Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

The main god stood in the center, looking ahead. Su Yuan didn't know what he was looking at, but he felt that he was looking at the temple entrance, looking at a distant place outside the door.

Qian Weidong and Xu Laodao finished packing and left first. Qian Weidong said:

"I'll wait for you in the car!"

Su Yuan responded and looked around the entire hall again. After it was repaired and tidied up, he finally felt relieved!

He took out the bronze mirror and glanced at it. The small bright spot on the mirror was still there, and the little shadows began to whisper, asking:

"Master Su, is it repaired?"

"Can the Supreme God return?"

Su Yuan thought of the cracked central stele: "I can't come back, but this time the energy flow won't be severed."

He put the mirror back in his pocket, picked up his toolbox, looked at the picture of the Taoist priest in blue, and said to himself, "Goodbye!"

Qian Weidong waited in the car and started the engine when he saw Su Yuan come out.

Old Master Xu waved his hand and watched the bread truck slowly disappear into the distance...

After driving for about half an hour, Su Yuan asked:

"Master Qian, do you know where Old Wu went?"

Qian Weidong looked at the road ahead: "I don't know, he didn't say..."

Su Yuan took out his phone and sent a text message to Old Wu: "Uncle Wu, the main god's position has been repaired."

A wave of fatigue washed over him as he put his phone away. He drifted off to sleep amidst the bumpy ride and arrived at work around 7 p.m. The car had barely stopped when Su Yuan woke up.

Rubbing his eyes, he greeted Qian Wei and got out of the car with his toolbox. Qian Wei drove away.

Looking down at the lobby on the first floor from the steps, there was no one there.

Two days ago, the entrance to the lobby was replaced with a facial recognition automatic door. Without Old Wu sitting there in the lobby, it just feels like something's missing…

It exudes an indescribable sense of desolation.

Su Yuan stood silently in front of the bench for a moment before going upstairs. Shadows flashed by in the corridor from time to time!

Su Yuan was no longer uncomfortable with it and treated it as if a normal person was passing by. He was not surprised to occasionally hear whispers.

I didn't stop them from fixing things today. I went upstairs and organized the toolbox in the office again before leaving the office amidst indirect sounds and shadows.

National Special Cultural Relics Restoration Center!

Nothing happened that night…

I had a headache when I woke up at 6:50 the next morning, and I didn't really start sleeping until after 3 a.m.

I splashed some cold water on my face to clear my head, then slowly put on my work clothes with two large pockets, packed up my bronze mirror and other items, and went out.

Su Yuan arrived at work at eight o'clock and found the director's office empty, but then discovered that his own office door was open.

It is Linxi.

She was standing in the room, holding a folder in her hand, looking at the objects on the table.

Su Yuan's toolbox and the Su Zhi Forged Sword with its box open—she didn't know what he was going to do with them. She turned around and looked at Su Yuan when she heard footsteps.

"Su Yuan, Director Zhang asked me to come and find you. The items in the warehouse need to be re-registered and cataloged."

She began by explaining her purpose, then pointed to the bronze sword on the table:

"How do I register this sword?"

Su Yuan didn't blush after hearing this; that's how he is at work. He spoke slowly:

"A bronze sword from the Spring and Autumn Period, used by the son of the King of Yue. The sword has more than sixty characters of inscription, is covered with greenish-blue rust, and has five turquoise stones inlaid in the guard. The tip of the sword has obvious wear marks."

"For sacrificial purposes, there is also a mark indicating that Su made the sword."

As Lin Xi listened, she wrote down all the information in a folder. After finishing, she looked at Su Yuan:

"And that bronze mirror in your pocket, Director Zhang specifically instructed that this also needs to be registered! The Tang Dynasty figurine has already been registered."

Upon hearing this, Su Yuan took out a bronze mirror and placed it on the table. Lin Xi picked up the mirror and looked at the four characters on the back, then read them aloud:

"The Seal of Su Yuan..."

After quickly jotting down a few notes in front of the bronze mirror, he returned it to Su Yuan and asked, "Are there any other items that need to be registered?"

Su Yuan touched the small item in his pocket and said, "That's all."

Lin Xi closed the folder and asked him softly, "Will Lao Wu come back after he leaves?"

"have no idea…"

Lin Xi glanced at Su Yuan's expressionless face, but didn't say anything more, only talking as she walked:

"Let's go... Director Zhang said you should keep that sword for a while..."

Su Yuan left the bronze sword behind, sat down in the chair, put the bronze mirror back in his pocket, and stared blankly at the bronze sword on the table.

Just as he was about to go to the cafeteria for lunch, his phone vibrated. It was a WeChat voice message from his mother, but his father, Su Fu, was speaking through the receiver:

"Yuan'er, your Uncle Wu called last night and said he's already arrived, so don't worry."

Su Yuan listened to the voice message again to confirm that his father had only said that he had arrived, but had not said where exactly!

He immediately replied to his father's message: "Did Uncle Wu say where we're going?"

A few minutes later, he replied with a text message: "I didn't say anything, I only said this one sentence."

At 2 PM, Zhang Weiyi returned to his unit. He called Su Yuan over and said, "Zhao Cheng said that Lao Wu took the train south, but his exact destination is currently unknown."

Where is Zhao Cheng?

"They've already gone back upstairs. They said they'll come back in a while. Okay, if you have something to do, go ahead and do it. If you don't, go back now."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement, casually closed the door, and left. A soft call came from behind him in the hallway:

"Master Su."

Su Yuan knew without turning around that it wasn't a person calling, so he responded. The voice then said:

"Old Wu, aren't you coming back? He's a decent guy, it's just that raising that thing of his makes us a little scared."

After listening, Su Yuan nodded slightly without replying. He took the bronze sword and went downstairs to return to his dormitory. At the entrance of his workplace, he saw a figure—it was Chen Xiaohe.

Chen Xiaohe was squatting on the steps, smoking and waiting for him. Seeing Su Yuan walk out of the hall, he threw down his cigarette butt, stood up, stomped on it, and said:

"Hey, I've been waiting for you for ages."

"What's wrong?"

Chen Xiaohe took out a copper key from his pocket and showed it to Su Yuan. Su Yuan took it and saw that the small copper key had a clear "Su" character engraved on it.

It was exactly the same as the one he brought out of the crack!

"Where did this key come from?"

Su Yuan perked up, and Chen Xiao looked at him with an expression that seemed to want to laugh:

"Isn't this on the register? I found it in the storeroom when I was moving things. It was under the shelf padding on A-Wu's shelf, and it looks like it's been there for years!"

"How was it? I'm doing well, Brother Chen."

Su Yuan gripped the key tightly, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Two identical keys, one left in the crack by Zhao Huaishan, and the other hidden under Awu's shelf. There must be an unknown secret behind this!

Su Yuan smiled at Chen Xiaohe and asked:

"Is there anything else?"

Chen Xiaohe raised his eyebrows: "That's all, we only found this one key."

After saying that, Chen Xiaohe patted Su Yuan on the shoulder and turned to leave.

Su Yuan quickly returned to his dormitory, placed the two keys on the table, and arranged them together with the sword, bronze mirror, jade, bronze pieces, and bluestone.

He stared at the two keys for a long time, then a thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately picked up his phone and sent a WeChat message to his mother:

"Mom, let's buy Dad a cell phone too. And ask him how many of those little brass keys the Su family makes?"

After receiving no reply for several minutes, he added another message:

"I have two now."

This time the reply was very quick, with several voice messages sent in quick succession!