The heavens begin with Hongquan

Chapter 667 Baicao Garden, a spiritual utopia

Walking at a leisurely pace, Hong Kang and his party followed the map and arrived at the Sunshine Wharf on Guiyuan Road.

Walking up the boulevard, there are big camphor trees on both sides, all seven or eight meters high, with green branches and leaves, full of greenery, casting mottled tree shadows.

The morning sun was bright but not hot, and the light and shadow swayed all the way.

Although it is only a few hundred meters away from those CBD office buildings, it seems to make people enter another world.

Ye Lanqiu looked contented: "Take a quiet place amidst the hustle and bustle. I have to say that Lao Wang knows how to choose a place. The environment of this store is more comfortable than that in Wenhua Street."

Hong Kang didn't use telepathy, but kept his five senses slightly sharper than ordinary people.

There was a very clear sign on the side of the road. Going up the steps next to it, a few people entered a place similar to a small park, and there were many fitness equipment in it.

Ye Lanqiu's voice sounded, with a hint of surprise, he pointed.

"I found it, over there, in the row of houses on the left."

There were a lot of people, some people rushed in with their suitcases to pack books, and there was a long queue at the cash register outside the store, with each person holding more than ten books.

Fatty Wang muttered, "It's just this store? I don't see anything special about it?"

He is not very interested in this, but if it is an isolated copy of an ancient book handed down from generation to generation, he will probably be interested.

Ye Lanqiu gave him a blank look, and emphasized: "What do you know? The key is the selection of books, the selection!"

"Nowadays, big bookstores are full of hyped bestsellers and marketing books, or many of them are textbooks and reference books. Only in such a small bookstore can you fully feel the owner's heart;"

"Choose books and decorate the store according to your own aesthetics. Apart from the books displayed in the store, what is attractive is the environment he created..."

Wu Xie pointed forward, and said strangely: "But it seems to be closing down?"

Several people looked at it, and there was a billboard at the door, which was still handwritten with oil paint brushes.

All books are sold at 5% off, and the store will be closed permanently after two weeks.

Ye Lanqiu didn't seem to be surprised at all, and his expression remained calm.

"I remember when I was in my freshman year, when I came to his store, he said that his store could not continue and he wanted to close it..."

"In the first year, the second year, the third year and the fourth year, he said that..."

Fatty Wang answered: "Then it has not been turned off. Isn't this just a marketing tactic? The story of the wolf coming..."

…………

"It's true this time."

An old man with a drawing board next to him passed by and said something.

Ye Lanqiu was startled: "Really?"

The old man sighed: "By the way, I was just talking about it before. Didn't you see that even the sign was posted this time..."

"The power has been cut off for more than a year. It is not easy for the shopkeeper to persist until now...!"

Wu Xie grasped the key point: "The power outage is so long? Does the power supply bureau care?"

The old man sighed and shook his head, and said, "This place is state-owned, and the next round of renting is about to begin..."

As he said that, the old man walked forward, found a table familiarly, and spread out the painting bag and brushes.

Wu Xie and Ye Lanqiu had experienced things in the world, so they immediately understood.

The lease of state-owned assets is a way of bidding, and the overall lease is to the outside world. If this bookstore is still here, it will definitely affect the next round of leases.

Several people were slightly emotional.

Of course, the arrival of several people also attracted the attention of many customers.

Except for Fatty Wang, the images of the remaining four people are all very outstanding, and their temperament is even better than that of the stars on the screen.

Zhang Qiling is cold and out of the world, Wu Xie is warm and elegant, Ye Lanqiu is bright and youthful, and Hong Kang is full of ancient flavor.

It caused a burst of amazement.

In reality, it is very rare to meet someone with such a good image and temperament. Everyone knows that the screen has been modified by makeup and filters.

"Old Wang, do you remember me?"

Ye Lanqiu walked up to a man wearing glasses.

It seems that he is the old king, as Ye Lanqiu said, he is thin, his hair is a bit greasy, and now he looks a little mournful.

Wang Guolin glanced at it and looked less enthusiastic: "You are...?"

Ye Lanqiu reminded: "Russian Literature Lectures."

Wang Guolin's eyes were illusory for a second, and then regained his expression: "You are Ye Lanqiu? The changes are quite big, and I can't even recognize it."

Ye Lanqiu introduced to Hong Kang, Wu Xie and the others: "At the beginning, a senior sister recommended me a copy of Nabokov's "Russian Literature Lectures". I couldn’t find it in any bookstores, and finally found it in Baicao Garden.”

"Old Wang has a good memory! He once appeared on the program "The Most Powerful Brain", and he answered the authors, publishers, and prices of 3000 books very well."

Wang Guolin didn't feel that there was anything to brag about: "When you personally select the books in your store, you can do it too."

Ye Lanqiu said: "I remember that the judges and the host promised to donate more than 1000 books to the mountainous area. Lao Wang bought the 1 yuan prize money from the program into books and donated all of them to the mountainous primary school."

This kind of behavior made several people pay a little more respect to the man with eyes in front of them.

Simply sending books may not be a big deal, but even when one's own store is on the verge of closing down, it is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Wang Guolin didn't want to talk about this anymore, and asked, "What book did you buy today?"

Ye Lanqiu said: "Let me take a look first, by the way, are you really going to close the shop?"

Wang Guolin took a sip of water: "The equipment department is not renting to me anymore, what can I do? And cut off the electricity..."

Ye Lanqiu asked: "Then did you find the next store?"

Wang Guolin waved his hand and said, "I won't do it anymore, I won't do this anymore."

Ye Lanqiu said: "You don't run a bookstore anymore?"

Wang Guolin said: "Yes, I'm going to do publishing and planning."

Ye Lanqiu said: "Isn't your business going well here?"

Wang Guolin said directly: "Most are strangers, here to pick up cheap..."

He was laughing, and it wasn't fun to be funny.

…………

While the two were reminiscing about the past and chatting, Hong Kang, Wu Xie and others went for a stroll.

Wu Xie went into the bookstore and saw a list of books posted above, all of which were handwritten authors' names, including Haruki Murakami, Keigo Higashino, Kafka, Yasushi Inoue, Lu Yao, Huang Canran, Orwell, Borges, Schopenhauer, Alain de Botton, Yu Hua, Chen Yinke, Yukio Mishima...

Some of them he knows, some he hasn't heard of.

But it can be seen that the bookstore owner does have his own set of standards for book selection.

I chose a set of Borges' "The Custodian of Books", opened it, and found a familiar quotation:

"There are tall bookshelves here."

"Close at hand and far away in the sky."

"Invisible and visible as the stars."

"There are gardens and corridors here."

Picked out another "Milosz Dictionary" and left.

Wu Xie saw that the old man was drawing cartoons for customers just now, and upon hearing it, it was free.

According to someone else's introduction, the old man is a native of Jiangcheng and a cartoonist with the pen name "Luozi".

Luozi himself said that the bookstore collapsed, and he couldn't bear it. They are all people who like to read. For those who like to read, I will give them a little support, give readers a little warmth, and a little parting warmth.

"I haven't read many books myself, I only rely on reading books to enrich my knowledge... I am still a person who cares about the country and the people, so I am very sorry, so I feel very sad..."

"It has nothing to do with me, but seeing physical bookstores arrive... It's not that I don't have a place to go, it's because... fewer and fewer people read books, and there are fewer and fewer places to read books. Sad, sad for our city... ..."

The words of the old man are very simple and touching.

He was drawing a picture of a girl and chatting while drawing.

"Girl, where are you from?"

"Yueyang Junshan people."

"Junshan..."

"Yes, Junshan Island."

"Well, smile before arriving in Jiangnan, Yue Yang..."

"Yueyang Tower faces Junshan, hahaha..."

As if they had met the secret signal, both of them laughed happily.

In human life, we also need occasional romance and luxury.

Hong Kang walked around and came to Wang Guolin.

"Treasurer Wang, I wonder if you are willing to accept investment?"

…………

Poetry has constant tailoring, but thinking has no fixed position.

"Wen Xin Diao Long"

(End of this chapter)