Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

This page is complete, but it has writing on it. It's not printed; it's handwritten in small regular script with a brush, and it's written quite neatly:

"On the thirteenth day of the sixth month of the third year of the Longqing reign of the Ming Dynasty, it rained. Upon reading this page, I was moved and recorded it."

There is no signature below!

Su Yuan stared at that line of text for a few seconds, thinking:

"The third year of the Longqing reign was 1569. More than four hundred years ago, someone sat in front of this book, listening to the rain, and wrote these words..."

He placed the book on the shelf, took out tweezers, a scalpel, rice paper, and gelatin from his toolbox. "First, I'll peel off that patched piece of white paper!"

The paper was stuck together very tightly, so Su Yuan took out a small spray bottle and sprayed some water on it. Once it was thoroughly wet, he used tweezers to peel it off little by little. After peeling for about ten minutes, the missing page underneath was revealed.

He cut another piece of Xuan paper, slightly larger than the gap, applied gelatin to the edge of the gap, and then pasted the Xuan paper on top and pressed it flat.

Once the glue has dried, use scissors to trim off any excess paper and tidy the edges. Then start mixing the colors!

I mixed some black tea with water to create the color of old paper, then brushed it twice onto the rice paper with a brush. After it dried, the color was almost the same as the surrounding paper.

Then on page seven, the missing piece in the upper left corner isn't big, about the size of a fingernail.

But the missing part is exactly half of a character!

The character "雎" in "关关雎鸠" was missing the "且" on the left. Su Yuan carefully dipped his brush in ink and traced half of the character on the missing piece of Xuan paper.

My hand was shaking a bit, so I had to trace it twice before it was correct!

The missing line on page twelve was traced over, but not properly; it read "悠哉悠哉" as "悠哉悠"...

Su Yuan used a small spray bottle to moisten the painted area, then gently scraped it off with a scalpel. After a few minutes, he scraped it clean and let it dry before using a brush to rewrite the words.

Before long, a line of neat small regular script was finished, and this time it matched the font of the original book!

He didn't touch the handwritten words on page eighteen; they were written by someone four hundred years ago, so he decided to leave them.

It took less than an hour in total.

Su Yuan closed the book and flipped through it again. This time, there were no missing pages or words, and it read smoothly. After it was completely dry, he wrapped the book in blue cloth, tied it with hemp rope, and put it back on the shelf.

Just then, the bronze mirror moved slightly in my pocket. I took it out and looked in. The old man in the mirror was still there, his voice trembling slightly as he leaned close and asked:

"Is it fixed?"

"It's fixed!"

"So fast?"

"It's not a big problem." Su Yuan put the mirror back with a hint of smugness: "Just add a few missing pages, it's not like we're repairing the foundation..."

The old man didn't speak, and Su Yuan didn't say anything more either. He picked up his toolbox and walked out, when a very soft voice came from behind him:

"Thank you, Master Su..."

Su Yuan glanced back, smiled at the quiet storeroom, and then walked towards his office. He hadn't gone far when the bronze mirror started moving again. He took it out and saw that the mirror was now completely filled with mirrors!

Even more than before…

"Master Su!"

"Master Su..."

"Master Su—"

Su Yuan tried to flip the mirror over, but it wouldn't stay flipped and flipped back over!

"Master Su, the lid of my bronze incense burner isn't closing properly."

"Master Su, there's a hole in the bottom of my porcelain vase!"

"Master Su, my inkstone won't grind any ink anymore..."

"Master Su..."

Su Yuan stood dumbfounded in the corridor, his palms sweating as he clutched the mirror. He took a deep breath and whispered:

"One at a time!"

The sounds stopped.

"First, tell me what the problem is!"

After a two-second silence, the one with the bronze incense burner spoke first:

"The lid won't close properly, it keeps shaking... I don't know what's wrong."

Su Yuan thought for a moment and said:

"You can fix this yourself. First, lift up the lid and check if the rim is flat. If it's not, use fine sandpaper to smooth it out. Don't use too much at once, just a little bit first!"

"Sandpaper? What kind of sandpaper?"

"The finest kind, over 2000 grit." Su Yuan paused. "If you don't have that, you can use kraft paper..."

"Kraft paper?"

"Yes! It's that kind of envelope paper, folded several times, placed between the lid and the stove opening, and turned around a few times."

The sound disappeared, then came back after a while. This time, the person was very happy: "It's all right now, it's sealed tightly... Thank you, Master Su!"

Before Su Yuan could speak, the one with the porcelain vase squeezed in again:

"Master Su, there's a hole on the bottom of my shoe, about three centimeters up from the foot rim. It's not deep, but it's still bothering me..."

"Inside or outside?"

"Outside..."

"Can you see the fetus?"

"If you can't see it, then you've reached the glaze layer..."

Su Yuan thought for a moment:

"That's easy. Just take some wax, melt some white wax, drip it onto the die, and once it dries, use a bamboo stick to smooth it out."

"Any kind of wax will do?"

"Don't use white wax candles, those kinds of candles have something in them!"

"Okay, okay, I'll give it a try."

The voice receded, and the one with the inkstone leaned closer again:

"Master Su, I can't grind any ink. It's not that the inkstone is bad, it's just that the ink keeps spreading out and won't gather!"

How long have you been using this inkstone?

"I don't know...it's been several hundred years."

"Do it yourself... Take some sandpaper and start over, use 1000 grit, add water while sanding, just sand it smooth. Don't sand too much, just sand off one layer is enough."

"Open the noodles? How do you open them?"

Su Yuan sighed:

"First, use sandpaper to polish the inkstone surface, then wash it clean, and finally use an ink stick to polish it again."

"Okay... I'll give it a try."

The sound disappeared as well. Su Yuan let out a long breath and stood in the corridor looking at the mirror. The shadows were still there, but several were gone, and the remaining ones huddled together, muttering softly:

"Master Su can fix everything?"

"It seems like they can do everything!"

"Can it be fixed without even looking at it?"

"Weren't those the same guys just now? Do it yourselves!"

"So, my problem..."

"You go to the back, line up..."

Su Yuan flipped the mirror over, and this time it didn't flip back by itself. He put it back in his pocket, walked back to his office, took out his phone, and sent a WeChat message to his mother:

"Mom, I fixed several things today!"

His mom replied instantly: "What is it?"

Su Yuan almost laughed:

"What they repaired themselves was a book, an incense burner, and a porcelain vase and inkstone."

"Aren't you a cultural relic restorer? How come you restore everything? And you even let them restore themselves..."

Su Yuan looked at the message but didn't reply. Then his mother sent another one:

"Your dad said he sent you some things, they'll arrive in a couple of days."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, he wrapped it himself, and he wouldn't let me see!"

Su Yuan was taken aback. His dad was sending something? He replied with an "okay" and put down his phone. After packing up his toolbox, he turned off the lights and went downstairs. Wu Zhenshan had returned to the lobby, sitting on a bench with a thermos. Old Wu saw him come down and asked:

"You're back?"

"Um."

"Is the stage repaired?"

"It's fixed..."

Wu Zhenshan smiled and nodded: "There was quite a commotion on the second floor just now."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement: "Did you hear that?"