The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 144: You want to steal my grandma's collection? Get out!
what?
Can you give me this dressing box - or even sell it to me?
Shen Le didn't have time to answer. Seeing that the old lady looked tired, he pointed to the empty water cup in front of him and quickly jumped up.

She poured water and brought fruit biscuits to the old lady, and the only thing left was to give the senior professor a shoulder massage and back massage.

After serving the boss a drink of water, eating half an apple and a few biscuits, Shen Le respectfully sat back in front of the old professor. Facing her probing gaze, he respectfully replied:

"Of course it's the black lacquer mother-of-pearl one! It and this wooden comb are obviously from the same set!"

“That…”

The old lady smiled even more happily. Of the three dressing boxes, the most distinctive one was the seven-piece official leather box;
In terms of preciousness, the one made of rosewood is the most valuable;

The one with black lacquer and mother-of-pearl is not expensive, but most of the parts are damaged. If it is sold directly without repair, it will probably be the one with the lowest price.

However, the child in front of him stared at it without hesitation.

Combining the repaired comb with the other combs and boxes that the child had just acquired and had not yet started repairing, it was obvious that the child really wanted to repair them one by one with his own hands.

so good……

Is he a child who really likes craftsmanship and the cultural relics restoration industry?

The old lady looked at Shen Le with increasing satisfaction. However, after a long while, she shook her head gently:

"That can't be given to you right now. Your skills are not enough to repair this big guy for now."

She raised her hand, and Shen Le quickly stood up, helped her to stand up, and supported her to the collection room. The old lady gently stroked the dressing box in front of her, her voice full of emotion:

"This box has been with me for many years...Xiao Shen, let me ask you, what era is this dressing box from?"

Shen Le was confident about this question. He took out three porcelain boxes from his bag and laid them out in a row:

"I got these three porcelain boxes together with the wooden comb, which is in the same style as the dressing box. It is obvious that they are components of a dressing box set.

There are the words "Made in the Guangxu Period" on the bottom of the porcelain box. I visited the porcelain kilns that fired them in Jingdezhen and even found the firing records, which showed that it was made in the late Guangxu period.

The decoration on the dress box is very obvious, and it was part of a woman's dowry, so there is reason to believe that this dress box was made in the late Guangxu period, but not in the Xuantong period.

The old lady listened quietly and nodded with satisfaction. She was only surprised when she heard "the porcelain kiln was found". After Shen Le finished speaking, she asked the second question without pausing:

"Let's not talk about porcelain or anything like that. What kind of craftsmanship was used to make this dressing box?"

Shen Le couldn't be more accustomed to being caught and questioned by the professor.

He did not answer, but took back the porcelain box, leaned forward slightly, and stared at the dressing box carefully, then turned his head to look at the broken part of the box lid. After a while, he turned his head to ask:

"Teacher Lin, can I use a magnifying glass?"

"Can you see clearly? Do you need a microscope?"

Professor Lin's face wrinkled as he smiled. Shen Le's face instantly fell:

"Teacher Lin, you must be kidding... Even if I had a microscope, I can't take a sample now!"

He took out a magnifying glass from his backpack and came closer to observe it carefully. The old lady let him observe it repeatedly without interrupting him, and even raised her hand to open the cabinet door and drawer, indicating that he could look at it freely.

After a long time, Shen Le finished his observation and returned to the old lady to report:
"This dressing box uses many kinds of crafts. The top of the dressing box is inlaid with bats, peaches and ruyi patterns using gold and silver flat-peeling techniques, which means 'happiness, longevity and good fortune';
The four walls are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, inlaid with pictures of children playing and a hundred children, and even a poem "Taoyao" is inlaid on the back. Mother-of-pearl is usually inlaid with patterns, and words are very rare and valuable;
The inner wall of the double doors of the dressing box is painted with gold, depicting landscapes, pavilions and figures.
The small box inside the dressing table is inlaid with black lacquer and various precious stones, with flowers of the four seasons and flying butterflies, implying "eternity".
The two small doors carved inside the dressing table and the relief and openwork craftsmanship on the mirror stand are also very distinctive.

Simply put, this is a show of skill by carpenters and painters..."

He racked his brains and reported it in great detail, more carefully than answering questions in an exam and more nervous than defending a master's thesis.

After answering, the old lady still stared at him with a smile. She remained silent, looking satisfied, but perhaps not quite satisfied.

Generally speaking, when the instructor stares at you like this, it means that you didn't answer correctly or missed an answer, and the instructor is giving you a chance...

Shen Le felt like a thorn in his side. After thinking about it again and again, he still couldn't come up with anything new:
"That's all I can see..."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing."

"Really? Are you sure you have answered all the questions, and that you didn't make any mistakes or remember anything wrong?"

"Really no more..."

Teacher Lin, why are you like our tutor and likes to test us in this way?
No, judging from the order of inheritance, our mentor’s bad taste should have been learned from you!!!

"Well, gold and silver, mother-of-pearl, gold-painted, inlaid with precious stones, carved in relief, and embossed." The old lady counted them on her fingers, one by one:

"How much of these techniques do you know? If I give it to you to repair, are you sure you can do it well?"

Shen Le really couldn't guarantee it. The old lady waved her hand leisurely:
"Go ahead, go ahead. Go prove that you have the skills, be prepared to repair it, and then come back to me, understand?"

"Then... Teacher Lin, to what extent should I go?"

"It's up to you~~~"

Shen Le was completely kicked out of the old man's house. He came with nothing in his hands - or rather, he did bring something, as he took away the garbage for the old man so that he wouldn't have to go downstairs again.

Apart from that, there are only a few dozen photos in the phone and an extra contact on WeChat to tell the harvest of this visit. As for this proof...

"So, how are you going to prove it?"

In the evening, Shen Le sat at the dinner table of his mentor's house, holding his mentor's rice bowl, listening to his mentor's questions. After two hours, he already had a draft in mind, and he answered fluently:
"Just write it according to the application form before the restoration of the cultural relic... The damaged state of the cultural relic, the production process of the cultural relic, the materials used, and the methods and materials for the restoration. There is a format for this..."

The instructor was relieved when he heard the first sentence. Restoring cultural relics in museums is not something that can be done just by whim.

You need to file a report and an application first. To be more precise, you need to apply to conduct research on this cultural relic:
Its age, its material, its economic and social value, its general state of damage, whether it is worth repairing...

Only after the report is submitted and approved can the project be established and some in-depth research can be carried out, such as taking samples and conducting various materials research;

Even if we take a step back, research requires research funding. Without a project, there is no research funding. Without research funding, experiments cannot be conducted. Without experiments, papers cannot be published.

Surface observation, sampling research, and non-destructive research often take several months or even half a year.

Then, write the research results into a report, report to the higher authorities, and apply for project completion. After the project is completed, apply for the next stage of the project to restore the cultural relic...

A cultural relic restorer must have skills and be able to write applications. If you can't write reports, you won't get research institute projects, museum projects, or national natural science projects, and you'll never be promoted in your life!
As a graduate student, Shen Le was able to write papers and reports instinctively, and he didn't even need to look for a different format. The only problem was...

"Teacher, can you lend me the equipment in the laboratory?"

Shen Le asked sincerely. Without instruments, he couldn't do experiments and couldn't analyze the material of the objects.

Without a lab report, there is no way to carry out targeted repairs...

"Are you kidding me?!"

The instructor is depressed. You are not a newbie who knows nothing. You were once a student of this school, and you also know the rules of the laboratory of this school.

Can anyone enter just like that?!
Even students of this school or this major have to write reports, apply, and queue up!
Who uses which machine, and from what time of day to what time, all require prior application and approval. As an off-campus graduate, you are not even eligible to apply!

"Teacher, I'm not looking for a backdoor." Shen Le's face darkened instantly. Am I such an ignorant person?
Would I make such a request casually?

"Teacher, I just want to ask, what are the requirements for non-school personnel to use the school's laboratories?
I seem to remember that sometimes people from other schools or research institutes would come to borrow our equipment..."

"Ah... yes, there is." Seeing Shen Le bring this up, the instructor relaxed a little.

Every school and research institute is always rich or poor. It is impossible for all instruments to be complete, and it is also impossible for all instruments to be the latest models of the year.

Therefore, it is common for people to borrow instruments from each other and conduct experiments in other laboratories.

I use your new machine, you use my old machine, I use it for an hour, you use it for 10 hours...

However, there is a basic threshold for this kind of borrowing, that is, everyone is within the system, in the academic circle, schools, research institutes and so on.

People outside the system, private companies, private researchers, etc., want to borrow university laboratories?

“Do you have a unit now?”

Sure enough, the instructor asked this question right away. Shen Le shrugged and spread his hands:

"I should be able to get a letter of introduction, or find a company to help me coordinate something..."

At worst, just go to the special affairs department!

As non-staff members, we should pay our contribution points and ask them to coordinate and borrow the laboratory. They should be able to do it!
Anyway, we don't have to use the school's laboratory, as long as the equipment he specifies is fine...

"Oh, it would be much better if we can coordinate in the name of the unit." The instructor was obviously relieved:
"In that case, let me tell you about the borrowing process..."

The Special Affairs Department was indeed powerful enough. Shen Le went to Gu Yulin to prove the capabilities of the cosmetics boxes and proved that collecting more components could improve their capabilities, and he easily obtained the coordination procedures.

Of course, his alma mater is of a high enough standard, and it has the right to ignore the application, or delay it for ten days or half a month, but who can blame Shen Le for having a tutor at the school...

Shen Le successfully entered the school laboratory. He brought enough samples and set up the instruments.

The first task was to conduct non-destructive analysis of the black lacquer mother-of-pearl comb he bought using wide-area X-ray fluorescence imaging (MA-XRF) technology;
The second task is to take samples from the cracked part of the grate, observe and take pictures with an optical microscope, and analyze how many layers of paint there are;

The third task is to take samples from the cracked part and analyze the paint layer using infrared spectroscopy to estimate the amount of tung oil added to the paint.
The fourth task is to take samples from the broken parts and analyze the paint layer and paint ash by thermal cracking-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to analyze their components;

The fifth task is to conduct infrared analysis on the fibers of the base layer to analyze what kind of fibers it is made of...

Shen Le buried himself in the laboratory, not knowing what day it was, and seemed to have returned to his graduate school days.

Because he was a queue-jumper from outside, he had to try his best not to affect the work of the teachers and students of the school, so he usually chose to use the equipment in the middle of the night or even in the late night.

During this time, he saw the sky over the school at four in the morning for the first time in a long time...

After working for more than ten days in a row, I finally finished all the experiments and collected all the experimental data.

Shen Le held the report he had just written and knocked on Professor Lin's door. Just as he started, the door swung open and a young man rushed in angrily, asking:
"You're the one who wants to steal my grandma's collection? - Get out!"

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(End of this chapter)