Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

She didn't react, so Su Yuan waited two more seconds. When she assumed he had agreed, he moved the magnifying glass down.

The front and skirt... are intact!

The sleeves are intact, the waist is intact...

He stopped again and noticed a fine line on his waist near his chest!

It wasn't a crack, it was a pattern, curving along the glaze of the left cuff, almost invisible unless you looked closely. Su Yuan leaned closer and examined it with a magnifying glass; the pattern was actually etched on.

Su Yuan was confused and muttered to himself:

"The polychrome ware figurines of the Tang Dynasty were generally painted by first applying glaze and then firing, so that the colors and glazes were integrated. But this pattern was painted on the glaze later, and the pigments penetrated into the fine pores of the glaze, forming a faint mark."

He had never seen this kind of craftsmanship before and asked:

"Awu, what's that mark on your cuff?"

A-Wu didn't move, but Su Yuan heard her voice:

"I drew it..."

"You drew this? What did you use to draw it?"

"nail."

Su Yuan really wanted to teach her a lesson: how could you leave a mark by scratching a glazed surface with your fingernail?

The hardness of glaze is not on the same level as that of a fingernail, but if it is a freshly fired glaze that has not yet fully cooled, a fingernail can indeed leave a mark.

But that's something that can only be done during the firing process, he couldn't understand it!

Awu is a terracotta figurine, how could she possibly draw things herself during the firing process? Unless…

"Awu, do you remember how you were made?"

Awu remained silent for a long time before she uttered two words:

"Remember."

Su Yuan waited for her to continue, but she didn't say anything more. The warehouse was very quiet, and a strange idea suddenly popped into Su Yuan's mind!

He wanted to know how Awu was created, and what she looked like 1,300 years ago.

I want to know... about her life!

He put down the magnifying glass, looked solemnly at A-Wu's face, and said:

"Awu, there's something I want to do next that might be a little strange."

Awu didn't move, seemingly knowing what Su Yuan was thinking. Su Yuan took a deep breath and placed his left hand on her shoulder!

Holding a magnifying glass in his right hand, Su Yuan brought his forehead close to hers, closed his eyes, and didn't know what he was doing, but his hands were trembling violently...

All I could hear was the fluorescent lights making a snapping sound!

When Su Yuan opened his eyes again, he was standing in front of a kiln. It was no longer the unit's warehouse. This kiln was made of adobe bricks, and smoke was billowing from the chimney. The kiln door was open, and a red-hot wave was billowing out from inside.

Su Yuan looked down at himself:

The hands and magnifying glass are still there, but the person is completely transparent!

Someone was walking by. The person was wearing coarse cloth clothes, a headscarf, and straw sandals!

This was a craftsman in his forties, with a dark face and covered in ash. He was looking into the kiln with a tense expression, and Su Yuan nervously followed his gaze.

There were twelve terracotta figurines displayed in the kiln!

At this point, it was unglazed and just plain, but the shape was already visible. It was a female figurine with her hair in two buns, wearing a long skirt, and her hands were tucked into her sleeves.

Twelve identical statues…

wrong!

The eleventh and twelfth statues are a little different. The twelfth statue's face is thinner than the others, and its eyes are larger. The curve of its mouth is also different from the other eleven statues.

Su Yuan stared at the terracotta warrior, his heart skipping a beat:

"That's A-Wu! A-Wu before it was glazed!"

At this point, the craftsman took the figurine out of the kiln and placed it on the ground. After it cooled, someone handed him a bowl containing the prepared glaze.

It is made by mixing azurite, malachite, ochre, and white glaze together.

The craftsman picked up a brush, dipped it in glaze, and began to apply it to the figurine. He carefully painted the hair bun and the forehead, but stopped when he was painting the eyebrows!

He was looking down at the face of the terracotta warrior, and Su Yuan moved closer as well…

It turned out that a tear had appeared on the face of the terracotta figurine sometime during the day! Of course, it wasn't dripped on by the craftsman, but rather flowed from the figurine's eye!

Su Yuan and the craftsman were stunned. The people around them took a step back in fright, muttering something. Su Yuan couldn't understand it, but it was probably something like seeing a ghost.

The craftsman hesitated for a moment, but was not afraid. His hand holding the pen trembled as he looked sadly at the figurine…

After looking at it for seven or eight minutes, he finally picked up a brush, dipped it in glaze, and drew a curved line on the left sleeve of the figurine.

It's not a pattern or decoration, it's like a...

Su Yuan suddenly understood:

"This is the road, the road home! Ah Wu carved it so she wouldn't forget..."

Unexpectedly, the scene began to blur. Su Yuan tried to grab onto something, but he couldn't. The kiln and the craftsmen were gone, and the twelve figurines were gone too!

Before long, the blurry light gradually became clear, revealing a small, dilapidated house with mud walls and a thatched roof.

Straw was still spread on the ground, and Su Yuan stood in the corner looking at everything inside the house.

Lying on the bed was a man in his forties with a sallow complexion and skin and bones. Sitting beside the bed was a middle-aged woman wearing coarse cloth clothes with patches upon patches, holding a bowl of porridge and feeding the man.

The man took a sip and then coughed, his whole body shaking. The woman put the bowl down and patted his back. After he finished coughing, he lay back down and looked at the woman.

"Where is A-Wu?"

The woman's hand paused for a moment:

"In the backyard..."

"Let's call her in..."

The woman stood up and went out. After a while, she brought in a little girl. The little girl was about eight or nine years old, thin with big eyes, wearing an ill-fitting old set of clothes, and barefoot!

Su Yuan stared at that face and looked closely:

"Is it A-Wu... nine-year-old A-Wu?"

The man looked at A-Wu, wanting to laugh, but just couldn't manage it:

"Awu... come here."

A-Wu walked over and stood by the bed. The man stroked her head for a while, then looked at the other woman:

"Sell it..."

The woman was shocked:

"What did you say? Even though she's not related to us..."

The man's voice was weak, but Su Yuan could hear it clearly:

"What can we do... you can still live if you exchange the money."

The woman opened her mouth but couldn't speak. A-Wu stood there obediently, motionless. The man coughed again, coughing until he curled up into a ball. After he finished coughing, he looked at A-Wu:

"Awu, I...I'm sorry..."

Awu didn't say anything, turned around and walked out. Su Yuan followed her to the backyard. It was a small place with a pile of firewood and two chickens.

Awu sat on the pile of firewood, looking at the sky, she just stared without moving...

Su Yuan stood beside her. The nine-year-old child had been sold. He saw a tear slide down her face, but A-Wu did not cry out!

Then the image began to blur again. Su Yuan tried his best to look at it a little longer, but the light grew dimmer and dimmer until finally only darkness remained…

When Su Yuan opened his eyes, he found that he was still in the warehouse, his hand still trembling on A Wu's shoulder, and the magnifying glass was still in his hand, covered in sweat.

The fluorescent lights were still flashing, popping, popping.

Su Yuan slowly released his grip, took a step back, and looked at A Wu's face...

My nose and eye sockets feel sore!