Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Old Wu didn't answer. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, and only when it was almost burned out did he stub it out on the chair leg and stand up.

"Come with me."

Su Yuan followed him out of the workplace and headed east. They passed through two alleys and entered an old residential area. The buildings were five-story red brick buildings from the 1970s and 1980s, and there were no elevators.

Old Wu stopped in front of the third building and pointed: "It's room 301 on the third floor. Go up there yourself."

Su Yuan looked expectantly at the third-floor window, but there was no light: "Is he... home?"

"He's always at home... This was assigned to him by his workplace."

After saying that, Lao Wu left. Su Yuan didn't hear what Lao Wu said, and didn't ask any more questions. He staggered upstairs in the dark, where there wasn't even a light in the stairwell!

When he arrived at room 301 on the third floor, he saw an old-fashioned iron security door with peeling green paint. He tried his best to control himself, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door, but there was no response.

He was getting a little anxious, so he knocked twice more. Seeing there was still no response, he pushed the door open; it wasn't locked…

The room was dark and filled with the smells of medicine, dust, and a stuffy, poorly ventilated atmosphere.

"dad…"

He called out in a trembling voice, but there was no response. Su Yuan fumbled for the switch on the wall and pressed it!

When the lights came on, the room looked no more than ten square meters. The furniture was all worn out, with a sofa, a coffee table, and an old-fashioned television set covered in dust.

A person was sitting on the sofa, his back to the door, his face turned towards the window with the curtains drawn…

That figure was so thin... and all his hair was white. Su Yuan thought of his father's spirited appearance in the previous clips, and his heart broke!

Su Yuan looked at the person who was motionless, whose eyes were already filled with tears that he could no longer hold back. His heart tightened, and he slowly walked over. When he got to the front, he saw the person covering his mouth and wiping away tears!

That face was exactly like his, like looking in a mirror.

But those eyes were empty and lifeless; even though they were facing him directly, it was as if they didn't see anything.

Su Yuan knelt down, trembling all over, and held his father's hand. It was ice cold, and his father was so thin that his bones felt like they were digging into his skin. His skin was as thin as paper. His eyes stung again, and tears welled up again!

Su Fu looked down at him, and after a long while, he spoke, his voice muffled:

"A-Wu...?"

Su Yuan was stunned, his voice trembling with tears: "Dad, it's me, Su Yuan, I'm your son..."

"Awu..." her father repeated, his tone certain, "You've come to pick me up?"

Su Fu stared at Su Yuan's face, his empty eyes suddenly lighting up.

"I've been waiting for you for so long." Her voice trembled violently. "For a very, very long time..."

Su Yuan's mind was buzzing. He thought of what Old Wu had said. It turned out that it wasn't A Wu waiting for her father, but rather her father who had been waiting for A Wu all along.

"Dad, have you seen her?"

His father didn't answer, but just stared at him intently: "You look so much like her... eyes, nose, mouth, they're all alike..."

Su Yuan was stunned again. He looked like A Wu.

"The year I was assigned to the unit, I saw her the first time I went into the warehouse."

Su Fu murmured to himself, "She was standing on the shelf looking at me, and I knew it... she was waiting for me."

"How long have you been waiting?"

"More than twenty years..." Su Fu forced a smile, which looked somewhat eerie on his gaunt face: "From the day I met her until now, more than twenty years have passed..."

He shook his head again: "No!"

"What's wrong?"

"She's not waiting for me!" Su Fu looked at him and said, word by word, "She's waiting for you."

Su Yuan shook his head with tears in his eyes.

"Have you seen that bronze mirror? There are four characters engraved on the back... Seal of Su Yuan."

Su Fu stared straight at him: "That's not my name, nor is it your grandfather's name... it's yours."

He stroked Su Yuan's face with his icy hands:

"The first time I had a dream, I dreamt that she was standing on Chang'an Avenue, waving at me. I thought she was calling me, but then I realized she was calling someone else..."

"Who?"

"Someone she never got to meet in her entire life," Su Fu said slowly.

"She entered the palace at the age of nine and stayed there for over twenty years, never leaving the palace gates until her death. But she was always waiting for someone, waiting for that person to come and take her home..."

"That person's surname was Su, from Su Family Village outside Luoyang... Before she was nine years old, when she was sold into the palace by her relatives, that person promised her that he would come to redeem her once he had earned enough money. She waited for twenty years, but that person never came!"

Su Fu's gaze suddenly focused, fixed on Su Yuan:

Do you know what happened to him afterwards?

Su Yuan shook her head, suppressing her sobs.

"He died..." Su Fu said calmly, "He died of illness in the third year after she entered the palace. He didn't know until his death that the person he was waiting for was also waiting for him."

The words Ah Wu had spoken in the warehouse echoed in Su Yuan's mind once again:

"I smelled it; it's the scent of someone waiting for you!"

"So that person..." Su Yuan's voice trembled slightly, "...was he my ancestor?"

The father nodded, then changed his tone:

"You all look pretty much the same. The first time I saw you, I knew you were here to pick her up."

"She waited for thirteen hundred years..."

Su Fu murmured softly to himself, his smile much gentler this time.

Looking at his father, who was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused, Su Yuan felt a lump in his throat: "Dad, all these years... you've been waiting for her?"

"I'll wait for her to come and pick me up..." the father said. "I can't leave until she comes."

Su Yuan didn't understand the meaning of those words. His father had already closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa.

"I'm tired... You should go! She's still waiting for you."

"dad…"

"Go on," the father waved his hand, without opening his eyes. "I've been here for over ten years, a little longer won't make a difference!"

Su Yuan stood there, his heart pounding, staring at his father for a long time before finally turning around and leaving, gently closing the door behind him.

He leaned against the dark stairwell wall, his heart aching, his hands trembling, so much so that he could barely hold his phone. Just then, a very soft, faint voice rang out in the darkness:

"Come…"

Su Yuan was shocked:

"A-Wu?"

There was no response, but he was certain it was her. Su Yuan calmed himself down a bit and rushed downstairs.

Arriving at the warehouse door and finding Xiao Chen not there, Su Yuan looked at the fingerprint lock and a thought flashed through his mind. Almost instinctively, he pressed his thumb on it, but there was no response.

Xiao Chen pressed his index finger!

"drop."

The lock opened with a press of my index finger.

Su Yuan walked up to her, and the terracotta figurine's eyes slowly turned, looking at him like a living person:

"You're here?"

"They're here..."

Su Yuan naturally placed his hand on her shoulder, closed his eyes, and heard a series of shaky noises from the fluorescent lights. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a bustling street.

Tavern flags fluttered in the breeze, and the sounds of hawking and laughter filled the air. In the distance stood a tall city gate, with three characters inscribed on its plaque:

Mingde Gate!

This is Chang'an, the prosperous Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty 1,300 years ago.

Su Yuan was now invisible; no one here could see him. He drifted uncontrollably through the crowds and carriages, not knowing where he was going, yet clearly knowing someone was waiting for him…

He stopped in front of an inconspicuous old house and saw a fresh and pretty young girl standing at the door!