Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Seeing that the woman was having a social anxiety attack, Su Yuan quickly looked away, unsure of what to do with his hands and feet, his mind blank. It was the woman who spoke first:

"Are you new here?"

Su Yuan nodded with his head down, glanced at the woman, and saw that she was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, quite pretty. She took two steps forward:

"My name is Lin Xi. I'm newly transferred here and I'm in charge of file organization. What's yours?"

Su Yuan took a step back:

"Su, Su Yuan."

Lin Xi stopped and looked at him with a somewhat strange expression:

Why are you hiding?

Su Yuan blushed. He wanted to say, "I didn't dodge," but what came out was:

"I...I..."

Lin Xi stared at him for a moment and then smiled:

"Is he/she socially anxious?"

Su Yuan looked up at her in a panic, and saw Lin Xi smiling as she walked over, stopped in front of him, and extended her hand:

"It's okay, my brother is the same way. We'll be colleagues from now on, so let's take it slow."

Su Yuan looked at the hand, hesitated for two seconds, and then grasped it. His palms were sweaty. Lin Xi seemed not to notice. She let go and looked at the shelf behind him.

"Is this the female figurine?"

Su Yuan's heart skipped a beat. He had been chatting with the female figurine for a long time. Could she have seen it?

But Lin Xi's expression was normal, just like that of an ordinary museum worker looking at cultural relics.

Seeing her approach the terracotta figurine:

"It's in really good condition. Did you just repair the patch on the right cuff? The craftsmanship is excellent."

Su Yuan hummed in response, and Lin Xi turned to stare at him:

"Director Zhang asked me to come to the warehouse to pick up a file and, by the way, get to know you. He said you fixed this figurine last night, and also said..."

She suddenly stopped, and Su Yuan looked at her in confusion:

"What else is there to say?"

Lin Xi's expression was somewhat subtle:

"And you say you're a capable person!"

Su Yuan was puzzled:

"Skilled? You think repairing a terracotta warrior is skillful?"

Lin Xi didn't say anything more and went to the shelf to look through the files. Su Yuan stood in front of the female figurine and secretly glanced at her.

The female figurine was still in the same pose, with the same smile, and the same eye perspective. But Su Yuan felt that she was looking at him, and the curve of her lips seemed to have curved a little more!

They're laughing at him...

Lin Xi came over after searching through the files:

"I've finished looking, what about you?"

Su Yuan glanced nervously at the female figurine, then at Lin Xi:

"I...I'll stay a little longer..."

Lin Xi nodded and walked towards the door, then turned back and called out from outside:

"Su Yuan..."

"Um?"

"There's a dinner party in the cafeteria tonight to welcome the two of us newcomers. Are you coming?"

Su Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his mind was filled with thoughts of many people speaking and being stared at:

"I...I have something to do tonight..."

Lin Xi looked at him and smiled:

"Okay, then next time."

The storeroom fell silent again. Su Yuan stood before the female figurine, head bowed, and spoke softly:

"I chickened out again..."

Awu didn't move, but he heard her voice, very soft and faint:

"I used to be a coward too."

Su Yuan looked up at her and continued:

"Later I realized that being a coward was useless; what was bound to happen... would still happen."

Su Yuanli took a deep breath and said to Awu:

"Awu, I'll come chat with you again tomorrow."

After saying that, he turned and left. At six o'clock in the evening, Su Yuan stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, looking inside through the glass.

Inside, seven or eight people were gathered around a long table. Xiao Chen was clinking glasses with the person next to him, his smile different from before. Lao Wu was also there, with a glass of baijiu in front of him, watching them make a ruckus!

Director Zhang, who was sitting in the main seat, nodded to Su Yuan when he arrived. The atmosphere was lively, and Lin Xi was talking to the person next to her, laughing happily.

Su Yuan's palms started sweating again. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door. Everyone turned to look at him at the same time.

Su Yuan froze at the doorway, and the bespectacled man stood up:

"Hey, the new guy's here! Come on, sit down!"

Su Yuan didn't know where to sit, so Lin Xi stood up and waved to him.

"Over here."

Su Yuan walked over and sat down next to her. The whole table was quiet for two seconds, then became lively again. Someone poured him wine, someone asked him which school he graduated from, and someone praised his cooking skills.

Su Yuan kept his head down, responding with "uh-huh" and "ah-ah" sounds...

Although his palms were sweaty and his back was soaked, he didn't leave.

He thought about what A-Wu had said:

"There's no use being a coward; what's coming will come anyway."

Lin Qi nudged his arm and whispered:

"All done? How was it?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment and nodded:

"good!"

Lin Xi smiled and didn't ask any more questions. During the meeting, Su Yuan only remembered drinking two small glasses of baijiu and saying no more than a dozen sentences. When the party ended, Lao Wu and Director Zhang patted him on the shoulder.

The next day, Su Yuan went to work as usual. Thinking back to the two times the lights went out, he discovered a pattern: whenever he talked to A Wu for more than ten minutes, the fluorescent lights in the warehouse would go out for a moment!

I asked them why it suddenly went down.

Xiao Chen said it was due to aging wiring, Lin Xi said it was due to unstable voltage, and Lao Wu laughed after hearing this but didn't say anything.

Su Yuan felt that they were all wrong!

Today is the fifth day.

Su Yuan had gotten into the habit of going to the warehouse first thing every morning, chatting with A Wu for a few minutes, and then doing other work.

The conversation was very boring.

"The braised pork in the cafeteria today was too salty."

Lin Xi asked me if I wanted to go to the movies together this weekend, and I said no.

"My mom called again last night, asking if I have a boyfriend..."

A-Wu listened, occasionally moving her eyes and opening her mouth. She spoke less and less, but Su Yuan didn't mind. He didn't need anyone to talk to him; he just needed someone to listen.

Today is different!

He needed to get down to business, so Su Yuan opened his toolbox and took things out one by one:

Magnifying glass, flashlight, scalpel, tweezers, repair brush, palette, dropper, small spray bottle, rice paper, gelatin.

There are also mineral pigments.

Azurite powder, malachite powder, ochre powder, clam powder—each comes in a small box, all packaged in glass jars with labels on them!

He picked up a magnifying glass and examined A-Wu's cuff for a long time:

"This patch is well done. The color matches perfectly, and the edges are smooth. In a few days, just lightly sand it with fine sandpaper, and it will be completely invisible."

But this wasn't today's task; instead, Su Yuan was to give A-Wu a full-body checkup. He took a magnifying glass and started examining A-Wu from her hair bun down the length of her body.

Hair bun, forehead... all intact!

The eyebrows... the paint is a bit light, but that's just natural fading over time, so there's no need to touch them.

His eyes… He paused. Ah Wu's eyes were looking at him. Su Yuan met her gaze for two seconds before speaking:

"Let me check you out, you should close your eyes..."

The terracotta figurine's eyes slowly turned back, and Su Yuan continued to look down.

Nose, mouth... all intact!

The curve of his lips seemed to have curved a little more than a few days ago. Su Yuan stared at it for a moment and continued to examine.

Chest... finished...

Su Yuan stopped, looked up at A Wu's face, and asked softly:

"Um... let me see your chest, would you mind?"