Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Su Yuan didn't sleep well again that night, not because the kang (heated brick bed) was hard, but because he kept thinking about that woman's voice. He tossed and turned and took out the bronze mirror to look at himself several times!

The woman in the costume in the mirror was still there, standing in the middle, motionless and silent. The little shadows were all huddled in the corner, far away from her.

Su Yuan got up as soon as it was light. The Liu family was busy in the kitchen, so he went over and asked for a bowl of millet porridge, which he ate with some pickled vegetables. After finishing, he opened the toolbox and checked it over.

—We won't use paint or rice paper today; we need to bring something else.

He pulled out a chisel, a hammer, and a crowbar, stuffed them into his tool bag, and Qian Weidong, who was already waiting at the door, stubbed out his cigarette and asked:

"Really going to demolish it?"

"dismantle!"

"Aren't you going to let Director Zhang know first?"

Su Yuan slung his tool bag over his shoulder:

"Tell Director Zhang after the demolition is complete!"

Qian Weidong looked at him without saying anything. After a while, he took out his phone from his pocket, pressed a few buttons, and then put it back in his pocket.

"Let's go..."

Who did you message?

"Nobody..."

Qian Weidong coughed lightly and walked towards the stage. Su Yuan didn't ask any further questions, finding it somewhat amusing.

"This guy must have snitched..."

Upon reaching the stage, Su Yuan lifted the wooden planks and shone a flashlight on the steps. There were water droplets on the bricks today, indicating that they had become damp last night.

"I'll go down with you!" Qian Weidong said.

Su Yuan wanted to say no, but then he remembered Zhang Weiyi saying that he shouldn't go alone, and he also thought about how he went down yesterday and how he was lucky that nothing happened. So he nodded!

The two of them walked down the steps one after the other. The steps were a bit steep for Qian Weidong, who was a big guy. He walked carefully, holding onto the wall with one hand and feeling the protruding brick edge on the wall with the other.

Su Yuan walked ahead, shining his flashlight on the ground every now and then, and soon they reached the bottom.

The passageway remained the same. Su Yuan led Qian Weidong inside, pausing briefly as they passed the portrait of a female impersonator.

Finding a palm-sized piece of broken wall plaster on the ground, Su Yuan squatted down to take a look. The broken edge was fresh, curled up, and not completely dry. It couldn't have fallen off naturally; something must have pushed it off from the inside.

He stood up, and the two continued walking forward.

After rounding the bend, the passage narrowed, the walls on both sides receding inwards until it was barely wide enough for one person to pass through. Su Yuan squeezed through sideways, while Qian Weidong, cursing and swearing behind him, also squeezed through!

That red brick wall is still there.

But when I shone the flashlight on it, I found that it was different from yesterday!

Several cracks appeared on the wall, running from top to bottom, winding like tree roots, with the widest one wide enough to fit a finger.

Su Yuan reached out and touched the edge of the crack. The brick fragments were new and hadn't been covered in mortar; the crack had appeared last night!

He took out a bronze mirror. The woman in the theatrical costume was still in the mirror, but she looked blurrier than yesterday. The little shadows were all huddled in the corner, still afraid to move.

"Are you there?" Su Yuan asked the wall. When there was no response, he said again, "I'm here."

This time, a voice came from behind the wall, as if it first sighed:

"You really came!"

"I said I'd come, and I will..."

Su Yuan put down his tool bag, took out a chisel and hammer, and said:

"I'm going to tear down the wall, step back a little!"

There was no response from the voice. After waiting a few seconds, Su Yuan placed the chisel against the brick seam and hammered it down. With a clang, a corner of the brick broke, but the brick itself didn't move.

"This cement is really sturdy..." he thought, and then he hammered it again, this time with a bit more force, and the chisel wedged into the brick joint.

He pulled the chisel out, changed its position, and then wedged it in again!

After smashing it a dozen more times, the first brick finally came loose. Su Yuan tried to pry it off with his hands, but couldn't get it out. He smashed it a few more times and then pulled hard, and the brick came out.

Behind the bricks is black, a solid black!

Something seemed to be blocking the way behind him. Su Yuan shone his flashlight inside and saw that it was obstructed by something. It was dark and rough, like soil but not quite. He touched it and found it was soft.

"What is this?" Su Yuan asked in his heart, and the voice from behind the wall replied, "It's my heart... but it's blocked..."

Startled, Su Yuan quickly withdrew his hand. The dark object left a dent where his fingers had touched, then slowly bounced back, just like Play-Doh!

He picked up the chisel again and started dismantling the second brick, the third brick... Qian Weidong helped catch the bricks from behind, and they were stacked on the ground one by one.

After half an hour of dismantling, a hole appeared in the wall, about half a meter square. Behind the hole was all that black stuff. Su Yuan poked at it with a chisel, but the chisel didn't go in much and bounced back!

He used a bit more force and pushed hard, and this time the chisel went in, pulling out a chunk of black mud with it.

The mud just lay there in a clump on the ground, not scattered, and was pitch black.

Su Yuan squatted down to examine it closely. There was something in the mud, tiny and shiny, somewhat like shards of glass. He poked at it with his finger and realized it wasn't glass, but a piece of mica!

"This is an ancient method..." he muttered to himself. Qian Weidong asked from behind, "What ancient method?"

"When building a stage, something is always mixed into the foundation. Some mix in grains or copper coins, while others mix in mica. Mica is believed to ward off evil spirits and also suppress negative energy."

Su Yuan stood up and said:

"Someone used this thing to seal her heart!"

After saying that, he started dismantling the bricks again. When he got to the third layer, the chisel broke. Su Yuan was stunned for a moment, then pried the broken chisel out of the brick seam to replace it with a new one.

Qian Weidong handed him a crowbar:

"Here, use this."

Su Yuan took the crowbar and continued dismantling. After nearly two hours, he had demolished half of the wall and finally widened the opening to a size large enough for a person to crawl through!

Su Yuan shone his flashlight inside. The dark mass was still there, but it looked different. The spot where he had touched it had left a dent, and it hadn't bounced back…

Su Yuan reached out again, and when his fingers touched the dark object, the bronze mirror suddenly sank in his pocket. This time, he didn't pull his hand back, but continued to probe inside.

I touched it; the black thing was cool and soft, like something I touched when I reached the deepest part of a bowl of jelly!

It's a square, hard object with words engraved on its surface.

"monument…"

Su Yuan tried to grab the corner and pull it out, but the black things were wrapped tightly around it and he couldn't budge it. He tried harder, but still couldn't move it!

Qian Weidong shouted from behind, "Don't pull it forcefully, you'll hurt it..."

Su Yuan released his grip, panting, and thought for a moment:

"This stuff needs to be melted... you can't just tear it apart."

"How do you turn it?" Qian Weidong asked. Su Yuan replied, "Lime. Lime can turn mud into slurry."

After saying that, he turned around and walked back, with Qian Weidong following behind. By the time the two of them climbed out of the dark passage, it was already broad daylight.

Su Yuan and his companion sat behind the stage, breathing in the fresh air. Old Liu brought over a pot of tea, poured a bowl for each of them, and asked:

"What's going on down there?"