Cultural Relics Are Not To Be Messed With

Chapter 1: This is a broken knife.

Early February, just after the first day of spring, Jiangshi. 

(t/n: name for a city, literally, river city). 

The people who had gone out early in the morning rubbed their hands together, circles of cloud-like air coming from their mouths’ exhales. Like this, the city began its busy day in the harsh cold of the early spring morning.

There’s still more than half an hour left before Qi Chen’s supposed to clock in in his workplace, but at this point in time, he’s already taken his seat in his workshop. 

Today is only his second day at his new workplace – the Guanghe Cultural Heritage Conservation Co., Ltd. He hasn’t even fully taken in the things he read yesterday from his dozen-paged employee handbook when the person in charge, Dong Mingbo, gave Qi Chen an antique restoration assignment before he could even leave work. The fact that they’d let him, a fresh-graduate newcomer to the company, start on a major practical assignment without even giving him at least a brief orientation on things, really showed just how short of manpower they are.

The central air conditioning ran quietly in the background. While the temperature inside his workshop was pretty moderate, it was also rather dry as there wasn’t a humidifier around. Such an environment wouldn’t be anywhere near comfortable for people, but it was just the right kind for objects that run the risk of being damaged if exposed to too much humidity.

For instance, the bronze knife in Qi Chen’s hand.

Among all the cold weapons, knives could be regarded as the most common one. However, bronze knives are rather rare. There’s only a handful of them, and it isn’t easy to even see one in actuality. This might be because while bronze in itself is hard, bronze knives are often made in a way that made them very brittle, which makes it prone to breakage and damage.

The knife’s blade in Qi Chen’s hand is narrow and thin, around a foot and six inches long, single-edged and slightly curved, which formed a slight arc. The back of the knife’s blade is only a little thicker than its cutting edge, and it had been carved into a row of jagged, teeth-like bits, which added to its vicious and gruesome beauty. The knife’s casting process could be described as exquisite, and if one were to point out a flaw, it would probably have to be the fracture on its top from where Qi Chen was holding.

This was a broken knife. One that had been broken in two from the blade’s joint.

At this moment, the knife’s broken half was also lying on Qi Chen’s table. The side had been engraved with a circle of vertical patterns evenly, and the hilt was attached to the round, fish-scaled knife handle. Further up, however, the place where the head of the handle should be was empty.

Yesterday, Dong Mingbo patted Qi Chen on his shoulder and explained: “This knife is missing a few parts. The cutting blade was found two days ago, but it’s still missing a handle’s head and two exquisite orbs. You should first repair this part of the knife, though. You only have to keep these two requirements in mind: one, quality, and two, speed. No more, no less. How about it? Simple, right? Don’t feel too pressured. You, young man, have a very promising future. Work hard!”

Qi Chen, at that time, silently vomited a mouthful of blood in his heart: what do you mean quality and speed? Those two are the highest requirements you can already ask of anyone in this craft, what do you mean ‘no more, no less’… simple my ass!

However, after seeing the conditions that the knife was in this morning, Qi Chen’s initial pressure had been greatly reduced.

This was because this knife, regardless of its missing and broken parts, still had the dull golden color of the bronze material. There weren’t any rust or stains, it was still rather smooth and sharp to touch, and the surface of the knife could be used to see a reflection that was actually discernible.

Really can… see… discernible… reflection…

The sunlight outside the window happened to shine down on the knife’s still-water-like appearance from a certain angle, and the reflected light almost blinded Qi Chen’s eyes.

Haha.

Isn’t this a modern handicraft?! What kinda bronze still shone like this after being dug out of the depths of the earth? Where are the traces of age? The ancient and rough texture? Are you kidding me?!

Knock, knock, knock. The door to Qi Chen’s workshop was knocked on thrice. He looked up to see Dong Mingbo walking in with his hands behind his back: “Xiao Qi*, you’re here so early? So full of energy! That’s good, that’s good.” 

(*t/n: xiao means little. he’s calling him little qi.)

Qi Chen stood up. “Good morning, Director Dong.” Earlier, he had gone through the company organization’s hierarchy tree and soon found out that Dong Mingo was the company leader. However, he preferred being called ‘director’. Qi Chen found it a little strange, and he had no idea why.

To be honest, though, Guanghe Cultural Heritage Conservation Co., Ltd. had a lot of stranger things to wonder about.

For example, what the hell was that “defending themselves and living life on the edge” part in the job requirements? And the way the company departments were divided into, too! What executive group, supervisory group, hell, there was even an aftermath group! And Qi Chen, a cultural relics restoration specialist, was even first assigned to the logistics team because his hands then were shaking too much!

(t/n: much to unpack here. while those definitely sound like normal stuff to include in a business, the ‘executive’ group here refers to a group of people who deals with lawsuits. the ‘supervisory’ group refers to people who overlook criminals/criminal behavior, and the ‘aftermath’ group refers to people who get rid of evidence after a crime operation has been finished in order to sway off authorities from their trail, which you don’t usually find in an artifact restoration company LOL) 

There were too many fishy things. Qi Chen didn’t even dare to think too much about it because he was too afraid that he really might have gotten himself into this powerful kind of group, and that he wouldn’t be able to resist if he got taken away by multi-level marketing groups or illegal gangs that choose to “fight illegal with illegal” or “hit black” at any time, falling into their den of crimes in one fell swoop.

However, Qi Chen is only a layman at most, and things like the insides of a company’s structure and job positions didn’t mean too much to him. Although the company was not the most trustworthy one out there, the contract was very formal and the work environment was also very good. The assignments that had been given to him also didn’t deviate too far from his field of expertise.

Of course, there were also two factors that Qi Chen considered as most important: good salary and free food and accommodation. With these two factors alone, Qi Chen was already willing to temporarily pretend that the company’s strange shenanigans didn’t exist. Either way, even if there was something going on, it shouldn’t have any big effects on a small-name employee like him. He just takes his pay for the job he’s been hired for.

“Well? Any difficulties, Xiao Qi?” Dong Mingbo stood by the table and waved his hand for Qi Chen to sit back down and to continue doing his job.

Qi Chen shook his head. “I took a look. The knife has been well-preserved. Basically, there should be no need for pre-treatment, and the broken part shouldn’t also be too much to deal with. Once we’ve attached it back to its bolster, we can start the welding and filing process. Then finally, after a bit of precision processing, you can hardly tell that it’s been broken before.”

For some odd reason, the corner of Dong Mingbo’s mouth twitched, and he asked: “Do you really plan on filing the knife?”

“…Yes.” Qi Chen had no idea why Dong Mingbo asked. After thinking about it, he decided that it was maybe because although Dong Mingbo was the head of the company, he still specialized in antique restoration. He was probably just curious about the specific details involved in the process, so he asked.

Who knows what Dong Mingbo had been thinking of when he silently glanced at the broken knife on the table and tentatively said to Qi Chen: “About that, Xiao Qi…”

Qi Chen, who was patiently waiting for the instructions: “Hm?”

Dong Mingbo: “When you start on the filing and welding of the knife, please be gentle.”

Qi Chen: “…”

Dong Mingbo: “…”

Qi Chen: “Director, you must be joking.”

Dong Mingbo: “No.”

Qi Chen: “…”

The two people stared at each other in wide-eyed silence for a few seconds. Dong Mingbo coughed and cleared his throat, “That’s all. If you’re too busy, bring it to me once you’re done repairing it. I’ll be in the office until 3 p.m.” After he finished speaking, he stood up, holding the middle-aged fat that bulged out his belly, and slipped out of the workshop.

Qi Chen blinked, and then looked down at the broken blade again. He really didn’t what Dong Mingbo’s expression, one that made him look like he had an unbearable toothache, meant at that moment.  

Even if he tried to gently file the knife, how can someone try to weld ‘gently’?! Do you lick it lightly with a tongue of fire?! Enough of this nonsense…

He originally thought that the broken knife was just Dong Mingbo’s way of testing him, to see just how much he can do at his level. At most, it should’ve just been a guise of some sort. Now, though, it seemed as though Dong Mingbo is actually really concerned about this knife.

However, whether it’s an object for texting or an artifact from a collection, it’s all the same in Qi Chen’s hands.

He pulled up his sleeves that reached his wrists up his small arms, moved his thin fingers, and opened the tool cabinet by the side of the table, taking out a flat file tool. He then picked up the blade, flipped it over, and observed the direction at which it had been fractured, and then immersed himself in his work.

Qi Chen’s observation had led him to make an accurate estimate of the knife’s fracture, and it really didn’t take too much effort to repair the knife at all. Cleaning, descaling, rust removal, patching, and the likes – these processes weren’t even done, unlike how all old artifacts need to undergo them. When he finished the last step in one go, he stood up to stretch out and loosen his muscles. There was still nearly half an hour before their lunch break, which should definitely satisfy Dong Mingbo’s requirement number two: speed.

Taking out a special cleaning cloth from the tool cabinet, Qi Chen meticulously wiped the bronze knife one last time, and then cleaned up the table. He put the knife back into the antique, slender wood box, and then went to Dong Mingbo.

Guanghe wasn’t like other companies who rented one or two floors for their workspace in commercial office buildings. Instead, the company bought a piece of land in Jiangshi East District and there they built twin office buildings and a staff dormitory, circled around a courtyard. Looking at it from the outside, the office buildings had only three floors, and the dormitory building had only five. The building also had green walls, where layers of green plants grew on. Overall, while it looked a bit old, and was comparatively a lot more unimpressive in the midst of the high-rise businesses in the district, it was also somewhat majestic in its own way, with its simple arrangements and atmosphere.

Qi Chen’s workshop is on the third floor of Building A, the same floor as Dong Mingbo’s office. Holding the wooden box containing the knife, he walked to the door of the office at the end of the corridor, raised his hand, and knocked on the open door. “Director Dong.”

Dong Mingbo, who was sitting behind the dark brown wooden desk, put down the documents in his hands and waved at him. “Oh, Xiao Qi is here, you may come in. What’s the matter? Is the knife repaired?”

“Well… you can try to look at it and decide if it’s alright enough.” Qi Chen walked over and handed him the wooden box.

“Let me take a look.” Dong Mingbo took the wooden box and opened it but he didn’t try to take the knife out. Instead, he only let it lay inside the wooden box, measuring it from outside, and soon, he nodded and closed the box, gently putting the box back on the desk. He said to Qi Chen with a smile: “Good. The break looks very natural. You’ve worked hard. You may go back and busy yourself with a meal. Oh, by the way, please close the door on your way out.”

“Noted. Then, director, I’ll be going back to the office now.” Qi Chen nodded. He had just entered the workplace, after all, and was still not used to the stark difference between Dong Mingbo’s temperament and his position in the company. Back in school, he always subconsciously equated ‘leader’ with ‘mentor’, respecting but not fearing the person who had that role. Moreover, Dong Mingbo was always smiling and was very easygoing. He wasn’t very pretentious, too. So, in turn, Qi Chen wasn’t very formal with him.

He walked two steps and turned back to ask Dong Mingbo: “Director, this knife is quite beautifully made. Does it have a name?”

“Yes!” Dong Mingbo glanced at the wooden box and said, “You saw the pattern of the beast-like teeth on the knife, right?”

Qi Chen nodded his head.

Dong Mingbo: “The name of the knife suits its appearance very well. It’s named Long Ya.”

Qi Chen: “…”

Dong Mingbo: “What?”

Qi Chen’s mouth twitched slightly. He shook his head. “It’s nothing. I just remembered something that I read before. They said that there was a demon knife called Long Ya, and the blade had been shattered. Legend has it that it was later dug out during the Song Dynasty and was used to guillotine Bao Gong.”

(t/n: taken from wikipedia:  Bao Zheng, commonly known as Bao Gong (Lord Bao), was a Chinese politician during the reign of Emperor Renzong in China’s Song Dynasty.)

Dong Mingbo didn’t even blink twice: “Oh, yo, what a coincidence!”

Qi Chen: “…” When you say you’re surprised, or at least, when you’re pretending to be surprised, remember that your facial expression also has to show that!