The young shopkeeper blew out the light, walked up the stairs step by step, and prepared to go to bed. But the store is not just dark. The green moonlight shines in, illuminating the place into a magical realm, as if an immortal will run out soon.
There are bookshelves on three walls in the store, filled with books of all kinds. Some papers are white, like a girl's face; some turn dark yellow, like an old man's skin. Some are narrow and long, like the ridiculous long people we see in the magic mirror; some are wide and short, reminding you of those fat businessmen. Some covers are painted with flower branches, which is very elegant; some are messy, like a war scene, or like a bunch of chaotic insects. Some have gold letters on their spines that emit brilliant light, similar to the electric signboards of big stores, attracting your attention; some only have simple black letters to mark their names, as if to tell others that they have substantial content and do not need to be fancy. Green.
It was extremely quiet at this time, and there was no sound on the street. The footsteps of the moonlight are always silent. It comes in silently. When it comes in, the books on the shelf are finally bathed in the moonlight. At this moment, what do you think it would be like if these books could talk for a while and talk about each other's moods and experiences?
Listen, a gentle voice broke the silence inside.
"The new friends across the way, have you just given birth not long ago? You look so delicate and tender, as if you just came out of the midwife's bathtub."
The person who spoke was a middle-aged blue-faced book, and his tone of voice was like a kind lady who likes to ask questions.
"No, we were born more than 20 years ago," one of the new friends replied. It was a delicate red-faced book, with neat and white paper inside. "We have twenty-four books together. We have lived in the same family since we were born and have never been separated. We just recently came to this new place."
"That family's family I love you very much, don't you?" Blue Face asked again, fearing that the conversation would end there.
"Of course he loves us very much," Red Face Book said happily. "The owner of that family is very interesting. He loves all our friends and wants to take them into his home. The library in his home It's much bigger than here, but our companions are packed in, and there's no room left. The bookcases are all made of precious wood, with glass doors and wooden doors that can be loaded and unloaded in turn. , are all the work of the great calligraphers of the time. We live in it, it is comfortable and glorious, it is an extremely high-class life. The bookshelf here is as broken and dirty as it is. To be honest, I have never seen it before. We have to squeeze in here, alas, we are unlucky!"
Lan Mian Shu felt sad and sighed: "Things in the world are often so unexpected."
"However, I have enjoyed enough of the privileged life of more than 20 years." After all, Hong Fang Shu is young and can put away the sad mood on his own and recall the happiness of the past. "When the master got us, his heart was filled with joy. With a very proud look on his face, he told each of his friends, 'I got another very good book!' His tone was solemn. , and full of surprises, which shows that our value is more valuable than treasures. This is his advantage every time he gets a kind of companion. He understands that we should be treated as equals. He would never touch us again in the bookcase - this was the most comfortable thing for us. He would look at us from outside the bookcase once a day, with a smile on his face and sometimes a nod. , as if to say: "Hello!" When a guest comes, he will never forget to say: "Look at my collection of books." His friends then walked into the library with him and praised him as if they were entering a treasure house. "There are so many books!" He said modestly, "It's nothing, but a little bit, but they are all very good books!" We feel extremely honored to receive such praise in front of many guests.
The life we ??have lived for more than twenty years has been comfortable and glorious. We have really enjoyed it enough! "
"Then why did you leave him? "This question has been waiting in Blue Face's throat for a long time.
"He is bankrupt! Don't know why. We saw that his appearance suddenly changed, his brows were furrowed, there was no smile at all, and he sometimes scratched his scalp and sometimes sighed. There were more than a dozen people who bought used goods, and they were looking around in his house. One of them sent us here. I don’t know what happened to many of my companions. Maybe they are a few days late, and here we will reunite with them. "
"This is interesting. You are here because the master is bankrupt, but we are here because the master is rich. "
The book that was spoken was a purple-covered and gold-painted book. Although the book was not torn, it was stained with a lot of ink and dust. It can be seen that its previous situation was not necessarily good, and it was just torn and dirty. It's just a bookshelf. Its tone is funny, like a character in the playground who has his nose painted white to make people laugh.
"Why? "The blue-faced book became curious and couldn't help but ask.
"I'll throw you away after I get rich! "Red Face Book also didn't believe it. "Like our previous owner, if he didn't go bankrupt, he would never give up on us. "
"Haha, you don't know. My old master needed me and my companions because he was poor. When he gets rich and his wish has been fulfilled, what use do we have to him? His experience is very interesting. If you like to hear it, I will tell you about it. I can't sleep anyway, the moonlight tonight is too good. ”
“I thank you. "Lan Mianshu said excitedly, "I have been suffering from insomnia every night recently. I would like to thank anyone who can talk to me and relieve my loneliness. Besides, what you said must be very interesting. ”
“Then I will say. He is a person who wants to read books but does not have books, and a person who wants to read books but does not read books. How to say it? He was originally very poor, but when he saw a room full of books in a bookstore, the books contained all kinds of knowledge. He thought: If he could absorb some of these knowledge, just the smallest part, he could at least improve his situation a little bit. Son. But he can't afford books. At that time, he wanted to read a book but there was no book. Later, he finally saved a little money, ran to the bookstore with great enthusiasm, and bought some of the books he wanted most. He read it carefully and corrected even the smallest mistakes in the book. Thanks to his intelligence, he made new discoveries. He thought it would be foolish to read the whole book from beginning to end. The easiest way was to read the preface. The preface often explains the main points of the book clearly. If you know the main points, doesn’t it mean that you have captured the soul of the whole book? From now on, he bought the book and followed his new findings until he completely abandoned us. Therefore, only the cover of his book was stained, and only the first few pages had his fingerprints on it. Other than that, it was all clean. Just look at me as an example. If you ask him what he does, of course he reads. But does reading just one preface count as reading a book? So I said, he wants to read instead of reading. "
"Ah, that's ridiculous. His discovery couldn't be called clever! "The red-faced book smiled like a straightforward young man.
"It's not over yet! "Zi Mian Shu deliberately said in a cold tone, "I haven't talked about his fortune yet. Do you know how he made his fortune? He read the prefaces of several books, wrote an article titled "Comparative Research and Criticism of Certain Books", and submitted it to the newspaper. A few days later, the article was published in the newspaper. There was a note from the main writer on the back, saying how interesting the article was and that it could not have been written by anyone without broad knowledge.
He received a royalties, and this joy was incomparable. He thought: ‘This is it! The road to improving your situation has been opened, so take strides forward! ’
So he continued to write articles. Of course, he didn’t have to worry about the materials. There were prefaces to many books. The royalties were sent to him one by one, and his reputation followed him with wings, and he gradually became a great person. The school asked him to designate books that students must read, and the library asked him to identify the authenticity of ancient books.
Newspaper editors and lecture promoters were waiting in his reception room, and one said: 'Write an article for us! ’ One said: ‘Give us a speech! ’ His answer is often ‘I don’t have time to think about it’. The requester then said: 'You know everything about books, so do you need to think about them? Your brain is like the ocean. As long as you scoop out a spoonful, we will get the most nourishing drink. ’ After hesitating again and again, he reluctantly agreed. The person who made the request flew back, published a notice in the newspaper, wrote his name as big as a rice bowl, and added words such as "well-read" and "well-read". One day, it occurred to him to calculate his wealth. ‘Ah, have you become a rich man? ’ he shouted dubiously. He twisted his thigh and felt the pain, knowing that he was not in a dream. He just thought that he had already become a rich man, why bother to read those prefaces again? Isn’t there plenty to do? He hired a junk dealer and sold all the books, and from then on he completely abandoned us. Now, he has opened some kind of company there. ”
“So that’s it! "The blue-faced book said to itself, it could hear it very well.
"While transporting it away, I fell off the car. I lay down on the street and called to my companions to come and help me. They didn't hear any of them, as if there was some good situation waiting for them in the future, and their hearts were no longer with them. Later, a poor boy picked me up and sent me here. "Zi Mian Shu paused and said with a sneer, "I am very calm in my heart. I don't long for any good situation. As long as I can meet a master who really wants to see me, I will be satisfied. ”
“I have met the most masters who really want to read books. But it doesn't mean anything. "The person who said this was a tattered book, without a cover, with many pages peeled off at the front and back. The paper turned gray and black, and the handwriting was vague. His voice was dry and mixed with coughing, making it difficult to hear clearly.
The red-faced book followed the meaning of the broken book and said: "It is really pointless to let the master read it all the time. How can I bear the fatigue of being turned over and over all the time. Old man, seeing how weak you are, you must have been beaten too much by your masters. Like me before, my master never touched me, so that was my comfort. "
"That's not what I mean," Po Shu shook his head and coughed again.
"Then I want to hear what my old man means. "The purple-faced book asked. Of course it didn't admire it in its heart. It thought that books are always meant for people to read. If some people read them and say they are boring, then the race of the book can be destroyed.
"You know me How old are you? "Ba Shuyi asked in an old-fashioned way.
"No one here can match you, that's for sure. You are our old timer. "The blue-faced book snatched it out and showed its courtesy.
"Not counting the small change, I am already three thousand years old. "
"Ah, three thousand years old! Ancient predecessor! Our glory! "Many people who were quietly listening to the unspoken books couldn't help but shout out.
"This is not surprising. I was just born before. Apart from this, am I not the same as you? Po Shu waited for everyone to calm down before continuing, "In these three thousand years, I have met no less than one hundred and thirty masters." But you have to know that this is the first time I have lived in a used bookstore. In the past, it was passed from the first owner to the second, and the second owner passed it to the third, and it has been passed down a hundred or dozens of times. Their relationship is that of teacher and student: the teacher teaches and the student receives. What teachers do is to teach based on me, and what students do is based on me to learn. After passing on to the 10th and 20th generations, it becomes increasingly difficult to learn. By the time you understand the general idea and can teach students, you are often already a gray-haired old man. It certainly won't get any easier going forward. They taught less and less. Three pages were lost in one person's hands, and five pages were lost in that person's hands, until I became as shabby as I am now. "
"Old man, you don't have to worry," Lan Mian Shu was afraid that the old man would be sad, so he quickly comforted him, "All ancient things are always broken and incomplete. Only when it is broken and incomplete does it look antique.
"
"It doesn't matter if it's broken or incomplete," Broken Book's answer was as expected by Blue-faced Book, "I'm just sad for my many masters. They followed my exhaustive study, and after they learned it, they went to teach students. The students relied on me to study hard, and after they finished learning, they went to teach the students again. I was eaten in and spit out by them, and it was a generation; I was eaten in and spit out again, and another generation was born. They did nothing but eat and vomit. I think a person must do something for the world. Although the world is like a sea, everyone should add their own spoonful of water to the sea. Many of my masters have passed away and cannot come back. Where is their spoonful of water! If it wasn't for me and it took them a lifetime not to eat and spit it out, they might be able to do something. I grieve for them and hate myself at the same time. Now I am living in a second-hand bookstore, and I am not sad at all. If it falls into the trash can tomorrow, I think I deserve it. "
"My husband is right. Those who want to read the book cannot be generalized. Like the many masters that my husband met, they want to read so much that they only know how to read. They are simply bookworms, and of course they are not interesting. "The purple-faced book admired him very much and said.
The moonlight slipped away silently at some point. In the darkness, the broken book let out another sigh mourning its many owners.