Dimensional Bookstore

When she returned home at night, Mary couldn't come back to her senses for a long time.

War, or a war that will sweep the world is coming, what a ridiculous statement, it's just like worrying about nothing, dreaming. But it was Le Jing who said this. Mr. Le Jing who selflessly helped them and provided them with the key to freedom.

Mary still remembers that the young man's eyes were firm, his words were burning, and every word was so sure, as if he was saying a...prediction that had been doomed.

After the young man said this, he firmly sent the guests away. He didn't give them more explanations, just told them to come early tomorrow.

In the past twenty days, they were noisy in the bookstore every day, and the young man didn't have the slightest disdain or impatience. For any questions they asked, even if they were silly questions, as long as he knew them, he would answer them patiently and seriously. It can be said that his performance today was very abnormal.

Le Jing was gentle and handsome, knowledgeable, respectful of women, elegant, and gentle. Such a person is simply the ideal husband candidate in the minds of many girls. Mary knew that many girls in the organization had a crush on Le Jing.

But no one confessed, and even if they said one more word, the girls would be nervous for a long time. It was not because of female modesty and shame, they were not women who would care about these things. It was because they knew that the man was not someone they could catch.

There were three speculations about Mr. Le Jing's identity in the group.

One was that he was a prince from an ancient oriental country, who went into exile overseas with the royal collection because of his failure in the fight for the throne. Because only in this way could it explain why he had so many books that had never appeared on the market.

Another was that Le Jing came from the future. He used a time machine to travel from a certain era in the future to the present, just like the time traveler in "The Time Machine"①. People who hold this view were influenced by a book called "The Connecticut Myricken in the King's Court"② by a Myricken writer Mark Twain. This can explain why there are books from a century later in the bookstore. Mary also supports this idea.

There is another type of people, they are devout Christians. They believed that Le Jing was a messenger sent by God, who brought the fruit of wisdom in the Garden of Eden to people, allowing women to get rid of their unequal status. Those books were books of the Kingdom of God, and were the gospel given by the Lord to the pious.

But no matter which idea they supported, they had a common tacit understanding - pretending not to know about it. They were worried that once this matter was exposed, all these beautiful things would disappear like a phantom.

They maintained a cautious balance with Le Jing. Every day of such a free and unrestrained life was as beautiful as a fantasy for them. Then today, the illusion was finally broken.

Le Jing made a "prophecy".

Mary was not someone who didn't care about current affairs and politics. She knew that there had been frictions between the Seide Empire and several other economically developed countries in recent years, and some knowledgeable people had already made predictions that there would be several tough battles to be fought. But a war that swept the world, might kill tens of millions of people, and was so tragic that women had to go to the battlefield? This was simply a scene in hell. Although Mary is a supporter of the "time machine theory", she can't help but start to waver now. To be honest, she would rather Le Jing was joking.

Mary hesitated for a while and sighed. After all, she believed that Le Jing was not a person who shot without purpose. Since he said so, there must be a reason for him. She must find out something from him tomorrow.

※

The soft light of the desk lamp gently spread a layer of broken gold on the snow-white notebook. Le Jing sat in front of the desk, frowning and recording something in the notebook quickly.

Because of the difference between the two time and space, he didn't know what changes would occur in the two world wars in history. He couldn't even predict the specific start and end time. The only thing he could do was to write down the experience and lessons that the earth had learned from the two world wars and give it to this plane as a reference. His notes may not have much effect, but it would be good to save a few lives.

The only thing that comforted him was that the history of China in this world had a turning point in the Ming Dynasty. Now it is the Ming Empire that dominates the Eurasian continent. At least it will not become a colony of the great powers like in the history of the earth, and suffer a century of humiliation.

[Le Jing, it's eleven o'clock now. As a Buddhist youth, you should go to bed. ] Le Ling reminded.

Le Jing kept writing and smiled slightly: "Sorry, I am a Confucian youth now."

Hearing a new term again, Le Ling asked curiously: [What does Confucian youth mean? ]

"Inspirational chicken blood, benevolence and righteousness to pacify the world." Le Jing raised his eyebrows, "Don't you cheer for me?"

[...Come on. ]

Le Ling felt that the post-90s generation now is really too complicated.

When the sky was slightly white, Le Jing finally stopped writing, took a long breath, and wrote most of the notebook, and finally finished it. He pounded his stiff and sore waist, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. After all, he was not young anymore.

He stood up and stretched his body, and his bones made a crackling sound. He opened his phone and took a look. It was already six in the morning. He could open the store after eating.

[You should rest now.] Le Ling said seriously: [According to scientific research, adults need to get at least seven hours of sleep a day.]

"That's an adult, I'm not an adult." Le Jing pushed his glasses and said seriously: "I will be a teenager until I die!"

Le Ling: [……]

Le Ling realized belatedly that his host had been telling jokes relentlessly.

※

After not sleeping all night, although he was a little sleepy, he could still bear it. To refresh himself, Le Jing picked up a book by Dazai Osamu and read it with relish.

Not long after waiting, Mary and a few girls came in hurriedly.

Seeing Le Jing reading again, Mary reluctantly raised her voice to attract his attention: "Good morning."

No response.

Louder: "Good morning!"

Still no response.

Slapped the table: "Good morning!"

"Ah? Oh!" Le Jing raised his head in panic, pushed his glasses, and saw that it was Mary, and greeted happily, "Good morning, Mary."

The young man's smile was as warm and gentle as ever, but Mary inexplicably felt that his smile today was mixed with a trace of fatigue. Looking more carefully, the young man's eyes seemed to have some bloodshot, and there was a trace of blue marks under his eyes.

Did he not sleep well at night?

Mary carefully hid the worry in her eyes and asked casually: "What do you want to tell us today?"

Le Jing said slowly: "It's not urgent now. Let's talk about it when people are almost here."

"Then about what you said yesterday..."

Le Jing rarely interrupted her and said firmly: "This, let's talk about it when people are almost here."

Mary glanced at him in surprise, but didn't say anything in the end. She found a seat with other girls.

Soon, more young ladies entered the bookstore one after another. When everyone was there, Le Jing finally stood up and looked at them from afar against the light.

"I'm here to say goodbye." Le Jing said lightly: "All good things must come to an end. I'm leaving."

Thunderbolt from the bottom of the ground is just like this.

Mary was a little surprised, but more of a sense of stability that the second boot finally landed. This day has finally arrived.

Finally, someone couldn't help asking: "Where are you going?"

"Where are you going?" The young man tilted his head and thought for a while, and said casually in a calm tone as if he was just going to the store at the door, "To another world that belongs to me."

!! !

It was like lightning flashing across the sky. This simple sentence made countless people dizzy.

Mary blurted out: "Are you really a time traveler?!"

"To some extent, yes. But I'm not the poor scientist who invented the time machine. I'm just a lucky bookstore owner."

Mary opened her eyes wide in shock. Although she had all kinds of wild guesses in her mind, she couldn't believe it when Le Jing really admitted it.

"Are you kidding?"

"I never joke." Le Jing smiled slightly, "Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Le Jing, and I'm from China in 2018, but in your world, you call my country the Ming Empire."

Before everyone came to their senses, Le Jing continued to make bombs one after another: "After the efforts of generations of feminist pioneers, in my world, most countries have achieved legal equality between men and women, and my country has written equality between men and women into the constitution as a basic national policy."

"Women have the same opportunities to make choices as men. They have gained independent economic status and are no longer dependent on men; they receive higher education and work in various fields; they can freely fall in love and choose to get married or not; they actively participate in politics, and female presidents and prime ministers are common..."

The words are few, but they outline a beautiful and moving scene like heaven for them, and everyone imagines it and wishes they could go there.

Mary's mind was blank, her heart was pounding, and she didn't know what to say for the first time.

Is he serious? Or is he just coaxing them?

Will women in the future really be so free?

Going to school, working, not getting married, being a female president or a female prime minister... Every word in this makes her yearn for it. This is the future she wants!

Only such a future can give them the courage to move forward.

Mary smiled with tears in her eyes and whispered, "I really want to see such a future with my own eyes."

No one interrupted Le Jing's words, and everyone listened to the beautiful future blueprint that Le Jing outlined for them in fascination.

Even if it is fake, this is also the direction of their future struggle. They gathered together just to have such a future.

"I once said that idealists often change the world. This is based on history and I didn't lie to you." Le Jing stared at the focused faces opposite him, his eyes gradually became long, and there was a vague smile on his lips: "Now, please let me tell you a story that happened in my country."

"A story of 'schoolmates'."

This is a story about a librarian from a rural area in Hunan. After being owed wages, how he and his friends saved the country that was constantly falling apart.

The story of a great idealist who shouted "Women hold up half the sky" to the country that was rebuilding after liberation, and made the concept of gender equality deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The luckiest thing for an idealist is to meet idealists like him. They are in their prime, their book business is vigorous, they are like the filth of thousands of households, they throw their heads and blood, and do not compromise until they grow old. The high-spiritedness of young people is the most indelible. They have passion, faith, and some "middle twos" who are confident that they can change the world. With the right time, right place, right people, and driven by the general trend of history, they accidentally changed the world and established their ideal country.

If Le Jing's words about women's future just made Mary feel a little unrealistic, the story he just told opened the door to a new world for her.

There are such people in the world!

It turns out there are so many "arrogant" people like her!

Changing the world is not something that is impossible, and they don’t have to be afraid to move forward.

And what they do is much more difficult than them.

‘Mobilize the vast ocean of the people? ’ Mary thought thoughtfully.

‘Does the economic base determine the superstructure? ’ Linda’s eyes were filled with brilliance.

‘Does public opinion play a guiding role? ’ Illya was very excited.

At this moment, countless girls were inspired, and the proletarian feminist revolutionary fire was quietly buried in their hearts along with Le Jing's explanation.

The story is finally over. Le Jing took a breath, drank a few sips of tea to moisten his throat, and considerately gave them some time to digest.

After a while, Mary took a step forward, buried her head deeply, and said with gratitude and respect: "Thank you for your help to us. We have benefited a lot from your teaching. You are our well-deserved mentor."

The girls stood up sparsely, bowed at the same time, and said in unison: "Thank you, Teacher Lejing."

Le Jing smiled disapprovingly: "I have little talent and knowledge, and I have not helped you in any way. I am not worthy of being a teacher. If I have ever helped you in a small way, it is just because I stand on the shoulders of giants. ." He waved his hand and motioned for the girls to sit back and stop talking.

"That's all I can say, and I have nothing more to teach you. You can choose one of the books here that you like and keep it. Whether it's printing or copying, it's all at your disposal." The young man looked at them. , with a bright and free smile: "You have to live."

"teacher!"

Le Jing pushed up his glasses in distress: "I told you that I am not your teacher anymore." He sighed, "Well, since you called me teacher, I will say a few more words."

"Don't be sad for my departure, because sooner or later you will have to get used to parting." Le Jing slowly looked around at the sad women, faded the usual smile on his face, and looked at them calmly, with cold eyes. Like a deep pool in autumn, "because what you are going to do next Everything you do is tantamount to being an enemy of the entire male-dominated world. Your enemies are all over the country, but your only partners are each other. You will be betrayed, slandered, arrested, and deported. You will most likely die. Before the dawn of the new world.”

Silence, deathly silence.

Everyone has different expressions.

Le Jing's merciless pot of cold water finally woke up some girls who were confused by the bright future.

Some of them are not pure feminists, nor are they determined to resist. They are just unhappy in reality, so they come here to hug each other for warmth and seek comfort.

If you lack the corresponding awareness, then it is better not to join in the first place. This will only harm others and yourself.

The young man curled his lips mockingly, his eyes sharp and sharp: "No revolution can avoid bloodshed, betrayal, and sacrifice. Revolution is iron-blooded and cannot tolerate tenderness. If you can't accept this, it's better to do it as soon as possible. Good exit.”

Several women hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not leave.

"In my country, a man named Ji Ye once said this -" The young man's eyes were quiet and bright, like stars hanging lonely in the sky in the dark night, always steadfast and never deviating from the direction: "If the sky always If it is dark, then survive in the dark; if making a sound is dangerous, If it is dangerous, then stay silent; if you feel unable to shine, then crouch in the corner. But don't defend the darkness when you are used to it; don't be proud of your own obscurity; don't ridicule those who are braver and more passionate than you. You can be humble as dust, but you cannot be twisted like maggots.”

"Now, I give this to you, and I hope you can do it."

Le Jing looked at this mixed team, his eyes calm and unperturbed.

I hope that next time we meet, even if we don't know each other, we won't go against each other and fight against each other.