Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

He had just finished tidying up his tools when Lin Xi came in with a folder:

"Su Yuan, I've finished writing the restoration file for that batch of bamboo slips. There are a few parts I'm not sure about, could you take a look?"

Su Yuan took the folder and opened it. Lin Xi had written quite a lot of details. There was nothing that needed to be changed. He just needed to change a number in the "Current Status of the Items" column.

Su Yuan took out a pen and changed the eighteen pieces to sixteen pieces.

Lin Xi glanced at it: "Hmm? Weren't there eighteen pieces when it was delivered?"

Su Yuan glanced at her but didn't tell her the whole truth: "Two pieces need to be processed separately and will not be included in this batch of files for the time being."

Lin Xi watched as he took the folder and wrote on the back: "Two of the original eighteen films need to be kept on file for later use."

The two men came out of the warehouse together. In the corridor, Chen Xiaohe was talking to Qian Weidong. When he saw Su Yuan, Chen Xiaohe raised his chin:

"Su, Director Zhang wants you to go to his office."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement, put the toolbox back in his office, and went to knock on Zhang Weiyi's office door.

Zhang Weiyi was sitting behind his desk looking at documents when he saw Su Yuan come in and pointed to the chair.

"Director Zhou just told me about the bamboo slips."

Zhang Weiyi closed the document after reading it: "Those two things, do you think they're genuine or fake?"

"It's true."

Su Yuan affirmed, "The degree of aging of the bamboo, the penetration of ink, and the traces of rope weaving all match the characteristics of the late Warring States period."

"It just doesn't belong to that roll of Qin bamboo slips; it was inserted later by someone else."

Zhang Weiyi lit a cigarette and asked, "Director Zhou said this might be related to the interlayer. What do you think?"

Su Yuan touched the jade ring on his hand and thought for a moment:

"If it is indeed a record of a sacrifice, and the offering was a human being, then it means that the people at that time were performing some kind of special ritual."

"If this ritual is truly related to the interlayer, then it means that people in the Warring States period already knew about the existence of the interlayer."

"I'm afraid it's not just the Warring States period."

Zhang Weiyi stood up, flicked the ash off his cigarette, and said, "Perhaps it existed even earlier. According to records, the interlayer didn't just appear in the Tang and Song dynasties."

Su Yuan thought it was very likely. Zhang Weiyi walked to the window and held up a cigarette: "When Gu Yuanhang sends someone over, just give them those two bamboo slips."

"it is good."

Su Yuan left the office and went downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch.

Li Xiulan made noodles today, with tomato and egg and minced meat and eggplant as toppings. Su Yuan took a big bowl and sat in the corner.

Chen Xiaohe followed him over with her bowl, sat down opposite him, and said with a grin, "Su, I heard you've discovered something new again?"

"Mmm." Su Yuan picked up a noodle with his chopsticks and slurped it into his mouth.

Chen Xiaohe looked at him with admiration: "Su, tell me quickly, what exactly is written on those two bamboo slips?"

Su Yuan swallowed the noodles and looked at him:

"It's not clear yet. We'll have to wait until the people from the Ninth Division have looked into it before we can say anything. Don't talk about this with Wang Jianguo."

Chen Xiaohe curled his lip: "You underestimate your brother Chen, don't you? Even if I'm stupid, I wouldn't tell him!"

After saying that, he didn't ask any more questions and started eating noodles.

Zhao Cheng carried his bowl over and sat down. He nudged Chen Xiaohe, glanced at Su Yuan, and said something abrupt: "Shen Yue is coming this afternoon."

Su Yuan nodded, and Chen Xiaohe glanced at them but didn't say anything.

After finishing his meal, Su Yuan returned to his dormitory and rested for a while. Lying on his bed, he took out the bronze mirror from his chest. Awu's humanoid silhouette shone in it, clearer than before.

The complete outline of the head and two small arms are already visible.

"Awu, did people really know about the interlayer as early as the Warring States period?" Su Yuan asked softly into the bronze mirror.

Awu's light and shadow flickered, and she made a gesture with her small hand, pointing at Su Yuan, then at herself, and then drawing a circle.

Su Yuan tried asking, "You mean, back then, there were people who, like us now, went in and out of the mezzanine?"

The light and shadow nodded and then gestured again, this time putting their hands together and then separating them.

"Combined and then separated...what does that mean?"

Awu demonstrated again, this time a little slower. Su Yuan stared at it for a while, then suddenly understood:

"Awu, are you trying to say that the mezzanine and the real world were once connected, and only later separated?"

The light and shadow suddenly brightened, and nodded vigorously.

Su Yuan was shocked!

If the mezzanine was once connected to the real world, then it is not a shadow of history, but a space that actually existed.

It was later separated for some reason, which is why it became the mezzanine it is today.

"Awu, do you know when you broke up?"

After Su Yuan asked, Guangying shook her head and shrugged, indicating that she didn't know either!

Zhong Ming's shadow floated out from the mirror: "Miss Awu only came into contact with the interlayer during the Tang Dynasty, so it's already quite remarkable that she knows this much."

"Mr. Chung, when do you think they separated?"

Zhong Ming thought for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. How old is our oldest? Even Xiao Jue might not know. And Old Qin Jian couldn't say for sure either."

Su Yuan thought for a moment and then asked, "What about the thing inside that wall?"

"That wall..."

Zhong Ming's shadow flickered: "You sealed the gaps and cracks in that wall, so that thing in the fog is probably even older than the interlayer!"

Su Yuan recalled the terrifying force of struggle he felt when he sealed the crack.

"So what exactly is inside that wall? Neither you nor our ancestors know?"

Zhong Ming shook his head: "I don't know, none of us have ever seen what that thing really looks like."

The voice of the Su family patriarch came from the mirror, tinged with worry:

"Kid, you need to hurry up with getting into the mezzanine and repair more items. You haven't accumulated enough points yet."

Su Yuan took a deep breath, thinking, "Our ancestor said so much today!"

He said:

"Ancestor, once I'm ready, I'll go into the mezzanine, gather A-Wu's remnant soul, and then study that big guy."

The ancestor remained silent, and Zhong Ming nodded: "That's the right way to think. You can't rush things. Let's take it one step at a time."

Su Yuan put the bronze mirror back into the soft cloth bag, lay down for a while, got up at 2:30 to wash his face, and went to work.

In the second-floor corridor, Shen Yue was already waiting, carrying a black metal case. He nodded when he saw Su Yuan.

"Master Su."

Su Yuan didn't say much. He led him into the storeroom, took out a locked brocade box from the tool cabinet, opened it, and took out the two bamboo slips wrapped in Xuan paper.

Shen Yue opened the metal box, which contained a layer of soft foam. He carefully placed the bamboo slips inside, secured them, and closed the box.

"Director Zhou said these two pieces of material are very important and asked me to personally deliver them to the Ninth Division for analysis."

Shen Yue picked up the suitcase: "Master Su, is there anything else you need to tell me?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment: "The writing on these bamboo slips is a bit blurry. We should try not to cause any new damage when studying them."

"it is good."

Shen Yue nodded, turned and left the warehouse. Su Yuan saw him to the top of the stairs and watched him go downstairs.

Zhao Cheng came out of his office, walked over to Su Yuan, and asked, "Did you see him off?"

"Um."

"Let's go to the storeroom and take a look at the stone Buddha statue."

Zhao Cheng said, "Director Zhang said he wanted to take some restored photos for archiving."

The two entered the warehouse. Zhao Cheng took out his phone, and Su Yuan took the stone Buddha statue down from the shelf and placed it on the worktable.

Zhao Cheng took a few pictures from different angles and then left. Around 5:30 pm, Su Yuan was tidying up the worktable in the warehouse when his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Zhou Peiyuan:

"The bamboo slips have been received, but the contents still need time to be deciphered. Be careful; Han Zhengming might be making a move soon!"