Chapter 20: A Meeting Devoted to Jiang Chen

Captain Sun stepped out of the vehicle with a dark expression. After a preliminary look at the site, he too was stunned. There really was a proper ancient tomb down below.

When Sun looked his way, the director raised his right hand and swore, desperate to save himself. “Captain! This time we absolutely haven’t damaged anything! Neither have our contestants! They found it by accident. It wasn’t tomb robbing. Please be clear about that!”

Jiang Chen and his teammates stood nearby, suppressing their laughter. Captain Sun ignored the director’s excuses and called Professor Liu, who was at the airport preparing to board.

“Professor, we’ve found another tomb beneath the abandoned one. A tomb within a tomb.”

Professor Liu didn’t believe him. “Sun, don’t let that production team fool you. A tomb within a tomb isn’t so easy to find. Tell me what you’ve seen. What are its features? What do the objects look like?”

Sun was a SWAT officer, not an expert in archaeology. He hesitated. “There are bronze bottles inside. Different patterns. And pictures on the walls.”

Professor Liu sighed repeatedly. “Oh, those must be modern imitations. Leave it alone.”

Jiang Chen stepped forward and took the phone from Sun. Following the system’s annotations, he delivered a string of technical terms with complete seriousness.

“Hello, Professor Liu. The chamber has a typical Han-dynasty inverted-dipper vault. Around the main outer-coffin chamber is a *huangchang ticou* timber arrangement. The burial goods include numerous bronze *fang* vessels inlaid with gold and silver in cloud-and-thunder patterns, and crescent-shaped jade pendants with dragon heads at both ends. There are even fragments that may be from a jade burial suit sewn with gold wire. Combined with the local gazetteer, this must be the hidden main tomb of Huo Changfeng, the Western Han General Who Pacified the North.”

Professor Liu was stunned. “What?! Really?! You three must not damage the site any further! Absolutely no more digging! We’ll be right there!”

Then Jiang Chen heard him yelling at the other end. “Cancel the tickets! Quickly! Get a car back to the mountain!”

Jiang Chen calmly ended the call and handed the phone back to a bewildered Captain Sun.

Half an hour later, several SUVs sped up and braked hard at the foot of the hill. Professor Liu and a handful of students jumped out carrying professional survey equipment. Sweating and breathless, the professor demanded, “Where are the objects? Where’s the tomb?!”

Jiang Chen pointed at the deep hole. Without another word, Professor Liu snatched a flashlight and slid down the rope, his students following. Soon their excited cries rose from below.

“My god! It really is an ancient tomb! A major Han tomb!”

Professor Liu’s voice echoed through the underground space, full of undisguised delight. “Look at the murals! Flowing lines, vivid colors—typical early Western Han style! And the gold-and-silver inlay on these bronzes is exquisite! This jade disc is a masterpiece of the Han eight-cut carving technique! A historic miracle for Jiangzhou archaeology!”

Before long, his students helped him back up. Flushed with excitement, he went straight to Jiang Chen, his attitude transformed.

“Young man, how do you know so much? Your eye and judgment are sharper than those of doctoral students I’ve trained for ten years!”

He made Jiang Chen an offer on the spot. “Forget this reality show! Come work for our archaeological institute. We can offer a million yuan a year, a permanent staff position, and your own office as soon as you agree!”

Everyone was stunned again. A million a year and a permanent position! For a young man who had been unemployed only days before, it was a meteoric rise.

The livestream went wild.

【Popularity】+1 +1 +1 +1 +1

【The highest honor for a tomb robber: recruited by the national team!】

【Jiang Chen: I just wanted the show’s five-million prize. Professor Liu: Come work for me. You’ll earn it in five years and won’t have to sew uniforms in prison!】

【It’s a real-life version of the Liangshan Marsh outlaws being granted amnesty and recruited by the state!】

【The director’s crying in the bathroom. I paid you to film a show, and you’re holding a job fair?】

【A handmade bomb nearly landed him in jail, and now raiding a tomb gets him a permanent post. His life is a roller coaster!】

【The bar for tomb robbing is high these days. Without skills, you can’t even qualify for recruitment!】

Wang Qiang’s eyes reddened as he listened. Why did Jiang Chen get all the good luck? Unable to contain himself, he approached with the camera and a broad smile. “Professor Liu! What about me? I witnessed this major discovery too! I’ve filmed the whole thing. I have extensive experience recording excavations!”

Before he finished, the director rushed up, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and hauled him away. “Witness, my ass! Have you lost your mind? We’re lucky nothing went wrong. If they’d damaged anything down there, you’d be their number-one accomplice! You’d already be at the station writing a self-criticism, not asking for a permanent job!”

Wang Qiang tucked in his neck and fell silent.

The director felt as though he were on a roller coaster. Thankfully they’d arrived in time to stop things. Knowing Jiang Chen, the young man really would have kept digging and carried the national treasures out one by one!

Faced with Professor Liu’s tempting offer, Jiang Chen calmly shook his head. He knew nothing about proper archaeology; he relied entirely on the system’s prompts. If he joined the team, he’d be exposed within three days.

Before the cameras, he cleared his throat and spoke solemnly. “Professor Liu, I appreciate your kindness. But I’m used to freedom and couldn’t bear a nine-to-five schedule. Besides, protecting national cultural relics is everyone’s duty. These treasures left by our ancestors deserve to see the light of day and receive proper protection and study. I merely did what a concerned citizen and a son of China should do. The permanent position and high salary should go to the professionals who truly devote themselves to archaeology.”

The officers, archaeologists, and hundreds of thousands of viewers were struck by his apparent sense of duty. Professor Liu’s eyes reddened. He stepped forward, gripped Jiang Chen’s hands, and shook them twice.

“Wonderful! Well said! Young people with your principles, unmoved by fame and money, are rare. Once our excavation reaches a stopping point, I’ll personally represent the cultural heritage bureau and bring you the biggest commendation banner!”

The site needed immediate protection and more specialists to take over, so Jiang Chen and the production crew soon left the mountain.

That evening, Jiang Chen returned to the hotel arranged by the show. After crawling in and out of the hole all day, he was covered in dust. He enjoyed a hot shower, lay on the bed, and browsed his phone, pleased to see his popularity firmly in first place.

Meanwhile, on another floor of the hotel, the show’s senior staff held an emergency meeting:

“Emergency Discussion on Preventing Contestant Jiang Chen from Further Endangering Public Safety.”