Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Su Yuan knew he was asking about the amulet, and nodded with a smile: "Thank you, Brother Qian. If I really need it, I'll return it to you later."

"What's there to return? Just keep it."

Qian Weidong quickly waved his hand: "That thing would just be sitting here anyway, so I'll just leave it with you for now!"

Su Yuan did not refuse and kept this sentiment in his heart.

After finishing his meal, Su Yuan went to the warehouse. For the next few days, he followed Zhong Ming's advice and didn't touch any of the major jobs.

But Chen Xiaohe and his group, along with the guys in the warehouse, couldn't stay still. For some reason, they all started acting strangely.

It's no longer like it was a while ago, with no activity at all!

The next afternoon, Su Yuan had just sat down in his office and taken a sip of water when he heard a commotion coming from the warehouse.

When he pushed open the warehouse door, Xiao Jue's voice was the first to ring out.

"Master Su, this base is wobbling again. I stood here all night yesterday, and my legs are about to break!"

Su Yuan walked over and picked it up. He noticed that the small piece of wood that had been used as a base had somehow fallen off.

"Wait a moment, I'll go find you a suitable one."

He took a thin copper sheet from the materials shelf, cut it into a suitable shape, placed it under the base, and then secured it with glue.

Xiao Jue swayed slightly: "Hmm, this time it's steady, hehe, thanks Master Su!"

Just as Su Yuan put down Xiao Jue, a voice came from the other end of the shelf: "Master Su, come and take a look at me. This lid won't close properly, and a draft keeps coming in, making me feel all cold."

Su Yuan turned his head and saw that it was a pottery jar from the Han Dynasty, with the lid tilted to one side.

He picked up the lid and looked at it, and found that there was a small chip on the edge of the jar, which made the lid not close tightly.

"It's a minor problem, I'll fix it for you."

As he spoke, he took out the prepared clay from the toolbox, filled in the chipped edges, smoothed it out, and then mixed it with mineral pigments after it dried.

It took less than twenty minutes in total. Once the lid was on, it fit perfectly!

The clay pot happily exclaimed, "It's much warmer now, thank you, Master Su!"

Su Yuan smiled, packed up his tools, and was about to leave when a timid voice came from behind the storeroom door:

"Master Su... Master Su..."

Su Yuan looked down and saw a stone toad the size of a palm squatting behind the door. He didn't know when it had been moved there.

"What's wrong with you?"

The stone toad croaked, "There's a crack under my belly, so it won't swell up and keeps leaking air..."

Su Yuan squatted down and turned it over, belly up. Sure enough, there was a thin crack that stretched from the middle of its belly all the way to its hind leg.

"It's okay, it can be fixed."

He mixed lacquer and tile ash, cleaned and filled the cracks, polished them smooth, and then applied a layer of sealant.

The stone toad tried to puff out its belly, making a muffled "gurgle..." sound.

"Alright...it's stopped leaking! Master Su is so skillful."

Su Yuan was amused by it, patted its head, and left the warehouse.

In the corridor, Chen Xiaohe was leaning against the wall smoking. When he saw Su Yuan come out, he grinned.

"Su, busy again? Fixing a bunch of minor problems?"

"Um."

Su Yuan rolled her eyes at him, suspecting he was up to no good. Chen Xiaohe smiled and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"When I passed by the warehouse just now, I heard a lot of noise inside, like a bustling market. You've become their personal doctor! Hahaha..."

Su Yuan smiled but didn't reply.

In the following days, as if by prior arrangement, more and more of them started looking for Su Yuan!

On the morning of the third day, as soon as Su Yuan entered the warehouse, there was a Han Dynasty bronze mirror on the worktable, which Chen Xiaohe had brought from the old warehouse.

The mirror is rusted and no longer reflects images. The bronze mirror's voice, tinged with tears, said:

"Master Su, the smooth surface I've cultivated over hundreds of years is now covered in rust spots. Do you think there's any way to save it?"

Su Yuan picked it up and looked at it. Fortunately, the rust wasn't too deep and could be repaired.

He used cotton swabs dipped in citric acid solution to wipe away the rust little by little, then wiped it again with distilled water, and finally polished it with deerskin.

It was cleaned up in just over half an hour!

Seeing the mirror surface shine again, the bronze mirror trembled with excitement: "Master Su, you still care about me the most. Thank you so much."

As Su Yuan packed up his tools, he waved his hand and said, "Stop joking around. Go back and stay put."

As soon as he entered in the afternoon, a celadon bowl on the west shelf called out to him, "Master Su..."

It turned out that a piece was missing from the rim of the bowl, and the sound of the celadon bowl was like that of a little girl:

"Master Su, I have a chip here... could you fix it for me...?"

Su Yuan took a look, cleaned it, filled the gap with porcelain material, polished it smooth, and then used mineral pigments to age it.

After being repaired, the celadon bowl happily spun around twice before Su Yuan put it back on the shelf.

On the fourth day, he was stopped by the voice of a wooden monkey, who said that it was in the corner of warehouse number three and that it had lost an arm!

After it was found, the wooden monkey's voice was pitiful:

"Master Su, my arm is broken, it hurts so much, please fix it quickly..."

Su Yuan looked at the break; it was broken at an angle, so it must have been knocked off.

After cleaning, he used fish glue to stick his arm back on. Once the glue was dry, he sanded the joint with fine sandpaper and finally applied a thin layer of wax.

After the wooden monkey was repaired, it raised its arm and swung it a couple of times: "It's just like the original now, Master Su, you're amazing..."

Su Yuan's ears hurt from the noise, so he quickly asked Chen Xiaohe to take it back to warehouse number three.

The fifth day was even more outrageous!

When Su Yuan finished lunch and returned to the second-floor warehouse, he opened the door and saw five items on the worktable and on the floor.

On the ground was a wooden chair with a broken leg, and on the workbench was a bronze stove lid missing its knob, a cracked porcelain inkstone, and a pottery pot with a missing handle.

There was also a pair of Republic-era iron shears that I don't know where they came from, they were rusted beyond recognition!

Looking at these five items, Su Yuan stood at the door, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Who...who left you here?"

The old man in the wooden chair said in a condescending tone, "We begged you, Brother Chen, to bring us here. We're all from warehouse number three."

The bronze furnace lid then spoke:

"Master Su, please don't be angry. We really can't take it anymore. This button of mine has been broken for several years. There's no handle on the cover, so when people pick it up, they pinch the edge, and it hurts a lot."

The porcelain inkstone made a muffled sound.

"My crack leaks water every time it rains, and ink spills everywhere. The porcelain bowls in the storeroom downstairs always laugh at me for it."

Su Yuan sighed and opened the toolbox.

"Take it one at a time, don't rush."

First, repair the wooden chair.

The joint of the severed leg had dried completely. Su Yuan applied fish glue to the broken surface, aligned it, and glued it back on. He then tied it tightly with rope and waited for the glue to dry.

Repair the bronze furnace lid again.

The missing button was a bridge-shaped button. Su Yuan found a small piece of copper on the materials shelf, filed it into a bridge shape, welded it on, and polished it to an antique finish in one go.

He put the lid on the bronze stove and tested it; it fit perfectly. He shook it with delight: "That feels great! Thank you, Master Su!"

Now it's time for the porcelain inkstone.

The crack wasn't long, but its location in the middle of the inkstone affected the grinding of ink. Su Yuan mixed porcelain powder with lacquer, filled the crack, smoothed it out, and then polished it smooth with a fine stone after it dried.

The porcelain inkstone touched its face and gave a satisfied hum!

The handles on the pottery flask were the easiest to repair. Su Yuan cleaned them and glued them back on with epoxy glue. They were firmly in place after half an hour.

Finally, there was that pair of iron shears.

The rust was so severe that the two blades were stuck together and couldn't be separated.

Su Yuan soaked it in rust remover for half an hour, then took it out and gently brushed off the rust with a copper brush. He then dripped a few drops of lubricating oil onto the shaft and moved it back and forth a few times.

The scissors snapped open with a delighted snap, the voice trembling with surprise: "I can bite! Master Su, you've saved my life!"

Su Yuan wiped his hands, looked at the five repaired items, breathed a sigh of relief, and called Chen Xiaohe and Qian Weidong for help.

"Alright, go back now. Tell them not to come in so many at once next time, I can't handle it all."

He had a feeling that there must be another reason for their concentrated restlessness, but he didn't know what it was yet!