Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

As the car pulled into the parking lot of the renovation center, Su Yuan glanced at Sun Guoliang's parking space through the car window.

The empty parking space wasn't even covered in fallen leaves, as if no one had ever parked there.

We're here.

Chen Xiaohe parked the car and turned off the engine. Su Yuan got out of the car carrying the toolbox, and Zhao Cheng got out of the passenger seat, both stretching their arms and legs.

Li Xiulan, who was standing not far from the cafeteria entrance, happened to be looking this way. When she saw Su Yuan, she called out, "Little Su, you're back? I'll save you lunch!"

"Thank you, Aunt Li."

Su Yuan smiled and agreed, then went upstairs. He opened the office door and put down his toolbox.

The things on the table were still the same as before they left, but the table was quite clean. I don't know if Lin Xi or Chen Xiaohe cleaned it up!

He put down his toolbox, took out a bronze mirror, and placed it on the table.

The light was brighter than when they were in the provincial capital. It was as if Awu knew she was back here, and she seemed much more at ease inside.

"Awu, we're back."

Su Yuan said something in a low voice, and the light spot jumped once in the bronze mirror.

Chen Xiaohe pushed open the door and came in, carrying two glasses of water. He handed one to Su Yuan and kept one for himself.

"Su, nothing much has happened in the warehouse these past few days since you left, except that bronze jue keeps talking about you."

Su Yuan took the water glass and took a sip: "Xiao Jue? What are you talking about me about?"

"I've been asking you to put a cushion on the base for it, saying my legs ache from standing for so long."

Chen Xiaohe curled his lip: "It's just a copper lump, does it ever get leg pains?"

Su Yuan smiled and put down his water glass: "Let's go take a look."

The two men left the office and headed towards the warehouse. Zhao Cheng peeked out from his office, saw them go, and then went back to his work.

The warehouse door opened, and Su Yuan glanced at the A Wu terracotta figurines.

Xiao Jue's voice rang out immediately: "Master Su is back!"

Su Yuan walked over, took Xiao Jue off the shelf, and looked at the base of the shelf. It was indeed a bit uneven.

"I'll put a pad on it for you later."

"Thank you, Master Su."

Xiao Jue's voice was full of joy. Su Yuan put Xiao Jue back on the shelf and then walked around the warehouse again.

The Tang Dynasty terracotta figurine Awu stands quietly in its original place, with the Buddha statue and the lion heads on the balusters still there, and the group of Han Dynasty terracotta figurines standing neatly on the shelf.

Everything looks normal.

But Su Yuan knew that the calm in the warehouse was only temporary. The fine lines in the wall, the fluctuations in the interlayer, Han Zhengming's movements—these things would eventually affect this place!

When Su Yuan came out of the warehouse, Chen Xiaohe went to attend to security matters, while Su Yuan returned to the office alone.

The corridor was quiet at the moment; the animals hadn't come out yet. Zhao Cheng's office door was closed, and you could vaguely hear him making a phone call inside.

After eating the braised pork that Li Xiulan had specially saved for him around noon, Su Yuan went to Zhang Weiyi's office.

Zhang Weiyi sat behind his desk with a file piled up in front of him. When he saw Su Yuan come in, he closed the file and pointed to the chair opposite him.

"Have a seat. Your teacher, Mr. Zhou, told me about the training; he said you did a good job!"

Su Yuan sat down: "It's alright, it's because Teacher Zhou taught well before."

Zhang Weiyi waved his hand, ignoring the conversation. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Regarding that wall, the Ninth Division is still monitoring it. They told you not to rush over there."

"Um."

"besides."

Zhang Weiyi took an envelope out of the drawer: "This is your allowance for this month, and your travel expenses during the training period have also been reimbursed."

Su Yuan took the envelope but didn't open it; he simply put it in his pocket.

Zhang Weiyi looked at him, wanting to say something but not saying anything, and just waved his hand: "Alright, go ahead and get busy."

Su Yuan stood up and walked to the door when he heard Zhang Weiyi say behind him, "Don't inquire about Sun Guoliang's matter for now."

Su Yuan turned around, nodded, opened the door, and went out.

Carrying his toolbox into the storeroom, he rearranged the base of Xiao Jue and was about to check if there were any minor problems to fix when Chen Xiaohe came in with a bag of things.

"I'd forgotten, a guy surnamed Zhao sent you something the day before yesterday, saying it was to thank you for repairing the coins. Here!"

As he spoke, Chen Xiaohe handed him the bag and went out of the storeroom. Su Yuan opened it and saw that it contained raw materials that could be used for repairs.

I smiled and took out my tools to organize them, making up for the missing items in my toolbox.

Lin Xi knocked on the warehouse door, came in, and handed Su Yuan a small brocade box, saying that it had been delivered by another unit two days ago and asked him to clean and repair it when he could. After saying that, Lin Xi glanced at him twice and left.

Su Yuan opened the box and saw a small bronze medal. He held the medal in his palm and turned it at an angle towards the lamp.

It's worn out too much!

The shell pattern of the tortoise on the seal knob has been almost worn smooth; only when you touch it with your finger can you feel a slight undulation.

The layers of rust on the seal base completely obscure the seal face. It is clear that this is a private seal of a Han Dynasty scholar, but the owner cannot be identified from the current state of the seal.

Based on its shape and bronze quality, Su Yuan determined that this should be an object from the mid-Western Han Dynasty!

He examined it with a magnifying glass, then searched his toolbox for tools: a bamboo pick and an agate knife, distilled water and anhydrous alcohol, and a jar of his own concocted corrosion inhibitor.

The first step is cleaning.

Not all rust needs to be cleaned; only things that shouldn't be left on it should be removed. Su Yuan took a sharpened bamboo pick and slowly began to clean it while looking through a magnifying glass.

The surface of the bronze medal has a hard crust formed by the compacted soil, which looks black and is relatively hard, but it is still less hard than copper!

The tip of the bamboo pick is just right to remove these deposits without damaging the copper underneath.

His hands were very steady, and he controlled the angle of each stroke perfectly, slowly chiseling along the original outline of the bronze seal.

The head of the tortoise-shaped knob was revealed first!

There is a slightly concave dot at the position of each eye; Han Dynasty craftsmen used these two strokes to give the turtle life.

Su Yuan stopped, dipped a cotton swab in distilled water, and gently wiped the surface, allowing the water molecules to slowly penetrate the interface between the rust layer and the copper.

He moved slowly, and the first thing he learned was that speed is the enemy of time, while these artifacts stand on the other side of time.

The corrosion on the printing surface is the most difficult to deal with!

There are two types of copper rust: harmless rust and harmful rust.

That layer of emerald green basic copper carbonate is harmless rust, which the ancients called copper rust. Its dense and stable texture can actually protect the bronze medal from further corrosion.

Su Yuan chose to keep it; it was the patina of time, the armor that the bronze medal had forged for itself during its two thousand years of burial.

However, there are several powdery light green rust spots mixed in with the print surface. These are harmful rusts, which will corrode and spread if not treated!

He dipped an agate knife in alcohol and scraped and shaved it bit by bit, checking the depth of each scrape with a magnifying glass to ensure that he did not damage the metal body of the seal.

The outline of the inscription gradually became clear.

It is the four Han seal characters of "Su Wu's Private Seal", with strong and powerful strokes and a broad and open structure.

Su Yuan's hand trembled violently!

It wasn't because of the surname Su, but because he recognized the origin of this seal style, which was the style of court seals cast in the mid-Western Han Dynasty.

The strokes are straight and even, with turns that are both square and rounded, which is completely different from the casual style of private seals.

The owner of this seal was not an ordinary person or a common merchant; at the very least, he was someone who had access to the court's cultural circles!