Chapter 58 Twins
"Didn't any of you three check your phone along the way? No one replied to our messages." After separating from Mai Sui, as soon as the three of them returned home, Mai's father started asking questions.
Pu Zhihe said nonchalantly, "There was no signal for a long stretch of the road. We even had to download a map in advance."
Xiaomai asked again, "Didn't you say Yadan is far away? Why did you come back so early?"
"I was feeling carsick, so I asked Zhihe to turn around before we even reached the scenic area." Hang Liumei quickly replied.
Dad Mai said, "So you three came here for nothing today? You didn't go anywhere?"
Qi Xiuchun couldn't stand it anymore and asked him, "Xiao Jiang, you've been making that ring for several days. Auntie is in this business. How is your work? Do you want to take it out so that we can all take a look?"
As expected, Mai Da was distracted by her. He took out a ring from his pocket and proudly handed it to Qi Xiuchun, introducing it naggingly: "I made a sample hastily. It won't be used for anything. I'll give it to you for reference. The surface will be frosted. I've already ordered a citrine, the birthstone of wheat ears, and a poem will be engraved on the inside..."
Qi Xiuchun took it and squinted her eyes to look at it. Items of this quality would never be sold in her shop, but the value of it lay in the thought behind it. Qi Xiuchun praised it highly and then put aside what happened this morning.
The New Grottoes and Caves 254 and 257 of the Mogao Grottoes are almost twin grottoes. If one wants to make use of the damaged murals in the New Grottoes, a trip to the Mogao Grottoes is essential. Early the next morning, Hang Liumei and Qi Xiuchun took Xiaomai and Pu Zhihe to conduct research.
These two caves belong to the early period and are located in the middle of the Mogao Grottoes. Upon entering Cave 257, one is greeted by a seated Buddha statue. Its once contemplative and serene face has been deliberately damaged, with its eyes and nose missing. Over time, these damages have become part of the statue, conveying the meaning of "form is emptiness."
This was a Buddha statue Qi Xiuchun was familiar with. She had once asked her master why he hadn't restored its facial features. The master explained that cultural relic restoration isn't a one-size-fits-all approach; the decision to repair or not is a science in itself, requiring a decisive decision before proceeding. This became her first Dunhuang lesson.
The most astonishing experience was in 1975, when she witnessed the veterans dismantling and relocating the layers of murals in Cave 220, separating and displaying the Song Dynasty murals that overlaid the Tang Dynasty murals. When Qi Xiuchun was helping her father at the temple in her hometown, she simply found the work interesting and, relying on her dexterity, didn't find it difficult. But after visiting the Mogao Grottoes, she realized there was always something beyond her, and she dedicated herself to her studies.
When she first learned restoration, her master started with her from this point. Crouching in the corner of Cave 257, he explained, "This is called nail peeling. As the name suggests, the mural is lifting like nails. It's actually cracking between the white powder layer and the pigment layer above. Repairing the nail peeling alone requires at least six steps, and we'll go through them one by one. Remember, the mural is more valuable than our flesh. Your flesh can grow back after a cut, but this mural won't."
Later, Qi Xiuchun thought of this metaphor countless times, so much so that he changed his career and treated gold and silver carvings with the same reverence as if they were facing a mural.
Young Qi Xiuchun sat in the grottoes, meticulously following her master's path, meticulously "healing" the murals and sculptures, inch by inch, using brushes, syringes, and other tools. In the dim light, she first blew away dust from the murals' surfaces, then carefully injected adhesive with a syringe. Her hands were steady and precise, applying the adhesive drop by drop, carefully balancing speed and quantity. Next came backfilling with paint and rolling... Cultural relic restoration is a slow and meticulous process. Sometimes, holding her breath, she'd worked for ten days or even half a month, only to find she'd only finished one wall.
When she and her master were resting, the master would chat: "This mural and the statue are all like this. They can't speak, but they actually have vitality. Their life is limited. Their life is now in your hands. If you repair it, it will live two more years. Restoration master Li Yunhe said..."
Qi Xiuchun knew her master feared she would become like some of the others who couldn't endure the hardship before her, spending years here, feeling inferior to the archaeologists in their academic pursuits, or the art team in their sense of accomplishment in copying murals, and then quit. Qi Xiuchun was the opposite of them. For some reason, watching the damaged murals come back to life under her hands was more reassuring than copying them from afar.
She also made a fool of herself at work. Back home, her father would never allow her to go to the temple with him every month when she got her period. Qi Xiuchun's mother passed away early, and she had her first period at thirteen. No one at home cared. One day, when she went to work with her father, a coworker saw blood on her pants and told him.
Her father brought her home and slapped her twice on the back: "You idiot girl! You're clueless! You're here and you're just staying there to bring bad luck!" Then he threw Qi Xiuchun to her grandmother. Her grandmother washed her and changed her clothes, then poked her on the forehead and taught her: "Women's bodies are dirty when they have their period. Don't follow your father like this anymore. Be careful, or the Bodhisattva will blame you and punish your father, our family, and you too!"
Qi Xiuchun didn't understand what was going on. She only knew that she was bleeding from her body. She was scolded and threatened, and she cried until she was out of breath and sweating all over. She developed a high fever that night and dreamed that the Ox-Head and Horse-Faced Demons wanted to catch her and throw her into a wok of oil.
During the first month of working in the caves, Qi Xiuchun got her period. Since her master was a man, she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She stood at the entrance of the caves, holding her belly and refusing to go in: "Master, I have my period..."
The master didn't understand at first and just thought she was sick, saying, "Are you not feeling well? Then go back and rest today. Let's go."
Qi Xiuchun stayed in the dormitory for five days. Her master thought she was seriously ill and made a special trip to see her. He saw her squatting there with her sleeves rolled up, washing clothes, her face rosy and her movements agile. He mistakenly thought that she had learned for a few days and found the work boring and tiring, so she was making excuses to be lazy. He gave Qi Xiuchun a serious lecture.
Qi Xiuchun also became anxious and said that he was also anxious to go back, but he couldn't do it because his body was not clean.
The master understood a little, but Qi Xiuchun refused to discuss it with him, so he had to seek help from a female senior, and it was Teacher Gong. After listening to Qi Xiuchun's explanation, Teacher Gong almost burst out laughing: "Silly child, according to what you said, the female comrades in our institute should take turns staying in the room every month. We must not offend the Bodhisattva. Do you see anyone else doing this? Has anyone else been blamed by the Bodhisattva for entering the cave during menstruation?"
Qi Xiuchun had no way to refute, "But, but, this is the tradition, this is the rule." She could only utter these two sentences.
Teacher Gong reasoned with her, "It seems you need to brush up on your theoretical knowledge. Menstruation is a natural process for women, it's only natural. What's so dirty about it? Those 'rules' are feudal superstitions and are unacceptable. If you believe in spiritual beings, then you shouldn't shy away from this matter. If you really discriminate against and restrict women because of this, then how can you still be considered a Buddha or Bodhisattva without discrimination? Xiuchun, it seems that when you come to Mogao Grottoes, you can't just learn new skills, you also have to accept new ideas. Stop your wild thoughts."
The next day, Teacher Gong dragged Qi Xiuchun into the grotto and said to the Buddha statue at the entrance: "Buddha, please look carefully. I forced her to come in. Please let the retribution be on me." Qi Xiuchun was so scared that she wanted to cover her mouth, but Teacher Gong just asked her to work hard.
Later, her superstition naturally faded, but she didn't forget Teacher Gong's request for theoretical refresher training. Her colleagues in the art department, striving to capture the "clear and ethereal" spirit of their figures, copied and researched them simultaneously. Qi Xiuchun joined them in reading historical texts and Buddhist scriptures. Getting started was a struggle, often finding herself snoring with the book slapped against her face. But once she grasped the subtle nuances of the murals, facing them felt like opening up her meridians. She still remembers that feeling of enlightenment.
Hang Liumei also remembers it.
Upon arriving, she had joined Qi Xiuchun and the others in line drawing and studying ancient texts. Now, she saw Qi Xiuchun paused in deep thought before the half-seated bodhisattva on the south-facing central pillar. She didn't bother him, but instead slowly gazed inside at the three familiar paintings: "The Story of a Novice Monk Suicide While Keeping the Precepts," "The Story of the Nine-Colored Deer," and "The Story of Sumati Inviting the Buddha." Seeing "The Nine-Colored Deer" reminded Hang Liumei of the past and made her laugh.
When she left home, she hid a comic book of "Three Heroes and Five Gallants" in her bag. This was the only one left in the whole series that she had not finished reading. She didn't know how hard it would be to finish the ending, so when she packed her luggage, she forced the comic book into her bag as well.
As soon as she arrived in Dunhuang, she shoved all her belongings into the cabinets, forgetting about them once she got busy. A few days later, she began to hear rustling noises in the house, and she knew mice had invaded. The mice here were quite skilled and difficult to catch, so Hang Liumei left them alone.
That day, Hang Liumei sat on the edge of the bed, her head down, her feet soaking, reading a picture album. Qi Xiuchun came in from outside with wet hair and yelled, "Ouch!", almost causing Hang Liumei to drop the book in her hands into the foot basin. She was about to ask Qi Xiuchun what he was yelling about when she saw him pick up a broom and hit the corner with it.
"They ran away, they ran away! These damn rats are so skinny from hunger that they can even get out of such a small hole. You say they can't even eat enough, yet they still have the energy to make holes in the cracks of our door and even chew through the wooden door?! What is this?" Qi Xiuchun bent down, picked up a piece of scrap paper, pulled it through the hole, and took out a picture book that had been bitten to pieces. He could only barely hold the spine of the book.
"Oh! My book!" Hang Liumei was anxious now. She pulled her feet out of the basin and stood on the ground. The soles of her feet, which had just been washed, were covered with dirt. Every time she walked, there was a muddy footprint. She ran to Qi Xiuchun and burst into tears: "I brought it here and haven't had time to read it yet. These damn rats! Damn rats! I chewed it all to pieces! I can't buy it anymore. I will never know the ending!"
After saying that, she returned to the bedside crying, holding the tattered book, and sat down, sobbing. Qi Xiuchun sat beside her, hugging her and comforting her. The water on her hair dripped onto Hang Liumei's hand, mixed with Hang Liumei's own tears, and dripped down the back of her hand to the ground.
She had just arrived in Dunhuang at that time, and she still felt a little homesick every night. The bitten picture book triggered her ominous thoughts: her connection with home was broken, her memories of the past were damaged, and she would not be able to wait for the end here...
Hang Liumei lay on the kang and kept sobbing and talking about these irrelevant pessimistic nonsense. Qi Xiuchun wanted to laugh but couldn't, until Hang Liumei said that she would die here in the future and have her toes gnawed by mice. Qi Xiuchun shouted: "You silly girl, why are you getting crazier and crazier! You are so grown up and still want to see little people's paintings. Others will laugh at you when they hear you. The one we have here is much better than yours. You sleep well tonight and I will take you to see it tomorrow. You have never seen such an interesting thing in your life. All right, stop crying. Look how wet our pillows are..."
Hang Liumei was tired of crying and fell asleep after being comforted by Qi Xiuchun. The next morning, Qi Xiuchun took her to see the "Nine-Colored Deer's Birth Story".
Later, the mural was adapted into an animated film. After Hang Liumei became a mother, she showed it to her son, and after she became a grandmother, she showed it to Xiaomai. They didn't understand why she cried when they watched it. Now, the person who stood next to her when she first saw the mural has returned, and this time, Hang Liumei no longer misses him.
The two of them strolled to the "Sumati Karma Painting" and thought that it was a unique mural, but it turned out that there was a twin sister hidden in the mountains hundreds of kilometers away.
Just like the two of them, a pair of twin sisters from Dunhuang, now reunited in this cave filled with memories.
"Xiaomei, this is the one. Come on, let's get to work."
Hang Liumei nodded.
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