Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

Su Yuan controlled his emotions and looked into his expressionless eyes.

Unlike Han Zhengming, who probed with a smile, Sun Guoliang stared straight at Su Yuan, waiting for his reaction!

"Okay, let's talk another day."

After finishing speaking, Su Yuan left the office, put the file folder back in his office, and went to the storeroom.

He closed the door, his hands trembling slightly as he took the bronze mirror out of his pocket and placed it on his great-grandfather's table, staring at the shadows reflected in it.

Zhong Ming stepped out from the pile of shadows and said:

"We heard everything he said. He knows about your great-grandfather, not from records, but from someone who told him!"

"Han Zhengming?"

Su Yuan could only think of him, Zhong Ming said hoarsely:

"Not necessarily. The man surnamed Han knows about your great-grandfather, but he wouldn't tell Sun Guoliang such details. Although they're on the same side, they each have their own agendas."

Su Yuan rubbed his aching temples as he listened, feeling that things were getting more and more complicated!

"So what exactly is Sun Guoliang trying to do?"

"To keep an eye on you!" Zhong Ming said.

"Since it's inconvenient for the person surnamed Han to keep an eye on things himself, he arranged for Sun Guoliang to come over... He'll record everything you do, the techniques you use, and who you've been in contact with."

Su Yuan rubbed his head and walked up to A Wu. He reached out and touched the cuff of the terracotta figurine, and the temperature of the jade ring rose a little.

"Soon..."

Zhong Ming spoke in the bronze mirror on the table, and Su Yuan hurriedly asked:

"What do you mean, 'soon'?"

"The day Miss A-Wu woke up..."

Su Yuan glanced at A Wu with a hint of joy, then put away the bronze mirror and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a very soft voice coming from the corner:

"Master Su... Master Su..."

Su Yuan followed the sound and found it coming from a shelf on the bottom right.

On the shelf was a small celadon bowl, about the size of a palm, with a small chip the size of a fingernail at the rim and several fine cracks on the glaze.

"Was that you calling me?"

Su Yuan squatted down and picked up the small celadon bowl.

"It's me," Xiaowan's voice was barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz. "My bowl has a chip on the rim, and it leaks when I drink from it... Could you please fix it for me?"

Su Yuan touched the crack; it wasn't large, but he could feel its distress. Fortunately, the crack in the glaze wasn't deep and hadn't damaged the body of the porcelain; it could be repaired using the glaze-filling method.

"It can be fixed, I'll fix it for you in a bit."

"That's wonderful, thank you, Master Su!" Xiao Wan's voice was filled with joy.

"This gap has been there for decades, and they've never taken care of me. I'm too ashamed to face anyone, afraid people will think my house is dilapidated..."

Su Yuan shook his head, first placing the small bowl on the worktable, and then checking the other items in the warehouse.

I found a blue and white porcelain plate from the Ming Dynasty. There is a crack line on the bottom. It is not deep, but it is quite noticeable!

There is also a Qing Dynasty wooden Guanyin statue with one finger broken off, and a Han Dynasty pottery jar with a small piece missing from its rim.

The problems are minor; they're all just small repairs.

Su Yuan first took out his notebook and wrote it down: patching the nick in the celadon bowl, fixing the crack in the blue and white plate, attaching the finger to the wooden Guanyin statue, and patching the rim of the pottery jar!

These are tasks that can be completed in one or two hours.

"These are all minor issues..." Zhong Ming's voice came from the bronze mirror: "Your great-grandfather would have finished them all in half a day."

Su Yuan smiled but didn't reply. He arranged the four items in order, took out the toolbox, and prepared the raw materials.

He needs to repair the celadon bowl first.

The notch is at the rim of the bowl, about the size of a little fingernail, and it is slanted, running diagonally inward from the outer wall.

Su Yuan first used fine sandpaper to sand the edges of the notch, smoothing out the burrs, and then mixed and filled the glaze!

It is made by mixing porcelain powder with glue into a paste, and then using small bamboo sticks to pick up the paste and fill it into the gap.

Fill in one layer, let it dry, then fill in another layer. Repeat this process three times until the gap is filled, and the shape matches the curvature of the bowl.

Su Yuan used a damp cotton cloth to wipe away the excess, leaving only the filler layer, and waited for it to dry completely!

After it dries completely, I start sanding it with fine sandpaper until the filler layer is flush with the rim of the bowl. It feels very smooth to the touch.

Next, it was time to apply the glaze. Su Yuan took out a small bottle of transparent glaze from the toolbox, dipped it in a small brush, and applied a thin layer to the filling area.

Once the glaze was dry, I gently heated it with a miniature blowtorch to fuse it with the original glaze.

Start the distressing process.

I mixed a bowl of light tea-colored medicine and applied it twice to the glaze repair area. After the color was absorbed, the newly repaired area and the surrounding glaze blended into one color!

You can't see the gap unless you get very close.

The whole process took less than two hours.

Su Yuan held the bowl up to the light and examined it. The rim was intact, the glaze was evenly glossy, and the repair mark was almost invisible.

Seeing that it had been repaired so well, Xiao Wan quickly thanked them:

"Thank you, Master Su. I won't be disliked by them anymore. Goodbye, Master Su..."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement and put it back in its place. After tidying up his tools, he glanced at his phone; it was almost five o'clock.

He washed his hands clean, left the storeroom, and bumped into Lin Xi in the corridor. She was carrying a stack of documents and was about to enter her office.

These past few days, she's been avoiding his gaze whenever she sees him, and her face is a little flushed. I don't know what's wrong with her, so I hurriedly went inside.

Su Yuan felt a little embarrassed. When he returned to his office, his phone rang. He saw it was Zhou Peiyuan calling and quickly answered.

"Teacher Zhou..."

"Su Yuan, um... I have something to tell you."

Zhou Peiyuan's voice wasn't loud, as if he were in an office: "Sun Guoliang has been staying with you for a week now, what do you think?"

Su Yuan thought for a moment: "It's alright, they didn't give me much trouble, they just asked about the repairs."

"That's good! Just be careful with him..." Zhou Peiyuan paused for a moment and then said:

"There's one more thing. There's a cultural relic restoration seminar in the province next month, and I'd like you to attend it."

"Firstly, it'll be good to meet some colleagues, and secondly, it'll be good to get away from there for a few days and get some fresh air. What do you think?"

Su Yuan hesitated for a moment after hearing this, then asked, "How many days will you be gone?"

"The meeting and travel time will take three days in total. I've already spoken to Zhang Weiyi, and he agrees to let you go."

"Okay, I'll go!"

"Okay, I'll send you the details to your phone later."

After hanging up the phone, Su Yuan leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling for a while, and thought about the meeting Zhou Peiyuan had asked him to attend.

He said he wanted to meet some peers and get some fresh air, but he always felt it wasn't that simple!

Perhaps they wanted him to leave the renovation center for a few days to avoid Sun Guoliang, or perhaps there were other reasons.

Su Yuan shook his head, put his phone on the table, and took out the bronze mirror to look at himself.

Zhong Ming and Miao Deyu were talking when they saw Su Yuan and the other person stop chatting. Zhong Ming said:

"Your teacher works for the Ninth Division. He didn't tell you, did he?"

Su Yuan was taken aback: "Ninth Division? What Ninth Division?"

Zhong Ming didn't answer and retreated into the pile of shadows. Miao Deyu also shrank back, and the other shadows huddled together, their whispers too soft to be heard.

I only heard a few words intermittently:

"Let him...slow down...and he'll know..."

Su Yuan stared at the bronze mirror for a long time, listened for a few more seconds, and still couldn't hear clearly before putting the mirror in his pocket.

He had never heard of this Ninth Division before; it must be a unit!