As long as you are a vulgar scholar, it is inevitable that there will be emotional entanglements between several books, which seems a bit similar to walking on the right path. As long as your feet touch the earth, you will naturally trample down some grass or raise a little dust.
Although I am over 40 years old, I can't be a real book lover, because I can't read well and write well, let alone be a book collector. However, after decades of ups and downs, we have been friends and companions with books, but we have also forged an indissoluble bond with them.
Rent a book
At that time, the most lively and lively place in our northern Fujian mountain city was no different from the "Great Arc".
In this place similar to a pocket park, a building somewhat like a memorial tower and a turret stands in it. Surrounded by ancient trees and green trees, I have experienced Cang Sang. Under the tree, some stone tables and benches are placed regularly. People dance swords here, brighten their voices in the morning breeze, play cards and chess in the shade, and listen to nature in the sunset. In addition, there is a unique scenery here, that is, there are several small book stalls inside. These small book stands are specially used for renting comic books. At that time, there seemed to be almost no newspapers and magazines, let alone TV. Renting a picture book to kill an hour can be regarded as people's rich spiritual enjoyment after dinner.
This summer vacation, a few teenage friends and I decided to set up a small book stand in the big arc on a whim, which could not only kill the boring summer vacation time, but also maybe earn a little money to buy some candy to solve our hunger.
On this day, we each found a few picture books from home, pieced together a gate board, two long stools and several small stools, and happily came to the "Great Arc". We spread out two long stools, put the doorplate on them, then arranged picture books on the doorplate, surrounded the small bookstall with those small stools, and then drank loudly at the top of our voices, and our business started.
This was the market at that time. Ordinary picture books rent one yuan a day, and a little thicker is twenty cents. At the end of the day, each of us can get a dime or two. However, doing business is risky. At that time, it seemed that there was no industrial and commercial tax to manage us. By risk, I mean that some people with dirty hands and feet will fish in troubled waters and take the rented books. A neighbor surnamed Xu, five or six years older than me, once said to me with a picture book, "Your dagger is a good book. You must look after it and don't steal it. " I didn't expect to be a yellow crane that never came back on the first day.
Because I lost so many picture books, I couldn't put them down for three or five days. Looking back now, although I only got a handful of money, it was the first time in my life that I earned economic income through labor.
Selling books
My family was poor when I was a child. My father was put in jail because of historical problems. The family of seven or eight lives on their mother's salary of more than 30 yuan as a primary school teacher. I still clearly remember that my brothers and sisters often go to the vegetable market to pick up some abandoned leaves for food because they have no money to buy food.
But strangely enough, I have a love for books since I was a child. I love not only reading, but also buying books. However, it was really difficult to buy books in such a family situation at that time. I passed Xinhua Bookstore after school at noon that day, so I couldn't help but walk in. At this time, I saw a book "Selected Excellent Compositions of Primary School Students". But when I touched my pocket, there was no money in it. I reluctantly walked out of Xinhua Bookstore. When I got home, all I could think of was the image of the book. When I was eating, I tried to talk to my mother several times, but the words came to my mouth and I swallowed them abruptly. Suddenly I thought of a way. So I gently ran upstairs, gently opened the big wooden box of my father's library, picked out some books that I thought were useless, and secretly took them to the scrap collection station to sell. Then I rushed to Xinhua Bookstore and bought the book "Selected Excellent Compositions of Primary School Students" that I was eager to see.
Then my father came back from the detention center. On this day, my father went upstairs to sort out books, and suddenly found that there were many medical books missing from the box (my father was a doctor). My angry father was furious and called all our brothers and sisters for "interrogation". I confessed my "guilt" at once, because I can never lie. My father raised his hand and slapped me. But when I cried and told the purpose of selling books, my father's slap was like being hung in the air by a rope, and I couldn't fan it for a long time. ...
Buy a book
We have a custom in northern Fujian, that is, when we get married, the bride and groom will receive some "meeting money" from relatives. The basic procedure is roughly like this. On the day of the wedding reception, the groom goes to the bride's house at noon. At the banquet, the bride's parents led the groom to propose a toast to relatives and friends. When they respect their elders and relatives, they will give the groom a small red envelope. This kind of money is called "Hui Qian". The same is true when the bride goes to the groom's house at night.
When they got married, they all received a "meeting fee" of fifty or sixty yuan without exception. At that time, my salary was only 30 yuan a month, and these "meeting money" were a lot of wealth for me. So on our wedding night, my wife and I discussed how to use the money. My opinion is to use this money to buy clothes for my wife, but my wife disagrees. In the bright light, she blinked a pair of gentle eyes and said, "Didn't you want to buy a copy of Ci Hai long ago? Let's go and buy it tomorrow. " Yes, I wanted to buy an abbreviated version of Ci Hai a long time ago. I also took her, who was my girlfriend at that time. I went to Xinhua Bookstore several times, but for economic reasons, I went in several times and came out empty-handed.
The next day, my wife took my hand and walked into Xinhua Bookstore, and finally bought the book "Cihai", with an inky fragrance.
Buried books
I have a friend who loves books. He likes reading and buying books. His prose is quite skillful, and several excellent works have appeared in newspapers.
On this day, he called me to my office and said, "I have long wanted to compile a book to collect poems of past dynasties in our county, but I failed to do so for various reasons." Now that you've been transferred, we'll just make it up together. " So we began to discuss the editing plan, began to collect information, and contacted publishing matters ... Unexpectedly, just as our book editing plan was progressing smoothly, my friend was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. He lived in the intensive care unit of the hospital, but he never forgot the editing and publication of that book. He called me to the ward many times and said to me, "You must compile this book, and you must compile the quality and level." While struggling with the disease, he also reviewed the manuscript, proofread the text and put forward suggestions for improvement. When the book was printed, I took dozens of books to his ward. He carefully listed a list of gifts, one of which was carefully signed. While signing, he smiled and said, "This may be my' hand tail' (relic)." At that time, watching him tortured by the disease, I ran to the bathroom and shed two lines of cold tears. ...
No matter how advanced modern medicine is, it will not save my friend's life in his early forties. He finally left. On the day of burial, when his urn was put into the grave, I stepped forward and put two Nanpu Fu edited by him and published by Straits Literature and Art Publishing House on his urn gently and squarely. ...