The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 801 Shen Le: I saw a historical figure?
"It's fixed."

"It's really fixed."

"You know what, his method really does preserve the bamboo slips for many years..."

"It just doesn't look like bamboo slips..."

"Don't worry about whether it looks like the bamboo slips on display in a museum. Just tell me if it's completely repaired and how long it can be preserved!"

"That's right, I'm tempted. Could you please ask Shen Le to help repair it? We have a huge batch of bamboo slips, and not all of them will be on display..."

Shen Le's brand-new "magic-based" bamboo slip restoration method caused a sensation throughout the entire bamboo slip restoration community. People from Jingzhou, Xiangshui, Sichuan, Shanghai...

And then there are the professors from Tsinghua University next door. Everyone who is qualified to hear about this matter tries to find a reason to come to Beijing to visit Professor Hu and, incidentally, see the bamboo slips restored by Shen Legang.

Regardless of whether it conforms to conventional methods of cultural relic restoration, just tell me whether the bamboo slips restored in this way are sturdy, reliable, and can be preserved for a long time!
what?
write thesis?
You don't need to take photos of every single bamboo slip when writing a thesis!

Besides, if we really wanted to take photos, everyone has already taken photos, whether they are ordinary photos or infrared camera photos, leaving enough archives, so we don't need any more photos.

The key contradiction now is the limited number of restoration workers versus the unlimited number of bamboo slips and similar items that need restoration...

Moreover, even with all the existing restoration methods available in the cultural relics field—including preservation, dehydration, reshaping, and bleaching—the salvaged waterlogged bamboo slips are still extremely fragile.

Basically, it went from being as crumbly as tofu to being able to move slightly like flaky bread.

However, Shen Le's magical restoration technique can restore waterlogged bamboo slips to their newly created state. Not only will they not crumble when picked up, but you could even hold them in your hand and give the students a good beating!
Who wouldn't envy someone like that!
"Let's talk about it later, let's talk about it later." Professor Hu, his face flushed and chest puffed out almost to the point of bending over, waved his hands repeatedly:

“Shen Le is a good kid, and I believe he'll help, but this project is just too big. He himself has a huge pile of bamboo slips waiting to be repaired and studied! After that, there are other things to do…”

Professor Hu was absolutely right. What Shen Le showed him was just a bamboo slip, or rather, a fraction of the entire restoration project:

The entire lacquer box contained 50 scrolls of bamboo slips, totaling over a thousand bamboo slips, all of which Shen Le had to repair one by one using magic. And only after the repairs were complete would the rest of the work begin:
A group of experts on bamboo slips and researchers of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods will conduct more in-depth research and verification of the contents of these bamboo slips.

In fact, once they obtained the infrared camera photos taken by Shen Le, they had already begun studying the written content. However, the content presented on the bamboo slips was much richer…

So after Shen Le revealed her magical repair skills, she was constantly being urged by her school teachers. Well, not directly, but rather by the teachers who would casually "bump into" her every day, giving her a knowing smile.
"Xiao Shen, are you still busy lately?"

"Xiao Shen, are you getting used to the food and accommodation at school? If there's anything inconvenient, be sure to tell the school, and the school will help you solve it!"

"Xiao Shen, are you feeling overwhelmed repairing so many bamboo slips? Should the school send you a few assistants?"

Shen Le: "..."

No need!

Need not!

The skirts can be a great help!

Putting aside the fact that the Special Affairs Bureau has regulations to minimize the possibility of ordinary people being exposed to supernatural entities, even without those regulations, I still can't tolerate your help like this—

In the absolute darkness of the room, Luo Qun and I relied on our mental powers for guidance and on seeing in the dark to operate. When a few students came to help, should I turn on the lights for them, or leave them to wander around in the dark?
I'm worried they'll scream "Sadako!" and collapse!

Shen Le smiled respectfully, but without hesitation, he declined all offers of help. Instead, he stayed in the laboratory, pulling up bamboo slips one by one, baking and dehydrating them.

Oh, and the silk cords on the bamboo slips also need to be removed one by one, cleaned, soaked in silk protein solution, and then cast spells to make them "grow" back to their original state. Then, each of these silk cords needs to be dried.

Shen Le was skilled at all these tasks, except for weaving the silk rope back together and then using the silk rope to weave the bamboo slips together again, which was a bit troublesome—fortunately, she could leave it to the women in their skirts to do.

He would repair a few bamboo slips, then rest and read their contents; he would repair a few more, rest again, and read them again.

Once the restored roll was finished and carefully unfolded, I had just raised my camera when I heard Luo Qun exclaim in delight beside me:
Mr. Shen! We... think we've found something amazing!

what?
Shen Le focused intently on the direction the sleeve had brushed past. On the pale yellow bamboo slip, rows and rows of ink-black characters were densely arranged, without any punctuation or even spaces.

Shen Le read a few sentences intently, and then her head began to spin:
"Their schemes, which manifest themselves in external signs and harbor treacherous intentions, all stem from their deception and cunning..."

What is this thing? I can't even read it!
[This is "The Book of Master Guigu"!] The woman in the gold and red robe fluttered around Shen Le, creating gusts of fragrant breeze, appearing quite excited.

This is the "Dixi" chapter of the "Guiguzi"! The original text was lost long ago, and it was collected bit by bit from the annotations of later generations. I never expected to find a copy here!
Mr. Shen, if this is the original, then we've truly discovered something amazing!!!

"what……"

Shen Le instantly started experiencing headaches, chest pains, and stomach aches. If he had known this was the original text of *Guiguzi*, he wouldn't have used magic to repair it!
Even if the restoration is a hundred times more difficult, even if the workload is a hundred times greater, even if the restored bamboo slips are a hundred times more fragile than the ones he has now, they are still bamboo slips recognized by the archaeological community!

These bamboo slips are worthy of being placed in museums and used in expert appraisal meetings; each one can withstand expert scrutiny!

These bamboo slips can be used as evidence to prove that "you can see that these things, these written records, existed in the Warring States period, the Qin Dynasty, or the Han Dynasty!"

Instead of having to specifically explain, submit all the infrared photos and operation videos, and then being questioned about whether "this thing is from last week"—the bamboo slips, whose evidentiary value is reduced by hundreds of percent!

He walked dejectedly, carrying the bamboo slips, until he reached Professor Hu. To his surprise, Professor Hu laughed heartily and waved his hand.

"You think we didn't discuss this? We discussed it a long time ago! — After those infrared photos were taken, the professors qualified to study them held seven or eight meetings already!"

"what?"

Shen Le's eyes widened in astonishment. Professor Hu stared intently into his eyes and said seriously, "Shen Le, what is the most important task for us cultural relic restorers? The most important task is to bring cultural relics sleeping underground back to the light of day, to protect them properly for future generations, and to extend their lifespan as much as possible."

Shen Le nodded blankly. I understand the logic, but—

"To repair the bamboo slips to look like this—" Professor Hu pointed to the bamboo slips in his hand:

"Is it that we don't want to? It's that we can't do it! If we could do it, if we could make it in its best condition, who would want it to be dark and gloomy, afraid of light, afraid of wind, afraid of dampness, and fragile?"

"But……"

"But you're worried about the evidence? Haven't you already prepared a chain of evidence? The infrared photos you took before, the carbon traces deeply embedded inside the bamboo slips—they won't change! And your operation video—aren't all of these enough to prove your point?"

Before Shen Le could say anything more, Professor Hu stood up and patted him forcefully on the shoulder:

"Don't worry. We professors aren't inflexible. Just go and do your work. If there are any problems, we'll cover for you. If anything goes wrong, we'll remind you and won't just watch you mess things up!"

Shen Le finally felt a little relieved, respectfully took his leave, and turned to get back to work.

He repaired each bamboo slip one by one, read each slip one by one, and finally compiled a nine-volume set of "Guiguzi," which he displayed separately for his teachers to see.

"We can only look at them through the glass! — There are strong energy fluctuations on these bamboo slips. I'm afraid that after they're all repaired, they might mutate into something else!"

Even without his permission, the teachers wouldn't touch them. They would only handle the precious bamboo slips very, very occasionally, through a glove box, with extreme care, during their regular research.
Even just glancing at them without actually doing anything is considered a very precious opportunity—most bamboo slips need to be stored away from light, as light would cause them great damage!
Therefore, most of the time, experts who study bamboo and wooden slips and their contents simply look at photographs and study them over and over again.

Some people can't even see the photos, or the photos are just for comparison and reference. They just bury themselves in the text, spending their lives studying and verifying which version is correct and which version is an error in the transmission...

"Don't worry, we'll just take a look, we definitely won't touch it." The teachers who came to visit not only had to be separated from the glass display case, but also from the glass wall separating ordinary people and practitioners. Basically, they could only look at photos and videos.

After reviewing it once and copying the photos, I continued to urge Shen Le:

"Keep up the good work! There are still many bamboo slips left! Don't dawdle just because these bamboo slips are scattered and you can't make out the information! Every single character is very important!"

"I know! I know! Don't worry, teacher, I'll definitely fix them as soon as possible!"

Shen Le repeatedly assured him. Every character that has survived from ancient times—on bamboo slips, silk scrolls, bronze artifacts, oracle bones—is exceptionally precious, preserving a wealth of information.

What are recorded in the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi? Eighteen types of Qin laws, miscellaneous Qin laws, legal questions and answers, official seals and inscriptions, and chronological records—

These things were considered ordinary at the time, but modern experts who obtained them were extremely grateful.

It fills a gap in the legal records of the Qin Dynasty!

It provides rich and detailed evidence for the study of the political, economic and cultural development of the Qin Dynasty!

It even has records of divination and calendar systems!

The characters on it alone reflect the transition from seal script to clerical script!

It's absolutely precious...

Therefore, Shen Le dared not underestimate a single word on the bamboo slips. However, even so, the characters on each bamboo slip he repaired still made him dizzy and confused:
"Wu Gu Chu entered the mountains. In the thirteenth year of King An of Zhou, he emerged from the mountains at the age of twenty-two, assassinated the Wei capital, burned down the treasury of Gongshu Cuo, and died from a crossbow bolt at the age of twenty-seven."

"He wove silk and went into the mountains. In the sixth year of King Lie of Zhou, he emerged from the mountains at the age of twenty-two and entered Yingdu as a remnant of Wu Qi's faction to assassinate the Prime Minister of Chu. He failed and was torn apart by chariots, dying at the age of twenty-three."

"Hulong Qi entered the mountains. In the tenth year of King Xian of Zhou, he emerged from the mountains at the age of thirty-one, infiltrated the Qin army, sank the grain ships at Jingyang, was captured, and committed suicide at the age of thirty-one."

One by one, and one after another. Not every bamboo scroll was tightly strung together with silk rope and rolled up completely.

In fact, many of the silk ropes had broken, rotted, or worn through, and many bamboo slips had sunk to the bottom of the box. Shen Le had to sort them out one by one when organizing them.

Shen Le found this job very difficult, or rather, he was simply not good at it.

Those bamboo slips, one by one, might be arranged according to the year, but to gather the adjacent year slips and arrange them in order would be the death of him:

He can't memorize it at all, okay?
We had to check and verify each one individually, and then carefully put the matching bamboo slips together.

Next, they checked the minute wear and tear on the bamboo slips to determine their arrangement order...

"I'm so tired... I'll just wait for the teachers to do it, I'll just take what's already done..."

Shen Le groaned and collapsed to the ground, clutching her head. After a while, she was relentlessly poked up by the women in their skirts and continued repairing the bamboo slips.

“Ah… this is…”

A bamboo slip that was unusually dim, with almost illegible characters, gradually brightened in his hands.

On the pale yellow bamboo slips, the ink marks and vermilion seals are clearly distinguishable:
"Qin Wuyang, a guard, entered the mountains in the thirteenth year of King Jingmin of Wei's reign. He emerged from the mountains at the age of thirteen and accompanied the assassination attempt on the King of Qin. He died at the age of fifteen."

Shen Le stared at the bamboo slips before him, his fingertips trembling slightly, and for a moment he couldn't breathe. What was he seeing?
Qin Wuyang?
Although he is not Jing Ke, he is still a person whose name is recorded in history books... Why is he here?
Why was it recorded on the bamboo slips in this box?
Shen Le gently pressed down on the bamboo slips, feeling the faint spiritual energy inside, and the faint golden energy that permeated all the bamboo slips, consistent with the other items in the lacquer box.

There are approximately 50 scrolls and over 1000 bamboo slips, more than half of which record the names of people like these, the vast majority of whom are unknown.

Why are their names recorded here? And why did they enter and leave the mountains?
Shen Le suddenly felt a surge of immense motivation. He needed to work harder and finish repairing everything as soon as possible—

Perhaps, when all the bamboo slips are restored, these bamboo slips will take him directly to see the scene from back then!
(End of this chapter)