Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

"I'm gone."

"Will you come again tomorrow?"

"We should come..."

Su Yuan went down to the first floor and saw that Old Wu was still sitting on the bench. This time he wasn't reading the newspaper, but just quietly basking in the sun.

Seeing him come down and wave, Su Yuan had just walked over when Old Wu asked:

"Did you hear that?"

Su Yuan was taken aback: "How did you know?"

Old Wu grinned, revealing his gap-toothed smile, and patted the seat next to him: "Sit down, your dad was like this back in the day."

"Uncle Wu..."

Su Yuan asked softly, "Will they...those things really come looking for me later?"

Old Wu turned to look at him: "Didn't we already look for one?"

"You think they didn't come looking for you before?" Old Wu said.

"They were there the first time you entered the storeroom; they were watching you when you were repairing that figurine; they were there when you were talking to your father."

"They might even use your dad to talk to you!"

Su Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, thinking about the strange things his father had said: "Then why didn't I see it?"

Old Wu stood up, dusted off his pants, and left: "Because of what you didn't want to see before."

After taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "Now you can see it if you want to."

After saying that, he left the office.

Su Yuan sat there alone, feeling the heavy bronze mirror in his pocket. He thought about A Wu's smile and the whispers of gossip.

The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up!

He got up and walked towards the dormitory. When he reached the dormitory building, he took out a bronze mirror and looked back at the two-story building. The windows were brightly lit, and there were some figures moving around, but they were just blurry outlines.

He looked in the mirror again, and saw a bunch of shadows standing behind him. He couldn't see their faces, but he knew they were all smiling.

Two or three seconds later, Su Yuan put the mirror away and went upstairs, the sound following him all the way to the second-floor corridor:

"See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow…"

"Don't forget to bring your brush."

"And paint..."

"A little gelatin too!"

Su Yuan stopped in the corridor, his blood rushing. He looked back; the stairwell was empty, only the sounds clearly reaching his ears:

"Did he hear that?"

"...I heard you."

"Then there's hope for tomorrow!"

"Um."

"I've seen it, the craftsmanship is really good."

"He talks a lot."

"So what if I talk a lot? Talking a lot makes things lively!"

"That's true..."

Su Yuan stood still and listened quietly. After a moment, he pushed open the door to room 202, placed the bronze mirror on the table, lay down on the bed, stared at a crack in the ceiling, and closed his eyes after a long time.

The sounds still echoed in my ears…

Su Yuan was awakened the next day by a series of urgent bangings on the door:

"Bang bang bang"

The shaking caused dust to fall from the door frame. He picked up his phone and saw it was Thursday, 4:50 a.m., just as dawn was breaking.

"Who?"

No one answered, so he asked again, still without a response.

Su Yuan lay on the bed staring at the door, not getting up. After a moment, a very soft voice drifted in from outside the door:

"I've come to hand over something!"

Su Yuan thought to himself, "Who delivers things at this hour?" He put on his coat and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw...

The corridor was empty; there was no one there!

He opened the door a crack, peered out, looked around—no one was there—and then his gaze fell down to something placed by the door…

It was a piece of blue cloth that had been washed until it changed color, but it was folded quite neatly. Su Yuan squatted down and gently unfolded the blue cloth.

Inside was a small piece of blue stone, only about the size of a thumbnail, its surface worn smooth. Two small characters were embroidered in white thread on one corner of the blue cloth:

Ah Wu!

Su Yuan's heart clenched. He squatted by the door for a long time, clutching the stone. The corridor was quiet, with only the light from outside the window slowly brightening.

He put away the blue cloth, stood up, and said to the empty corridor:

"Thanks..."

No one responded; only a gentle breeze blew by.

Su Yuan went back to bed, holding the stone and the blue cloth, looking at them, unable to sleep. He stayed up until after seven o'clock when he arrived at work.

In the lobby on the first floor, Old Wu was already sitting on the bench, reading his newspaper as usual. Seeing Su Yuan enter, his gaze fell on Su Yuan's hands:

"Didn't you sleep well again? What are you carrying?"

Su Yuan recounted what had happened that morning, placing the blue stone in his hand. Old Wu wasn't overly surprised; he picked up the stone, held it up to the light, examined it for a moment, and then smiled.

"nice one!"

"What good stuff?"

"This is the leftover material from firing that terracotta warrior. It's over 1,300 years old. Let's keep it!"

Old Wu returned the stone to him, and Su Yuan asked, "Did she give it to me?"

"Otherwise what?"

Old Wu turned back to his newspaper: "Where are you going to squat and play outside my door so early in the morning?"

Holding the stone, Su Yuan was lost in thought. After breakfast, he went to the storeroom.

Xiao Chen wasn't there. After he pressed his fingerprint to go inside, he looked at the third shelf at the far end. The terracotta figurines were still in their original places, but Su Yuan knew that she was no longer there.

He stepped forward, took the blue stone, and waved it in front of the terracotta figure:

"Thank you for this... Awu..."

no respond.

After standing there for two minutes, he left the warehouse and walked towards the office. Just as he reached the stairwell, Su Yuan felt someone watching him from behind.

Not just one or two, but many!

He turned around and saw that there was no one behind him. But when he took out a bronze mirror from his pocket and looked up, the scene reflected in the mirror was completely different.

Behind him, a crowd of blurry figures filled half the corridor!

Su Yuan clutched the bronze mirror, his heart pounding. He dared not turn around. Those voices echoed in his ears again:

"Is it him?"

"right."

"The one surnamed Su?"

"Um."

"Is your skill really that good?"

"That's what A-Wu said."

"So I can just contact him from now on?"

After a second or two of silence, a voice set the tone:

"Let's take a look!"

"What do you think?"

"We all saw him seduce Awu that day."

"How is it?"

"Good…"

There was another moment of silence, then the first voice spoke again:

"Then let's get in line!"

Su Yuan stood there, his palms sweating. He took two deep breaths, and with surprising courage, asked softly:

"What... are you all queuing up for?"

All the sounds stopped, and after a few seconds, a voice tentatively sounded:

"Can he hear me?"

"Sure, that's no problem."

"Then..." the voice paused, "when are you free?"

Su Yuan was taken aback: "What?"

"We need some repairs." The voice was blunt: "We've all got a bit off, and we wanted to get you to take a look."

He tried his best to control the trembling in his body, trying to say that he was just a newly graduated cultural relic restorer and hadn't even been paid yet.

He wanted to say he was a bit socially anxious, that he'd be scared with so many 'people' around! But the words caught in his throat, and Su Yuan remembered A-Wu, and her last smile:

"Next Monday."

He didn't even know how he managed to say it, and suddenly the voices became lively:

He said next Monday!

"What day of the week is it today?"

"Thursday."

"Three more days."

"We can wait!"

"Then let's wait in line..."

Su Yuan stood motionless under the fluorescent light, listening to their discussion!