Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

"The old warehouse, starting at 2 PM, supposedly a routine inspection." Lin Xi stared straight at him:

"The warehouse on the second floor is also on the list."

Su Yuan didn't reply, his mind racing: "A-Wu is in the storeroom on the second floor, this is fine."

"And the bronze jue that was just set up last night, we need to hide it for now. Oh, and that sword made by Su, although it's kept in the toolbox, there's no guarantee it won't be inspected..."

Thinking of this, he asked Lin Xi, "What did Director Zhang say?"

"Director Zhang said he would investigate, but someone had to accompany him. Director Zhang asked me to accompany him."

Su Yuan nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Lin Xi stared at him a few more times, then picked up the folder and left. He stood in the corridor for a while, then turned around and went back to his office.

He took out the sword Su Zhi had made and looked at it, then decided to put it back where it was first!

Carrying his toolbox, Xiao Jue opened the warehouse door and spoke first: "Master Su, you're back!"

"Hmm, let's put some things here."

Su Yuan walked to the corner, opened the toolbox, and put the bronze sword back into the box.

He reached out and touched the sword blade. The jade ring suddenly felt hot, and a faint light flashed across the sword blade!

"It's awake..."

A strange voice came from the corner of the warehouse, and Su Yuan turned around abruptly in surprise:

"Who is speaking?"

"I…"

It was a gilded bronze Buddha statue, and its voice was rather deep: "Most of the gold leaf on my face has fallen off, I'm too embarrassed to see anyone, Master Su..."

Su Yuan put down the bronze sword and walked over to examine the Buddha statue closely.

It is about 30 centimeters tall, in a lotus position, with incomplete hand gestures and a lot of gold leaf peeled off. Its originally solemn face has become a mottled mess!

Turning his left cheek, he saw that almost all the gold leaf on his cheeks was gone, revealing a grayish-black copper base, and a large patch of gold leaf had also been applied to his right cheek.

Previously, it had been placed in a dimly lit corner, and no request for repair had been made, so Su Yuan hadn't noticed it.

"What happened to your face?"

"I don't know when it was scratched like this with a hard object..."

The bronze Buddha statue sighed and continued:

"After it was scraped, nobody cared. It's just been sitting in the warehouse drying for decades. Master Su, could you fix it for me?"

Su Yuan examined it closely and found that the area where the gold leaf had peeled off was quite large, and it was not a whole piece that had fallen off, but rather in patches. In some places, there was still a thin layer of gold left, while in other places, even the base coat of paint had fallen off.

"It can be repaired, but it will take two days."

"No rush, no rush. I've been waiting for decades, a few more days won't make a difference."

Hearing Su Yuan say this, the bronze Buddha statue's voice carried a hint of laughter, and Xiao Jue added from behind, "Master Su's craftsmanship is superb!"

The bronze Buddha statue chuckled but didn't reply.

Chen Xiaohe returned, came in after hearing the noise in the warehouse, and asked, "Why are you still here? Han Zhengming is going to inspect it, so you should hide what you need to hide..."

"Xiao Jue, this is Brother Chen." Su Yuan said to Xiao Jue with a smile, and Xiao Jue immediately called out:

"Hello, Brother Chen!"

Chen Xiaohe was startled at first, but after staring at the bronze jue for two seconds, he laughed: "This little guy has a pretty loud voice."

"Aren't you scared anymore?"

"nonsense…"

Chen Xiaohe rolled his eyes at Su Yuan and said to the bronze vessel, "Su Yuan's skills are alright, but... he's a bit annoying!"

Xiao Jue immediately objected: "Master Su repairs things very carefully and steadily. He's not annoying at all; I just enjoy listening to him talk."

Chen Xiaohe laughed twice and patted Su Yuan on the shoulder:

"Okay, then you go ahead with your work. That guy should be here soon. I'll take care of the surveillance footage for you."

After Chen Xiaohe went out and closed the door, Xiao Jue said again:

"Master Su."

"Um?"

Do you fix things every day?

"It's not like we fix things every day, and then leave it idle."

"What do you do when there's nothing to fix?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment: "Organize tools, read books, daydream..."

Xiao Jue said "Oh," paused for a few seconds, and then said, "Then you can come and talk to me whenever you don't have anything to fix in the future."

Su Yuan picked it up, wrapped it in cloth, and said, "Okay."

Su Yuan wrapped Xiao Jue up and hid him in an inconspicuous place: "You stay here for now, and we'll let you go back after that person leaves."

"Okay, got it..."

As soon as Su Yuan saw that it was lunchtime, he hurriedly left the warehouse. There were more people in the canteen than usual at lunchtime.

Han Zhengming also came to the cafeteria to eat. He sat opposite Zhang Weiyi with his tray in hand, and the two of them ate and talked.

Su Yuan picked up a bowl of noodles, found a corner to sit down, and was eating with his head down when a voice rang out in front of him:

I'm leaving this afternoon. I'll say a few more words to you before I go.

Hearing the voice, Su Yuan quickly put down his chopsticks, recognizing it as Zhou Peiyuan. Seeing that Zhou had also brought him a bowl of noodles, he sat down and said:

"A man named Sun Guoliang will be arriving next Monday. Be careful not to get into a conflict with him."

Zhou Peiyuan lowered his voice: "He's here with ill intentions. As long as you don't reveal your secrets and don't say things you shouldn't, he can't do anything to you."

Su Yuan nodded.

"There's one more thing," Zhou Peiyuan said, looking at him. "Make sure you've put the jade ring on your hand properly. Don't take it off. It's easy to take it off, but hard to put it back on."

Qian Weidong had said the same thing before, so Su Yuan didn't bother to ask any more questions and just hummed in agreement. Zhou Peiyuan then added, "No need to see me off."

He stood up, took the noodles, and went to Zhang Weiyi and Han Zhengming's table.

At 2 p.m. sharp, Han Zhengming appeared on the second-floor corridor.

Behind him was a man in his early thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses, carrying a briefcase, and with a very serious expression.

"Little Su..."

Han Zhengming smiled and nodded to Su Yuan. Su Yuan stepped aside, and Han Zhengming led the young man into the warehouse.

Lin Xi followed behind, holding a registration book in her hand. Chen Xiaohe also came up and stood at the door.

Han Zhengming walked around the warehouse, his gaze sweeping over each shelf. He stopped when he passed Awu, a greedy look on his face as if he wanted to touch her again, but after a few seconds he hesitated and didn't!

"Has this Tang Dynasty figurine changed much lately?" he asked Su Yuan.

"no."

Han Zhengming nodded seriously and continued walking forward.

They walked around inside, then went downstairs to look at the old warehouse. The young man followed behind, taking notes in a notebook.

The whole process took less than twenty minutes. He clearly knew a lot, but he did all this just to put more pressure on Su Yuan.

"Alright, that's enough."

Han Zhengming raised his chin at the young man, then turned to Su Yuan with a smile that narrowed his eyes:

"Little Su, keep up the good work! The Su family's skills can't end with you!"

He leaned closer to Su Yuan and whispered:

"I'll skip looking at that jade ring for now, and I won't include it in the report..."

After saying that, he smiled and left with the young man. Su Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, relieved that he hadn't been directly asked for the money.

Chen Xiaohe watched their retreating figures until they were far away before cursing, "What the hell!"

Lin Xi simply closed the register, glanced silently at Su Yuan, and left.

Su Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, returned to the second-floor storeroom, and put Xiao Jue back on the shelf. Its voice came through, tinged with wariness:

"That person smells!"

"What does it taste like?"

"Hard to say..." Xiao Jue thought back, "It was black, but not the kind of black found in the interlayer. Maybe he was keeping something there..."

"I really can smell it!"