The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 692 Where am I, Shen Le? Where am I, such a big Shen Le?!
Shen Le tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth, and then suppressed them again, but finally turned her back to the gate of the old house and laughed heartily.

Sigh, they're all teachers and superiors; it's not very polite to laugh in front of them. Before they understand what's going on and before they step out the door, I'd better finish laughing first!
He had his back to the old house, his shoulders twitching rapidly. Don't let their usual dignified and aloof demeanor fool you; when it comes to something they truly value, they can disregard their pride and fight tooth and nail for it.

It was in his old house, and there were people from the Special Affairs Bureau nearby; otherwise, a fight might have broken out on the spot.
Shen Le laughed for a while, then couldn't help but sigh softly:
Judging from the voices inside, his own mentor probably withdrew from the competition in the first round.

Why bother? Boss, if you want to see it, I'll give you one more spot!

After a while, a result was finally heard from inside. Shen Le quickly wiped his face, composed himself, and respectfully bowed slightly to the old house:
"Professor Guo!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a slight commotion among the armored soldiers; some seemed about to take a step, while others raised their weapons slightly.

Shen Le pretended not to see anything and quickly bowed deeply:
"You're the one who came out to guide me! I'll have to rely on you a lot from now on. I have absolutely no experience in car repair, I've never touched anything like this before, I'll have to rely on you to guide me!"

Hmm, the tense atmosphere seems to have relaxed quite a bit. The armored soldiers straightened up again, and lowered their weapons, appearing to have returned to their previous relaxed state.
Perhaps it was through Shen Le's attitude that they realized this professor was someone they needed to respect, or at least someone they couldn't harm, and thus lowered their guard?

Shen Le breathed a slight sigh of relief. Across from him, Professor Guo, a senior professor at the Chang'an Archaeological Institute, wasn't very familiar with Shen Le. Seeing Shen Le's lavish greeting, he was slightly startled and quickly stepped forward to offer his hand in support.
"Oh dear, oh dear, it's not that serious. The vast majority of the ancient chariots and horses I've come across have metal parts, and I only know their designs from ancient books and then guessed them myself."

"This is my first time experiencing riding in a vehicle too. Let's learn together and improve together, okay?"

Shen Le straightened up with his help, turned halfway around, and walked forward, supporting Professor Guo's elbow.

As they walked, they silently manipulated the wind vortex, forming a circle around Professor Guo at a distance as a precaution to prevent the armored soldiers from launching a sudden attack.

Then, they mobilized the metal element to form a thin second ring. It seems the armored soldiers still value this power; with it surrounding and marking them, they at least won't start a fight…

Step by step, they approached the chariot ten meters, five meters, three meters away. The two rows of armored soldiers remained silent throughout, showing no hostility whatsoever.

Professor Guo was completely oblivious to Shen Ledong's actions; he was staring intently at the large carriage in front of him, wishing he could pounce on it and stick his eyes to the carriage.

His chest heaved, and he kept muttering to himself:

"A golden phoenix stands before the carriage, twelve imperial carriages stand on the yoke... Two bells are on the carriage, a dust shield is set before the dragon axle, a blue canopy with a yellow lining, embroidered decorations, a Boshan mirror, and tree feathers..."

Riding a blue dragon, with a golden bridle and five tassels on its tail, carved with tin, and adorned with twelve tassels. The tin horse's headdress is carved with gold. The saddle and tassels are all decorated with five colors..."

As he spoke, he hunched over, moving sideways like a crab, taking tiny, inching steps. He would look at something, mutter a sentence, then look at another thing, and mutter another sentence.

Even Shen Le had to admire such a memory:

You can recite the contents of the "Treatises on Carriages and Clothing" from various dynasties by heart!

If it were me, let alone memorize it, I couldn't even read it fluently. I don't recognize many of the characters at all, so I could only grit my teeth and read half of it!
"Professor Guo, look at this magnificent carriage..."

Shen Le patiently waited until the professor had circled half of the carriage before whispering a reminder. Professor Guo, without turning his head, casually interrupted:
“Ge Lu”.

"what?"

“Ge Lu,” Professor Guo repeated. Perhaps because Shen Le wasn’t his own graduate student, his voice, though somewhat impatient, was unusually gentle as he slowly said:

"According to the Tang Dynasty system, the emperor's carriages consisted of five types: jade, gold, ivory, leather, and wood. The leather carriage was made of white material and covered with leather. Otherwise, it was the same as the jade carriage. The emperor rode in the white carriage, which was used for imperial tours and military operations."

He casually recited a passage from the "Treatise on Carriages and Clothing," and explained it slowly:
“Look at this carriage, white, covered with leather, it is undoubtedly a leather chariot used for hunting and warfare.”

For Princess Pingyang's funeral, Li Yuan bestowed a large carriage upon her; whether for military purposes or a funeral, only a leather carriage would have met the requirements.

Shen Le, who had read the "Treatise on Carriages and Clothing" once but couldn't memorize it at all, could only silently admire it. He bowed to Professor Guo to express his respect and whispered his question:

"So, where do you think we should begin the restoration of this leather carriage?"

"Shh..."

Professor Guo, somewhat lost in thought, gave a soft hiss and waved to Shen Le. Then, with a thud, he knelt down on both knees and smoothly prostrated himself on the ground.

"Let me see...let me see..."

He crawled forward, peering ahead. After a while, he pulled out a flashlight and carefully shone it on the wheel:

"The vermilion paint on this wheel has faded a bit... but the wheel itself isn't deformed, and the spokes are fine... tsk, visual inspection isn't very accurate; it would be better if we could measure it with an instrument..."

He lay there watching for a while, then suddenly rolled over onto his back. He bent his legs and pushed off the ground, using the strength of his back and legs to keep pushing the pupa inside.

The crickets flapped twice, and a sudden gust of wind arose around them. Shen Le's expression immediately changed, and he grabbed Professor Guo's feet, forcefully pulling him back.

With a whoosh, the old professor was launched out as smoothly as if he were lying on grease, completely out of the range of the leather cart.

Shen Le spread his arms, and a sharp white light enveloped the two of them.
"Professor, let's discuss this here! Don't get too close!"

The soldiers fell silent for the second time. Shen Lesong took a breath, helped the old professor sit up halfway, and nudged him with his elbow:

"Don't provoke them... We're here to repair this vehicle. Don't let them think we're disrespecting it, and definitely don't let them think we're going to damage it... Let's keep a little distance!"

Professor Guo raised his head following Shen Le's lead, quickly looked around, and saw the armored soldiers around him slowly retreating, putting away their weapons, and the cold and murderous aura on their bodies gradually receding.

He shuddered, instinctively rubbing his arms, his shoulders shrinking inward. He took a deep breath before asking in a low voice:

"Can this leather carriage be dismantled?"

"Definitely not!" Shen Le blurted out. After pausing and thinking for a moment, he added:

"If possible, it's best not to dismantle it. I haven't been able to establish smooth communication with them yet, and even if I did, it would be quite difficult to explain to them that this old building needs to be dismantled and repaired piece by piece..."

Professor Guo glanced to his left; the green low-temperature glaze on the Tang tri-colored horse reflected an eerie glint in the cave.
Looking to the right, the weapons in the soldiers' hands—which were on shelves when we first entered the cave—are now all in their grasp.

If you can hold it in your hand, you can swing it; and if you can swing it, who knows whose head it might hit—

Restoring a Tang Dynasty leather chariot that has never been unearthed before is incredibly rewarding, and it might even cost you your life. Especially since there are ways to achieve both, there's no need to deliberately push your luck!
"If it can't be disassembled, then when we repair it, we must pay attention to its overall integrity. We can't focus on repairing certain decorations and let the decorations overwhelm its structure." Professor Guo quickly realized this and concentrated on lecturing Shen Le:

"For example, the load-bearing part of this leather carriage is definitely the wheels. We need to repair the wheels, spokes and bearings first to ensure that it will not collapse suddenly. The red lacquer on the surface can be done slowly."

When repairing the axle, it's essential to understand its structure. You can't repair it as a single block of iron; otherwise, it won't move forward or turn.

As he spoke, he became animated again, gesturing wildly in the air and sketching in the void.

After scratching it a couple of times, finding it insufficient, I squatted down, unbuckled the key from my belt buckle, and used it to scratch the rocky ground, leaving sparks everywhere.
"We learned our lesson here when we were replicating the bronze chariot from the Leitai Han Tomb..."

Shen Le listened quietly and tried hard to memorize. After a while, following the professor's instructions, he slowly lay down, took out a piece of spirit gold with his left hand, and a layer of white light shone from his right hand.

The armored soldiers stirred slightly, then quickly quieted down, watching Shen Le wriggle forward, his hands hovering precariously over the outer edge of the vermilion wheel, seemingly touching but not quite.
"Fill...fill..."

Shen Le silently chanted, guiding the power of the spiritual metal to transform into white light, which was attracted to the fingertips of his right hand and then injected into the wheel from the fingertips.

The wheel initially appeared normal, but when a corner of the spirit metal dented, it suddenly trembled slightly, and its surface shone with a brilliant light.

The wheel hubs and axles hummed softly at the same time, and the entire car even lurched forward, almost tipping over.

"do not move!"

Shen Le quickly shouted. The moment the vehicle swerved, a golden wind surged through the cave, and the armored soldiers seemed to reflexively lunge forward again. Shen Le quickly explained:
"The other wheel isn't fixed yet! Once it's fixed, it won't be crooked anymore! Move aside, let me go fix it!"

After the shout, the cave fell silent again. Professor Guo touched the goosebumps that had suddenly stood on end on the back of his neck, and tiptoed two steps closer to Shen Le:

"Shen Le, how about we slow down a bit? These, these..."

Follower?

Guard?

They're being unreasonable!

Shen Le looked up and smiled at him, beckoning him to come closer and stand within a step of her. He followed her step by step, slowly moving forward.
"Professor, don't worry, everything will be alright. Stay close to me, they won't attack you, and I can protect you even if they make the slightest movement..."

As he spoke, he had already crawled around under the vehicle, injecting metal power into each part, from the hub, linchpin, spokes, and axle to the front shaft and yoke, carefully filling them in.

Only after the structural parts were completely repaired, leaving behind the crooked and some rotten metal ornaments, did they stop and look to the professor for help:

What did these decorative pieces originally look like?

Requesting on-site guidance!
I really can't make something grow out of thin air!
"Oh, there should be a golden phoenix in front of us." Professor Guo confidently approached and explained on the spot:

"The appearance of the golden phoenix in the Tang Dynasty was quite different from that of later generations. Generally, its crest stood up, it had a chicken head and beak, and its neck had snake-scale-like patterns... Its wings were spread symmetrically, and its tail was higher than its head..."

As he spoke, he squatted on the ground, sketching with swift strokes. Shen Le listened attentively for a while, then quickly glanced left and right, only to see that the surrounding armored soldiers were all quiet, none of them showing any sign of jumping up—

Very good. It seems the old professor's explanation is correct; the shapes he outlined are exactly the shapes of the decorations on the car.

Following the professor's on-site instructions, Shen Le infused the ornament with metal elemental energy, causing it to slowly reveal its original shape.

The palm-sized golden ornaments gradually extend outwards, raising the phoenix's head, raising its crest, and spreading its wings.

Finally, in a daze, Shen Le heard a clear, resonant sound that echoed throughout the hall. A golden light rolled by, adding a touch of warmth to the otherwise somber atmosphere of the group.

"Is this how you fix it..."

Professor Guo leaned over, looking dazed. He glanced at Shen Le, then at his own hands, and felt as if he were about to collapse.

If all cultural relics are restored using this unconventional method, then what are these cultural relic restorers striving for after a lifetime of hard work and honing their skills?

"Professor, I'm sorry, but it was an emergency. They were watching very closely, so I had to resort to this method to cheat and be lazy."

Shen Le quickly turned to him and smiled, her hands moving swiftly to attach another ornament in front of the carriage:
"Is this a royal bell? I just heard the teachers reciting historical materials, and it is indeed a royal bell, right? Does this royal bell ring? If you don't give me any guidance, I'll just fix it as if it does ring!"

Although this crossbar—the horizontal bar at the front of the cart—had a full twelve bells hanging from it, the sound of all twelve bells ringing together was quite astonishing…

"It's the noisy one, you fix it." Professor Guo recalled some historical materials, full of confidence, and began to recite. No sooner had he finished reciting than Shen Le finished fixing it, glanced around the carriage, and pulled out a large bottle of liquid:

"Shen Le, what are you doing?"

"Repairing leather..."

Shen Le sighed. The thought of mending and patching leather was agonizing, let alone peeling it off, mending it, and then gluing it back on.

For now, there is only one foolproof solution:

Spray silk fibroin solution onto the leather, spray relentlessly, sparing no expense, until every inch of the leather is completely soaked.

Then, cast a healing spell to guide its nature to reverse death and regenerate, allowing it to quickly heal itself!

Professor Guo was mesmerized. The cracked and peeling leather seemed to have a life of its own, growing back and sticking itself back together.

After the leather repairs were completed on all four sides, the entire vehicle shuddered again, as if a giant beast were stretching.

Then, Professor Guo was horrified to see a white light envelop Shen Le.

The next moment, he disappeared in front of the car without a trace!

(End of this chapter)