Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 494 Mr. Chang's Book

Yu Dong kindly 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 must have something to do with you."

Of course, Yu Dong guessed right. No one in the company dared to do this kind of teasing activity except for Jimmy's decision.

"Okay, okay, just make an event and have fun with the readers." Jimmy said with a smile, "That's all, I have something to do, and the phone bill is expensive."

After finishing speaking, Jimmy hung up the phone, Yu Dong held the phone and shook his head, Cheng Yanqiu on the side said with a smile: "Actually, there is no lack of love in your novels, for example, in "The Crowd", the house that Lao Xiao often goes to Isn’t there an old man living here, he is depressed every day because of his dead wife.”

Yu Dong nodded. There is indeed such a plot in "The Crowd".

Lao Xiao, one of the protagonists, would run to an old house whenever he was scolded by his mother when he was young, and stay there until night.

At first, Lao Xiao thought that no one lived in this old house, so he went in. Later, he found out that there was an old man living in it.

The old man lived in a small room inside, with a room full of books as companions. Because his wife passed away, the old man had a surly temper. When he saw Lao Xiao, he thought that Lao Xiao was going to steal his books, so he chased and beat him with a broom.

He is getting old, and his legs and feet are not convenient. Of course, he can't catch up with Lao Xiao. When he was halfway after catching up, he suddenly fell down. Grab his clothes.

It turned out that the old man knew that he couldn't catch Lao Xiao, so he deliberately tricked him.

After being caught, the old man didn't hit Lao Xiao. Instead, the two sat down and chatted peacefully. Afterwards, the old man knew that Lao Xiao was scolded by his family members for running out to hide, so he didn't say anything, and let him in Stay in the yard, but not into the inner room full of books.

After a while, Lao Xiao got acquainted 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 eyes. He has to criticize almost every book from head to toe, especially the books with love in it. disgust.

Later, Lao Xiao realized that the old man's lover passed away very early. It's not that he doesn't like love, but when he sees love, he thinks of his dead wife.

This paragraph doesn't take up much space in the whole book. Yu Dong didn't explain the background of the old man and the story of him and his wife.

Yu Dong stood on the side of the road, looked around, and took Cheng Yanqiu's hand: "Let's go over there."

Cheng Yanqiu was pulled by Yu Dong, his face was full of doubts, he didn't know where he was going all of a sudden.

It's just that Yu Dong didn't say anything, and she didn't ask, but just followed Yu Dong forward.

The two walked on the main road for seven or eight minutes, turned to a small road, walked along the small road for another five or six minutes, and came to a river.

There are four or five houses by the river, some of which have collapsed, and the rest are very dilapidated.

Yu Dong walked to one of the houses and said with a smile, "Here we are."

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, leaving only the foundation, which stood alone beside a pile of rubble. In the big yard, there is only half of the door left, and you can see through the gap left by the other half of the door. The yard is overgrown with weeds, and some dark things are piled up, which look like broken tire pieces.

On one side of the yard is a small shed covered by asbestos tiles, in which some things are piled up in a mess, and 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 that Lao Xiao often goes to."

"Really? Is there even a prototype?" Cheng Yanqiu was surprised.

Yu Dong kicked the rubble on the ground with his toes, nodded and said: "There is indeed a prototype, but the reality does not happen the same as the story in the book. When I was young, I often visited Li Xiaobo's house and passed by this house a few times. His yard has never been locked, and I have never seen anyone inside, so I was curious and went back to ask Li Xiaobo's father."

"My cousin and the others told me that there lived an old man in this yard. He used to be a teacher. He was very nice and warm to others. But after his wife passed away, he didn't have much contact with outsiders, and his temperament became eccentric. At first , Some people will send their children to ask him some questions, but he will criticize all the books he reads, and the parents are afraid that he will teach the children badly, so they will not let the children come to play."

"Have you ever gone in?" Cheng Yanqiu asked.

Yu Dong shook his head: "No, I've always just stood at the door and watched. But one time, I suddenly saw an old man's face behind the window in the back room, which shocked me."

Hearing what Yu Dong said, Cheng Yanqiu, who was looking at the back room, was also taken aback. Looking at the glass window of the back room, he always felt that there was an old man's face behind him.

Yu Dong looked inside again, and there must have been no one living here for a while.

As for that old man, he should have been in his 70s or 20s back then, and now, over [-] years have passed, even if he is still alive, he must be in his [-]s or [-]s.

It is not easy for a widowed old man with no one to take care of him to live to his eighties or nineties.

In the end, Yu Dong still didn't go in. The two stood at the door for a while, and then wandered elsewhere.

It wasn't until after four o'clock that the two of them walked back slowly.

When passing by Xu Zheng's house, Yu Dong took a special look. The door was still closed, and the note Xu Zheng left was still stuck on the door.

Back at his cousin's house, before he had eaten, Yu Dong asked Li Xiaobo about the broken house.

Li Xiaobo thought for a long time before he remembered who Yu Dong was talking about. He patted his forehead and said with a smile: "The old lunatic's family, he died, it must have been several years, I don't remember the specific years. But when you were still in college, I thought you knew."

Sure enough, he was dead.

Yu Dong asked again: "Then what's the situation in his house?"

"I don't know." Li Xiaobo shook his head, "How can we care about other people's affairs? Although the old lunatic has no relatives, but he died, no matter how far away, there will always be some relatives. Although the house is dilapidated, it is in a good location, and it will be demolished in the past two years, so you can get a lot of money by then."

Li Xiaobo's father happened to pass by, heard them chatting, and asked, "Who are you talking about? Mr. Chang?"

It can be seen that the father and son have different perceptions of the old man. Li Xiaobo opened his mouth as an old lunatic, but his father respectfully called him Mr. Chang.

"Yes, Ah Dong suddenly asked." Li Xiaobo said.

Li Jiyong sighed and said: "Mr. Chang has passed away for six or seven years, and I have a deep impression on him. Before he passed away, it was only two or three months before he passed away. He carried books everywhere every day. 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 asked in surprise.

"Well, I kept it, but I put it away and didn't look at it... Where did it come from..." Li Jiyong frowned and thought for a while, then patted his head: "I remembered, I put it in the attic, I'll find it for you."

Seeing that Yu Dong was interested, Li Jiyong offered to show it to him, and 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, but did not speak. Sometimes Yu Dong also thought, how could such a loyal man like his cousin raise such a naive son as Li Xiaobo.

After a while, Li Jiyong came down with a book, "Just this one, it's not lost."

Yu Dong took the book from Li Jiyong's hand, he only dared to hold it lightly, and he didn't dare to force it too hard. The book was old at first glance, and it gave people the feeling that it would break if a little force was applied.

The white cover has a pattern border drawn with a red pen.

The first line of the header is "Creative Library", and there is a parenthesis below it, with "Nine" inside.

Below that, there are two large red characters with elegant lines: Border Town.

There are still a few seals in the middle, and it is already a little blurry to see what is printed.

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 confirmed that this should be the first edition of "Border Town" published by Shanghai Life Bookstore in 1934, but this is a paperback edition, so the cover material is average.

The book published in 1934 has been more than 60 years ago. If Mr. Chang obtained this book, it means that it has accompanied Mr. Chang for more than 50 years.

Judging from this time, the book is fairly well preserved, with no broken pages or even curled edges.

Seeing that Yu Dong was very interested in this book, Li Jiyong said with a smile: "At that time, Mr. Chang brought four or five books. At first I wanted to choose a thick one, but after thinking about it, I asked Mr. Chang , Which one of these books does he like best? Then he stared at a few books in a daze, and it took him more than a minute to take out this "Border Town". He also told me that this book The thinnest, the worst paper, if it is sold as waste paper, it will be cheaper than other books, let me not regret it.”

"I read books behind him when I was a child. Of course, it is impossible to take out his books and sell them as waste paper. I just want to keep them as a thought. Since he likes this "Border Town" the most, I will keep it. down."

Holding "Border Town" in his hand, Yu Dong suddenly felt a little heavy.

Compared with the death of the old man, what he said was even more embarrassing. He probably could have predicted the fate of these books in the future, but he still gave them away.

"Can I open it and have a look?" Yu Dong asked, looking up at Li Jiyong.

This kind of book is relatively fragile, and it may be worn out every time you read it, so Yu Dong asked this question.

Li Jiyong said with a smile: "If you like it, you can take this book. When I kept the book, I wanted to keep it as a memory, but this book has been in my house for several years, and I have been putting it away. In the attic, piled up with other books, if you hadn't asked Mr. Chang today, I would have forgotten its existence. It's better to put this book with you than mine. "

Before Yu Dong could say his refusal, Li Jiyong said again: "I won't keep it, maybe it will break in a few years."

Hearing what Li Jiyong said, Yu Dong didn't show any pretense anymore, nodded and said, "Then thank uncle for the gift."

"It's okay, the sword is given to the hero, and the ancient book is given to the writer." Li Jiyong smiled heartily, and patted Yu Dong's shoulder again, "Look, I'll help your aunt with some work."

After Li Jiyong left, Yu Dong looked to read the book, but found a bag and packed the book carefully.

There are so many people here, he is afraid that he will accidentally break the book, so he plans to take the book home and read it at night.

After dinner in the evening, Yu Dong visited Xu Zheng's house again, but Xu Zheng still didn't come back, so Yu Dong took out a pen from his pocket and left a spare phone number on the note on the door, telling him to find a time to talk to Yu. volume contact.

Then Yu Dong called Yu Liang again and told Yu Liang that if Xu Zheng called him, he would sign Xu Zheng.

……

After returning home at night, Yu Dong took out "Border Town" and carefully placed it on the table.

Seeing him take out an old edition of "Border Town", Cheng Yanqiu asked a little strangely: "When did you go shopping for an old book?"

"It's not Taobao."

Yu Dong smiled and told Cheng Yanqiu what happened afterwards. After hearing it, Cheng Yanqiu couldn't help but sighed: "The old gentleman probably knew 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, he likes "Border Town" the most."

Then he slowly opened the book. Yu Dong hadn't read the first edition of "Border Town", so he looked carefully and found that the first edition was quite different from the later editions, and many places had been revised.

But the biggest difference is in the layout. The layout of this edition is vertical, from right to left, and from top to bottom.

Yu Dong didn't want to study the difference between the two versions, but simply flipped through it. It can be seen that Mr. Chang's protection of this book is still in place, and there is no comment on the pages inside.

But at the end, Yu Dong found something different.

The back of the last page, which should have been blank, was filled with words.

The blue pen writing is vigorous and powerful.

"More than 30 years ago, you and I met in a bookstore because of this "Border Town". I probably got dizzy from reading the book. When I looked up and saw a woman in a blue dress, I thought it was Cuicui who jumped out of the book. ..."

The content of the text is probably that Mr. Chang and his wife met and got to know each other, and finally his wife let go, leaving him alone in the world.Mr. Chang really likes to read books, he even uses books to mark every time he and his wife get along.

The first encounter is "Border Town", the passionate love is "Treasure Island", the newly married is "Flying Bird Collection"...

The date of inscription was the autumn of 1973, and it was marked on the anniversary of his wife's death. At that time, his wife should have passed away just a year ago.

(End of this chapter)