Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Su Yuan replied with an "okay" and put his phone down.

In Han Zhengming's office in the provincial capital, Jiang Weiguo stood in front of the desk, holding a document in his hand.

"Director Han, the people from the Ninth Bureau just took two bamboo slips from the repair center. They are from the Warring States Qin bamboo slips that Su Yuanxiu was working on."

Han Zhengming looked up: "Do you know what it is?"

"I don't know... the Ninth Bureau has blocked the news."

Jiang Weiguo replied cautiously: "Our people found out that those two bamboo slips are not ordinary sacrificial records, and may be related to the interlayer."

Han Zhengming put his feet on the desk and sneered, "Hmph, Zhou Peiyuan is quick on his feet."

"Director Han, should we...?"

"No rush."

Han Zhengming waved his hand: "Just let Wang Jianguo keep an eye on things. Put the bamboo slips aside for now; our target isn't those two broken bamboo pieces!"

Jiang Weiguo nodded, jotted down a few words, closed the file without saying anything more, nodded, and left the office.

In the corridor, Jiang Weiguo dialed Wang Jianguo's cell phone: "Keep waiting, keep monitoring."

"good…"

At the renovation center, Su Yuan was busy all day and went to the canteen for dinner in the evening.

Today, Li Xiulan made braised fish chunks, served with rice and stir-fried seasonal vegetables. After finishing his meal, Su Yuan went straight back to his dormitory, washed up, and went to bed.

Awu's humanoid silhouette glowed inside, and Su Yuan lay on his side, watching her.

"Awu, once I've gathered your remnant soul, you'll be able to leave. Then I'll take you to see the real world now."

Guangying nodded, made a gesture with her small hands, first pointing to Su Yuan, then to herself, and then putting her two hands together.

Su Yuan understood!

His nose and eyes involuntarily stung. Su Yuan took a deep breath, brought the bronze mirror to his chest, and placed it against his heart.

Ah Wu's warmth seeped through the bronze mirror onto his skin, a gentle and soothing sensation that calmed him considerably.

Su Yuan closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep. The light and shadow in the bronze mirror were still shining, and the small light and shadow stood in the center of the mirror, quietly watching Su Yuan.

She used one small hand to gently touch Su Yuan's cheek from a distance...

The next morning, Su Yuan was awakened by the sound of bells.

"Su family boy, wake up."

Su Yuan opened his eyes and saw that it was just getting light. He turned his head to look at the bell in the bronze mirror. It was standing on the mirror with its hands behind its back, looking very serious.

"What's wrong, Mr. Chung?"

"Last night, in the middle of the night, we sensed movement in the direction of that wall."

Zhong Ming continued, "It's not the crack that's the problem; it's that thing inside the wall moving!"

Su Yuan sat up abruptly: "It's moving?"

"Yes," Zhong Ming's voice said. "It moved inside the wall, shifting several hundred meters eastward from its original position."

Su Yuan was furious.

Things inside the wall can move, and such a large object in the mezzanine can move freely! So if I go into the mezzanine, I'll probably encounter it...

Is it fierce?

"Where is Elder Miao?" Su Yuan felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly asked.

"Old Miao is keeping an eye on it," Zhong Ming said. "We'll take turns watching where that guy is, and we'll let you know if there's any movement."

"I was on duty last night."

Su Yuan hurriedly picked up the bronze mirror and carefully looked inside. Awu's luminous image was still asleep, shrunk into a small ball of light.

"Mr. Zhong, what do you think that thing is trying to do?"

Zhong Ming stroked his beard: "Hard to say... but it's moving in the wrong direction."

"It's not going to a less populated area, it's going east. You know what the east is, right?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment: "East...that's the direction of the provincial capital!"

Zhong Ming shook his head and sank down. Su Yuan saw that it was almost 7:30, so he quickly got up, washed up, changed his clothes, and left the dormitory with the bronze mirror toolbox.

Li Xiulan had just set out breakfast in the canteen: hot millet porridge, steamed buns, and pickled vegetables.

Su Yuan picked up a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun, then sat down by the window to eat and think.

Zhao Cheng arrived shortly after, carrying a bowl of porridge, and sat down opposite him. Seeing his expression, he asked, "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhong said that the thing inside that wall moved during the night."

With a worried expression, Su Yuan whispered, "They're moving eastward."

Zhao Cheng stopped picking up the pickled vegetables: "East? Towards the provincial capital?"

"right."

Without hesitation, Zhao Cheng put down his chopsticks, took out his phone, and sent a message to Zhang Weiyi. Less than three minutes after the message was sent, Zhang Weiyi sat down with his bowl of porridge.

Zhang Weiyi said calmly, "I have already contacted Director Zhou about this matter."

Su Yuan and Zhao Cheng exchanged a glance and continued eating their porridge and rice.

After Zhang Weiyi and Zhao Cheng finished breakfast, they went upstairs. Su Yuan went directly to the storeroom and looked over the pottery granary, white porcelain bowl, and bronze candlestick that had been repaired the day before.

Xiao Jue's voice came from upstairs: "Master Su, there was some noise in the warehouse last night, but it wasn't much."

Su Yuan looked at it: "Where? What's that noise?"

"The location below the shelf where Miss Awu is."

Xiao Jue's voice sounded nervous: "In the middle of the night, the ground below shook slightly, very lightly, but I felt it."

Su Yuan walked up to the Awu terracotta figurine, squatted down, and looked at the ground beneath the shelf.

The brick-paved ground showed no signs of abnormality. He placed his hand on it and could feel a slight vibration, even less than a few days ago!

"Master Zhong," Su Yuan called out softly, taking out a bronze mirror.

Zhong Ming's shadow drifted out, without looking: "This time it was that thing inside the wall that moved, which affected the pressure in the interlayer and transmitted it here."

Su Yuan stood up and looked at the Awu terracotta figurine.

"So what can I do now?"

"Let's repair more items. We'll wait for A-Wu's notification about when to go into the mezzanine."

Zhong Ming said, "Once you go in and gather all of A Wu's remnant soul, you'll have enough power to control this entrance."

Su Yuan touched the jade ring on his hand, nodded, put the bronze mirror back in his pocket, and left the storeroom.

During his lunch break in the office, Su Yuan stared at A Wu's shadowy figure and whispered:

"Awu, could I go into the mezzanine once? I want to see what it's like inside..."

Awu Guangying scratched her head with her small hand, and after half a minute, she nodded gently. Su Yuan immediately perked up:

"Really, Ah Wu? But I'm not sure..."

Awu waved her little hand, pointed to herself, then to Su Yuan's jade ring, gestured with a sword, and even wrote the character "protect" with her little hand.

Su Yuan smiled, knowing what A-Wu meant. He touched the bronze mirror, got up, and went out.

Zhao Cheng was walking towards him in the corridor, holding his phone: "Director Zhang wants you to go to his office."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement, knocked on Zhang Weiyi's door, and Zhang Weiyi, seeing him enter, immediately said:

"Xiao Su, Director Zhou has replied."

"Director, what is it?"

"He said the contents of those two bamboo slips have been preliminarily deciphered." Zhang Weiyi handed his phone to Su Yuan: "Take a look for yourself."

Su Yuan took the phone; two long messages appeared on the screen:

"The two bamboo slips record a sacrificial ceremony during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. The location was near Hangu Pass, and the object of the sacrifice was not the gods of heaven and earth, but 'the gap'!"

"The bamboo slips are inscribed with the God of Gap, and the offerings were three prisoners of war, whose blood and bones were used in the sacrifice, with the aim of preventing the God of Gap from interfering with the eastward expansion of the Qin state."

After reading these two paragraphs, Su Yuan looked up at Zhang Weiyi:

"That rift that Han Zhengming cultivated..."

"That's the kind of thing."

Zhang Weiyi stroked his chin and said, "Old Wu raises the same kind, and so does Han Zhengming."

"The only difference is that people used to cultivate discord to avoid being disturbed. Old Wu did it for his son, while Han Zhengming did it to control the mezzanine!"

Su Yuan clenched his fist and said solemnly, "Director, I want to get into the mezzanine as soon as possible!"