Chapter 122: Who Dares Say This Is Repaired?

Under the stark white lights, the air was filled with the distinct, astringent scent of porcelain rust.

Grinding, applying adhesive, joining—Lin Sicheng worked methodically, and the silhouette of the Blue and White Large Jar gradually took shape.

Li Zhen and the Doctor assisted closely, while another person prepared the materials. Feng Lin and the remaining person had nothing to do, so Lin Sicheng had them take notes.

Feng Lin took notes, and the other person operated the remote camera.

Unable to run up to the platform to see, Shang Yan projected the image onto the large screen.

Wang Qi Zhi leaned back lazily in his chair, unscrewed his thermos, and took a comfortable sip: "Shang Yan, this screen of yours is not bad, is it?"

Shang Yan looked at him strangely: "Doesn't your lab have one?"

He nodded: "It does!"

And it was much bigger than this, but Wang Qi Zhi had never had the chance to appreciate it.

He leaned back hard against the chair again: "No sofa, bad review!"

Shang Yan glared at him.

Wang Qi Zhi pointed upward again: "Eh, why did he stop joining?"

Shang Yan turned back and looked carefully: Lin Sicheng had taken a porcelain shard from under the microscope and was examining it closely.

Gradually, his brows furrowed.

At the same time, Shang Yan's brows also furrowed: "I'm afraid... it can't be repaired!"

Wang Qi Zhi was stunned for a moment: "Why?"

Shang Yan pointed upward: "Look!"

Before the words had faded, Lin Sicheng raised his finger and lightly scraped the edge of the porcelain shard, just like scraping a blade.

Immediately, porcelain powder scattered and drifted down, and a beveled edge appeared on the porcelain break.

Not much, just two or three millimeters.

But Wang Qi Zhi straightened his back immediately: "It's gone soft?"

It was roughly because of the acid and alkali erosion in the soil, which caused the body at the porcelain break to become soft and powdery. It could no longer be glued; even if it were glued, it would open up a hole in a few days.

If it were an ordinary Artifact Restoration, it wouldn't matter, of course; at worst, one could apply Gold Foil, or even use lacquer to mold the body. Just like the Greasy White Bowl bought by Teacher Bai, which was missing a third, Lin Sicheng could still repair it just the same.

But this was refined Seamless Restoration; it had to be repaired to look exactly as it originally did. If one millimeter of the body and pattern was missing, the difficulty of the restoration would instantly increase several times over: one had to repair the base body, the Base Glaze, the blue and white, and even the surface glaze.

That is, the six points Shang Yan proposed yesterday: base body expansion coefficient, glaze surface high-temperature tolerance coefficient, multi-angle color constancy, tactile restoration of brushstrokes...

Not to mention that so much was missing, and it was several pieces at that?

"It's gone soft!" Shang Yan nodded, as if talking to herself, "I told you, don't let your imagination run wild!"

Wang Qi Zhi didn't speak, his expression turning cold bit by bit.

That meant the work of the last half-day had all been done in vain.

Luo Yongsheng (Wang Qi Zhi's former assistant at the Cultural Relics Bureau), what are you good for?

The item was found by Wang Qi Zhi from Beijing, but previously it was only for Lin Sicheng to practice on, so no one had paid much attention to it. Including Lin Sicheng, and even more so Wang Qi Zhi.

Because no one had expected that, while practicing, it would actually turn into a World Heritage Application?

But what to do now?

Of course, find another one.

Muttering to himself, Wang Qi Zhi took out his phone, preparing to have Lin Sicheng switch to another piece, for example, repairing the Coquettish Yellow Glaze first.

Then he would hurry to find one; at most three to four days, and the item could be delivered.

He had already stood up, but Shang Yan waved her hand: "Wait a moment!"

Wang Qi Zhi subconsciously raised his head and looked at the platform: Eh, Lin Sicheng's expression, it looks okay?

His brows were slightly furrowed, but his expression remained calm as he lightly scraped the porcelain edge until no more porcelain powder fell off.

Compared to before, the porcelain shard was already more than three millimeters narrower, over two centimeters long, and it happened to be at a junction of a blue and white pattern?

A bad start, on the first day, and such high intensity?

Moderate softening, worthy of being called Hell Level.

It wasn't that it couldn't be repaired, but the difficulty was immense...

Pondering the porcelain shard, Lin Sicheng's voice sank: "Test report!"

"Swish," the Doctor's face turned red.

All the tests were done by him, including the disease diagnosis. He had checked for impact marks, cracks, glaze damage, color damage, and even hue changes, but he just hadn't checked for Salt Precipitation and Erosion.

And Li Zhen, the comprehensive cleaning was done by her, three times over, and she hadn't discovered it either?

The two lowered their heads, and Li Zhen handed over the report, but Lin Sicheng didn't take it: "Read it!"

Li Zhen composed herself: "Body core composition: SiO, content... AlO, content... particles... crystal structure... porosity..."

"Glaze layer glaze material system: element content... coloring influence... glaze layer chemical composition: formula... refractive index... thermal expansion coefficient..."

"Microscopic characteristics: bubble structure... phase separation structure... material properties: hardness... density... dielectric constant..."

Lin Sicheng rubbed the porcelain shard slowly: A typical early Chenghua "Macang Clay + Qimen Kaolin" Binary Formula, with clay particles even finer than in the Yongle period.

The glaze material used Sumali Blue plus Pingdeng Blue, the formula was more complex, and the color development was more unique.

Correspondingly, the difficulty of the restoration was greater.

To repair it well, he would have to use a special technique...

Lin Sicheng recalled the materials Wang Qi Zhi had found from Beijing and breathed a sigh of relief: Fortunately, the preparations were relatively sufficient...

Too focused, subconsciously, he used the habits of his past life, Lin Sicheng's fingers tapped on the table, one tap after another:

"Li Zhen, body clay preparation: Qimen Kaolin 70%, Jingdezhen Macang Clay 25%, Aged Lotus Root Starch Mud 5%... Key point: add 3% Hair Ash (Ming Dynasty secret recipe, to enhance toughness)..."

Shao Qihua (Shang Yan's student, Master) to assist: beat with a Blue Stone Mortar 360 times, key point: 90 times clockwise → 90 times counter-clockwise, repeat 4 cycles... heat for aging, temperature range: 40-60 degrees... key point: store in a Cedar Wood Bucket, stir every ten minutes..."

"Miao Xin (Master), take note: 1. Add crushed porcelain powder to the body clay, pass through a 100-mesh sieve, and press firm with a Bone Presser. 2. Pure body clay preparation: knead three times and pinch nine times... 3. Body clay slurry, filter through filter cloth..."

"Jiang Yuan-shan (Doctor), Cobalt Material preparation: Huiqing Cobalt plus Shizi Cobalt, ratio three to seven, grind with Blue and White Porcelain shards... verify the color, fire a test piece to observe the characteristics..."

"Feng Lin: Mature Tung Oil plus Pine Soot Ink, weight ratio three to one..."

"Tools..."

Having just said two words, Lin Sicheng subconsciously paused: Five assistants, and they had all been assigned already?

Forget it, I'll do it myself.

He took off his gloves and walked toward the toolbox.

Below the stage, Shang Yan and Wang Qi Zhi looked at each other.

The former didn't quite understand; although she knew a little, the amount of information was too much and too concentrated, and Wang Qi Zhi's brain hadn't caught up for a moment.

The latter was stunned... truly stunned.

At first, Shang Yan had sighed, thinking that Lin Sicheng calling them by their names and skipping the titles of Senior Brother and Senior Sister actually made him look even more impressive.

Upon hearing about the clay, Cobalt Material, and even the tung oil, Shang Yan sighed again, thinking that Lin Sicheng was looking for hardship where there was none: Did this Blue and White Porcelain Jar really have to be repaired today?

Subsequently, seeing Lin Sicheng picking up the tools one by one: Diamond Knife, Bamboo Root Chisel, Shape Gauge, Fish-shaped Mold... she finally realized what Lin Sicheng was going to do: Sculpted Tire Restoration.

To put it bluntly: using the form of "Mortise and Tenon Structure," which is only used for wooden objects, to patch up the porcelain tire that had become brittle and damaged.

Let alone knowing how to do it, Shang Yan had never even seen it; she had only seen it twice in ancient books.

In fact, if she hadn't seen the highly recognizable Shape Gauge and Fish-shaped Mold, she wouldn't even have remembered it.

Her eyes widened subconsciously, and she gasped: Lin Sicheng, is the teacher really going to learn something new today?

She was incredibly shocked inside, but she reacted extremely quickly and climbed onto the stage in two or three steps.

Wang Qi Zhi, slow to react, followed closely behind.

Afterwards, Shang Yan lowered her voice: "Jiang Yuan-shan, you go assist Lin Sicheng, I'll handle the Cobalt Material... Wang Qi Zhi, you prepare the tools..."

Before she could finish speaking, Lin Sicheng didn't even lift his head, just waved his hand: "No need, you just record!"

Watching him shoo them away like flies, Shang Yan was stunned, then curled her lips.

Afterward, she stepped off the stage, picked up the camera remote control, and adjusted the distance to be closer, with clearer pixels.

Wang Qi Zhi pretended to pick up the notebook Feng Lin had dropped, looking blank: "Why are you curling your lips?"

Shang Yan continued to curl them: "He thinks we're in the way!"

Wang Qi Zhi paused for several seconds, finding an excuse for the student: "You rushed onto the stage without a word, and as soon as you got up there, you started interfering and giving blind instructions; I'd think you were in the way too!"

What do you know?

Shang Yan let out a "Heh," pointing at the big screen: "Do you know what your student is preparing to do? Sculpted Tire..."

Wang Qi Zhi paused: "Isn't that the process for relief porcelain from the Qing Dynasty before glazing?"

"That's not the same thing at all... why are you so stupid?"

Shang Yan was a bit anxious, talking and gesturing, "Do you know what a mortise and tenon are? Lin Sicheng is preparing to use this method to patch up the damaged parts... Jiang Yuan-shan (Doctor) doesn't know how at all... no, he hasn't even heard of it!"

Wang Qi Zhi stared with his eyes wide and his mouth open, stunned for a long time.

"The mortise and tenon used for furniture and roof beams?"

"Duh!"

Impressive, my student?

Let alone Shang Yan's student, even I, the teacher, haven't heard of it...

Wang Qi Zhi took a sharp breath: "How exactly is it patched?"

Shang Yan rolled her eyes: How would I know?

If I knew, I wouldn't have been that shocked...

"So it means... no one knows how?"

"There are! Previously it was Chen Wanli, Sun Yingzhou, and Feng Xianming. Now it's their few students..."

Shang Yan spread out five fingers, "There are only this many alive, and they are all in the Forbidden City... Wang Qi Zhi, do you know what this concept means?"

Wang Qi Zhi's eyelids couldn't stop twitching: He didn't know about Sculpted Tire Restoration, but he at least knew the three people Shang Yan mentioned: the titans of the modern appraisal world, the titans of the porcelain world, and top Experts in the field of ancient ceramic Artifact Research.

Just to mention one point: the current domestic grading of museum-collection ceramics and the appraisal levels were all divided and established by these three.

As it happens, all three were invited by the Forbidden City and once served as Researchers for porcelain Artifact Restoration. The three taught many students, but the ones with the top-tier skills are still in the Forbidden City.

But that place has some traditions, especially in Artifact Restoration, which has always continued the master-apprentice system. To put it bluntly: the true teachings are passed on privately, and so-called students can only do odd jobs.

Therefore, Shang Yan said: there are only five people alive who know how, and they are all in the Forbidden City. Tell me, Lin Sicheng has grown up this big and hasn't even left Xijing, where did he learn it?

Wang Qi Zhi said decisively: "From books!"

Shang Yan was stunned, her lips trembling, and a "Bullshit" was on the tip of her tongue.

Wang Qi Zhi was not in a hurry at all: "Isn't it in books?"

Of course it is.

But only in a few limited ancient books: "Discourse on Pottery," "Jingdezhen Pottery Records"... but they are vague and lack detail; let alone learning from them, if your foundation isn't deep enough, you can't even understand them.

Wang Qi Zhi pressed on: "Didn't those three write books?"

Of course they did, and quite a few.

But if one could learn just by relying on treatises, where would the "true teachings" come from?

And it wouldn't be the case that only those five people know how today.

Shang Yan opened her mouth, just about to say something, but thinking of the iron Cultural Relics, she simply closed it.

Lin Sicheng could deduce the core technology of the Cultural Relics Bureau and the Cultural Relics Research Institute just by relying on a few Thesis papers; what else could he not learn?

But learning is one thing, and being able to use it is another...

Wang Qi Zhi took the opportunity to patch things up: "Furthermore, he is only trying it out; he might not necessarily succeed in the repair!"

Shang Yan deeply agreed and nodded repeatedly: Mr. Sun Yingzhou once said a sentence: Without twenty years of hard practice, one cannot sculpt a tire.

Not to mention a Mortise and Tenon joint?

The two of them stopped talking and just stared at the large screen.

Wang Qi Zhi basically didn't understand anything and was just watching the excitement. Shang Yan had spent half her life on Artifact Research and was one of the best at Xida, but as she watched, she found herself actually unable to understand some of it?

She knew that "Mature Tung Oil mixed with Pine Soot Ink" was a penetrant, which needed to be carefully applied and soaked into the crumbling edges and surrounding areas with a brush; the purpose was to reinforce the crumbling area.

But she could not understand Lin Sicheng's technique: he first soaked the porcelain shards in water, waiting for the air bubbles to finish emerging before taking them out, then applied the penetrant, and each soaking was extremely fast; the wolf-hair brush barely touched the surface before pulling away.

After thinking for a moment, Shang Yan reached out a hand.

Before Wang Qi Zhi could react, his notebook and pen were snatched away, and a remote control was placed in his hand.

When he looked up, Shang Yan had already stepped onto the platform, though she stayed quite far away and did not make a sound.

Lin Sicheng glanced at her, then lowered his head again:

"To ensure the structural stability of the crumbling area, the penetrant must reach a depth of over 3mm. But Ming Dynasty Fetal Clay, especially Chenghua Fetal Clay, has an iron content of 8%-2%, and it easily turns gray when it encounters oil, so excessive penetration will cause the body to discolor..."

Shang Yan was stunned for a moment, then wrote rapidly. Lin Sicheng had said so many words, and she had finished half a minute's worth of writing.

Then, she smiled embarrassedly: "Lin Sicheng, you continue your work; I'm just observing from nearby!"

Wang Qi Zhi secretly curled his lip; if you're just observing, then why are you taking notes so fast?

Lin Sicheng smiled: "It doesn't hinder me!"

It truly didn't hinder him: in his past life, lecturing while performing operations was just the norm.

And it wasn't just students; many times, Experts and leaders would fill the laboratory, and they were extremely noisy. It was nothing like now, with seven or eight people in the laboratory, quiet and silent.

"Therefore, the amount of penetration must be moderate: each soaking should not exceed 3 seconds, with an interval of two hours each time, for a total of nine times; hence, Mr. Sun Yingzhou named it Three Immersions and Nine Lifts... Key point: the penetration depth can be controlled at 2±15mm..."

Manual labor, yet it could be precise to the millimeter level?

Shang Yan was both shocked and amazed, her pen moving rapidly: "What about the soaking in water from before?"

"This is the 'Water Reflection Method' from the Yuan Dynasty, used to define the crumbling edges. The specific method is: immerse the porcelain in 20℃ distilled water and observe the path of the air bubbles... Key point: the air bubbles in the crumbling area are arranged in a string-of-beads pattern..."

Shang Yan was stunned for a moment: "But there are microscopes?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Yes, so I supplemented my observations with one later. But if it is for a World Heritage Application, it is better to use traditional methods as much as possible. And it should be reflected in the application materials as much as possible..."

Wang Qi Zhi finally realized: from the moment he entered the laboratory, Lin Sicheng had been preparing materials for the World Heritage Application, which was why he was synchronizing the written notes and video recordings.

He sighed inwardly, adjusting the camera overhead to get a little closer.

Lin Sicheng was methodical, speaking while he worked.

Fixing the body, fine carving, shaping... bottom layer, middle layer, surface layer.

Afterwards, the Mortise and Tenon joints were connected, the large jar body was formed, and it was placed into the kiln for firing.

By this step, Shang Yan had no time to be shocked: just the theories Lin Sicheng had explained would take her months to digest. As for mastering them, heaven knows how long that would take.

Then came painting the Base Glaze, touching up the blue and white, treating the Glaze Layer, and re-firing... From beginning to end, Lin Sicheng used the most traditional, most retro methods: Double Outline Color Filling, Water Path White Leaving, Five Waters Five Colors, Glaze Swinging, Glaze Blowing...

Every single process could absolutely be found in ancient books, but as for who could actually use them, there were no more than ten people in the entire country.

Shang Yan was beyond shocked.

At the final moment, when the large jar came out of the kiln, everyone held their breath.

Including Wang Qi Zhi, who had been just tagging along for the past few days, fetching meals, carrying water, and only providing logistical support:

Relying solely on the naked eye, who would dare say this was repaired?

And thinking back: to the state it was in before...