianlong was on the throne, he appointed Lang Shining, who held the rank of third-grade Imperial Court painter, to oversee the design, and had court artisans produce a set of Bronze Statues. Don’t tell me the finale antiques Clayflo was referring to are those?”

Seeing that Su Qingqing had finally caught on, Huo Sining couldn’t help letting out a sigh. ”I thought I was already slow on the uptake, and my master even scolded me for it. But your blockhead is even denser than mine. I really feel for Professor Xie, taking on a disciple like you. My condolences.”

Being despised like that by Huo Sining, Su Qingqing shot her a somewhat resentful look.

Li Jun and Yue Shuwen, on the other hand, were listening in a total fog. They were extremely indignant at this riddle‑trading between Huo Sining and Su Qingqing and protested together:

”Spit it out already—what Bronze Statues? What are you even talking about? What kind of Bronze Statues are so mysterious to you two?”

Huo Sining glanced at the two of them and said, ”It’s not that we’re being mysterious. It’s that this set of Bronze Statues is mysterious in itself, and occupies a very high position in the history of world collecting. During Qianlong’s flourishing age, the Qing Dynasty was powerful, its craftsmanship at a peak. Plus, the set was designed by Lang Shining, who’d been steeped in European art from a young age. So these Bronze Statues embody both a rich Huaxia traditional aesthetic and the features of Western sculptural art. Their level of craftsmanship can be said to be the highest manifestation of five thousand years of Huaxia cultural heritage.”

”Wait—”

The more Li Jun listened, the more familiar Huo Sining’s words sounded. His expression gradually changed. He raised his head, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Huo Sining and Su Qingqing growing stranger and stranger. He swallowed subconsciously and finally opened his mouth a bit hesitantly, not quite daring to believe it, and said dryly:

”You’re not talking about the Twelve Bronze Animal Heads, are you?”

Huo Sining gave Li Jun a half‑smile and shot back, ”What else?”

Even Su Qingqing unceremoniously mocked him. ”You’re even dumber than me. Besides this set of Bronze Statues, what else is linked to both the Changxin Palace Lantern and Lang Shining? Did Lang Shining design some other Bronze Statues? And the set also has to be something that was looted while Empress Dowager Cixi was in power. Other than the twelve zodiac animal heads, what else can you think of?”

Li Jun shook his head, but his eyes were still full of shock and doubt. ”But how could it be those? Didn’t they say there were two antiques? Could there have been a mistake?”

Huo Sining shook her head. ”No way. If Clayflo was telling the truth, then the thing he said I’d definitely be interested in could only be the Beast Head from that set, because that’s the one Huaxia antique I absolutely cannot turn down.”

The so‑called Twelve Bronze Animal Heads, also known as the Zodiac Animal Statues, are humanoid figures with beast heads. The zodiac figures have stone‑carved bodies dressed in robes. According to research, when the Zodiac Animal Statues were first successfully cast, they were arranged in a splayed formation on both sides of a pool in front of Haiyantang at Yuanmingyuan.

Haiyantang was the largest European‑style landscape in Yuanmingyuan. The main building faced west, with tiered fountain basins to either side of the entrance, and a large fountain pool at the foot of the steps. The twelve Beast Heads were arranged in a splayed formation on both sides of this pool.

Ancient Huaxia divided day and night into twelve double‑hours, and the Zodiac Animal Statues just happened to divide the day into twelve segments. Each Beast Head represented one double‑hour. When it was the hour of Zi, the Rat head statue would spout a jet of water; in the hour of Chou, the Ox head statue would spout water, and so on. Every double‑hour, the Beast Heads would take turns spraying water, earning them the nickname ”Hydraulic Clock.”

Not only that, at twelve noon, all twelve animal statues would spout water at once, creating an extremely spectacular scene in an instant.

The design was ingenious, and the material chosen for casting the Beast Heads was refined red copper from the Qing court, with a dark, rich surface and a golden luster within. Even after a hundred years they would not rust—truly a marvel.

But what fills people with regret and anguish is that during the invasion by the allied forces, when Yuanmingyuan was burned, the twelve Beast Head statues were lost overseas, their whereabouts unknown.