The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 646 Shen Le, you're too slow! Let me carry you!

"Xing kiln? Are you sure it's Xing kiln?"

"Probably... Anyway, the kilns in that area all used local porcelain clay for firing, so they should all be Xing kilns, right?"

Shen Le answered uncertainly. There was no other way; they hadn't surveyed the environment, taken soil samples, or even dug down to get a piece of porcelain to verify anything. It was all based on intuition.

As for the feeling...

He can't exactly say, "I have a little Xing kiln white porcelain piece that's become a monster and is jumping around a lot."

"No rush, I'll ask around and call you back later. ...Not all of these kilns need to be excavated, you understand?"

After much deliberation, Shen Le finally called the old professor who had come to his home to guide him in identifying porcelain, sincerely seeking his advice. The professor's answer was exactly what he expected:
"I understand, I understand! Teacher, don't rush! Budgets and work plans, these things need to be built up gradually, you can't just ask them with one phone call!"

The old professor hung up the phone and smiled with satisfaction. Yes, the issue wasn't whether it was Xing kiln, but whether the researchers had a sufficient budget and enough manpower.
From the perspective of researchers and cultural relic protectors, of course, we hope to find, excavate, restore, and display all cultural relics in a bright and beautiful manner in the museum.

The problem is that the cultural heritage protection funding for a county or city is limited, the cultural heritage protection funding for a country is limited, and further back, the GDP of a country is limited—

That's all the personnel and equipment we can afford. Specifically in Hebei, should the Iron Lion statue in Cangzhou be protected?
Should the Summer Palace be protected?
Should Shanhaiguan be protected?

Should Beiyue Temple, Xiangtangshan Grottoes, and Wa Huang Palace be protected?
Even if we only consider the small area of ​​porcelain kilns, there is the Cizhou Kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty, famous for its white-ground black-flower porcelain, which competes with the Xing Kiln for budget!
Shen Le, who works with his mentor on the preservation of ancient buildings, understands this principle all too well: he also wants to protect all the ancient buildings in the country, but even if all the manpower is put on the front lines in Shanxi, it is not enough.

Similarly, it can be concluded that porcelain kilns were no better...

Ultimately, the main task of excavating and protecting Xing Kiln fell to the "Xing Kiln Archaeological Team" formed by the HEB Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics.

One can only imagine how many staff members such an archaeological team could have, and how many kilns they could excavate in a year:
Excavating a porcelain kiln is like opening a blind box; before you dig it up, you don't know how big the kiln site is, how much you can dig out, what type of items you can find, whether they are complete pieces or broken pieces...

Shen Le couldn't possibly dive down into the soil beforehand, retrieve a piece or two of porcelain, and show it to the archaeologists!
How will he explain this then? "Teacher, I have superpowers. I just stole this from this kiln down here..."

The professor was being very kind to him by not killing him.

Shen Le carried the porcelain bottle east and west, walking around this land that was about 90 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide, trying to observe the porcelain bottle's reaction and mark the location.

After he had marked seven or eight points, the phone finally rang:
"Shen Le..."

"Professor, please speak!"

"That's right, I've inquired about it." The old professor's voice was soft and gentle, exuding a sense of peace and ease, but Shen Le always felt there was a hint of guilt in her voice:

“The local archaeological team has been very busy lately – they just came to do two rescue excavations.”

Shen Le hissed. Okay, he roughly knew what was going on. These days, at least half of the archaeological teams were either conducting rescue excavations or on their way to one.

Basically, it's like saying, "We've unearthed some strange things at our construction site. We need the cultural heritage department to come and take a look. If they're valuable, dig them out quickly; if not, move them away immediately!"

The important thing is, don't delay our construction schedule!

Do you know where the construction schedule is stuck and how many tens of thousands of yuan in interest you have to pay every day?
Do you know the value of key national projects?
No, you know nothing. You don't care that Xi'an Xianyang International Airport will be congested with planes if it's not expanded; you only care that 3500 ancient tombs have been unearthed within the airport expansion area...

fall!
Is it that Shangguan Wan'er's tomb shouldn't be protected, or that King Zhuangxiang of Qin's tomb doesn't deserve protection?

Given the strength of Shaanxi's archaeological research, they often have to say things like, "Let's skip the New Year this year and have all the archaeologists work on the construction site." Even if the archaeologists swung their Luoyang shovels and sparks flew, they couldn't keep up with the speed of infrastructure construction.

It's easy to imagine how much effort a city like Xingtai can dedicate to the unknown Xing kiln...

Anyway, these cultural relics are sleeping underground, which is equivalent to being protected, so there's no rush. We can dig them up again when we're done with other work; it'll make our workload seem more substantial!
"Then...then I'll dig it myself?"

"You mark the points first, then secretly bring a couple of pieces of porcelain to the school later," the old professor said confidently, his voice calm.

"Once we've appraised it and confirmed its value, you can quietly put it back, and then we'll send someone to dig it up again..."

"So we can dig then?" Shen Le couldn't understand. In the middle of nowhere, why would they suddenly point to a piece of land and decide to conduct an archaeological excavation?
Teacher, you even add punctuation marks to your stories!

"Use your brain! Find an alumnus and start a construction project over there..."

"A rescue excavation!" Shen Le blurted out, utterly impressed. Could that even be done?

Rescue excavation and reverse operation!
As for alumni, please, a university ranked in the top 2 in the country will never lack alumni.

Just like the top-ranked university in the United States, the president wants to issue a ban on it. Please, have you considered that three of your Supreme Court justices are graduates of that university?
Can you win a lawsuit?

Don't even mention the state court judges; there are tons of their people there!
"Then I'll go touch it!" Shen Le said spiritedly, indicating his acceptance. The old professor smiled:
"No rush, no rush, take your time. You know the key points of archaeology, right? First, touch things with writing on them, then documents, and then things with characteristics of the era..."

With the professor's guarantee, and more importantly, the professor's promise to help with the identification, Shen Le plunged into the ground and got to work.

When the old professor drove to the county town, Shen Le welcomed him into the room, where he saw a long conference table with seventeen or eighteen piles of items on it:
There are porcelain bowls, porcelain vases, broken porcelain, some with inscriptions, some with patterns, and some with designs. Of course, there are also some tools and boxes with engravings, all of which can provide information…

"You've found so many porcelain kilns..."

The old professor first let out a long sigh. If a collection of artifacts equals a kiln, what Shen Le found would probably keep the local Xing Kiln archaeological team busy for eight to ten years.
After all, excavating a porcelain kiln is not the end once it's dug up. Digging it up is just the beginning; then, the geological strata must be examined to determine the number of kilns and their specific details.
Describe the ash pits around the porcelain kiln, and the contents of the ash pits. Yes, the ash pits often contain a large number of broken porcelain shards, which sometimes carry more information than the kiln itself.

Then comes the study of the porcelain discovered at the kiln site: quantity, shape, body and glaze characteristics, decorative art, forming techniques, firing techniques, and of course, kiln furniture...

By the way, if you want to write a report based on the porcelain in this kiln site, the prerequisite is to classify and piece together the porcelain (most of which are fragments) that were dug out of the kiln.

Yes, it's common to find a layer of broken porcelain shards, one or two meters thick and covering tens or hundreds of square meters, when excavating a kiln site.

Classifying and assembling dozens of items that can be included in a research paper usually requires a professor to work diligently with five or six students for several months to half a year...

"Alright, I'll look at them one by one." The old professor rubbed his palms together to warm them, loosened his fingers, took out a pair of reading glasses, placed them on his nose, and began to quietly examine and distinguish each item:
"This pile contains not only white porcelain, but also black porcelain and brown porcelain. Most of the porcelain with these characteristics are from the Song, Yuan, or Jin dynasties."

“This pile… is mainly celadon, and there’s also a batch of white porcelain, mostly coarse white porcelain, probably from the Sui and Tang dynasties? This shouldn’t be what you’re looking for.” “This pile… judging from the spur marks inside, it’s from the Sui dynasty, no earlier than that.”

"The fineness of this porcelain body, the feel of the glaze application and dripping glaze—it's the Tang Dynasty! Absolutely the Tang Dynasty!"

Shen Le could only admire him. The old professor didn't need to use any instruments on the porcelain shards, or even raise a magnifying glass. He simply looked at it, touched it, and held it up to the sunlight, and made a diagnosis with effortless ease.

Even so, they still keep complaining:

"You can't just pick out porcelain shards!"

"Kiln furniture! Kiln furniture is very important! Whether it's kiln pillars, saggars, or supports used to fire porcelain is crucial for determining the age of the piece!"

"For example, mushroom-shaped kiln pillars, trumpet-shaped kiln pillars, and triangular spacers were all invented by Sui Dynasty craftsmen. When you see them, you know that this kiln is at least not from the Northern Dynasties, understand?"

Shen Le: "..."

Yes, I understand. Before coming, I did some research and I know about these things.

The problem is, knowing something, seeing a photo, or seeing the actual object in a museum is completely different from finding a specific item underground by simply touching it with your mental power!
Not to mention, these specific items have to be found by sifting through a huge pile of messy fragments...

"Alright, that's enough. Most of these kilns are from the Tang Dynasty and later. The only ones from the Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty are this one and this one."

The old professor pointed to the pile of porcelain shards on the table:

Is what you're looking for here?

Shen Le shook his head helplessly. The old professor, seeing his dejected look, offered only a half-hearted attempt at comfort:

"It's okay, it's okay, take your time looking. You have plenty of time."

Finding a specific kiln based on a particular artifact is like finding a needle in a haystack; we just dig up whichever kiln we can and that's it…”

"Teacher, you might as well not comfort me at all..."

Shen Le complained with a long face.

Although the old professor made a wasted trip and did not achieve his goal, it does not mean that Shen Le gained nothing this time.

His greatest takeaway was that he remembered the atmosphere of these kilns: passionate, joyful, bold, meticulous, or perhaps cramped and tense.

After packing up and sending away the porcelain shards the professor had pulled out, he went back into action, diving into the ground again and again.

No, that's not it.
No, that's not it either.

This is still not it...

90 * 30 kilometers equals 2700 square kilometers. Even if he only explores one square kilometer once, he would need to explore 2700 times.
Even if we deduct all the cities, roads, waterways, and residences within this area, the number would only be halved at most. And surveying one square kilometer once is simply not enough.

Shen Le carefully measured that even if the porcelain bottle had "eaten" dozens of ancient kilns, it would still need to be about 100 meters away to react.

This means that in his search for porcelain kilns, he would have to explore the area dozens of times, covering a square kilometer, just to clear out the entire area...

Such a workload, especially the long and repeated traversing of wilderness, would take who knows how long. Shen Le was even too embarrassed to ask the Special Affairs Bureau for help, so he could only wander around on his own, his legs going east and west.

He walked with difficulty, sighing all the while.
"Ugh, this is so tiring... How long would it take to walk like this... I wish I could drive..."

You shouldn't have been lazy in the first place. You shouldn't have relied on your magical abilities to avoid learning this and that.

After achieving financial freedom, he should take advantage of the break between restoring the two antiques to enroll in a driving course and at least get his driver's license!

"You can't learn to drive even if you try all night." The little oil lamp in the backpack mercilessly mocked.
Getting a driver's license doesn't mean you can drive smoothly on the road; being able to drive on the road doesn't mean you can drive recklessly in the wilderness. I think you should just buy an electric car, and then I'll drive it for you!

Shen Le: "..."

When did you secretly go to learn to drive behind my back?!
Where in the world today can you find driverless cars that you can secretly drive on the road?
[Hehe, I've really gone too far with my dark humor!]

"Don't do that again!" Shen Le could only solemnly warn it.

"If you really want to learn to drive, just tell me, and I'll contact the Special Affairs Bureau and find you a car to drive around in. I can even have them help you apply for a driver's license."

"Hacking into someone's car means they need to collect data! That causes them so much trouble!"

"Okay... alright," the little oil lamp replied listlessly. After a pause, it volunteered again:
"Or, how about you rent an electric scooter? I'll drive, and you just sit on it; that way it'll be much faster!"

"What if we overturn it?" Shen Le looked at the ravine-strewn hillside in front of him, utterly lacking confidence. Little Oil Lamp, however, spoke with unwavering conviction:

Since you can fly, just pretend you're sitting in a car!

"I might as well just buy a hoverboard!"

[Yeah! A balance scooter! Go buy one right away!] Several orbs of light flew out from the small oil lamp, bobbing up and down:
[I'll drive the Segway, and you'll fly at low altitudes, pretending to be on the Segway, going up and down mountains and down rivers. Wouldn't that be faster?]

Believe it or not, the little oil lamp solution perfectly solved Shen Le's needs of wanting to move quickly while avoiding being noticed.

With this absurd and outrageous idea, Shen Le's speed in exploring the kiln site was increased by a factor of five.

Ten days later, he stood amidst a tangled thicket of bushes, a porcelain bottle in his left hand and a porcelain pagoda in his right, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Stop! Stop! I know this is where you're looking for—give me some time! Let me take a look first and find something!"

(End of this chapter)