Unemployed at the Beginning, I Let the Singer Come Back

  Chapter 34 Above the Sea of ​​Clouds

  When Robinie woke up from sleep, the setting sun was above the sea of ​​clouds, glowing brilliantly.

She stared at the sea of ​​clouds for a while, then lazily took out her mobile phone in airplane mode, looked at the downloaded document, and flicked through it casually. To her surprise, the text looked like a book translated into Chinese, with a translation between the lines The accent is familiar to her.

  Is this an English book?

   Robinie thought about it carefully, and then turned the text to the beginning, ""84 Charing Cross Road", Robinie didn't remember such a book. Could it be a new book that she didn't bother to read?

  She has been busy with lawsuits for a while, and she has been negligent in her work. It is normal to not know about new books, but translation is lagging behind. Except for popular or academic works, there are almost no books translated into Chinese in a short period of time.

   The editor asked if she had any copyright issues—

  Robeni thinks that this is probably because the folk translator has translated this book into China.

  She was very puzzled. This is an epistolary novel. She didn't know what's so good about this book. After waking up, she just read it and swiped her finger down.

  She continued to scroll down.

"Gentlemen: I saw your ad in the Saturday Literary Review saying that you "specialize in out-of-print books." The other word "vintage bookseller" always puts me off because I always think: since "Ancient" must be "expensive". And I'm just a poor writer with an "ancient" appetite for books..."

   When Robinie saw this, she roughly understood that this was a letter between readers and booksellers.

  The sender's humor made her slightly twitch the corners of her lips. As a person in the editing industry, she is naturally interested in books, and she is really curious about the bond between readers and booksellers.

  When Frank, the bookstore manager, found some of the corresponding books and sent the books and replied, Robin's heart warmed. This must be the trust between the book lovers, which made him unsuspecting of people thousands of miles away, and sent the book without receiving the money.

In the era of relying on letters and waiting slowly, such trust and waiting are very precious, but now with mobile phones and the Internet, trust is decreasing, and her marriage is finally going to death in the constant wear and tear of trust. of.

  They were suspicious of each other, they quarreled, they turned the secrets, taboos and rebellions that were once shared and known only by the closest, into knives and pierced each other's chests, and finally they were bruised all over.

  Before taking the plane, Robinson kept asking, what is marriage—

She touched her head irritably, and continued to read. The relationship between Helian and Frank was slowly getting closer. When she saw Helian complaining about the New Testament, she smiled knowingly. After giving the gift, when she wrote a special letter to worry about their customs, the two of them had become friends who could joke around without knowing it, so much so that Helian urged Frank in the letter: "Frank! What are you doing? I I didn’t receive anything! You’re not messing around, are you?”

  Seeing Helian choosing a collection of love poems, Robinie found that they had the same taste.

   "He has the first edition of "On Great Learning" that only sells for six dollars, and he even asked me if I want to buy it! I really don't know whether to call him honest or stupid?"

  Miss Helian is getting more and more naughty.

Robinie also gradually discovered that books serve as a bond that brings Frank and Helian closer together. They chat about books, talk about book covers, and send photos to share their lives. The pages of the 2019-2019 season were discussed, sharing Yorkshire pudding recipes and even praying for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

   Coincidentally, Robinie also likes this team.

   However, they are no longer in Brooklyn.

Hai Lian said in the letter: "I like old books with inscriptions on the title page and notes on the margins; Feel…"

In Robini's mind, even the smiles on their faces when they sent letters to each other, and the knowing smiles when they received the letters, twenty years of life may be gloomy or hopeless, but between the back and forth of the letters, there is life. Color turns life into poetry.

Helian even regarded the bookstore as her own. When a friend had the opportunity to go to London and described the bookstore to her in a letter, Helian said: "I don't want you to think I'm sour grapes, but I really don't understand. What kind of person are you? God let you browse "my bookstore"; and why do I have to squat in my crappy apartment on Ninety-fifth Street and write this bad boy "Ellery" The TV series script of Quinn's Adventure"...:"

Robinie frowned slightly. She had never heard of "The Adventures of Ellery Quinn". From this point of view, the author of this book was at least very familiar with the background of the time in the book. Otherwise, it would be difficult to understand these The depiction is lifelike.

   During the exchange of letters, gradually the clerk, Frank's wife, and neighbor Bolton all got in touch with Helene. But what has the most content is Helian's love and complaints about the book. They call it a big slob, dear Helian, and sign "Miss you, Frank". You are the only one left."

In the book, Helene never forgets "her bookstore", and the Frank family and the whole bookstore are also looking forward to Helene's arrival in London, saying, "There will be a room at 37 Oakland Lane, which can be used for your stay indefinitely. "

  However, when Robinie thought they would finally meet, Frank died of illness.

Twenty years of time, twenty years of friendship, Helian has never seen Frank, she watched many British movies in order to see the street scenes in London; she said she was going to pursue English literature, but the kind-hearted man who sold her the book died.

   "If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, please give me a kiss, I owe her a lot..."

  When Robinie read this, she was standing outside the airport. She watched the sun rise and the streets were full of traffic.

   She didn't know where to go in a trance, and all the strategies she made before she came were invalid.

She also wanted to step on the dusty sidewalk... walk all over Berkeley Square, walk all over Wimber Street; be in St. Paul's Cathedral where John Donne preached; sit on the steps of the Tower of London where Elizabeth refused to be a prisoner …

Now-

  Robeni stopped a taxi and told the driver after getting in the car, "Go to 84 Charing Cross Road."

  She turned on her phone in the car, turned off the airplane mode, and the editor's message popped up on the chat software: "Is it a foreign work, and who is the author?"

   On the Chinese text that Luo Beini saw, the author column was Anonymous. She thought she didn’t know the author, so she told the editor that she would look it up.

  (end of this chapter)