Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Chen Xiaohe and Qian Weidong took these five items back to warehouse number three with smiles on their faces.

Su Yuan leaned back in his chair and caught his breath, then pulled out the bronze mirror from his chest. Awu's human-shaped reflection shone on the mirror, gesturing with her small hands as if she were laughing at him.

"Still laughing... Ah Wu, what's wrong with them? I feel like something's not right..."

Su Yuan said in a low voice.

Awu's humanoid light and shadow shook her little head, then made a gesture with her little hand, pointing at him and giving a thumbs up.

Su Yuan understood; what A-Wu meant was, "They only came to you because you repaired it well..."

He smiled and didn't say anything more.

One afternoon, Su Yuan was organizing his toolbox in his office when there was a knock on the door. Lin Xi came in carrying a brocade box.

"Su Yuan, this was just delivered by someone from the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau. They asked you to help clean and restore it."

Lin Xi placed the brocade box on the table, her eyes filled with affection and tenderness.

"The delivery person hasn't left yet; they're waiting for you to fix it and hand it over. If you're tired... take a rest first."

Su Yuan avoided her gaze, stammering, "No, it's nothing..."

Upon opening the brocade box, one would find bamboo slips stacked inside, separated by Xuan paper, and the bamboo slips were all blackened!

In some places, mold has grown, and the ends of some bamboo slips have decayed so much that the characters are blurred.

"This is... a Qin Dynasty bamboo slip from the Warring States period?" Su Yuan picked up a slip and examined it.

"The handover instructions state that the bamboo slips are from the Qin Dynasty of the Warring States period, consisting of eighteen pieces, and were unearthed at a construction site in the eastern suburbs of the provincial capital."

Lin Xi let out a soft sigh, looked at Su Yuan, and handed him the folder: "It was sent by Liu Dong from the Technical Department of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau. He said that Director Zhou recommended you..."

Su Yuan signed the handover form, Lin Xi looked back at him with the form in hand, and then left.

Su Yuan brought the brocade box to the storeroom, laid the bamboo slips on the worktable, and examined them carefully.

The bamboo slips are eighteen pieces, each about thirty centimeters long and one centimeter wide, with traces of the two braided ropes still visible at the top and bottom.

The surface has mold and water stains, and the edges of several severely damaged bamboo slips are even warped!

He picked up a magnifying glass and examined each character one by one. The characters were Qin clerical script, a writing style of the Qin state during the late Warring States period.

The content appears to be a record of a sacrifice performed by a certain vassal state.

Su Yuan put down the magnifying glass and began to prepare for cleaning. He first used a brush to gently sweep away the dirt on the surface of the bamboo slips, not daring to wash them with water.

We'll leave the mold spots for now and assess the situation first.

He arranged the eighteen bamboo slips by length; since they were all roughly the same size, they must have come from the same scroll!

Su Yuan first laid a layer of Xuan paper on the worktable, placed all the bamboo slips on it, covered them with another layer of Xuan paper, and then pressed several books on top, letting it slowly and naturally dry in the shade.

By the time I finished all that, it was almost evening.

Su Yuan washed his hands and went to the cafeteria for lunch. Li Xiulan had made vegetable rice and braised pork again today.

After getting his food and carrying his tray, he found a seat and sat down. Chen Xiaohe followed closely behind, carrying his tray, and sat down opposite him. Zhao Cheng also came over.

"Su, Lin Xi said the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau sent over bamboo slips?" Chen Xiaohe asked.

"Yes, we'll have to handle it slowly."

Chen Xiaohe nodded, his eyes darting around: "Su, what exactly is that thing in that wall? Director Zhang didn't explain it clearly either."

Su Yuan shook his head:

"I'm not entirely sure... I only know that it wasn't an ordinary gap, it was much larger and much older than a gap."

Zhao Cheng put down his chopsticks and looked at Su Yuan: "Director Zhang said that after you have recovered for a while, you may need to go into the mezzanine for a check-up."

Su Yuan touched the jade ring on his hand and felt that it had regained some temperature and warmth over the past few days.

"Go into the mezzanine?"

Chen Xiaohe's expression changed: "I heard there are all sorts of weird things in there, skeletons, green-skinned monsters and stuff, it's terrifying..."

"Even if it scares me, I have to go."

Su Yuan smiled at him, and Chen Xiaohe grinned, "Then when you go in, can you take me with you? I want to see what it's like inside too."

Zhao Cheng glared at him:

"You? What a coward! You think this is a place for fun? You're just making trouble."

"I know this isn't a place for playing around."

Chen Xiaohe looked completely innocent: "I just wanted to help Xiao Su out. If anything happens, it's always good to have more people help."

Su Yuan smiled but didn't reply, and continued eating with his head down.

Meanwhile, in the provincial capital.

Han Zhengming sat in his office with a document on the table in front of him. He didn't turn on the light, so he was hidden in the shadows.

Jiang Weiguo knocked and came in, without turning on the lights, and was holding a notebook in his hand.

"Director Han, that batch of bamboo slips has been delivered to the repair center, and Su Yuan signed for it."

Han Zhengming looked up: "Was it Zhou Peiyuan who recommended you?"

"Yes, Liu Dong sent it over in the name of the Technical Department of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau."

Jiang Weiguo continued:

"In addition, another small crack has been discovered in the east of the Ninth Division in the past two days. It is underground and about two kilometers away from that wall."

Han Zhengming tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table: "Do you know how much the fluctuation value is?"

"Around four percent, but it's still rising, and it's linked to the fluctuations of that wall."

"How's Su Yuan doing?"

"Wang Jianguo said his ring hasn't changed, and he still repairs it as usual, just very frequently lately..."

Han Zhengming stood up, walked to the window, looked at the streetlights that had come on, and said:

"It's alright, we'll just wait. He'll definitely get into the mezzanine. Then we'll make our move."

Jiang Weiguo hesitated for a moment: "Director Han...the people from the Ninth Bureau will definitely be coming too."

"Follow along then."

Han Zhengming turned his head and said, "Once we get to the mezzanine, it's not a matter of how many people there are."

"Once we seal off the entrance, they won't be able to get out, and the stuff will be ours."

"...There's still no news from Sun Guoliang."

Han Zhengming's eyes turned cold: "Keep searching! We must find them alive or dead!"

Jiang Weiguo nodded and left the office. Wang Jianguo was waiting in the corridor; seeing Jiang Weiguo come out, he quickly went up to ask.

"How is it?"

"Same as always, wait."

Jiang Weiguo looked at him, put his hands behind his back, and said, "Go back over there and keep an eye on things, especially the news that Su Yuan is preparing to enter the mezzanine."

"Okay," Wang Jianguo replied, turning and going downstairs...

The next morning, the first thing Su Yuan did after getting up and washing up was to go to the unit's warehouse to look at the bamboo slips.

The bamboo slips beneath the Xuan paper had dried somewhat, and the mold had stopped spreading.

After breakfast, Su Yuan returned to the warehouse to begin dehydrating the bamboo slips.

First, soak it in distilled water for forty minutes, then take it out and place it on absorbent paper to air dry naturally.

After it dries completely, apply a penetrating and reinforcing agent to re-bond the loose fibers.

Next, we need to replace the rotten bamboo strips!

Su Yuan found a few old bamboo strips on the materials shelf, shaved them into suitable sizes with a knife, polished them smooth, and gave them an antique finish.

Brush it with diluted hydrochloric acid, then boil it repeatedly with tea until the color is about the same.

Start adding the missing characters.

On the rotten bamboo slip were a few words that were blurred and illegible. Su Yuan compared them with the surrounding text and looked up some documents from the Warring States period.

After repeatedly studying the writing style of Warring States period clerical script, I carefully and meticulously filled in the gaps with a brush.

After completing the missing characters, Su Yuan began to piece them together!

Eighteen bamboo slips, which one comes first and which one comes last. First, copy down the characters that you can recognize, arrange them according to their meaning, and then match the bamboo slips together.

It took four or five attempts to finally get a general idea of ​​what was going on!