Yu Dong affectionately expressed his dissatisfaction with the word "fart", and Jimmy said with a smile on the other end of the phone: "These are all comments from readers and have nothing to do with me."
"Don't pretend to be innocent, this activity definitely has something to do with you."
Of course, Yu Dong guessed correctly. No one in the company dared to engage in such a teasing activity except Jimmy.
"Okay, okay, it's just an activity to have fun with the readers." Jimmy said with a smile, "That's all, I have something else to do, and the phone bill is expensive."
After saying that, Jimmy hung up the phone. Yu Dong held the phone and shook his head. Cheng Yanqiu on the side smiled and said: "Actually, there is no lack of love in your novels. For example, in "The Crowd", the house where Lao Xiao often goes
There is an old man living here, and he is depressed every day because of his deceased wife."
Yu Dong nodded, there is indeed such a plot in "The Crowd".
One of the protagonists, Lao Xiao, would run to an old house and stay there until night whenever his mother scolded him when he was young.
At first, Lao Xiao thought that no one lived in this old house, so he went in. Later, he found out that an old man lived inside.
The old man lived in a small room inside, with a roomful of books as his companions. Because his wife passed away, the old man had a bad temper. When he saw Lao Xiao, he thought that Lao Xiao was going to steal his books, so he chased Lao Xiao with a broom and beat him.
He was old and his legs and feet were inconvenient. Of course he couldn't catch up with Lao Xiao. Halfway through the chase, he suddenly fell. Lao Xiao couldn't bear it and was afraid that something would happen to the old man, so he turned around to help him. Unexpectedly, the old man gave him a hand.
Grab his clothes.
It turns out that the old man knew he couldn't catch Lao Xiao, so he deliberately cheated.
After being caught, the old man didn't hit Lao Xiao. Instead, the two of them sat down and chatted peacefully. After that, the old man knew that Lao Xiao ran out and hid because he was scolded by his family, so he didn't say anything and let him stay.
Stay in the courtyard, but you are not allowed to enter the room full of books inside.
After some time, Lao Xiao became familiar with the old man, and the old man would often come out with a book to chat with Lao Xiao.
It's just that in the old man's mouth, there is no book in the world that can catch his eye. He will criticize almost every book from head to toe, especially books with love in them, he is even more dissatisfied.
of disgust.
Later, Lao Xiao realized that the old man's lover had passed away a long time ago. It was not that he didn't like love, it was just that when he saw love, he would think of his deceased wife.
This paragraph does not occupy much space in the whole book. Yu Dong did not elaborate on the old man’s background and the story of him and his wife.
Yu Dong stood on the roadside, looked around, and took Cheng Yanqiu's hand: "Let's go that way."
Cheng Yanqiu was pulled by Yu Dong, his face full of confusion, not knowing where he was going suddenly.
But Yu Dong didn't say anything, and she didn't ask, she just followed Yu Dong forward.
The two walked on the main road for seven or eight minutes, then turned to a small road. They walked along the small road for another five or six minutes and came to a river.
There are four or five houses sitting by the river, some have collapsed, and the rest look very dilapidated.
Yu Dong walked to one of the houses and said with a smile: "We're here."
Cheng Yanqiu looked at the house in front of him curiously. There should have been two other houses next to this dilapidated house, but they had been demolished and only the foundations were left. It stood alone next to a pile of rubble. Outside was a small house.
In the large yard, only half of the door is left. Through the gap left by the other half of the door, you can see that the yard is overgrown with weeds and there are some dark things piled up, which look like broken tire pieces.
On one side of the yard is a small shed covered with asbestos tiles, with some things piled messily inside. On the other side is the main entrance of the house, guarded by a rusty iron general.
"Where is this?" Cheng Yanqiu asked.
Yu Dong stretched his head to look into the yard and replied: "This is the house where Lao Xiao often goes."
"Really? Is there actually a prototype?" Cheng Yanqiu said in surprise.
Yu Dong kicked the rubble on the ground with his toes and nodded: "There is indeed a prototype, but the reality does not have the same story as in the book. When I was a child, I often played at Li Xiaobo's house and passed by this house several times.
The door to his yard was never locked, and I never saw anyone inside, so I was curious and went back to ask Li Xiaobo’s father.”
"My cousin told me that there was an old man living in this courtyard. He used to be a teacher. He was a very nice person and treated people warmly. However, after his wife passed away, he didn't have much contact with outsiders and his temperament became eccentric. In the beginning,
, some people would send their children to ask him some questions, but he would criticize any book he read. Parents were afraid that he would teach their children bad things, so they stopped letting their children come to play."
"Have you ever gone in?" Cheng Yanqiu asked.
Yu Dong shook his head: "No, I always just stood at the door and watched. But once, I suddenly saw an old man's face behind the window of the back room, which shocked me."
Hearing what Yu Dong said, Cheng Yanqiu, who was looking at the back room, was also startled. Looking at the glass window in the back room, he always felt that there was an old man's face behind him.
Yu Dong looked inside again and found that no one had lived here for some time.
As for the old man, he should have been sixty or seventy years old back then, but now more than twenty years have passed, and he must be eighty or ninety even if he is still alive.
It is not easy for a widowed old man to live to his eighties or nineties without anyone to take care of him.
In the end, Yu Dong didn't go in. The two of them stood at the door for a while, then went to wander elsewhere.
It wasn't until after four o'clock that the two of them slowly walked back.
When passing by Xu Zheng's house, Yu Dong took a special look and saw that the door was still closed, and the note left by Xu Zheng was still attached to the door.
After returning to his cousin's house, before eating, Yu Dong specifically asked Li Xiaobo about the dilapidated house.
Li Xiaobo thought for a long time before he remembered which family Yu Dong was talking about. He patted his forehead and said with a smile: "The old madman's family, it must have been several years since he died. I can't remember the exact number of years.
But you were still in college at that time, so I thought you knew."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! He is indeed dead.
Yu Dong asked again: "Then what's going on with his house?"
"I don't know." Li Xiaobo shook his head, "How can we care about other people's affairs? Although the old madman has no relatives, but after a person dies, no matter how far away, there will always be some relatives. His family
Although my house is dilapidated, it is in a good location. It will be demolished in the next two years, and I will be able to make a lot of money by then."
Li Xiaobo's father happened to be passing by, heard them chatting, and asked: "Who are you talking about? Mr. Chang?"
It can be seen that the father and son have different understandings of the old man. Li Xiaobo calls him an old madman, but his father respectfully calls him Mr. Chang.
"Yes, A Dong suddenly asked." Li Xiaobo said.
Li Jiyong lamented: "It has been six or seven years since Mr. Chang passed away. I was particularly impressed. Before his death, he carried books every day for only two or three months. Although we are far away from his home,
, but I also sent it over, and I still have a copy at home.”
"Uncle, are you still here?" Yu Dong said in surprise.
"Well, I kept it. Then I put it away and never looked at it... Where is it..." Li Jiyong frowned and thought for a while, then patted his head: "I remember, I put it in the attic.
I'll go find it for you."
Li Jiyong saw that Yu Dong was interested, so he offered to show it to him. Yu Dong really wanted to see it, so he didn't refuse.
After Li Jiyong went to the attic, Li Xiaobo smiled and said, "It's just a book."
Yu Dong pursed his lips and said nothing. Sometimes Yu Dong also thought about how his cousin, such a loyal person, could raise such a foolish son like Li Xiaobo.
After a while, Li Jiyong came down with a book and said, "That's it. It's not lost."
Yu Dong took the book from Li Jiyong's hand and only dared to hold it gently without using any force. The book looked quite old at first glance, and it felt as if it would break with just a little force.
The cover is white, with a patterned border drawn with a red pen.
The first line on the header is "Creative Library", and there is a small bracket below with "Nine" inside.
Next, there are two large red characters with elegant lines: Border Town.
There are several seals in the middle, but they are a bit blurry and it is difficult to see what they are printed on.
Under the cover, there are two lines of words. The first line is: Published by Shanghai Life Bookstore.
The second line is: October of the 23rd year of the Republic of China.
Yu Dong turned the book over again, looked at the back, and determined that this should be the first edition of "Border Town" published by Shanghai Life Bookstore in 1934. However, this was a paperback edition, so the cover material was average.
This book was published in 1934, more than 60 years ago. If this book was obtained by Mr. Chang, it means that it has been with Mr. Chang for more than 50 years.
Judging from this time period, the book is in pretty good condition, with no torn pages or even curled edges.
Seeing that Yu Dong was very interested in this book, Li Jiyong said with a smile: "Mr. Chang brought four or five books. At first I wanted to choose a thick one, but then I thought about it and asked Mr. Chang
, which one of these books did he like best? Then he stared at several books in a daze, and it took more than a minute before he took out the "Border Town". He also told me that this book
It is the thinnest and has the worst paper. If it is sold as scrap paper, it will be cheaper than other books. Please don’t regret it.”
"I read books with him when I was a child, so of course it was impossible to take out his books and sell them as scrap paper. I just wanted to keep them for reflection. Since he liked this book "Border Town" the most, I will keep it.
Coming down."
Yu Dong held "Border Town" in his hands, and his mood suddenly became a little heavy.
Compared to the old man's death, what he said was even more lamentable. Perhaps he could have predicted the fate of these books in the future, but he still gave them away.
"Can I open it and take a look?" Yu Dong looked up at Li Jiyong and asked.
This kind of book is relatively fragile and may be worn out every time you read it. That's why Yu Dong asked this question.
Li Jiyong smiled and said: "If you like it, you can take this book. When I left the book, I wanted to leave it as a thought, but this book has been kept in my house for several years.
It's piled up with other books in the attic. If you hadn't asked Mr. Chang today, I would have forgotten its existence. It's better to have this book with you than with me."
Before Yu Dong could say his refusal, Li Jiyong added: "I don't know how to save it. It might break in a few years."
After hearing what Li Jiyong said, Yu Dong stopped being pretentious and nodded: "Then thank you uncle for the gift."
"It's okay. Swords are given to heroes, and ancient books are given to literary giants." Li Jiyong smiled heartily and patted Yu Dong's shoulder again, "Look, I'll go help your aunt."
After Li Jiyong left, Yu Dong didn't look at reading, but found a bag and carefully wrapped the book.
There were so many people here and he was afraid of accidentally damaging the book. He planned to take the book back and read it at night.
After dinner in the evening, Yu Dong went to Xu Zheng's house again and saw that Xu Zheng still hadn't come back. Yu Dong took out a pen from his pocket and left a phone number on the note on the door, telling him to find a time to talk to Yu.
Quantity contact.
Yu Dong then called Yu Liang again and told him that if Xu Zheng called him, he would sign Xu Zheng.
…
After returning home in the evening, Yu Dong took out "Border Town" and carefully placed it on the table.
Cheng Yanqiu saw him taking out an old version of "Border Town" and asked a little strangely: "When did you go shopping for an old book?"
"It's not a bargain."
Yu Dong smiled and told Cheng Yanqiu what happened next. After hearing it, Cheng Yanqiu couldn't help but sigh and said: "This old gentleman must have known that his time was coming soon, so he scattered the books."
Looking at "Border Town" in front of him, Yu Dong smiled and said: "Although Mr. Chang always criticizes love, his favorite is "Border Town"."
Then he slowly opened the book. Yu Dong had never read the first edition of "Border Town". If you look at it carefully, you can find that there is a big difference between the first edition and the later editions, and many places have been modified.
But the biggest difference lies in the layout. This version uses vertical layout, from right to left and top to bottom.
Yu Dong didn't want to study the differences between the two versions, but simply flipped through it. It can be seen that Mr. Chang's protection of the book was quite good, and there were no annotations on the pages inside.
But at the end of the page, Yu Dong discovered something different.
The reverse side of the last page, which was supposed to be blank, was now filled with words.
The blue pen writing is vigorous and powerful.
"More than thirty years ago, you and I met in a bookstore because of this book "Border Town". I probably got dizzy while reading the book. When I looked up, I saw a woman in blue clothes. I thought it was Cuicui jumping out of the book.
Come out..."
The content of the text is probably that Mr. Chang and his wife met and got to know each other, and eventually her wife let go, leaving him alone in the world. Mr. Chang really liked reading, and he even used books to mark every period of time he spent with his wife.
The first encounter was "Border Town", the passionate love was "Treasure Island", the newlywed was "The Birds"...
Chapter completed!