At 7:50 PM, many people were already waiting in a certain live broadcast program channel.

Those waiting here included history-related professionals, teachers and students, as well as interested members of the public. It was very lively.

As for why it was so lively, that had to start with an accidental discovery by several hiking enthusiasts a month ago.

Due to heavy rain erosion, they discovered a stone tablet and some burial items not far from their campsite. The hikers saw the characters on it and reported it. This quickly drew attention. People went to investigate and discovered it was a grand tomb from the Qing Dynasty, the feudal dynasty closest to the Republic.

Looking at the scale of the tomb, even if not royalty, a noble rank was certainly involved.

The tomb had already been partially exposed by rainwater erosion, so relevant personnel quickly entered the tomb chamber. What they found inside was surprising—there were actually no mechanisms here. It was very easy to enter. The burial items in the tomb were extremely abundant. At the same time, they discovered the tomb’s owner was actually Duke Dingfeng!

That Duke Dingfeng who had been adapted into television dramas countless times!

Whether from commoner woman to virtuous concubine, to mother of an empress dowager, or the experience of being ennobled for merit in cultivating improved varieties—looking across thousands of years of history, it could all be called legendary.

Her life had too many things worth excavating.

In the early period, Duke Dingfeng’s experiences appeared quite ordinary at first glance. Like many women of that era, due to circumstances she entered a prominent household as concubine, then routinely bore children. At most, her luck was somewhat better—she quickly gave birth to a pair of dragon-phoenix twins.

But could everything about her be attributed to childbearing?

Upon careful research, one quickly discovered that not long after Duke Dingfeng bore her children, she opened a shop managing flowers and plants, and those flowers and plants were all personally cultivated by her.

From this, one could see that she had been involved in cultivation for a very long time.

Whether ancient or modern, premium flowers and plants had always been sought after. Many were willing to spend fortunes on them. Therefore, Duke Dingfeng accumulated vast wealth in her early period. Combined with the primary wife being childless and the Lin family’s only son being born to her, even though her status was a rank lower as a concubine, her days were quite pleasant.

Whether film and television dramas focused on her “promotion journey” in the Lin family, her relationship with Lin Ruhai, or other aspects, there was one part that would never be absent—her later thick accumulation and thin release, being ennobled for merit.

How many people benefited from the improved varieties?

Countless.

This directly created the Qianlong prosperity.

Although there were reasons related to the court being clear at the time, the emperor being capable, and being relatively open to the outside world, her contributions likewise could not be ignored.

Therefore, countless subjects featured her as protagonist. People saw her in history books and during daily entertainment watching dramas. They were not unfamiliar with her. But when everyone first heard the news, along with their delight came a question.

“The Lin family’s lineage has not been severed. Isn’t Duke Dingfeng’s tomb at the Lin family ancestral grounds?”

“Right, so why is there another Duke Dingfeng tomb now?”

Because nothing had been announced yet, the program channel was now packed with people wanting to know the answer.

As time passed in the comments section, more and more people entered the channel. Everyone had already started chatting.

“Ten-minute countdown. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. Finally waiting for the live broadcast.”

“I’m still working overtime, secretly watching with earphones.”

“I’m in evening study hall, secretly watching +1”

“Hehe, I’ve already bathed and eaten, arranged fruits, snacks, and drinks, just waiting for the program to start.”

“This time is a rare day of family unity. From my grandfather down to my little sister, everyone’s waiting for the broadcast.”

“Pulling out a small stool, selling melon seeds and cola in the front row.”

“Want a bottle of Pepsi, thanks.”

“Pepsi? Traitor!”

…

At exactly 8 o’clock in the lively comments section, dense bullet comments covered the screen. Those wanting to watch the broadcast could see nothing but text.

Blocking the bullet comments, what appeared before everyone was a very typical live broadcast interview layout: a table, two stools, with two people sitting on them respectively.

One was Professor Lu from the history department wearing a Zhongshan suit. The other was the program host, Li Haochen, nicknamed Old Li by his fans.

Old Li: “Good evening everyone. Today we’ve invited Professor Lu from X University. I believe everyone is familiar with him, so I won’t introduce him much.”

Old Li continued: “Next, let’s quickly get to the point. A month ago, several hikers made an accidental discovery. We rushed to the mountains and entered a tomb chamber partially exposed by rainwater erosion.”

“Archaeological personnel quickly confirmed the tomb owner’s identity through a stone tablet at the tomb entrance. She is a quite legendary figure. Who exactly is this person? I’ll give a simple introduction, and everyone can guess.”

“The improved varieties she cultivated are still planted in some places today and are one of our hybrid parent stocks. That our granaries are now abundant—she has indispensable merit. Additionally, she was also a calligrapher and great painter. Unfortunately, few of her works remain. Currently, we can only see two pieces, both treasured in museums and must-see spots for museum visits.”

At this point, Old Li waved his hand and made a fist: “I believe everyone should know who I’m talking about, right?”

Bullet comments enlarged and bolded: “We know!!!”

“Yun Shuyao!”

“Duke Dingfeng!”

“Lady Yun whom I love!”

“My dear wife~”

“The one above, let me pour a basin of cold water to wake you up!”

Old Li looked at everyone’s comments and smiled: “Congratulations, everyone answered correctly. So the question is: Duke Dingfeng’s tomb is at the Lin family ancestral grounds in Gusu. Why is there another tomb chamber for her at an unnamed mountain slope some distance away?”

This was also what everyone wanted to know. Bullet comments were dense:

“Old Li, stop keeping us in suspense.”

“Speak quickly, speak quickly.”

“Can you release some videos or photos from inside the tomb? Want to see.”

“Can we see the burial items? Is it resplendently decorated in gold?”

“Why didn’t she have a joint burial with her husband? Could there be hidden secrets in the marital relationship?”

People had already been discussing this since confirming whose tomb chamber it was. Now the answer was finally about to be revealed.

Old Li smiled: “Everyone’s curious about the burial items inside, and I’m curious too. Come, let Professor Lu help us introduce them.”

Professor Lu took out an A3 printed diagram: “Everyone please look. This is the tomb chamber distribution map. This center area is Duke Dingfeng’s resting place. However, everyone can also see there’s no coffin platform here, only a stone bed. On the left and right sides, one is her wardrobe, the other is her study.”

Professor Lu didn’t look at the bullet comments. Without looking, he knew they were curious why. He continued speaking: “The absence of a coffin platform is easy to understand. Duke Dingfeng’s remains should be in the tomb chamber at the Lin family ancestral grounds. On this stone bed, there was nothing related to any corpse. But placed here was a complete set of Duke Dingfeng’s clothing and jewelry. Everyone please look, this is a high-definition image.”

Bullet comments: “Wow! These clothes—is that a golden threaded garment? So beautiful!”

“Although so much time has passed, these clothes are still so well-preserved, the colors still so vivid!”

“Look at that phoenix hairpin—too beautiful!”

“Kingfisher feather filigree phoenix hairpin—the phoenix feathers seem to still move!”

“Wait, this is a cenotaph?!”

Old Li: “The answer to this tomb chamber’s origin is carved on the back of the stone bed. Do you all want to guess?”

Netizens got anxious: “Are you making me hold a knife to my neck to force you? Speak quickly, speak quickly.”

Old Li didn’t keep them in suspense much: “This tomb chamber was arranged according to her dying wishes.”

Soon, everyone saw the carved characters on the back of the stone bed. After reading, everyone only felt they had even more questions in their heads.

Summarizing: before Duke Dingfeng passed away, she had already built this tomb chamber almost completely, then had her son take over and continue completion, treating this as her “villa.”

Netizens: “…”

Could it be that when tired of living at the Lin family ancestral grounds, she could come here to stay for a while and relax?

Old Li: “Her son fulfilled her dying wishes. However, some things should have been added at his own discretion.”

This referred to the wardrobe and study.

Everything dazzling in the wardrobe was all placed at this filial son’s own discretion. Perhaps he also didn’t understand why his mother would build a second tomb chamber, but he didn’t want to shortchange his mother. Thus, the scale here and the burial items were extremely abundant.

Professor Lu still spoke with full admiration: “The items in the tomb chamber are extremely well-preserved.”

This was a place that tomb raiders had never visited. The items inside, except for a few eroded by rainwater, were all preserved extremely well.

Because many of the burial items inside were stored in boxes.

Gold, silver, jewels, and porcelain were one thing. What delighted them most were the books in the study, also packed in specially treated oilcloth and boxes. When taken out, they were basically in perfect condition.

Professor Lu took out a volume: “Everyone look, this is one book. The books inside cover almost every aspect. Some are even rare editions where only fragmentary copies remain now. With these books, we can finally complete the fragmentary copies. From these books, everyone can also see that Duke Dingfeng was an erudite person.”

“And this volume is rather special—it’s a casual journal.”

The camera switched. This was photographed, scanned, and printed. The handwriting on it was very clear. Even those who didn’t understand calligraphy could see the excellence when looking at that script.

That paper material was also unknown—even in photographs, one could see it was different. It probably also had quite an origin.

A netizen asked: “Are there only photos? Where’s the original?”

Without the host or Professor Lu needing to answer, someone replied: “Without thinking, you know the original won’t be shown. It’s definitely being restored or treasured away.”

“Who’s treasuring it? The Lin family still has descendants. This belongs to their ancestors.”

“When confirming the tomb owner’s identity, wasn’t the Lin family already notified?”

An argument started in the bullet comments. Someone sent a large donation to suppress it: “Let’s not argue about ownership rights first. Now let’s continue to see what’s written in this casual journal. Aren’t you all curious?”

Of course they were curious. The bullet comments quieted down.

Professor Lu: “Everyone is quite familiar with the owner of this casual journal, because he’s also very famous—the Duke’s only son, and also a statesman, writer, and mathematician. Together with his wife Tang Wanxin, he left behind the ‘Nine Volumes of Calculation.’ Everyone definitely did some example problems from it in elementary school.”

Called a casual journal, it was like a modern diary.

Inside were all daily essays. This casual journal began when Duke Dingfeng’s son Lin Yu first left the capital to take up his post as county magistrate in the northwest.

From the weather at that time, what happened on the road, what foods were eaten, what customs and folk practices existed—all were written.

The content wasn’t the focus Professor Lu wanted to show everyone. But this casual journal recorded at the end that he had completed the tomb chamber, and left this casual journal here as an accompanying item. This was important evidence confirming the tomb owner’s identity.

Professor Lu: “After comparison by Lin family members, this is indeed written by Lin family ancestor Lin Yu.”

Then came a simple, rough overview of the items in the wardrobe.

There were many gold, silver, jewels, and quite a few exquisite porcelains.

Bullet comments: “Eye-opening, eye-opening.”

“From these items alone, one can see some of the splendor.”

“There can’t be anyone who hasn’t seen her portrait, right? Tsk tsk, that’s a great beauty not inferior to celebrities.”

“That painting with her husband—I’m totally shipping it. Simply a match made in heaven!”

“It just fully demonstrates Lady Nüwa’s casualness toward me, wuwuwu. There are so many beauties in the world, what would one more of me matter?”

“The Lin family produces beauties. Is there anyone who doesn’t know this?”

“The whole family has portraits passed down. When they were all still living and stood together, it definitely made even a humble dwelling shine brilliantly.”

Netizens posted bullet comments while watching Professor Lu’s introduction. Then came the storage rooms on both sides.

When Professor Lu spoke of these storage rooms, his tone even rose somewhat.

Next to the rear storage room door was also a row of colored terracotta figures. These were the servants Lin Yu arranged for his mother.

Terracotta figures were not rare, but the level of craftsmanship of the figures here still made people exclaim in wonder.

As for the items inside the storage rooms, those were even less common, because inside were various seeds.

Rice seeds, wheat seeds, and other miscellaneous grains—almost everything was there.

The largest quantities were still rice and wheat seeds.

Different varieties were all stored separately, with introductory explanations.

Looking at these distinctive burial items, netizens couldn’t help but laugh.

“No wonder Lin Yu arranged a wardrobe for Duke Dingfeng. If there wasn’t this wardrobe, it would really be too simple.”

“Look at this piling—quite crowded.”

“How could it not be crowded? That wardrobe was originally also a storage room.”

“Hahahahahaha.”

Then the netizens, laughing and laughing, were shocked. At the very end, there was an empty storage room. In the center was a pool built in a circular shape from pebbles. The pool had long since dried up. One could see black soil. But on this soil, there was actually a living pool of lotus flowers!

Professor Lu’s degree of emphasis on flowers and plants was not as high as for those cultural relics and books, so when speaking of this final pool of lotus flowers, his earlier excitement had calmed considerably: “Upon entering the tomb chamber, one could smell a fragrant but not cloying scent.”

“We consulted people. The variety has never been seen before. The petals are snow-white, crystal clear, with only irregular yet seemingly patterned pink-gold lines at the petal tips.”

He took out a tablet. Everyone could see through video that crystal-clear, noble and inviolable appearance of these lotus flowers.

Speaking and speaking, not only did Professor Lu have an admiring expression, but many people watching the video through the network couldn’t look away.

“Too beautiful!”

“Holy crap!”

“Beautiful! Too beautiful!”

“Without culture, one sentence ‘holy crap’ goes everywhere.”

“In a tomb chamber, how did these flowers grow? Is there a spring here? How can they still bloom when the pool has dried up?”

“How exactly did they grow? Mama, this is my dream flower.”

“Are there seeds? Once cultivated, I’ll buy them immediately!” Following this sentence was an enlarged, bolded, special-effects donation.

These lotus flowers blooming in the tomb chamber were already likely to arouse people’s interest, let alone that they looked this beautiful.

A netizen speculated: “Books say the flowers and plants Duke Dingfeng cultivated were very rare at the time. Some masterpieces were hard to obtain for a thousand gold. Could this also be a masterpiece she cultivated?”

At the same time, others thought of other aspects: “Such a villa has so many things already. Then at the Lin family ancestral grounds… tsk tsk.”

This topic invited wild speculation.

Old Li: “The items in this tomb chamber have all been signed over by agreement. After restoration, they will be placed in a museum invested in by the Lin family. At that time, everyone can go view them.”

As for the netizens’ speculation about the Lin family ancestral grounds, the Lin family knew about it. The old ancestor’s tomb chamber… was really very simple.

She was an unconventional person. Before this old ancestor passed away, she left clear dying wishes—she wanted cremation. At that time, ancestor Lin Yu incredulously inquired many times. She also didn’t want any burial items, which is why ancestor Lin Yu stuffed so many things into that “villa.”

Originally, these items would all have been placed in the tomb chamber at the Lin family ancestral grounds.

The Lin family lineage has continued to the present. Although they experienced much in between and nearly broke, ultimately they persevered. Now they have achievements in politics, literary circles, and considerable accomplishments in medicine.

But the Lin family was accustomed to keeping a low profile. There wasn’t much news about the Lin family online. This accidental discovery caused many people to focus attention on the Lin family.

When partial contents of a medicinal treatise were released, many medical field authorities came out to speak. Many people only then learned that Duke Dingfeng was also skilled in pharmacology. Her profound understanding of some medicinal herb properties surprised even modern people assisted by scientific instruments.

Some medicinal properties—people actually didn’t know about them.

No wonder the Lin family stood firm in the medical field. This was receiving ancestral merit!

Related discussion threads remained hot.

#On the Possibility of Someone Knowing the Clone Technique#

#A Life with Cheat Codes Needs No Explanation#

#I Don’t Believe It, the Halo Is Too Big, Lin Yu Also Knew Medicine, This Definitely Was Co-Written by Lin Yu#

These topics appeared for many famous people. Compared to ordinary people’s lives, these brilliant talents knew too much.

But afterward, everyone learned there was something even more miraculous.

Scientists took that lotus flower for testing and discovered a miraculous substance. This substance could not only enhance human immunity but also had special effects on many cancers, curing a cancer patient. At the same time, it could achieve the effect of extending lifespan!

This last heaven-defying function was accidentally leaked and originally would not have been directly made public.

When discovering the first two characteristics, many experts were already working on how to extract and manufacture this substance. But progress quickly stalled—it couldn’t be completely replicated. That meant it could only be extracted from the plant itself. Thus, the importance of those lotus seeds was self-evident.

If they could be cultivated, that would be the same.

Anyone with eyes could see the benefits involved. So some people wanted to take desperate risks. That’s how the accident happened. Everyone also learned of this jade lotus’s special nature.

Could cure cancer.

Could extend lifespan.

What kind of divine species was this?!

Everyone also recalled how previously, Lin family males all had short lifespans, but when it reached Lin Yu’s generation, he lived over eighty. Then afterward, Lin family descendants, as long as they didn’t experience accidents, basically reached the longevity of eighty or ninety.

Could it be that Duke Dingfeng had given her son this lotus flower to eat?

How did she cultivate this lotus flower?

Lin family members being asked: “…”

If we say we know nothing, will you believe us?

Don’t believe?

Fine, we have evidence.

Ancestor Lin Yu left a letter with records about this “villa’s” circumstances.

The “villa’s” address was chosen by the old ancestor. The main structure was also built when the old ancestor was still alive. The layout was the same. Moreover, she required that after completion it be sealed, and the address not be recorded either. So no one had ever gone to pay respects.

They knew such a place existed but didn’t know the specific location. Of course, they wouldn’t know there were such heaven-defying items inside.

The relevant inquiry personnel could only sigh regretfully.

Then they could only research slowly.

These lotus seeds wouldn’t sprout, but their vitality was beyond doubt. Moreover, although it couldn’t be completely replicated, simple replication to obtain partial functions was also great progress.

Later, people discovered this substance could also be extracted from some wild, aged medicinal materials. While it couldn’t cure cancer, making cancer stop and not continue worsening—this was also great progress.

*

The tumultuous events of later generations were naturally unknown to Yun Shuyao, who was still in a babbling state and working hard to absorb information about the new world.

The arrangement of that place was also a decision she made based on intuition at the time.

That tomb chamber was specially built for the lotus seeds she obtained in her later years.

She had arrived late then. The lotus flowers had already withered. There were only two lotus seeds. And this lotus flower was extremely rare. According to records, it was the only existence in that world. The effects were also precious. If she took all the lotus seeds away, they would disappear from that world. So she left one and planted it by the spirit spring.

To prevent interference, Yun Shuyao also set up a formation array around it. After her son helped her complete it, even if many people passed by there, they would subconsciously ignore it. This way, the lotus seeds could be given maximum time to grow.

This was also the only thing she could do at the time.

A thread of hope—she had once obtained it. And this lotus flower’s effects, for certain people, were also a thread of hope.