Dimensional Bookstore

When Lin Qiaosheng returned home, he took out the two books from the cloth bag without even eating.

He stroked the smooth cover of the book with love and care, smelled the faint scent of ink, and was so happy that he wanted to sing a song.

He couldn't wait to open "The Legend of Wukong" and continued to read with relish.

When the sun set, the room gradually darkened and the handwriting on the pages could no longer be recognized. He quickly put down the book, lit the kerosene lamp on the table, and continued to read.

When he looked at it, it was bright.

When he closed the last page of the book with tears in his eyes and heard the crowing of chickens outside the house, he suddenly realized that he had read a book all night.

Although this book was not a rough-edged book, he read it very slowly, very slowly. He had to read every sentence carefully.

He had never seen such a story before.

Such a rebellious and subversive story that can arouse anger and passion in his heart after reading it.

Tang Monk, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Monk, White Dragon Horse, these characters that appeared in "Journey to the West" were analyzed again by the author, and the characters were reshaped into more flesh-and-blood images.

Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Tragedy destroys the valuable things in life for people to see, and comedy tears the worthless things apart for people to see."

And this story is undoubtedly a complete tragedy.

The protagonist who pursues freedom is always played in the hands of the gods and Buddhas who control their fate, and finally ushered in a destructive ending.

But can we say that they failed?

No, they awakened, they resisted, even if the final outcome is a failure, they are heroes! To borrow a sentence from Sun Wukong in the article: "I have been to this world, I have fought, I have loved deeply, and I don't care about the ending."

'I want this sky to no longer cover my eyes, I want this earth to no longer bury my heart, I want all living beings to understand my intentions, and I want all Buddhas to disappear! ’

This is a sentence said by Tang Seng in the text. Thinking about it now, the afterglow of the passion still echoes in my heart. He had never heard such words, brave, heroic, arrogant, and arrogant, and such words heard in the ears and entered the heart, just like drinking a bowl of ice water in the dog days of summer, refreshing!

Unexpectedly, a monkey figure in a red robe suddenly appeared in his mind. He clenched the golden hoop in his hand, leaving the world with a lonely and unrestrained back.

Those sanctimonious gods and Buddhas trembled under his gaze.

‘At that moment, the dark sky was suddenly split by a huge lightning, and Sun Wukong jumped up and pointed the golden hoop straight to the sky, "Come on!" At that moment, his figure illuminated by the lightning was still solidified in the legend thousands of years later. ’

So as the author said at the beginning, from now on, people will remember that name-Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!

This story, placed in the context of today's era, is more ironic and educational.

In his opinion, the ugly, ferocious, and arrogant gods and Buddhas in the sky symbolize the evil imperialism represented by Japan, and the tight hoop of Sun Wukong represents the reactionary, dark, and conservative feudal forces in the country. The brave creatures represented by Sun Wukong in the book who fight for freedom, love, and fate are all revolutionary parties! They represent the Chinese people who never give up! Nanjing is gone! But the Chinese are still there! China has not perished! The country is currently poor and weak, and has been defeated in the war with Japan. He believes that the country lacks the spirit of Sun Wukong - fighting against the sky, fighting against the earth, fighting against this unfair world to the end, and smashing all the decadent and dark classes and forces with the golden hoop! And this fighting spirit is what the numb Chinese people need most! He once again cast his eyes on the author's name on the book cover: Where is it now. I don’t know which gentleman’s pen name this is, and I don’t know if this book has been published in China. If Mr. Lu Xun were still alive, he would be happy to see this book. The revolutionary spirit of fighting to the end against all decadent and declining classes reflected in this book has always been what Mr. Lu Xun admired the most.

"Qiaosheng." Lin Zi'an, a fellow villager who lived next door, knocked on his door, "Let's go eat."

Hearing the word "meal", Lin Qiaosheng's stomach began to growl. Not only did he not eat lunch yesterday, he didn't even eat dinner!

He felt that he could eat a cow now!

When he opened the door, Lin Zi'an looked at Lin Qiaosheng's red and swollen eyes and haggard face in surprise: "What happened?" Thinking that yesterday was the day when Lin Qiaosheng went to the post office to send a letter home, his face changed and his voice became more cautious, "Is it... something wrong at home?"

Lin Qiaosheng shook his head, he raised the "Wukong Biography" in his hand, his eyes were red, and his voice was excited in contrast to his face: "Zi'an, you really have to read this book!"

Lin Zi'an took the book suspiciously and read the title softly: "Wukong Biography?" He seemed to understand something, "Don't tell me you didn't sleep all night and read this book?"

Lin Qiaosheng nodded disapprovingly.

"You're crazy!" Lin Zi'an glared at him, "How are you going to settle the account today? Do you want to be kicked out by your boss?"

Lin Qiaosheng was now extremely hungry and kept saying, "Okay Zi'an, let's go eat and talk while we eat!"

So the two of them sat down in a bun shop. Lin Qiaosheng ordered a tray of buns and wolfed them down while telling Lin Zi'an about his experience yesterday.

"How the Steel Was Tempered!" Lin Zian grabbed Lin Qiaosheng's arm and asked excitedly, "Is it the one written by Soviet writer Ostrovsky?"

It seems... this name?

Because the name is too long and it's a foreign name, Lin Qiaosheng couldn't remember it very well. He just remembered that it was written by Ostrovsky.

So in response to Lin Zian's questioning, he nodded hesitantly: "It seems... this name? Have you read it?"

Lin Zian rolled his eyes helplessly, "I would like to read it. This is a new book that was published only four years ago. Currently, there are only English and Russian versions, and I can't understand it." At this point, his expression began to become suspicious, "I haven't heard that this book has been translated into Chinese. Is your book fake?"

Lin Qiaosheng said vaguely: "Anyway, the book is in my room. Let's go and take a look when I get off work."

Lin Zian thought about it and it made sense. After dinner, he said goodbye to Lin Qiaosheng and went to work in a nearby steel plant.

Unlike Lin Qiaosheng, who had to support his family, his parents died and he did not marry or have children. He was truly a well-fed family. Therefore, he lived a comfortable life and could support his extravagant hobby of reading.

He heard about the book "How the Steel Was Tempered" from his good friend Sun Zhenfu. Sun Zhenfu was a backbone of the Malaysian Communist Party. He not only frequently communicated with the party branch in China, but also went to the Soviet Union to report to the Communist International some time ago!

Influenced by his good friend, Lin Zian himself was full of good feelings towards the Communist Party. In his view, the Communist Party was the party that belonged to their workers and always represented the interests of the broad masses of working people. Only under the leadership of such a party could China become a great country like the Soviet Union!

According to Zhenfu, people in the streets and alleys of the Soviet Union were reading "How the Steel Was Tempered"! This book tells the story of how a proletarian revolutionary fighter built socialism. At that time, Zhenfu regretted that there was no translated version in China. He was not good at Russian and always stuttered when reading the original book. Since then, he has been paying attention to this book, and the fragments of the book revealed by Zhenfu made him imagine and excited. Now there may be a translated version of this book, but this unconfirmed news made him restless, and he wanted to run to Lin Qiaosheng's house to see what was going on!

He sat in the dim workshop, looked at the bright sun outside the window, and really hoped that time would pass quickly.

When he got off work at noon, he didn't even bother to eat and ran towards Lin Qiaosheng's house.

The door was not locked, he pushed it open and saw Lin Qiaosheng lying on the bed, groaning loudly, and there were several books on the desk next to him.

He walked to the table in two steps, and the bright big words of "How the Steel Was Tempered" almost immediately entered his eyes. He immediately opened the book and started reading.

"Those who came to my house to take the make-up exam before the festival, stand up!" The fat priest with a loose face, wearing a robe and a heavy cross hanging around his neck, glared at the whole class aggressively. Six students stood up in response, four boys and two girls. Father Vasily's two little eyes flashed with fierce light, and under the glance of that fierce light, the children were terrified...'

So this story belonging to Paul Korchagin and that passionate era slowly opened in front of this hungry, young ** man.

He read the book, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, sometimes excited, and sometimes thoughtful. His right hand couldn't help but clenched into a fist, and his whole heart was moved by the protagonist Paul Korchagin.

When he saw that Paul Korchagin was imprisoned for rescuing Zhu Helai, his heart was immediately tightened. When he was about to continue reading nervously, Lin Qiaosheng's hoarse voice with sleep came from behind: "Zi'an? Why are you here? What time is it now?"

Lin Zi'an woke up as if from a dream! He opened the door and looked outside the house, only to see that the sun had moved westward, and it was obviously past the afternoon work time!

"Oh no! I overslept!" Lin Qiaosheng put on his clothes and ran out, "You didn't even call me!"

"Wait!" Lin Zian stopped him and said bluntly: "Anyway, I'm late! You might as well take me to the bookstore you went to yesterday."

Although he hadn't finished reading it, he was sure that this was the genuine translation of "How the Steel Was Tempered"! A good work itself is the most authentic evidence!

Lin Qiaosheng paused, looked at him in disbelief, and shouted: "Are you crazy! Do you want us to be expelled!"

Lin Zian persuaded him, and Lin Qiaosheng reluctantly agreed.

Standing in front of the bookstore, looking at the word "Kaiming" on the sign, Lin Zian couldn't help but high-five and praised: "Kaiming, what a good name! At present, not only the country but also the people need to be open-minded."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Lin Qiaosheng pushed him, "Hurry up and go in!"

When Lin Zian walked into the bookstore, the first thing that caught his eye was not the boss, nor the decorations in the store, but the rows and rows of books! He took a deep breath, and his lungs were filled with the strong smell of books.

He looked at those books with longing, like a beggar staring at the king.

"Boss!" Lin Qiaosheng asked hurriedly: "Do you still have the copy of "How the Steel Was Tempered" that you sold me yesterday? I want to buy another one!"

Only then did Lin Zian see the boss sitting at the counter. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, looked gentle and handsome, and wore a long gown. At first glance, he knew that he was a scholar who was well-read in poetry and books. Almost immediately, Lin Zian fell in love with the boss here.

Perhaps because he himself had not been to school much and had no knowledge of literature, Lin Zian had a natural awe and admiration for readers like the boss. He added a little stiffly: "I want to buy it. I like "How the Steel Was Tempered" very much. I didn't expect that there would be a Chinese translation. It's really a surprise."

The boss smiled and nodded, "This is indeed a good book." He left the counter and took a book from the bookshelf next to him and handed it to Lin Zian.

Lin Zian couldn't let it go and immediately held it in his hand: "Excuse me, how much is it?"

"Two dollars." The boss said.

This price is already a good value for such a thick book!

Lin Zian was overjoyed and took out the money from the inner pocket of his clothes and handed it to the boss.

"Thank you for your patronage." The boss casually stuffed the money into the drawer of the counter and asked Lin Qiaosheng casually: "What do you think of the book I sold to you yesterday?"

Hearing this question, Lin Qiaosheng, who was originally in a hurry to leave, suddenly started to talk to the boss with bright eyes. Lin Zian listened patiently.

He listened to the endless praises from his fellow countryman, including Sun Wukong who fought for freedom and self; Tang Monk who fought against fate and spoke arrogantly; Zhu Bajie who was punished to be a pig because of helping his lover and lived in pain; Sha Monk who spent five hundred years to stick the glass back but was smashed by the Queen Mother... These various and rebellious characters made him admire and feel sorry.

The boss also smiled nostalgically: "I was only a teenager when I first read this book. This book had a huge impact on me when I was young. It gave me the courage to fight the whole world. Even if there are thousands of people, I will go. This is the spirit I feel from this book."

"Even if there are thousands of people, I will go!" Lin Qiaosheng chewed on this sentence carefully and nodded: "Well said! When Sun Wukong went to make trouble in the sky, he showed this spirit!"

"In my hometown, someone created this sentence based on the plot of Sun Wukong making trouble in the sky in "The Legend of Wukong."

The boss raised his head slightly, his voice was clear and powerful, with a kind of ups and downs of a pleasant rhythm: "Great Sage, where are you going?"

"Tread on the South Sky and shatter the sky."

"If you don't come back..."

"Then you will never come back!"

After the words were finished, the whole bookstore fell into a long silence.

Lin Qiaosheng opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't say anything. He kept repeating the last sentence in his heart countless times. Every time he repeated it, his heart became more and more passionate.

Although Lin Zian had never read "The Legend of Wukong", he could already see how heroic and free and easy Sun Wukong was from the two sentences of dialogue!

"What a good one, if you don't come back, then don't come back!" Lin Zian applauded and said, "Boss, give me a copy of "The Legend of Wukong" too!"

So the boss smiled and took out a book from the bookcase and handed it to him, "This one is also two yuan."

Lin Zian paid the bill quickly.

In just a few minutes, he spent four yuan, which was equivalent to his food expenses for a week. But he didn't feel bad.

In fact, he could borrow Lin Qiaosheng's book to read, and it would be a waste for him to buy another one. But he just wanted to buy it. Such books should be bought and treasured!

Seeing the sun getting lower and lower, the two of them had a lot to say to each other, but they didn't bother to say much at this time. After a few pleasantries, they left in a hurry.

When he returned to the factory, Lin Zian was scolded by the foreman as a matter of course, and then his wages were deducted.

This did not dampen his good mood. When he thought of the books in the bag, his heart was happy. For him, spiritual food is more important than physical food.

It was already late after work. He hugged the bag of books tightly, ran past the food shop without looking around, and rushed home excitedly.

When he got home, he quickly lit the kerosene lamp, and with the weak light, he began to read the book "How the Steel Was Tempered" that he had not finished.

This book is very long, and he read it for three or four days before finishing it. But this book is also very short, and he still felt unsatisfied after reading it, and there was an inexplicable feeling lingering in his heart.

Facing the tests and tortures in his life again and again, Paul Korchagin always overcame them one by one with his iron-like tenacious will. Anything that did not knock him down made him stronger! He is a true proletarian revolutionary fighter!

"The most precious thing for a person is life, and life belongs to a person only once. A person's life should be spent like this: when he looks back on the past, he will not regret wasting his years, nor will he be ashamed of doing nothing; in this way, when he is dying, he can say: "My whole life and all my energy have been dedicated to the most magnificent cause in the world-fighting for the liberation of mankind." Lin Zian recited this sentence repeatedly, and every word was deeply engraved in his heart, making him ashamed and making him strive forward!

He never felt that he had wasted his life at such a moment. The reason why the Soviet Union was able to overthrow the decadent and declining Tsarist rule and establish the great Soviet regime was because of the brave, loyal, and iron-like tenacious people like Paul Korchagin.

Paul joined the revolution at the age of 16 and fought for national liberation and people's freedom and equality all his life. And what about him? He is 20 years old this year and an adult, but he is still just an ordinary worker.

He has never done anything for the party or the country!

Now the Japanese invaders are pressing forward step by step, and the country is in danger. But he is hiding in the safety of Malaysia, thinking that shouting a few slogans and donating some money is fighting against Japan and saving the country.

No! This is not fighting against Japan! Nor is it saving the country!

He wants to go to the front line! Go to where the people need him most!

Just like Sun Wukong, if he doesn't come back once he goes, he won't come back!

He wants, no, he must dedicate his life to his motherland!

The author has something to say:

"How the Steel Was Tempered" was published in 1933, and the domestic translation was not available until 1941.

And for the sake of the plot, you should assume that the book in the text has no author's preface, postscript, etc. Otherwise, Le Jing really can't explain to the readers of the Republic of China about the Spring Festival Gala and television mentioned in the preface of "The Legend of Wukong"＿（：з”∠）＿

I read the book "Steel" when I was in sixth grade. Well, I read it several times. How should I put it? It's not suitable for children to read [loudly] When I finished reading it, I felt that the revolution was so terrifying. Not only could I not find a girlfriend, but I also had to be disabled all over my body (…) In the current era, this book has too much political propaganda, but at that time, this book did play a great role in inspiring a generation of ** people.