When Xie Qing Gangying's fingertips ran over the mildew on the edge of the rice paper, the sycamore leaves outside the window were crackling from the heavy rain in July. The humming and humming of the constant temperature and humidity system of the Provincial Library and Special Collections Department, mixed with the faint fragrance of pine smoke and ink in the ancient book restoration room, became her most familiar background sound in the five years of working.
"Qinggangying, the restored archives of the Eastern Jin Dynasty fragments in Nange will be reviewed by the expert team tomorrow morning. You can check the insect infestation marks again." Through the frosted glass, the team leader Chen Yanqiu's voice had the texture of scraping paper pages - she had just emerged from the periodical library of the Republic of China, and the cuffs of her white coat were still stained with yellow stains from old newspapers.
Jie Qinggangying raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was 8:17 in the evening. The lights in the Special Collections Department always go out later than in other areas of the library, and her workstation is always lit late into the night. It wasn't that she deliberately worked overtime, but those dusty old things always held her attention: for example, the Southern Song Dynasty blockbuster "The Analects" that she sorted out yesterday had faded small-script annotations next to the annotations. The strokes were sharp but gentle. She looked through the history of the library and guessed it might be the handwriting of a female librarian during the Republic of China; and compared with For example, the fragmentary scroll of the Eastern Jin Dynasty that was spread out on the restoration table at the moment was as crisp as a dead leaf. It had the words "Locusts in Jiangzuo, the second year of Yongjia" written in cursive script on it. The few numbers reminded her of the meteorological files she checked last week - there was indeed a severe drought in the Yangtze River Basin that year, but it was mentioned in the official history in a sloppy way. This fragment of scroll serves as supporting evidence.
