Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

These past few days have been a blur. Su Yuan rubbed his eyes and looked at the words on the bronze plaque:

"The hidden door cannot be opened by anyone but Su. The path to the Soul Lock can only be seen with the eyes."

He turned the bronze plaque over, touched the two lines of text on the back with his hand, and closed his eyes.

Su Yuan was trying to sink his consciousness into the jade ring, because his great-grandfather had written in the letter that the jade ring on his hand would tell him something.

Instantly, the jade ring became warm, and the Spirit-Locking Pearl, pressed against the skin, looked like a small sun embedded in the inner wall of the ring!

Su Yuan then focused his attention on the small sun, imagining its temperature traveling up his fingers.

The sensation travels through the wrists, arms, and shoulders, finally converging at the center of the forehead, where there's a throbbing feeling!

There was no pain, only a feeling that something was about to come out of it.

Su Yuan hurriedly opened his eyes. The room was still the same room, and the things on the table were still the same things, but he felt that they were not exactly the same.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what was different, but everything seemed much clearer than before!

Su Yuan stared at the bronze plaque for a few more seconds and discovered that the pattern on the front of the plaque had changed.

The eye in the middle of the sun, moon, mountains and rivers, the character "Su" in its pupil, is a little brighter than before, as if it has been lit up from within by something!

He didn't dare to try again. Trembling, he quickly wrapped the bronze medal in cloth, and after thinking for a moment, he put it in the toolbox.

That's more convenient.

Since returning from the provincial capital, Su Yuan has been bringing his toolbox with him when he eats. After having dinner at the cafeteria, Su Yuan goes straight back to his dormitory.

He went to bed early tonight…

The next morning at six o'clock, I was woken up by a phone call from Chen Xiaohe: "Su, come quick, something's happened in the warehouse!"

There was also a tremor he could feel, so strong it almost made Su Yuan's soul leave his body; it came from his workplace!

He suddenly opened his eyes and saw that the light in the bronze mirror next to his pillow had increased considerably.

Su Yuan sat up abruptly, grabbed the bronze mirror, and shouted:

"Mr. Zhong..."

"I sense it," Zhong Ming's voice came from deep within the bronze mirror. "It's like something in the storeroom has awakened."

Su Yuan hurriedly stuffed the bronze mirror into his inner pocket, put on his coat, grabbed his toolbox, slipped on his shoes, and ran outside.

Su Yuan ran very fast this time, reaching the main gate of the unit in two minutes. Liu Jun came out of the security booth, still looking dazed: "Hurry up, Brother Chen is waiting upstairs."

"Mmm." Su Yuan nodded, panting, without stopping.

At the entrance of the warehouse on the second floor, Chen Xiaohe saw him arrive and quickly pressed his fingerprint to open the door and wait for him.

After rushing in, Su Yuan didn't even have time to take a deep breath before his eyes went straight to the shelves. Tang Yong and A Wu were still quietly on the shelves, and there was nothing unusual about Xiao Jue and the others!

When you see the innermost shelf, you will see several small items scattered on the ground.

Su Yuan squatted down to look and saw that it was a set of Han Dynasty terracotta figurines, all about the size of a palm, which had been placed on the second shelf of this unit.

Now they've fallen off the shelf, two of them have broken into pieces, and the fragments are scattered all over the ground.

"This is..." Su Yuan reached out to pick up the fragments.

"You have no idea, Su, I was terrified this morning! I thought there was an earthquake. I heard something break in the warehouse, but I didn't dare to touch anything..."

"That's so strange! There's only movement in the second-floor storeroom; there's nothing else!"

Chen Xiaohe, still looking shaken, said, "It's nothing..." Su Yuan replied, "It's alright..."

The moment his hand touched the pottery shard, he heard a voice. It wasn't Xiao Jue's clear, youthful voice, nor was it A Wu's soft, ethereal voice.

Instead, it was a buzzing sound.

"pain…"

Su Yuan picked up the pottery shard and pressed the broken surface again, his voice coming through: "Master Su, it hurts...it hurts so much!"

It was definitely one of the terracotta figurines in that group. The voice was intermittent, as if it had just woken up and couldn't speak very well yet.

"What's wrong?" Su asked, the voice broken as it said, "I... I've been sleeping... I was having a long dream... Just now... something woke me up..."

Su Yuan looked up at Chen Xiaohe. Chen Xiaohe's expression was complicated. He knew that Su Yuan had started talking to them again.

Chen Xiaohe shook his head: "You guys chat, I'm leaving first..."

After saying that, he hurriedly went out and closed the door.

Su Yuan smiled and picked up the scattered terracotta figurine fragments one by one, arranging them in a row on the worktable.

There were five terracotta figurines in total. Three were intact, and two were broken. Of the two broken figurines, one had its head detached, and the other had its body broken into three pieces!

Su Yuan first placed the three intact items on the shelf next to him. When he touched them, he could feel them trembling, as if they were frightened.

"Don't be afraid," Su Yuan whispered. "It's alright now."

The three terracotta figures gradually quieted down.

Su Yuan began to deal with the two broken pieces. He first arranged the fragments according to their positions: the head, the body, and the missing corners!

They were arranged one by one, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The piece with the head detached had a relatively clean cut and the gap wasn't too big. Su Yuan took out putty and reinforcing agent from the toolbox.

First, clean the cut surface, then apply the prepared putty to the joint, and finally press the head on and gently compact it.

After wiping away the excess with a soft cloth, Su Yuan asked:

"Is this better?"

The terracotta figurine's buzzing sound resumed, clearer than before: "Much...much better! It doesn't hurt anymore..."

"But my other arm is about to fall off too," the terracotta figure said. "Master Su, could you take a look at it for me... from the shoulder..."

Upon closer inspection, Su Yuan indeed saw a thin crack on his left shoulder, which was barely noticeable unless one looked closely.

But if you touch it, you can feel that it's loose!

He then used a syringe to draw up the reinforcing agent and injected it along the fine line. The reinforcing agent had excellent penetrability, flowing smoothly into the groove.

They glued the parts that were about to separate back together.

"alright."

Su Yuan wiped it with a soft cloth, and after he finished speaking, he heard the terracotta figurine let out a soft sigh: "Great, thank you, Master Su, I can go back to sleep now..."

Su Yuan smiled, put it on the shelf, and placed it together with the three intact items.

The one that was broken into three pieces was not so easy to deal with. The fragments had jagged edges, and one piece even had a small corner chipped off!

Su Yuan held the three fragments in his hands and compared them several times before determining the order in which they could be pieced together.

First, I used a soft brush to clean the broken surface of each fragment, removing dust and debris, and then applied the prepared putty to the broken surface.

He gently pressed the two pieces together.

Feel the putty being squeezed into the gaps, then press your fingers against the joint for a minute.

It doesn't feel right yet!

Su Yuan waited for about three more minutes to confirm that the putty had initially solidified before letting go and then sticking on the third piece of debris.

The third piece was the bottom piece, with the largest gap. Su Yuan filled the gap with putty, and after it dried, he used a tiny file to shape it to match the original's curve.

The whole process took nearly forty minutes!

After the last piece was glued on and the remaining parts were tidied up, Su Yuan held the restored terracotta figurine in his palm and ran his fingers over the seams.

All right.

Su Yuan placed the restored terracotta figurine back on the shelf, where it stood side by side with its companions. The five terracotta figurines resembled five brothers from a family.

"Thank you, Master Su..."