Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

There are many scars on his bones, and there is a deep cut on the ulna of his left arm, which was caused by a cold weapon.

The third and fourth ribs on the right side show signs of fracture healing, indicating that the person survived an injury sustained before death!

The most serious injury was the bullet lodged in his lumbar spine.

A copper-plated, lead-core bullet entered the lower back and lodged between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. This likely occurred during close combat when the enemy fired from behind.

The bullet was severely deformed, and radial cracks had appeared in the surrounding bone.

Su Yuan examined the bullet closely with a magnifying glass and found that the bone around the bullet was black, which was probably caused by long-term corrosion of the lead bullet head.

Su Yuan frowned and asked:

"How many years has this bullet been stuck in the bone? The lead in the bullet has seeped into the bone tissue."

The skull's shadow hovered above the skeleton: "It's been... over eighty years, hasn't it..." After saying that, it stared intently at Su Yuan's hand.

"Can... I take it out? I can't do it myself..."

"I will get it out no matter what!"

After Su Yuan finished speaking, he first took photos of the skeleton to record it, and then began to clean the dirt off the surface of the bones.

This work requires extreme patience. You can't use too much water, and you can't rub too hard. You can only clean it little by little with a soft brush and cotton swabs.

Chen Xiaohe and Qian Weidong watched for a while before Zhang Weiyi called them away to arrange other matters.

The warehouse fell silent, with only Su Yuan left cleaning up.

A small, luminous figure of Awu floated out of the bronze mirror, watching Su Yuan clean up.

"Awu, go back now, don't get covered in lead dust."

Su Yuan cleaned and talked, and the little light and shadow nodded and returned to the bronze mirror. Zhong Ming and the others were still not moving, and no one knew what they were busy with!

After carefully cleaning the surface of the bone, Su Yuan began to deal with the bullet.

He used tiny tweezers to probe the edge of the bullet and found that it was stuck very tightly, with a small piece of lead having melted into the gaps in the bone.

"This isn't a simple gunshot wound," Su Yuan muttered, frowning. "The bullet burned inside my body!"

The skeletal shadow nodded: "Fire... my clothes are burning..."

Su Yuan understood.

On the battlefield back then, when this bullet hit it, it may have detonated some flammable material, or the bullet itself carried a high temperature, causing the bullet tip to melt.

After thinking about it, I realized that I needed to soften the bone around the bullet before I could remove it!

Strong acids cannot be used, as they will damage the bones.

Su Yuan recalled a method he had seen in a repair manual before, which involved preparing a cleaning solution using distilled water and trace amounts of surfactant.

It can slowly penetrate and gradually soften the bond between lead and bone.

After preparing the cleaning solution, he used a dropper to apply it drop by drop to the joint between the bullet and the bone.

Each drop had to be waited for more than ten minutes to allow the liquid to fully penetrate, while the skeleton's shadow watched from the side the whole time!

It hisses occasionally, just like a normal person when their wound is being cleaned.

This process lasted the entire morning.

When Su Yuan returned at noon after lunch, the lead around the bullet had finally loosened.

Su Yuan used tweezers to hold the edge of the bullet and gently pulled it outwards.

I still can't pull it out!

He switched to a smaller pair of curved pliers, gripped the base of the bullet, and slowly twisted it outwards little by little.

The skeleton's shadow let out a soft "hmm," and its entire skeleton trembled slightly.

"Just bear with it."

Su Yuan knew that its pain was real.

The bullet moved outward little by little, and a minute later, the bullet finally broke free of the bone!

Su Yuan used tweezers to pick out the deformed copper bullet and placed it on a white porcelain plate next to him.

The bullet was no longer recognizable as it was; its surface was covered with a layer of dark green rust, and its base was stained with black lead and dark brown bone fragments.

The skeleton's shadow suddenly straightened up.

"Come out, come out!"

It rubbed its lower back, its voice excited and happy: "It doesn't hurt so much anymore..."

Su Yuan smiled and began to treat the bullet holes and cracks on his lumbar vertebrae, using porcelain powder and a coagulant to fill the bullet holes.

Those finer cracks need to be filled with a reinforcing agent.

To prevent further cracking!

Su Yuan dipped a brush in the reinforcing agent and applied it drop by drop to the crack, letting the liquid seep in along the crack.

"Su Yuan."

Awu's voice came from the bronze mirror: "It's crying..."

Su Yuan turned his head and saw something transparent seeping from the skull's eye sockets—a light, a pale blue light emanating from the depths of the eye sockets!

"Thank you... thank you."

The skeleton's voice grew steady, like that of a real thirty-year-old man: "I've been in pain for so long, but now, finally, the pain is gone!"

Su Yuan felt a strange mix of emotions; he couldn't bear to see anyone cry.

Then I asked it, "Is there anywhere else that hurts?"

The skeletal shadow stretched its limbs: "It's gone. That thing was the only thing that hurt me. Now that it's gone, it doesn't hurt anymore."

Su Yuan was relieved and continued to treat the other injuries to the skeleton.

The cut on the left ulna does not require much intervention; it is a mark from its life and should be preserved!

The same applies to the fractured and healed ribs; he simply reinforced a few loose joints to prevent them from falling apart.

The last thing to do after repairing it was to rearrange and put the skeleton back in place, placing it in a custom-made acid-free cardboard box.

Ready to be handed over to the martyrs' cemetery at any time.

By the time Su Yuan finished doing all this, it was almost dark.

The skeleton's shadow stood there, its back ramrod straight. It looked incredibly dashing, a true soldier at that moment!

"I have to go now."

The skeleton said:

"Before you leave, I'll tell you something. There's a place called 'Ruins' in the mezzanine. You might find what you're looking for there..."

When it spoke of the ruins, you could sense its awe. After it finished speaking, it gave a military salute, which felt a bit strange, and then it went silent.

Su Yuan's heart skipped a beat. There was another ruin hidden in the interlayer? The most important thing he was looking for right now was A Wu's remnant soul!

He memorized it, and the bronze mirror warmed his chest...

At the same time, Jiang Weiguo stood in front of Han Zhengming's desk, waiting for a while before speaking:

"Director Han, the news from the repair center is that Su Yuan repaired a set of war remains today."

"Hmm." Han Zhengming looked at him. "Anything else?"

"Also, after Sun Guoliang went missing, our people have been unable to keep track of Su Yuan's daily life."

Jiang Weiguo frowned and said:

"The repair center has also increased security. That kid Chen Xiaohe has somehow learned a method of exorcising evil spirits, so the few of our guards can't get too close."

Han Zhengming sneered: "Chen Xiaohe?"

"Yes, I didn't realize he had any special abilities before, but recently he's suddenly been able to control his temper."

Jiang Weiguo couldn't understand it.

"It's probably the effect of the jade ring and the influence of the bronze medal that allows someone to have some foundation in this department."

Han Zhengming spoke with a sinister look in his eyes:

"Tell Wang Jianguo not to keep too close an eye on us. They know he's one of ours, so leave him little leverage to use against us."

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away."

"And one more thing," Han Zhengming called to Jiang Weiguo, who was about to leave, "Have you found Wu Zhenshan's whereabouts?"

"No, he seems to have vanished into thin air..."

The next day, as soon as Su Yuan arrived at work, Zhang Weiyi called him into his office.

"sit."

Zhang Weiyi poured him a glass of water. Su Yuan thanked him, took the glass, and waited for Zhang Weiyi to speak.

Zhang Weiyi returned to his chair and said:

"I have already reported the matter of that skeleton."

"The martyrs' cemetery will send someone to pick him up and provide a final resting place for this unknown martyr!"