Chapter 13: The Deceased

After flying over the Qilian Mountains, the plane finally landed smoothly at Dunhuang Airport.

Shen Qingcheng shouted in his heart, "Dunhuang, I'm here, Qingcheng is here." ”

The trip to Dunhuang was something that Shen Qingcheng had thought about for a long time and obsessed with what he had promised, and when his feet stepped on the ground of Dunhuang Airport, he felt the truth.

Chen Yuliang was behind Shen Qingcheng, patted Shen Qingcheng on the shoulder, and said kindly. "Qingcheng, now stepping on this land, aren't you dreaming?"

Shen Qingcheng saw that his mind was seen through by Chen Yuliang, and touched the tip of his nose with some embarrassment, "Teacher, let you see a smile." ”

Chen Yuliang said with a loving face, "Qingcheng, it's time for you to show your skills." ”

Shen Qingcheng suddenly felt pressured, and the re-evaluation of the Mogao Grottoes is the most important project of the Huaguo World Heritage Application Office.

The Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, are located in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor of Huaguo.

Founded in the pre-Qin period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, after the construction of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern Dynasties, the Sui, the Tang, the Five Dynasties, the Western Xia, the Yuan and other dynasties, forming a huge scale, there are 735 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals, 2,415 clay colored sculptures, it is the world's largest existing scale, the most abundant Buddhist art place.

The Mogao Grottoes can be traced back to the 80s of the last century, and in 1987, the Mogao Grottoes were listed as a world cultural heritage. It is also the first cultural heritage project in China to apply to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

"This re-evaluation is of far-reaching significance, Professor Chen, Bai Yu and Qingcheng, I hope that the three of you can assist us in doing detailed data analysis, dating identification, and final scoring of the Mogao Grottoes according to the selection criteria (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) of cultural heritage."

Stephen is no stranger to Dunhuang, since he intervened in the re-evaluation of the world heritage, he has taken Ouyang Jie and Zhou Qingyang to walk around the re-evaluation of cultural heritage declaration projects in various countries over the years.

Stephen is a Chinese speaker, not only the official language of China, but also the dialects of various parts of China. If it weren't for the fact that his skin was blonde and blue-eyed, and just listening to his Chinese, most people would think that he was Chinese.

The staff of the Dunhuang Local Cultural Relics Institute and the World Heritage Application Office were already waiting in the reception hall, and when they saw Dr. Stephen, Ouyang Jie, Zhou Qingyang, Chen Yuliang, Bai Yu and Shen Qingcheng coming out of the VIP passage, they hurriedly greeted them.

Helan Shan, director of the Dunhuang World Heritage Application Office, warmly stepped forward and hugged Stephen, "Doctor, welcome to Dunhuang again." ”

Then Helan Shan shook hands with Ouyang Jie, Zhou Qingyang, Chen Yuliang, Bai Yu and Shen Qingcheng one by one.

Stephen explained to everyone, "Helan Mountain was my first friend in China, in the eighties of the last century, I went to Dunhuang for the first time, I was not very good at speaking Chinese Chinese at that time, Helan Mountain taught me Chinese during that time, he was my teacher." ”

Wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, combing his big back, wearing a dark blue suit, and wearing the national emblem of Huaguo on his chest, he should have felt that he was a cold person, but Helan Mountain was very easy-going and had a homely affair with everyone.

"Experts, among you are my old friends Dr. Stephen, Professor Chen Yuliang, and my new friends, and I hereby extend my sincere welcome to you."

As soon as Helan Shan's words fell, the entourage behind him, dressed in red and tattooed with the Dunhuang logo on his chest, opened a banner and shouted in unison to Dr. Stetti and others, "Welcome to Dunhuang, Dunhuang welcomes you." ”

Chen Yuliang looked at the twenty or so people who followed behind Helan Mountain, and said jokingly, "Lao He, are you here to greet all the people from your Dunhuang World Heritage Application Office and Cultural Relics Institute?" It's also too grand. ”

Helan Shan was a little embarrassed, and he looked at the people behind him. "It's not because Dr. Stephen is famous, they can't hold back their excitement and want to meet the doctor, so I brought them."

Stephen looked at the entourage behind Helan Mountain and stepped forward politely and easily to shake their hands, "Thank you for coming to greet me, I feel honored." ”

There was a girl in the accompanying crowd who was very excited and took the initiative to introduce herself to Dr. Stephen, "Dr. Stephen, I am Yanyan fifteen years ago, when you came to our Dunhuang, I was still in elementary school, I don't know if you have any impressions." ”

All eyes were focused on the girl named Yanyan, only to see that her eyes were bright and bright, and the pear vortex at the corner of her mouth was very cute.

Stephen looked at the energetic girl in front of him, and his eyebrows and eyes looked like one of his old friends. He thought about the people he might know in Dunhuang, and after thinking about it, the girl with pigtails next to Cao Wenguang came to mind.

"Yanyan? Are you the daughter of Engineer Cao? Stephen asked the girl named Yanyan uncertainly, after all, it has been fifteen years, if it is really Cao Wenguang's daughter, she should be at this age.

Cao Yanyan nodded excitedly, with tears in her eyes, and sobbed quietly, "Well, my father is Cao Wenguang, he ...... He was protecting the artifacts a few years ago...... Died in the line of duty. ”

When Dr. Stephen heard the news of Cao Wenguang's death in the line of duty, he looked at Helan Mountain on the side, "Old He, why didn't you tell me about Cao Gong before?" You ......"

Helan Shan felt guilty, and he pursed his lips, "Dr. Stephen, I'm sorry, I ...... I am here to comply with Cao Gong's last wishes, and he doesn't want you to worry about him and feel sorry for him. ”

The corners of Stephen's eyes were wet, and he sniffed, "My life was saved by Cao Gong, if it wasn't for him back then, I would ......"

Shen Qingcheng watched movingly, he didn't expect that Dr. Stephen was not only easy-going and unassuming, but also a person who valued affection.

Stephen looked at Cao Yanyan, "Yanyan, I don't know where you work now?" ”

When Cao Yanyan was about to answer, Helan Shan was busy introducing her. "Yanyan returned to Dunhuang after graduating from the University of Geosciences, and now she is a woman inheriting her father's business and has strong business ability."

Dr. Stephen hugged Cao Yanyan in his arms, kissed her forehead, and said distressedly. "Girl, you are great, geology is a hard major, you need to be in the field all year round, I am proud of you."

Cao Yanyan took out a letter from her clothes, "Dr. Stephen, this is a letter that my father gave me on his deathbed, and he asked me to pass it on to you after seeing you." ”

Dr. Stephen took the letter from Cao Yanyan's hand with trembling hands, and his heart was still grieving over Cao Wenguang's death.

"Your father is a great geologist, when we were doing archaeology in the Mogao Grottoes, the sky was full of yellow sand, and your father and I often had no food in the wild, sometimes only drinking a pot of water a day...... I didn't expect that after many years, girl, you inherited his mantle......"

At this point, Dr. Stephen sighed and was speechless, and he did not have the courage to open the letter in his hand.