Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

He was staring at A-Wu. Su Yuan was relieved and asked:

"Wait... what are you doing here?" Chen Xiaohe turned around and chuckled, "I'm keeping an eye on her for you, afraid she'll get lost!"

Su Yuan walked over and stood in front of A Wu, while Chen Xiaohe muttered to himself:

"You said you'd come to see her every day, but she doesn't even know."

Su Yuan didn't reply, but just made a kicking motion. Chen Xiaohe smiled, patted his shoulder, shook his head, and walked away.

Su Yuan reached out and touched A Wu's cuff, and was surprised to feel the warmth emanating from the ring, which was noticeably stronger than usual!

He quickly withdrew his hand, turned around and left the warehouse, walking to the lobby on the first floor, where Liu Jun was looking at his phone at the security desk.

"Xiao Liu, have you seen Director Zhang?"

"He went out and said he'd be back later. Is there something you need him for?"

"without."

Su Yuan felt a bit stuffy inside, so he went to the trash can to smoke a cigarette. After finishing, he threw the cigarette butt into the trash can and was about to go back when he saw the black sedan drive up from outside and stop in the yard.

Han Zhengming got out of the car, looked at Su Yuan, and smiled:

"Xiao Su, it's nice to run into you. I have something I'd like to ask you."

Su Yuan thought to himself, "Here we go again!" He stood still.

Han Zhengming walked straight over, stood in front of him, and took a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Su Yuan:

"Look at this."

Su Yuan took the photo and his mind went blank. The photo showed a wooden box, exactly the same as the one in the old warehouse!

"This photo was found in the register of the third warehouse. I just wanted to ask, what's inside that wooden box?"

Su Yuan returned the photo to him without saying a word, while Han Zhengming squinted and continued:

"I heard from Lin Xi that you took out a jade ring from inside?"

Su Yuan just stared at him without saying a word; at that moment, Su Yuan was completely bewildered.

Han Zhengming patted him on the shoulder with a smile:

"Don't be nervous, I'm just curious. There are many things about the Su family that have been talked about in the circle. They say that jade ring is extraordinary and can communicate with spirits!"

"You believe in this?"

Su Yuan asked instinctively, and Han Zhengming adjusted his glasses:

"If you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't. But some things aren't a matter of belief!"

"If you're willing, let me see that jade ring. I can write it into my report and give my superiors an explanation."

Su Yuan gripped the ring on his hand behind his back: "The thing... isn't on me right now."

"Oh? Then let's do it another day."

Han Zhengming squinted at the hand behind his back, then left without asking any further questions.

Su Yuan watched his departing figure, a chill running down his spine. This guy was probing too closely; if he wanted to see things today, he'd be taking action another day!

He exhaled a few long breaths and entered the lobby on the first floor, but something felt off as soon as he entered!

It was as if a pair of eyes were hidden in some unseen corner, watching him.

At dinner time, Su Yuan brought his tray to get his food. The cafeteria lady, Li Xiulan, was very kind and this time she gave him an extra spoonful of braised pork.

"Xiao Su, you've lost weight lately, eat more."

"Thank you, Aunt Li."

Carrying my tray, I found a corner seat and sat down opposite someone. When I looked up, I saw it was Lin Xi.

"Eating alone?"

"Um."

Lin Xi brought a bowl of rice and a plate of vegetables, and as soon as he sat down, he said:

"Director Han asked me some more questions this afternoon."

The sound wasn't loud; just enough for two people to hear it.

"He asked me about my usual process for restoring cultural relics, and where I put the things after I've finished restoring them."

"I... told the truth, but I felt he asked a lot of detailed questions, which didn't seem like a normal checkup."

Su Yuan didn't say anything. He couldn't very well ask her to cover for him, and there was no need for it. After thinking for a moment, he finally spoke:

"He was sent by higher-ups for a routine inspection to get a feel for the work at the grassroots level; it's perfectly normal."

Lin Xi gave him a strange look and didn't continue the topic. She picked up a piece of green vegetable and said:

"Su Yuan, I heard Director Zhang mention that ring on your hand. He said it's a family heirloom of your Su family, but you should avoid mentioning it to outsiders."

Su Yuan subconsciously withdrew his hand slightly: "Mm."

"It's very beautiful."

Lin Xi's ears turned slightly red after she finished speaking. Su Yuan didn't reply and finished the rest of his meal.

"I'm leaving now."

"Su Yuan!"

"Um?"

Su Yuan stopped and turned to look at her. Lin Qi hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "You should get some rest; you have dark circles under your eyes..."

Su Yuan smiled and nodded, then took the plates to the sink and left.

It was almost completely dark outside. Su Yuan stood at the door, lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was a message from Chen Xiaohe: "Hurry back to the second-floor storeroom, something's looking for you!"

After reading the message, Su Yuan quickly stubbed out his cigarette and hurried towards the office building. Liu Jun, in the security room, gave him a strange wink but didn't say anything.

Su Yuan went up to the second floor. The corridor lights were on. Chen Xiaohe stood at the warehouse door, looking rather unwell.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Xiaohe grinned and pointed into the warehouse: "Go in and see for yourself..."

Su Yuan pressed his fingerprint to open the door and looked inside. He almost laughed when he saw something that had appeared out of nowhere on the worktable.

It's a bronze jue (a type of ancient Chinese wine vessel)!

The goblet was slender with three tall legs and a curled tail; its overall color was a dark, rusty bluish-black. It stood there all alone on the table, as if it had always been there.

Su Yuan smiled and turned to look at Chen Xiaohe, asking:

"When was it discovered?"

"Just now, I went in and walked around again to record the data..." Chen Xiaohe lowered his voice, "Wasn't this door locked? It..."

"It's alright. You haven't been here long enough, what are you afraid of?"

Chen Xiaohe grinned and waved his hand from the side, saying, "Alright, you can go in now... I'll wait for you outside."

As Su Yuan approached the worktable, he heard a voice coming from Jue, very weak, like a child speaking, with a sob in its tone:

"It hurts...it hurts..."

Su Yuan moved closer to the vessel, his voice still saying, "It's cracked, I'm cracked! Please fix me..."

Su Yuan said, "Don't rush, speak slowly..."

Chen Xiaohe stood outside the door and asked, "What's wrong, Su?"

"fine."

After Su Yuan finished looking at the worktable carefully, he saw that the body of the jue was about 20 centimeters tall, the tail was about 15 centimeters long when spread out, the three legs were slender and flared outwards, and the belly was slightly bulging.

The entire surface is plain without any decorations, except for two characters engraved on the inside of the handle!

Su Yuan leaned closer to look and saw that the characters were engraved in intaglio, with delicate strokes, as if they had been carved with a sharp tool.

The first one is the character "苏" (Su), the second one is not very clear, so I picked up the magnifying glass from the toolbox and looked at those characters carefully.

Although the strokes of the second character are blurry, it can still be identified as the character "之".

Su Zhi! It's the Su family again... The handwriting is even the same as the one Su Zhi used to forge the sword!

Su Yuan was very excited. It seemed that a lot of bronze artifacts made by the Su family over the generations had been passed down, which must have meant that the family had been a large-scale processing plant at the time.

After Su Yuan finished reading, he put away the magnifying glass and subconsciously touched the jade ring on his wrist. The ring started to heat up again, and Jue's voice suddenly rang out again:

"The thing in your hand is so warm! If you get closer, the pain will go away..."