The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 482 Shen Le: Should I repair the magic weapon or play Super Connect?
Numb, sharp pain shot up from the fingertips, piercing into the spine and the brain.

Shen Le's forehead was buzzing. He subconsciously wanted to retract his hand, wanted to withdraw it, but failed. His fingers reflexively curled up and pressed against the copper seal, clenching, well, clenching...

He finally thought of the warning Xiangyang had given him, or rather, the safety knowledge he had learned from Xiangyang during their casual chat:
“When touching an object that is charged, or may be charged, always remember to touch it with the back of your hand, with your palm facing inward.

——After an electric shock, the palm of the hand will reflexively spasm and clench. At this time, if you touch it with the back of your hand, it will naturally move away from the power source. If you touch it with the palm of your hand, it will stick to the power source and you can't leave it..."

This is the experience of the old electrician, or we can say, it is the blood and tears lesson learned by the old electrician using his health, limbs and life.

Shen Le never took it seriously. Anyway, no matter who came to fix the wires, it would not be his turn. If the whole house really lost power, there was still a small oil lamp to protect it. Who knows...

The electricity ran through his arms, through his spine, down his legs and feet into the ground, and slowly disappeared. Shen Le stood there, hissing for a long time before he remembered to roar:

"Qingdeng! Are you going to kill me!!!"

[I am not! I didn’t…]

The sound of the small oil lamp faded away quickly. The first word was still in my ears, but the last word was so far away that I could hardly hear it.

Shen Le sighed, lowered his eyes silently, and began to practice. The heat flow ran several times continuously, washing back and forth on his arms and fingers. Shen Le cast seven or eight healing spells before he breathed a sigh of relief:

Thankfully, he was no longer the same person he used to be, and the bolt of lightning caused him pain but did not seriously injure him.

After a few turns of Qigong, you can basically get it done and continue to study this copper seal:
It seems impossible to restore it by injecting heat on my own.

Shen Le took the copper seal to the scanner and scanned it, and found that the crack on the copper seal was still the same size as before, with no improvement at all.

The tragedy is that the scanner he is using now is specially designed to scan delicate objects, with an accuracy of 0.01 mm...

The scanner showed that the widest part of the crack on the copper seal was more than 3 mm.

In other words, he had to repeat the heat flow input at least 300 times before he could see any effect.

Shen Le weighed his own recovery speed and felt that this method of repair was not impossible, but the consumption was too great and must be used as a last resort.

He took out a few pieces of top-grade jade and set up a spirit gathering array, letting the copper seal soak in the spiritual energy to slowly recover, while he tried to look up information:

How to repair copper seal?
How to repair a damaged copper seal?
How can we repair a damaged copper seal that can be used as a magic tool and retain its magic tool function?
These three questions are layered and stacked. Shen Le rolled up his sleeves and first reviewed the knowledge he had learned about bronze restoration during his undergraduate years:

First, determine the material of the copper seal. Is it pure copper? Or bronze? How much copper does it contain? How much other ingredients does it contain?

With ancient casting technology, it is impossible to obtain 100% pure copper; there must be a certain ratio.

This is simple. Just scan it with an instrument, such as his handheld X-ray diffractometer that looks like a hair dryer but is several times larger than a hair dryer...

Secondly, determine the deterioration of the copper seal. Is there any patina on it? How much patina is there? What color is the patina? What is the principle of producing this patina, and what elements does this patina contain?

Only then, through this analysis, can we determine how to restore it to its original state - creating the same patina is also part of the bronze restoration work.

Thankfully, the copper seal was shiny and bright as new, with no visible rust on it.

However, even so, he still had to use the instrument to scan it carefully. It is invisible to the naked eye, what if the rust is just a small amount and cannot be seen by the human eye?

The next step is the repair work. For the repair of deformed and cracked copperware, the first step is to reshape it - the reshaping method can be divided into hammering, molding, tooling, heating, and sawing;

After the plastic surgery is completed, the missing parts need to be remade to fill it up.

There are many ways to repair it, including directly using copper sheets to make repairs, casting repairs, using fiberglass repairs, using copper sheets as the core and covering the surface with resin, and recently using 3D printing repairs.

After making the defective parts, it is welding, bonding or mechanical reinforcement. Any method has five, six, seven or eight branches, and there are countless key points...

Shen Le was reading with ecstasy. After reading a few pages, he knocked his head on the table. After reading a few more pages, he knocked his head on the table again.

There were chirps around me, and the little ones expressed their concern. Luoqun sent water and fanned, Lanzhuang threw out talismans one by one, and the fragrance of flowers blew in from the window;
Little Modou didn't know what to do, and couldn't lift the lead weight to massage Shen Le's back, so he could only quietly restrain his carpentry tools, and told them to keep quiet for the moment and not make any creaking noises while working;

Even the little oil lamp that had gotten into trouble and fled before came over cautiously, trying to give Shen Le some advice:

[If not, just leave it here and let me chop it. I'll chop it a thousand or eight hundred times to see if it can absorb the energy and grow back on its own?]

"… You should just forget it…"

Shen Le waved his hands weakly. It's not that the small oil lamp cannot be used, but the current is too rough, it can't be used for a long time, and it has a clear inhibitory effect on ghosts and spirits;

What if it strikes the copper seal a thousand or eight hundred times but fails to inject enough energy into it, thus breaking up its spirituality?
[Then... go to school and ask a professor to give you some advice? ]

Finally getting home from get off work and having a rest, the little Pinocchio climbed onto Shen Le's lap and stretched out his arms for him to hold him:
[The professor at school will definitely be able to handle it... Besides, didn't you ask the professor to come over when you repaired the scroll last time? ]

"I would like to..."

Shen Le smiled bitterly. It was not difficult to shake the professor. There were experts in bronze restoration in the school, as well as the teacher's teacher, a retired old professor.

If all else fails, there are a large number of bronze restoration experts at the Shanghai Museum next door, the National Museum near the school, and the Forbidden City.

Whether you go through the school route or the Special Affairs Bureau route, you can easily get an expert.

"The question is, if the professor comes and teaches you, will you do what he says? Or if the professor teaches you step by step and tells you, 'Here, do it this way,' will you do it?"

【Then fix it as he says! 】

"It's not that simple." Shen Le shrugged.

"This is a magic weapon. Is it good? If you use the method of repairing ordinary bronze tools to repair the magic weapon, what if it breaks?"

[Then... let's go to the next door and trick the junior brothers and sisters?] Lan Zhuang continued to suggest cautiously. Shen Le glanced:
Lan Zhuang, you have learned bad things!
How come the word "pit" comes out as soon as you open your mouth!

I provide the research topics and funding, let them help with the work, and I collect the fruits of their labor. This is a win-win situation. How can it be called a scam?

Please tell me in detail what a pit is!
"Hmm... let me think... is there any way to throw the assignment to them..." He placed his bent index finger on his chin and moved his thumb in circles inside his jaw:

"Send a scanned copy over? Or just place an order and have someone make a few according to the model and give it to them to repair? Or be lazy and 3D print a few? It doesn't seem too difficult..."

It was nothing more than wasting a little money. Money, what Shen Le lacked the least was money.

Once you’ve decided, do it!

He stuffed the copper seal under the machine, scanned it back and forth non-destructively several times, and analyzed its metal content.

Then, he packed all the metal content and the shape obtained by the scanner and gave them to his junior brothers and sisters, and gave them the task:

"Find me a way to restore the seal to its original state, and even restore all the words on it!"

The project bonus is 10,000 yuan, and there is no limit on the expenses during the research process. You can use any instruments and tools you want. When the task was posted, two junior brothers immediately jumped on it excitedly:
"Mine! Mine! Don't fight with me for it! - It's finally my turn!"

Ten thousand!

The allowance given by the boss is only three thousand a month, and ten thousand is enough for three months' allowance!
You can buy a favorite camera, or go on a long trip, or take the girl you like out for a big meal and a short trip!

"No one is competing with you." The oldest brother in the laboratory, who was responsible for maintaining order and was working on porcelain, stepped aside.

By the way, I stopped a junior sister who was studying textiles and a junior sister who was studying calligraphy and painting restoration, and pulled two junior brothers apart.

Senior Brother Shen's place has random drops of items. As long as you work here for a long time, you can always get some allowance:
"Don't envy others. Have you done your own work? Last time Senior Brother Shen sent me the seal, check the inscription on it. Have you restored it?"

"Not yet..." One of the fellow apprentices was stunned for a moment, then turned around and ran away.

He compared various large and small seal characters, various inscriptions on gold and stone, and various inscriptions on bronze vessels, but still couldn't fully understand it:

"I can only confirm that the two characters on the left should be 'mountain' and 'water', but the two characters on the right are too difficult... I can't find them..."

"Then go check it out! Go read a book! Go ask someone for advice!" The senior brother scolded him:

"Don't wait until he has repaired it and asks you about the seal, and you still don't know what it is!"

[So they really will quarrel over this!] Xiao Youdeng came back from watching, chattering and constantly telling Shen Le about what was going on over there:

[It's just 10,000 yuan! Why are you quarreling and shoving for such a small amount of money?] "Qingdeng... 10,000 yuan is still a lot..." Shen Le touched it with a sigh:
"It doesn't mean that just because you are rich, you can look down on 2.2 yuan... Let alone students, even if you are an office worker, a monthly income of yuan only accounts for million..."

[Ah, this...] Xiao Youdeng was stunned. He no longer had any concept of money. He could earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars by killing a few monsters or making a few peach wood swords.
The electricity bill can reach hundreds of thousands or even thousands a month, but he doesn't even bother to look at it. He just closes his eyes and lets the accounts be linked directly, and the electricity bill account is deducted monthly.

It turns out that there are still people who think that ten thousand yuan is a lot of money for them?

"Of course it's a huge sum." Shen Le sighed, opened his phone, and searched Baidu:
"Look, out of these 2.2 million, more than 60% are subject to a tax rate of only 3%. In other words, their monthly income... monthly income..."

Shen Le had to check the tax rate, the taxable income, and the annual and monthly income. For a moment, he was really flustered and could not figure it out in an instant.

Instead, I don't know whether the small oil lamp is connected to the computer or the mobile phone. Anyway, I quickly came to the conclusion:

[The monthly income is less than 8,000 yuan! So 10,000 yuan is their income for more than a month, almost two months! No wonder they want to snatch it! ]

Yeah, no wonder they want to snatch it.

When Shen Le graduated, he relied on his boss's generosity to give them high allowances, and also relied on his frugality to not spend money that should not be spent, so he only had 30,000 yuan in his pocket.

If he succeeds in the civil service exam, his monthly income will be 10k, 15k for a better job. It seems like a lot, just enough to live in Beijing, but he wants to buy a house. Are you kidding me?
I can’t even afford to rent a better house!

Let me tell you a joke. Fortunately, he is an academic master. The master's degree next door, yes, a master's degree from the top 1 university in the country, the school does not provide dormitories, so he has to rent a house outside!
I still spend half a year working on projects outside and half a year attending classes in school. This half year is not a complete period, but a fragmented half year!

For such a rental, you have to rent it for a whole year. It is impossible to rent it for one or two months today and then rent it for another one or two months later...

The small oil lamp shrank up, and the silver light on the wick shrank into a tiny ball, and it was silent. Shen Le sighed and continued to work:
As a senior, he cannot give too many allowances to his juniors - this will make it difficult for the school, the college, and the tutors.

Provide accommodation, free meals, one spiritual meal a week, and a reward of several thousand or ten thousand for each project depending on the difficulty:

This is already the highest salary. Any higher would be totally inappropriate...

He threw the two topics, "How to repair a copper seal" and "How to repair a broken copper seal", to his fellow junior fellow students, and concentrated on studying "How to repair a broken magical instrument".

Although he used to use the method of repairing cultural relics to repair things directly, the broken magic weapon became a complete and spiritual magic weapon.

But what if?
What if it doesn’t work?
Shen Le buried his head in the forum and flipped through it. Thanks to the Special Affairs Bureau, thanks to the various rewards posted by the Special Affairs Bureau, the magic weapon repair experts in the Special Affairs Bureau are still willing to write relevant papers:

Not only are there many papers to check, but people have even uploaded restoration videos!
Yes, there were videos showing only the hands, videos showing the face, and videos where the work was slowly being restored and explained in detail. He thought the Special Affairs Bureau had created a new B-station—

These big guys who publish papers and videos probably, perhaps, possibly, use this method to build their own reputation and make it easier for them to get private work, right?
Just like the people who post knife-forging videos on Bilibili, 70% to 80% of them are big guys from Yangjiang. If you follow the video, you can find an online store or public account for buying knives or customizing knives...

Shen Le downloaded seven or eight papers in one go, and then watched the video. In short, the focus of the papers on the restoration of ritual instruments is completely different from that of the restoration of cultural relics:

Those who work on the magic instruments, in their articles and videos, come and go, talking about things like "talismans", "structures" and "physical properties" inside the magic instruments.

To put it simply, the properties of the material itself and the energy pathways must not be destroyed.

While repairing the appearance of the object, the energy pathway must also be repaired and connected. If there is electric welding or other welding methods, Shen Le guessed that they would just use welding?
But no. In these papers and videos, long sections are devoted to "divine thoughts...", "magic...", "internal force..." and so on, all kinds of wonderful things.

What about using a photolithography machine to carve the talisman?
No, nothing!
As for restoring the appearance of the ritual objects, these workers were very rough in their work, much rougher than the workers who restored cultural relics.

The hammer should be swung when it is needed, and it makes a banging sound, just like "the big hammer costs eighty" and "the small hammer costs forty", and you get paid for each swing of the hammer;

Just heat it up when it needs to be heated. Some use electric stoves, some use gas stoves, some use ground fire, some even have some unknown monster spit fire next to them, and there are even cultural relics restorers who spit fire themselves!
Shen Le looked for a long time, but didn't see any reliable temperature control method. The electric stove could at least be adjusted, and the gas stove also had a button, but there was no temperature display next to it.

He doesn't even have a metal thermometer. How can you really be a man to repair things like this?
The underground fire and the fire spitted by monsters are even more terrifying. It all depends on the restorer's eyes. The color of the flame is the approximate temperature, and things can be thrown in to burn.

Shen Le looked around, completely puzzled:
What I mean is, is it difficult to put a thermometer nearby?

The range of the flame color jump is too large! Not to mention, if you throw various metals into it, it will still have flame color reactions!
He couldn't help but complain to the little guys. There was silence behind him for a long time, and Lan Zhuang said faintly:
[Mr. Shen, when you were repairing the copper seal just now, you also relied on your own strength and tried your best to input it...]

There is no thermometer!

No energy detector yet!

Nothing!

When it comes to reliability, are you really more reliable than them?
【yes! 】

【Yes! 】

【That's it! 】

The small oil lamp, the small inkwell, and the doll cabinet that had sent a representative to slack off at some point, all agreed.

Shen Le: “???”

You guys have learned to piss me off, right?!
He spent a lot of time reading papers and watching videos, and felt that these repair methods were not as good as his own efforts. After thinking about it, he still felt unsure, so he called the alloy master again:

"Old Jin, please advise me..."

“Repair a broken magic weapon? I usually don’t repair that kind of stuff…” The Alloy Boss was guarding a familiar-looking box, constantly taking out spiritual gold from it, chewing it with a crunching sound.

After receiving Shen Le's video, he swallowed a mouthful of spiritual gold with great effort and answered carelessly:
"You know, people's hearts are hidden in their stomachs... Well, that's not what I meant, anyway, that's what I meant.

——I swallowed a broken magic weapon into my stomach. It was too difficult to repair it with my stomach. Seven or eight out of ten could not be repaired. Later, no one came to me..."

Shen Le: “…”

I just asked you unnecessary questions!
You just use one move to come and go, just swallow it!

"Um... Speaking of which, what about those larger broken magical instruments, such as shields and armor, that you can't swallow?"

Should I shrink the magic weapon to the size that can be swallowed, or use the magic of heaven and earth to increase the size a hundred times?
"If you can't swallow it, don't repair it!" The alloy boss said confidently:
"Why, do you have something to repair? How big is it? Do you need my help? - If you need my help, just tell me. Don't be polite to me. This box of spiritual gold you sent is very good and delicious!"

Shen Le had no choice but to try his best to decline. After declining, he sat down in front of the copper seal and began to try his best to sense:
In short, the energy pathway in the instrument is very important. If the energy pathway is repaired, the instrument is more than half repaired.

It's a pity, it's really a pity that the Special Affairs Bureau has not developed an instrument that can scan the energy pathways inside magical tools, or in other words, it has not developed a universal instrument that can be used for magical tools of all materials.

Especially the metal material, this thing is too resistant to scanning. So far, except for mental power, no other instrument is reliable...

Just sweep it yourself!

It’s just a joke to be laughed at by the little ones!
He sat upright, entered a state of concentration, and sensed carefully. Unfortunately, the scroll followed Yun Kun to work, so he could not connect in real time, project the image he scanned in real time, and let the instrument copy it in real time;

Shen Le could only perceive and remember a little bit at a time, and sketch it out in his mind a little bit at a time:

The most striking thing, of course, is the four characters on the seal. In particular, the characters "山" (mountain) and "水" (water) outline an energy path that almost forms a river and mountains.

The character “治” (governance) that he guessed was “治水” (water control) had a sense of movement and heaviness:

It seems that it takes a lot of labor to change the shape of the water veins, to build dams and block the lakes, and to drill through the mountains and guide the water to flow;
It seems that one needs extremely strong control to understand the shape of this landscape, to have it under control and to move forward according to one's will.

Shen Le held his breath and tried to observe its appearance. After a while, he rushed to the computer and sketched a few three-dimensional drawings.

Look at it for a while and then make a few more strokes.

The word "治" was chopped diagonally, and the energy pathway in it was largely broken. Only a few strands were barely connected, guiding Shen Le in the direction:

Just connect them!
Yes, just connect them like this!
As long as it is connected, it can be completely repaired!

"So which ones connect to which ones? Am I playing connect-the-dots?"

Shen Le muttered, trying to observe and sketch. After finishing all the sketches, he stared at the translucent three-dimensional model in front of him and let out a long sigh:

"Now that we have a model, it will be easy to try to repair it... Throw it to the Special Affairs Bureau and ask them to make eight or ten models!"

Soon, the Special Affairs Bureau's research institute received another order:
"Do you want to use the light-engraving method to make a few broken seals for him to try out?"

"Forget it, forget it. What else can I do about Mr. Shen's request..."

(End of this chapter)