Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

The light bulb above my head flickered twice before turning on, and the smell was similar to last time.

However, there was a damp smell. When I walked to the shelf, I saw a porcelain pillow sitting there, covered with a thick layer of dust.

Su Yuan reached down, picked it up, and examined it under the lamp. The glaze was bluish-white, and the body was so thin that light could pass through it.

There are several fine cracks on the pillow surface, spreading outwards from the center, like the fine cracks in dried mud.

Fortunately, the cracks aren't deep, but there are quite a few of them!

Su Yuan turned the porcelain pillow over and looked at the bottom, but there was no inscription.

I turned it over and tapped it lightly with my finger. The sound was a bit muffled, not the crisp sound that good porcelain should have.

Su Yuan carefully tucked the porcelain pillow under his arm, turned off the light, locked the door, and walked back.

Qian Weidong was about to leave when he saw him come in carrying a porcelain pillow. Looking at the pillow, he asked:

"That's it?"

"Um."

"It looks like it's cracked quite badly." Qian Weidong leaned closer for another look: "Can it be repaired?"

"able."

Qian Weidong grinned:

"Xiao Su, I really envy you. If I could talk to them and do something else, I'd be rich! Okay, you're busy now, I'm leaving."

Su Yuan went up to the second floor, took his toolbox from his office to the warehouse where A Wu was, put the porcelain pillow and toolbox on the worktable, took out the glaze repair material, and then found a bottle of constant temperature curing resin.

First, use a soft brush to sweep the dust off the porcelain pillow, clean the worktable, and then use a magnifying glass to examine each crack one by one.

I counted seventeen cracks, three large and fourteen small!

Some cracks had penetrated into the porcelain body, spreading from the inside out. Su Yuan secured the porcelain pillow to the worktable and began mixing the glaze repair materials.

Prepare the glaze according to the ratio, use a small dropper to draw up the material, aim it at the first crack, and start to seep it in little by little.

The material slowly seeped down the crack, and Su Yuan watched as it seeped to the bottom before stopping!

Su Yuan put down the dropper, waited about thirty seconds, and then used a scraper to smooth out the excess material on the surface. He picked up the heat gun for curing, set it to the constant temperature setting, and blew it onto the repaired area.

The temperature cannot be too high, otherwise the tire will explode; nor can it be too low, otherwise it will not solidify.

Su Yuan stared intently at the dial of the heat gun, his hands steady and still.

After blowing for two minutes, turn it off and use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to gently wipe away the remaining residue on the surface!

The crack disappeared, leaving no trace of repair. Su Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and began repairing the second, the third…

Larger cracks take longer to repair, requiring two or three coats of filler material to fill each one.

For fine lines, just one drop is enough.

When Su Yuan reached the ninth line, he felt the jade ring heat up. He didn't stop and continued adding lines.

The ring got warm again during the thirteenth time!

He frowned and glanced at the ring, continuing on. The seventeenth was the last small inscription.

After finishing the drip, Su Yuan put down the dropper, picked up the heat gun, and finished the final cleaning.

Finally, I turned the porcelain pillow around and carefully inspected it. All seventeen cracks had been filled, the glaze was intact, and the body was stable!

Su Yuan tidied up the tools and took out a soft cloth to wipe the porcelain pillow.

The porcelain pillow shone with a bluish-white light under the lamp; all the cracks had disappeared, and when tapped, the sound was no longer so dull.

He put the porcelain pillow aside, intending to return it once it had completely hardened.

After packing his things, Su Yuan went to the sink to wash his hands.

The water washed away the glaze residue on my finger, and the ring looked a bit darker than usual when it was wet!

Su Yuan shook the water off his hands and glanced at the mirror.

I saw the figure in gray and white clothes by the workbench, and without even turning on the tap, I turned my head to look at it.

The person in the gray-white clothes was standing there looking down at the porcelain pillow. His face was still unclear, but Su Yuan could feel that he was smiling!

"Is it all better now?"

Su Yuan took two steps closer, nodded slightly, and replied:

"Yes, it will be fine once it has completely hardened."

The figure touched the surface of the porcelain pillow, and a voice, both moved and happy, rang out:

"I've been inside this thing for almost nine hundred years, and it's been cracked for about three hundred years!"

Su Yuan watched as it stroked the porcelain pillow several times without disturbing it. It turned its blurry face towards Su Yuan and said:

"For the past three hundred years, I haven't had a single good night's sleep... Every night, those cracks in my brain seem to expand outwards, causing unbearable pain!"

Looking at its excited expression, Su Yuan asked softly, "Does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore! You're so good at this."

Su Yuan felt a little embarrassed and, touching the jade ring, asked, "Should I leave this celadon porcelain pillow here or return it?"

The figure stared at the porcelain pillow and said:

"Let's put me back. I've gotten used to being there. Miss Awu's terracotta figure is really well-preserved..."

It turned its head and saw Tang Yong speaking with a smile. Su Yuan also stared at A Wu and smiled.

"good…"

The figure stood there for a while, then slowly faded away after uttering the words "thank you."

Before leaving, he added, "The Su family hasn't lost their culinary skills..."

After the shadow disappeared, Su Yuan tidied up the workbench, put away the toolbox, and lingered in front of A Wu for two more minutes.

Looking at my phone, it was already past 11:30. I picked up my toolbox and porcelain pillow and left the warehouse, putting the toolbox back in the office first.

Su Yuan carried the porcelain pillow downstairs. When Qian Weidong returned and saw him carrying the porcelain pillow, he asked:

"Should we put it back?"

"Yes, put it back in the old warehouse."

"Should I come with you? No, I have something to do later."

"fine…"

After speaking, Su Yuan went to the back, opened the door of the old warehouse, pulled the light cord, and put the porcelain pillow back on its original shelf.

After glancing at the warehouse and porcelain pillows, I left the warehouse, locked the door, and as I returned to enter the lobby, security guard Liu Jun said:

"Mr. Su, is the faucet on the second floor not turned off properly? I can see water is still running from the sink in the security camera footage."

Su Yuan slapped his forehead and hurriedly went upstairs without replying. Chen Xiaohe hadn't returned yet, and he didn't know what she was doing.

He went inside and turned off the tap, recalling that he had been so focused on talking to the shadow and looking at A-Wu that the water flow was slow and made no sound.

He had forgotten to turn it off. He stared at A-Wu and smiled self-deprecatingly. He walked to the stairwell, where Chen Xiaohe was coming up from downstairs, carrying two plastic bags containing boxed lunches.

"Perfect timing, I brought you one too."

Chen Xiaohe handed over one of the bags: "Braised pork rice bowl."

Su Yuan took it and asked, "How much?"

"Twelve, what's up? Need money from me? Pfft—were you in the storeroom just now?"

"Um."

Chen Xiaohe didn't ask any more questions, and the two of them entered Su Yuan's office one after the other.

Su Yuan sat down in a chair and opened his lunchbox, while Chen Xiaohe sat down in the empty chair opposite him and opened his own.

"I heard from Xiao Liu that you repaired a porcelain pillow?"

Chen Xiaohe shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.

"Um."

"Isn't it scary?"

"I don't feel anything, are you scared?"

Su Yuan picked up a piece of braised pork and started eating. Chen Xiaohe chewed his rice and scoffed, saying indistinctly, "Who's afraid? Hurry up and eat."

Neither of them spoke again. After finishing their meal, Chen Xiaohe stacked the two empty boxes together, took out a tissue to wipe his mouth, stood up, and asked Su Yuan:

"I need to go to the suburbs this afternoon to pick up something. Do you want to come?"

After wiping his mouth, Su Yuan asked:

"What is it?"