Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Zhong Ming didn't answer, and the shadows behind him also fell silent.

After a while, a rather old voice came, one that Su Yuan had never heard before:

"When you've collected everything!"

Su Yuan brought the bronze mirror closer and saw that the person speaking was a shadow at the very back, hunched over and looking even older than Zhong Ming.

"Who are you?" Su Yuan asked.

The shadow turned its face away and ignored him. Zhong Ming replied on behalf of the shadow:

"He is your great-great-grandfather, so don't ask anymore. He doesn't usually talk, just remember him."

Su Yuan stood there, mouth agape, thinking:

"Ah, how should I address my great-great-grandfather?... Sigh~ I'll just call him Ancestor!"

Upon seeing the ancestor Su Yuan, he wanted to ask even more questions, but the ancestor Zhong Ming and the others ignored him and muttered amongst themselves.

He had no choice but to put the bronze mirror back in his pocket, stare at A-Wu for a while, and then leave the storeroom.

At lunchtime, Su Yuan sat down opposite Chen Xiaohe with his tray. Chen Xiaohe was having braised pork rice today, the sauce covering the entire plate, and he ate with his mouth full of oil.

"Brother Chen, what did Sun Guoliang do this morning?"

Su Yuan's mind had improved somewhat, and he asked in a low voice. Chen Xiaohe chewed on her meat and mumbled something.

"I wasn't paying much attention this morning. I spent most of my time in the office. I went out to use the restroom and answered a phone call. The voice was too soft, so I didn't hear it."

"Where is Director Zhang?"

"He went out, saying he was going to a meeting in the provincial capital and won't be back until tomorrow."

While picking up some food, Su Yuan asked, "Is Lao Qian here today?"

"Yes, I was just wiping my car downstairs." Chen Xiaohe finished the last bite of his rice, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and asked.

"So, Sun Guoliang was spying on you, and you caught him?"

Su Yuan rolled his eyes at him without saying anything, and Chen Xiaohe suppressed a laugh and didn't ask any more questions.

After lunch, when Su Yuan returned to the entrance of his workplace, he saw Qian Weidong still wiping the hood of the bread truck in the yard.

She looked up and saw Su Yuan, and waved to him.

After walking over, Qian Weidong glanced around and whispered:

"Liu Jun told me that Sun Guoliang had circled around the old warehouse entrance again this morning."

"Going to the old storeroom again? I've seen it. It just has some porcelain, miscellaneous items, and old furniture. What's he thinking?"

"Oh, I forgot, you don't know yet, there's also a wooden worktable your great-grandfather used back then, it's in there, and it ruined his leg!"

Su Yuan suddenly realized, "The worktable my great-grandfather used?"

"That table is still there? I didn't notice it."

"Yes, it's there, against the south wall."

Su Yuan thought for a moment and decided to go check again. Qian Weidong threw the rag into the bucket and clapped his hands.

"Come on, I'll go with you. We don't have anything else to do anyway."

The two walked across the courtyard to the row of bungalows, unaware that a shadowy figure was watching them from afar!

The key was usually hanging in Zhang Weiyi's office. Qian Weidong simply pulled a key out of his pocket and waved it:

"Hehe, when I opened the warehouse to get something last time, Director Zhang asked me to get an extra one."

Su Yuan raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, while Qian Weidong chuckled again:

"This is called being prepared for any eventuality."

The door opened, and Su Yuan quickly walked a few steps. He saw several old tables and some broken chairs placed against the south wall.

The largest table is the one furthest inside against the wall. Its tabletop is 1.5 meters square, and its four legs are very thick. There are several bricks placed under the broken leg.

Su Yuan squatted down and looked at it carefully. The tabletop was made of nanmu wood, and the surface was pitted and uneven!

There are marks from hammering, marks from carving knives, and black spots from branding irons.

Some of the paint and varnish stains have seeped into the wood grain and can't be washed off once they're dry.

How much work must have taken to create this desktop background!

Su Yuan reached out and touched the tabletop. As soon as his hand touched the pits and scratches, the jade ring suddenly became hot.

Feeling the ring was a bit hot, he quickly pulled his hand back with a hiss, looked at it, touched it again, and felt the heat return.

"What's wrong?"

Qian Weidong stood behind him and asked. Su Yuan blew on his ringed hand and said:

"There's something wrong with this table..."

He stood up and looked around the table, discovering that there were words engraved on the crossbar under the tabletop!

The strokes were covered in dust and were almost invisible unless you looked closely. Su Yuan wiped the dust off with his sleeve, revealing a line of small characters.

It is my great-grandfather's name:

"Established by Su Demao in the spring of the 23rd year of the Republic of China".

The engraved characters are very neat, each stroke is precise, and the engraving is very deep!

Besides this line of text, there is also a circular pattern carved on the side of the crossbar, which looks very similar to the pattern on the old paper that Qian Weidong found in the bread cart!

Su Yuan quickly took out his phone and snapped a picture of the design. Looking at the slightly crooked worktable, a complex mix of emotions welled up inside him…

How many things did my great-grandfather repair on this platform?

Did the spirits of those things, or those like Xiao Jue, also speak with Great-Grandpa on this platform?

"Old Qian, can this table be moved to the second-floor storage room?"

After thinking it over, Qian Weidong immediately asked, "We need to tell Director Zhang. We can't just move whenever we want."

Su Yuan nodded, glanced at the pattern again, and then turned and left the old warehouse.

Near the end of the workday, Zhang Weiyi returned from a meeting in the provincial capital. Su Yuan bumped into him in the corridor and told him about the worktable in the old warehouse.

After listening, Zhang Weiyi remained silent for a few seconds and then said:

"Go ahead and move it. Those are your great-grandfather's things. You can decide how to handle it. Have Xiao Chen and the others help you carry it tomorrow. Be careful not to let it fall apart."

Su Yuan thanked him and was about to leave when Zhang Weiyi called out to him, "Little Su, did Sun Guoliang come to see you today?"

"no."

"He might contact you tomorrow, saying he wants to see your restoration files!"

"I've already spoken to Lin Xi. She'll let him see what he should see, but she won't let him see what he shouldn't."

Su Yuan nodded gratefully and returned to his office.

The bronze mirror on the table gleamed, and Zhong Ming and the short, stout figure were talking. When Su Yuan entered, they stopped talking.

"Are you two talking badly about me? Why don't you stop now?"

Su Yuan sat down, picked up the bronze mirror, and looked at it. The short man said in a low voice:

"Who cares to speak ill of your great-grandfather?"

"Did you know that when your great-grandfather was carving that design, I was already in the mirror, and I knew that after he finished carving it, he said something. Guess what he said?"

"What did you say?"

"I believe that one day, my descendants will see it and unravel this secret."

After hearing this, Su Yuan tightened his grip on the bronze mirror but remained silent.

Zhong Ming glared at the short, stout figure and said to Su Yuan:

"That pattern is a key to something. Your great-grandfather hid it somewhere. There's something inside the lock. Just having the key pattern isn't enough; we have to find the thing!"

Do you know where it is?

"have no idea…"

Zhong Ming shook his head: "Your great-grandfather didn't tell me, he only said that he was gone, but that a grandson would find him."

Su Yuan realized that one was on paper and the other was carved on wood; the two needed to be put together to see the complete pattern.

He took out his phone, pulled out the photos he'd taken, and then took out the old piece of paper Qian Weidong had given him. He compared the pictures; it was a circle within a circle, with dotted lines forming a ring, and a simplified character "苏" (Su) in the center…

It's a picture of a lock key!