The rain stopped, and the streets were shiny and wet, as if they had just been coated with a layer of transparent paint.
Jiang Shiyou put away her umbrella and walked down the narrow alley. At the end of the alley is a glass door without a sign. There is only a line of small words posted in the corner: "Paper Restoration - Make an Appointment."
The bell on the door rang slightly as she pushed it open, bringing out the smell of the room - the light smell of paste, the dusty smell of old paper being turned, mixed with a hint of wet wood.
The room was not big, and there was a long table in the front room. The light came from a square work lamp, cutting the tabletop into a warm piece. The table was covered with light gray velvet, with brushes, fine needles and cotton swabs scattered among them.
The person under the lamp was lowering his head, using tweezers to gently pick up a piece of paper fiber that was so thin that it was almost transparent. He wore powder-free gloves on his hands, and his fingertips were drawn into clean arcs by the light.
"Miss Jiang?" He didn't raise his head, his voice was low and steady.
"Yes." She put the cloth bag in her arms on the corner of the table and opened it, revealing an old book with a mottled cover. "Sea Passage, a 1934 edition. The binding is loose and the spine is torn."
Pei Yunhe reached out and moved the book in front of him. He turned the page very slowly, and every time he turned a page, his thumb would pause on the edge of the paper for a moment, as if to give it a breather.
"The paper quality is okay, there are no mold spots, and the yellowing is very even." He said, "The cover needs to be reinforced and the spine re-stitched. - Where did you find it?"
"The used bookstall over the port." She answered, and added, "The stall owner said it was collected from an old captain's house. I draw maps, and recently I was making a route from the city center to the riverside, and I wanted to refer to the 'tide code' in the book."
His movements paused. "Tide code?"
Intention:—