Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

The call came from an unfamiliar number, not that mysterious number, but a local landline number.

"Is this Su Yuan? I'm Xiao Meng, Teacher Zhou's assistant. Teacher Zhou asked me to pick you up. I'm on the east side of the exit, in a black Santana."

Su Yuan looked to the east and saw a black, older Santana parked on the side of the road, with a young man in his twenties leaning against the car door.

He was holding up a piece of paper with the words "Su Yuan" written on it.

Su Yuan walked over, and Xiao Meng smiled and shook hands with him: "Teacher Su, I've heard so much about you. Teacher Zhou often mentions you to me."

Su Yuan felt a little uncomfortable being called "teacher" by someone about his age: "Well... just call me Su Yuan from now on."

Xiao Meng smiled and opened the car door for him. Su Yuan sat in the back seat and placed his bag and toolbox at his feet.

Xiao Meng started the car and drove out of the station.

"Is Teacher Zhou still at work?" Su Yuan asked.

"Yes, I'm here, waiting for you."

As Xiao Meng drove, he said, "He even canceled a meeting this afternoon because you were coming."

Hearing this warmed Su Yuan's heart.

The car drove through the old city of the provincial capital, turned onto a road, and stopped in front of an iron gate.

Su Yuan glanced outside. This unit had no sign, keeping a low profile just like the repair center. But the guard post at the entrance was much more formal than the one at the repair center!

Two security guards in uniform were standing there.

Xiao Meng rolled down the car window, handed over an ID, and the security guard glanced at it, then looked into the car at Su Yuan, nodded, and let them pass.

As the car drove in, Su Yuan discovered that the courtyard inside was several times larger than the renovation center!

Several gray brick buildings peeked out from among the trees. The courtyard was quiet, and occasionally one or two people could be seen walking by.

Xiao Meng parked the car in front of a three-story gray brick building and turned off the engine.

"We've arrived. Teacher Zhou is waiting for you on the third floor."

Su Yuan got off the car with his bag, while Xiao Meng carried his toolbox into the building. The hallway was quiet, with old-fashioned terrazzo flooring and several before-and-after photos of cultural relic restoration hanging on the walls.

Upon reaching the third floor, Xiao Meng stopped in front of a door and knocked.

"Teacher Zhou, Su Yuan is here."

The door opened from the inside, and Zhou Peiyuan stood in the doorway, smiling, and patted Su Yuan's arm:

"Xiao Su, are you tired from the journey?"

"Not tired, Teacher Zhou."

"Come in and sit down." Zhou Peiyuan stepped aside and said to Xiao Meng, "Xiao Meng, you can go back to your work now."

Su Yuan walked into the office and found that it was somewhat similar to Zhang Weiyi's office. The bookshelves took up an entire wall, the desk was piled with documents, and there were several potted plants on the windowsill.

However, this office has better lighting.

Zhou Peiyuan asked Su Yuan to sit down on the sofa and then poured himself a cup of tea and handed it to him.

"Did you bring that bronze mirror?" Zhou Peiyuan asked bluntly. Su Yuan was taken aback: "You know about it?"

I know more than you think.

Zhou Peiyuan sat down in the chair opposite him, took off his glasses and wiped them:

"Your grandfather mentioned bronze mirrors to me back then. I was young then and had just entered this industry."

Su Yuan took out a bronze mirror from his inner pocket and placed it on the coffee table; the light was shining through it!

Zhou Peiyuan stared at the bronze mirror for a long time, his gaze complex, as if he were looking at an old acquaintance.

After a long pause, he sighed and asked, "How is Miss A-Wu?"

"Um."

Su Yuan stared at the hand holding the teacup, while Zhou Peiyuan looked at him with a concern that only an elder would show:

"Xiao Su, you've been through a lot in the past six months at the renovation center, haven't you?"

Su Yuan kept his head down and didn't say anything.

"Now that you've put on the jade ring and obtained the Spirit-Locking Pearl," Zhou Peiyuan said, "the scheme your ancestors laid out is nearing its conclusion in your generation."

Su Yuan's mind went blank for a moment, and he abruptly looked up to ask, "How did you know I obtained the Spirit-Locking Pearl?"

Zhou Peiyuan didn't reply to him. Instead, he smiled, took out a cell phone from the drawer, found a message, and turned the screen towards Su Yuan.

Su Yuan was stunned when he saw it!

The message displayed on the screen was from that unknown number:

"Did you get the Soul-Locking Pearl? Be careful, don't let the wrong people know."

"This number..." Su Yuan's voice trembled slightly. Zhou Peiyuan put the phone down and said:

"It's my other account. I knew it the day you took the Soul-Locking Pearl out of the stone lion."

Su Yuan stared at Zhou Peiyuan, his mind in turmoil. Zhou Peiyuan sighed and said:

"It's not that I'm spying on you; it's because there's a connection between the Spirit-Locking Pearl and the jade ring. Your grandfather left a trace of the jade ring's spirit with me back then."

"Once the Spirit-Locking Pearl is removed by the Su family bloodline, that spiritual consciousness will be triggered, and my phone will receive a message."

"Then...why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because at the time it wasn't certain if you were that person, your ability to sense spiritual entities and hear the sounds of objects was only part of the story!"

Zhou Peiyuan looked out the window and said:

"The key is to obtain the Spirit-Locking Pearl and make it willingly recognize you as its master. If you can't do that, or if you obtain it but can't activate it, then it means you're not the person your great-grandfather has been waiting for."

Su Yuan's hands trembled slightly as he whispered, "Then...am I now?"

Zhou Peiyuan came over and looked at him very seriously: "You are..."

Su Yuan put the bronze mirror back in his pocket, leaned back on the sofa, his mind in turmoil.

Zhou Peiyuan took an old photo album from the bookcase, turned to a page, and handed it to him.

The photo shows two people: a very young Zhou Peiyuan and a middle-aged man. Su Yuan sat up straight when he saw the middle-aged man.

Su Yuan had seen the middle-aged man's face several times before.

It was his grandfather, Su Shouzhou!

"This is the last photo of me and your grandfather."

Zhou Peiyuan's voice choked with emotion: "He passed away the year after this photo was taken."

Su Yuan stared at his grandfather's face in the photo, and that sense of familiarity welled up again.

How did you come to know my grandfather?

"You don't know, I was the last apprentice he trained," Zhou Peiyuan said. "Before your grandfather retired, he trained several young people in the province, and I was one of them."

"He taught me not only the skills, but also things that cannot be written down."

Su Yuan subconsciously looked up: "A mezzanine?"

Zhou Peiyuan nodded, remained silent for a moment, as if carefully choosing his words:

Have you heard of the term "layering"?

Su Yuan shook his head.

"It means that history accumulates layer by layer over time, like silt at the bottom of a river. For example, the fact that you could hear them talking before meant you touched the edge of one of those layers!"

Zhou Peiyuan, with his hands behind his back, said, "Each floor is filled with artifacts, architecture, writings, and the obsessions of people from that era!"

Su Yuan pricked up his ears and listened carefully as he continued.

"These things don't disappear completely over time; they survive in the gaps of time."

"A sandwich was formed."

Su Yuan asked, "Teacher Zhou, is that another world?"

Zhou Peiyuan shook his head and said:

"The mezzanine is not another world; it is a shadow of this world. Everything you see in this world."

"You can see the corresponding 'traces' even in the interlayer!"