Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

The wavy line on the left cuff seemed to gleam under the light. Su Yuan's voice was hoarse, almost unlike his own.

"Ah... Wu..."

She didn't respond, but he knew she had heard him.

"That craftsman is your real father, and that road, the road he wanted to take you home, was drawn by your father..."

"Is it right?"

There was still no response, so Su Yuan stood there watching her for two minutes before he finally heard her voice:

"I...have never been back."

Su Yuan was stunned, and A Wu continued:

"After being sold into the palace that year, I never went back... Later I heard that the village was gone... It was destroyed by the Yellow River flooding..."

Su Yuan felt a pang of pain in his heart and didn't know what to say to comfort her, so he just listened as she continued speaking:

"I drew that road many times afterward—on the wall, on the ground, in my mind… but then I stopped drawing it!"

Why?

"Because it's pointless to draw it."

The storeroom was very quiet. Su Yuan walked to the shelf with deep pity, took out a brush and mineral pigments from the toolbox, and squatted down in front of A Wu:

"Awu".

"The line on your left cuff is a bit faint... Let me touch it up for you."

He started mixing the paint, his hands still trembling, but he tried his best to keep them steady. As he mixed the paint, he said very softly:

"I don't know if that village still exists, but that road should still be there!"

Awu didn't say anything.

Su Yuan dipped his brush in paint and brought the tip to her sleeve. Under the light of thirteen hundred years later, he would draw that curved line.

The pen tip touched the ground very lightly.

After Su Yuan finished the last stroke, his hand was still hanging there, afraid to move. The paint had just been applied and was not yet dry. If he accidentally smudged it, all his previous efforts would be wasted!

He held the calligraphy brush up there, staring at the curved line on A-Wu's left sleeve:

"Alright, it'll be fine once it's dry."

Awu remained silent. Su Yuan took out a small spray bottle and sprayed it into the air twice to increase the humidity, as the glaze would crack if it dried too quickly!

He squatted there, watching Awu:

"Did your father know any of this the year you were sold into the palace?"

After waiting for half a minute without a response, Su Yuan sighed, stood up while holding onto the nearby shelf, and stomped his numb feet.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't... I'll come back tomorrow."

He closed the paint boxes one by one, washed the brushes clean, and put away his tools. Then he glanced at A-Wu again. Su Yuan felt that the curve of A-Wu's lips had become a little more pronounced.

The next morning, Su Yuan was woken up by his phone. It was just dawn, and the phone kept vibrating by his pillow. He picked it up and saw that it was only six o'clock. The caller was Xiao Chen.

"Feed?"

Xiao Chen's voice was urgent:

"Something's happened in the warehouse! Come quick!"

Su Yuan's mind was not fully clear yet:

"What happened?"

"It's that terracotta figure..."

After hanging up the phone, Su Yuan stared at his phone for three seconds, then jumped up, pulled up his pants, and ran outside!

It takes him three and a half minutes to walk from the dormitory to his workplace. Old Wu in the lobby on the first floor wasn't there, so he just threw the newspaper on the bench.

Su Yuan rushed upstairs anxiously and saw three people standing at the warehouse door!

Xiao Chen, Lin Xi, and another man Su Yuan didn't recognize. He was in his forties, with a stern face, wearing a dark blue work uniform with words embroidered on his chest, which Su Yuan couldn't make out.

"What's wrong?"

Panting, Su Yuan ran over to ask, but Xiao Chen glanced at him without saying a word. She gave him a sympathetic look and gestured for Su Yuan to go inside. When Su Yuan reached the third shelf, he saw that A-Wu was still there…

However, the pattern I painstakingly drew yesterday is completely gone!

Her cuffs were clean and bare, as if they had never been painted on. Su Yuan turned around and asked:

"What happened?"

Xiao Chen stood at the door with a bitter face:

"I came to inspect this morning to see how your painting of that terracotta figure was going yesterday, but it's like this now, and the surveillance cameras are broken too."

"monitor?"

Lin Xi continued:

"The warehouse is equipped with infrared surveillance, which is on 24 hours a day, but the footage from 11 PM last night to 6 AM this morning was all static; nothing was captured!"

Su Yuan's mind was in turmoil. He walked back to A Wu, leaned closer to examine the left cuff carefully, and then froze when he glanced at the right cuff.

There was something on the cuff, but it wasn't in the original place. The curved line had moved from the left cuff to the right, right next to the patch he had repaired a few days ago that had peeled off!

Su Yuan stared at that spot for five seconds, then he heard a very faint voice:

Something was here…

It's A-Wu!

Su Yuan suddenly looked up at her. Her eyes didn't move, and her mouth didn't open, but that voice rang in his ears. He wondered:

"Who?"

"I don't know...it's not human."

Su Yuan felt a chill run down his spine:

"It's not human! What is it?"

He stood there, his palms sweating with shock, when he heard footsteps at the door.

The man in the navy blue work uniform walked in, stood next to Su Yuan, stared at A Wu for a few seconds, and then turned to look at Su Yuan:

"You're the new restorer?"

Su Yuan nodded, and then he continued:

"My name is Zhao Cheng. I was sent by higher-ups. I'm in charge of investigating what happened last night."

Su Yuan noticed that Zhao Cheng's face was expressionless and his eyes weren't big, but the way he looked at people was a bit like Old Wu's... a bit sharp!

"Did you perform maintenance on this terracotta warrior yesterday afternoon?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

Su Yuan suddenly felt a bit socially awkward and pointed to A Wu's right cuff:

"I added a line; it was originally on the left, so I deepened it a bit."

Zhao Cheng stared at the pattern on the right cuff for a moment, then looked at Su Yuan:

"Do you know what this mark is?"

Su Yuan blurted out:

"It's the road, the road home!"

Zhao Cheng's expression changed:

"She told you?"

Su Yuan didn't want to talk, so Zhao Cheng stared at him for a few seconds, then turned and walked out, stopping at the door.

"Seal off the warehouse today and replace the fingerprint locks; no one is allowed in!"

Xiao Chen blinked:

"What about these cultural relics?"

"Maintenance will continue as usual, but no one except him may touch this terracotta warrior!"

Zhao Cheng pointed at Su Yuan and left after speaking. Su Yuan stood there looking at the pattern on A Wu's right sleeve, which seemed to shine again under the light.

"Awu, what does that inhuman thing look like?"

"Like you..."

Su Yuan froze upon hearing this, seemingly losing consciousness and becoming unresponsive. Lin Xi's voice came from the doorway:

"Su Yuan, come out."

Su Yuan didn't move at all. When Xiao Chen pulled him out, Lin Xi and Xiao Chen could see that his hands were still shaking!

After they came out, Xiao Chen removed the original padlock and replaced it with a new fingerprint lock. He then took Su Yuan's hand and registered his fingerprint.

Lin Xi stood there, his expression somewhat complicated, and said from the side:

"Don't overthink it... That's just how people from above are; it's just routine."

Su Yuan nodded numbly, but he didn't hear a word he was hearing; his mind was filled with those two words:

"Like you."

That inhuman thing looks like him…