Liberate Yourself Chapter 11

                            1

In my childhood, I used to sit at a square table, and the paint on the table had peeled off. I like to paint Sun Wukong's wars in the heavens and the gods of different ways, and where else is he fighting the dragon king in the sea, and copying the stories of 108 peasant uprising leaders killing the rich and helping the poor. Sometimes, I draw outside the window. Pedestrians, trees... The most attractive thing is the ugly old lady, there is a small book stand on the street. She bent over, she was dry and thin, as if she were a "man". When I draw pictures for her, I always add a mustache and glasses to her face to satisfy my purpose of making fun of her. Once, when I gave the ugly old lady a portrait again, I suddenly saw Jolin walking in front of the ugly old lady. Jolin usually sells popsicles every summer.

    "Bing Bing is about to be cut, Bing Bing, Guang Bing Bing Bing!"

    Qiao Lin shouted, and at the same time took the popsicle out of the wooden box and stuffed it into the ugly old lady who set up the book stand. The ugly old lady waved her hand to signal that she didn't need it. However, after Jolin forced the popsicle into the hands of the ugly old lady, Jolin robbed a few coins from a small wooden box, put the change on the shelf, and smiled at the ugly old lady. Jolin saw the weird face of the ugly old lady:

    "Sell popsicles! Bright popsicles!"

    The ugly old lady eventually had to sit down on the stool beside the bookshelf while peeling off the ice paper. But when she was forced to complete the transaction, all of a sudden, I clearly saw the two little boys unknowingly picked up several villain books from the bookshelf and threw them into their pockets. Anxiously escaped. I can clearly see: one is the sixth child and the other is Adige.

    I really didn't expect them to come here again!

    I hurried to the alley, where the two of them stood safely.

    "Wow! Courage is not small!"

    I was talking about three children's books when taking out the stolen goods from the pocket of Xiaoliuzi!

  Xiao Liuzi stared at his eyes and smiled at me with a sly expression: "Do you want it? As long as you don't whistle, we will provide you with many books. Really, we have many books. The ugly old lady doesn't know We stole her book."

    I agree, really, I agree. Because I will read books. I want to study, but I have no money to buy books. I do not have money. I can rent two books for two cents. But I can't even do this.

    I remember I used to have five cents. I can hold five penny coins with the national emblem on it, but this is the first time since my childhood. This is a gift on my brother's birthday. I was ecstatic about this, but it was not a small sum, although at that time, five cents was not enough to buy a grain of sugar, and the candy was wrapped in a beautiful transparent cellophane, which was printed with the Monkey King eating in Huaguo Mountain Peach, but for me, this 5 cents can be used for many purposes.

    My hands kept playing with the coins in my pocket, and I wobbled slowly on the road, whistling from time to time, I was very proud. I stopped in front of the old man stepping on cotton candy. The old man scraped a bit of white sugar with a spoon and stepped on the wooden board under the drum several times with his feet. Hi, it's strange. Then, the white sugar rustled in the hole in the middle of the drum. After a while, a bunch of cotton candy spewed out like silk. A child bought a large handful of such marshmallows, and then put them in his mouth with a big mouthful. Itchy in my heart, and then slowly took out the coins in my pocket. I pinched the coin in my palm and finally put it back in my pocket. I comforted myself and said that this marshmallow is not worth cherishing.

Finally, I stood in front of a book stall for renting villains.

    "Do you rent ten copies for five cents? I saw you back on the spot."

    I seem to be a regular customer and said to the man who set up the stall.

    The stall owner stared at me and held out his hand: "Pay first!"

    "I have, look!"

    I spread the palms of my hands, and the five coins were stained with sweat, and they shone like the five jewels under the sunlight.

    The stallholder reached out and wanted to grab my gem. I quickly grasped my hands tightly and put my gem in my pocket: "I'll pick a few books to see first. I don't want to see the broken books you specified."

    The stall owner retracted his hand. I picked up a book at random and turned it up. It was wonderful. The old man was riding a donkey and hurried away! I don't know the words on the book, but I will explain the pictures in it as I want.

    I changed it.

    It was a story about Bao Gong. I knew a few words a little, and I read it carefully.

    I changed it again.

    All the paintings on this book are about my husband and lady, so I closed the cover and changed another one. The book is full of monks. There are two lines on the mouth of the monk. Some lines are straight and some are curved. Some words are written in the middle of the two lines. It is probably that the monk is reading the scriptures, maybe Talking: Strange, there are two lines squirting out of the woman's mouth, with many words written in the middle of the line. More and more weird, even the children and the old man's mouth sprayed two lines, and the middle of the line was filled with words.

    I couldn't understand it, so I asked the stall owner: "Hey, why do the people in this book spray two lines in their mouths, and words in the middle?"

    The stall owner froze for a moment, then looked at the book in my hand and laughed: "Fool, this is talking!"

    My face seemed to be roasted by the fire, and I grabbed another copy. At this moment, the stall owner's eyes widened and he shouted at me suddenly: "Little Red Guy, have you paid the bill now?"

    After he shouted, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't paid the rent yet. I quickly returned the book I just read and returned it to the stall owner. I blinked and said to him, "It's not good-looking." Too.

    "What about the banknotes?" The stall owner didn't let me go, and counted the number of large stacks of books. "Nineteen, count your nine cents, take the money!"

    "What? Does it cost money to just flip it?"

    "I looked at you page by page, you want to pay off!"

    "Who depends on your account, who..." I am a little embarrassed, but I am reluctant to give him the money, and he wants nine cents, I only have five cents in total!

    "Ah, someone is stealing books!"

    I shouted, and as my hand pointed to the right, the stall owner quickly turned his head. When the stall owner turned his head, haha, I ran away long ago, I cheated the stupid stall owner, I cheated others for the first time, but I was not ashamed, because I preserved five coins, and also looked at it in vain Nineteen villain books. For me, this is my first success. Without this particular method, where can I find a book?

    It's a pity that when I told my brother about this, he recovered my money again, and he said, "You can't be honest."

This is a thing of the past, what now? Holding Xiaoliu's booty in my palm, three villains with pictures, I finally succumbed.

Since then, I joined the team of Xiaoliuzi. In order to read books, I started the adventure life of my youth. I also often dreamed that the stall owners tied me up and beat me with a whip, and the children pointed at my nose and abused me: "thief! Thief!" When I woke up, I saw a villain When the book became a pile of little books, I forgot everything. On the contrary, my dream became wonderful and bizarre. I dreamed that I had thousands of books. I was in the ocean of books. Here, it became a seagull with a pair of wings, flying and flying...

2

"Stealing books is not illegal." This is the consensus view of our team. Because we have to read books. The unexpected success brave us again and again. There are more and more villains we have stolen. Later, this large stack of villains actually belonged to me, because I promised to tell them a good story every day. My memory is very strong. I can tell the books I read almost exactly. My storytelling skills are also helped by these villains. I gradually became famous. Everyone calls me the story king.

    Slowly, almost all the stories in the villain's book were memorized. As my age increases, I am eager to see more books that adults read. However, due to financial constraints at home, it was impossible to give me more pocket money to buy books, so my eyes turned to the small grocery stall next to the book stall.

    To be honest, the little groceries are all home-made clay toys made of clews, wire, cardboard and bamboo sticks. However, what is surprising is that these earth toys are really good. For example, the tumbler, the base is made of half a table tennis ball. Until now, I still feel that interesting look faintly. Sometimes, I would squat in front of the small grocery stall for ten minutes. Of course, I wouldn’t buy that thing, just thinking about how to imitate it and make one by myself.

Strange to say, I have been thinking and practicing again and again, and actually made some of the same toys according to the appearance of those toys. I am proud to play with these imitations deliberately in front of the stall owner: Who wouldn’t you do these things? Fortunately, selling money to cheat children in broad daylight!

    The stall owner was about fifty years old, his shriveled ten fingers were like bamboo sticks, and the nail gaps were filled with dirt, especially the little finger with long nails was even more sloppy. ; His ears are greasy again, with a disgusting yellow color. The corners of his eyes are often covered with yellow greasy eyes, and when he speaks, endless foam will pour from the corners of his mouth. When the foam grows more and more, he gently rubs his dirty long nails with his little finger Scrape around the corner of your mouth, then twitch your lips and swallow the remaining saliva in your mouth.

    The children and I often make fun of him behind his back, and give him the nickname "assorted old man". This is due to the fact that the things he sells are too complex and unconventional.

    After seeing the toys I made, assorted old men always squinted with shit and smiled and said to me:

    "Good, good. You are so smart!"

    On Sundays when I can’t go to school, I laid an old newspaper on the ground next to an assorted old man’s booth early in the morning. Then, I took out all the clay toys I made by myself and placed them in the right place. Sitting on a brick, I want to do one of the greatest careers I have ever had—to buy books with the money I bought from the sale of clay toys.

    After waiting for an hour, no one came to patronize my masterpiece, and I looked impatient. I started to sweep my eyes on the pedestrians on the street. These mortal beings didn't know what they were busy with. Do they not realize my existence in their eyes? Do they even have time to stop in front of my booth? These nasty people! I stopped looking at them. I looked at the assorted old men around me from time to time. In a casual glance, I suddenly saw his eyes full of dullness and despair. My heart tightened. I wonder if it was for pity or for sympathy. I always felt that I was very sorry for competing with him for business. I was ready to escape home and escape from this poor old man.

    However, I only set up a stall for more than an hour. A buyer has not come. I haven’t earned any money. How can my grand plan be realized? A tough morning passed, and no one came to buy my things, and no one even glanced at them. I hung my head down, like a chicken with a plague, and flopped my head down weakly. Under my eyelids, I saw a variety of shoes appearing one after another in front of the stall of an assorted old man. It disappeared again and again, and the sound of jingling tossing coins was heard from the money jar of the assorted old man from time to time.

I started to feel hungry, and I had to stand up and prepare to gather my unproductive stall. At this time, a nail with a dirty and dry hand rested on my shoulder. The assorted old man gently stopped me:

    "You put things here, I can take care of it for you."

    I stared at him with my eyes, staring at this greasy face, and hesitated, but the face looked very sincere, even with a kind of request in my eyes, I was panic, I didn’t know what to say .

    The assorted old man saw me hesitant and said nothing more, just put my masterpieces of self-esteem back on the newspapers on the ground. Then nodded to me, beckoning me to hurry home and eat.

    I finally turned around and left the assorted old man, and also left my unattended stall, and walked on the way when I came.

    After I finished my meal, I was too lazy to take care of my "great masterpiece" that no one appreciated. I remember, when I was playing until it was dark, when I went to clean up my broken stuff, I did not expect that, when a miracle happened, the assorted old man happily handed me a penny and said to me: "This is yours , You paid good luck, five cents, you count it."

    I glanced at the masterpieces I displayed on the ground, and it was really a few missing pieces.

    I took the penny from the dry palm of the assorted old man, and my finger accidentally touched his hand. His hand was so cold, like a fossil frozen for thousands of years. My heart trembled a little, but soon I was calm again, and I became proud: I really earned money from my labor. For some reason, I had a crush on the assorted old man for the first time. But I didn't thank him, and I don't know how I should thank him.

    When I put away the stall and was going to leave, the assorted old man held me with his cold fossil like hands, his dirty stained nails connected with his slender and thin hands, holding my small hands tightly , Like eagle claws, makes it difficult for me to break free, in fact, I did not break free. I saw bright and gleaming tears in his eyes, he moved his lips, and there was still foam in the corners of his mouth. He let go of one hand, scraped the corner of his mouth with his long fingernails, and grasped my hand again. He murmured softly to me:

    "Child, can you tell me, why do you want to set up this little stall?"

    I blushed and bounced in my heart, as if a phantom was groaning in my heart. I quickly raised my lowered head and looked at the sky. Just now I was very close to me. The cloud that seemed to be reachable with my hand disappeared and disappeared without a trace. On the contrary, the assorted old man who was close to me, that is, the assorted old man who didn't feel like being around me not long ago, at this moment, I had smelled the heat from him.

   "I think...I want to read, and I want to change some money to buy some books that adults read."

    I can’t remember the expression of the assorted old man when I said this, but I clearly remember his trembling words:

   "Child, you should study, you should study..."

    I forgot, really forgot, how the clay toy I made later was handed over to him. But I remember, I will always remember, I will remember this life, this life, every time I give him some earthen toys, that is, the stuff I made by myself, he always gives me some piecemeal money. He would never let me set up a stall, saying that this would affect my study, he said that he could sell the clay toys I made for me.

In this way, I gradually formed a year-old friendship with this assorted old man and this assorted old man I once despised. Whenever I took the money he earned from selling toys for me, there was a feeling of gratitude in my heart.

3

    I can't just watch my brother use his blood and sweat to support me and the whole family. What should I do for this family. I rely on assorted old men to help myself sell some homemade toys and earn a little money. This is not the best way.

   "Brother, take me to work as a carpenter. I will be your apprentice..." I said to my brother.

That year his brother worked, he was only 14 years old! My brother is 6 years older than me. Is a monkey.

    Once, my brother took me to his workshop, and I saw a lot of wood piled there. There is a bench that is very wide and long, and my brother leans hard on this bench every day to plan wood. Sometimes, my brother pulls a long saw to cut off a piece of wood and saws it short, and the thin wood chips are under his brother's feet. It will become a pile of hills. The elder brother's fingers became thicker, and the green muscles began to crawl up the palms like small earthworms, and the blood bubbles on the palms turned into cocoons. My brother no longer has time to take me to catch or catch crickets. Life forced me to lose my older brother who played with me in the past.

   When my brother listened to me and said he wanted to do carpentry work, "You, you!" My brother froze and stopped the wood saw in his hand.

   "Yes, brother, I want to make money too. I can't let you work alone." I murmured, tears in my eyes.

   "Oops!" My brother screamed, and the wood saw fell down somehow. The saw blade rubbed on the back of my brother's hand, and made a bloody mouth. The blood came out, and the blood was red and red! I was dumbfounded and stared blankly at my brother. He threw a handful of sawdust on the blood mouth, and the red blood penetrated the sawdust, and the sawdust turned red.

The elder brother smiled and said to me: "Sawdust can stop bleeding. This is what the teacher taught me." He said that his elder brother lifted his trouser legs and pointed to a scar with a length of three inches to his calf. Chiseled, fortunately, it didn't hurt the bone." Brother suddenly said to me in a begging tone: "Brother, don't tell your mother, otherwise the mother will be sad, she is already suffering enough."

I gritted my teeth and nodded, and tears dripped silently from my cheeks on the ground, onto the beautiful patterned shavings.

    My brother put me in my arms and wiped my tears away with his hands, but he cried. As a result, our brothers cried together, crying so sad, but no one ignored us, and no one knew that there was such a sad pair of brothers in this small carpentry.

    The elder brother picked a piece of wood, sawed a small wooden pistol quickly with a saw, polished it, and carved a pattern on the gun handle. The elder brother raised his small wooden pistol and squinted with one eye. "Slap", the elder brother shouted softly. I was amused. I took the wooden pistol he made from my brother and looked at it carefully. My brother is so good!

But what makes me sad is that my brother doesn't allow me to call him "brother" in the future. I'm afraid the master will scold him for playing with his brother when he hears it. Since then, I never called him "brother" in front of others. Later, it became a set habit.    

4

    I also made up my mind from now on: I want to be like my brother, and I have to contribute to this family. I took out all my savings-all the property I bought when I sold toys from old assorted men-those hard hard coins that I counted over and over again.

    I know that hunger will make our whole family hungry. I saved my money to buy a book to read. Can reading solve the problem of hunger? But what can this money solve?

    Mother always thinks that talking about "eating" is not respectable. Under the influence of our mother, we learned to pretend to look like no one wants to go to anyone's home. We can indeed cover ourselves very cleverly, pretending not to eat... of course, especially when we see other children eating meat.

    Thinking of this, my nose suddenly became sore. With tears in my eyes, I wouldn't let it fall and poured all my coins into a small pocket.

    I can’t remember how I went to the food market: I can’t remember how I told the meat shopkeeper, anyway, I used those coins—the coins I got from my labor—for a small piece. The meat, although it is some greasy fat.

    I held the fat in my hands, sniffed and watched, and went home happily. No one noticed me, but I was still very proud, just like a successful entrepreneur who had finished a big business, showing joy. Smiley face; brother will praise me; and mother? Of course it was shocking and happy.

    When I got home, I was disappointed. My elder brother hasn't got off work yet. His younger brother is very ill and has fallen asleep. The sister also fell asleep. Mother didn't know where to go.

    I put the meat on the table and carried the coal stove downstairs to light the fire. The fire was extremely prosperous, Lan Yingying's flames flickered, very beautiful.

    Suddenly, one hand twisted my left ear fiercely. I hadn't figured out what was going on. The other hand was already "snapping" on my face! The blue fire star flashing in the hearth was gone, only a star was shaking. Then another slap hit my face.

    "Little Red Guy! Why do I feed you? Is it for you to steal and grab?"

    With the harsh swearing, it wasn't anyone else who appeared in front of me, it was my mother!

    "me……"

    Without allowing me to argue, my mother has dragged me from downstairs to upstairs, and the hand holding my ear has never been released. My ears are about to break, I shouted desperately, it didn't work at all, my mother pulled my ears heavier and heavier.

   "You say! You say!"

    Mother pressed my head hard against the fat on the table:

   "Little Red Guy, where was this thing stolen?"

    The younger brother and sister who were awakened by the fright saw the sudden scene and burst into tears.

    The neighbors left and right filled the room all at once, some of them persuaded my mother, some pulled me, and some tried to break my mother's hands and pull my ears...

    "I didn't steal! I didn't steal!"

    I shouted and yelled loudly, jumping wildly.

    My mother still refused to give up, and forced me to say.

    "I, I bought it with my own toys and assorted old men's money..."

    I covered my ears with my hands and said aloud.

   "Assorted old man? Which assorted old man? I don't believe that there will be such good people in this world, how have I never met it!"

    The mother was unreasonable and still kept scolding.

 I don’t know when Qiao Lin, Xiaoliuzi, and Xiaodi came with assorted old men.

    The assorted old man put me in his arms with his dry hands, explained to his mother, and confirmed my words.

    The mother's anger remained calm, but she was calmer. She said to the assorted old man: "Don't give him money in the future. He is still young. He wants to study. I don't rely on him to feed me!"

    at night. Deadly silent night.

    I woke up confused, and found that my mother was holding my neck with open arms. In the gloomy and tragic moonlight, her eyes lost their light, as if they were like two dried date cores.

Several decades have passed, and the scene that night still makes me unforgettable.

5

 I was very surprised and surprised to find that the assorted old man knew so much. Ancient and modern Chinese and foreign, there is almost nothing that I don't know. I learned from him the works of Hugo, Stenda, Balzac, and from him I learned the works of Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Ba Jin... However, he prefers to tell me Pushkin, Lermontov, Guo In the works of Gory and Turgenev, he sympathizes with the "superfluous people" such as Onegin, Bi Qiaolin, Beritov, and Roting. He often said that I am Roting.

    Assorted old man is a person who doesn't like to walk but is good at talking. He will use a turtle shell and a few bronze coins to divination. He had fortunetelling me several times. He said, I will deal with "Four" in my life. "Four" is an unpredictable number. "Four" represents "career". I don’t believe what he said, at least not because he always said that my destiny is very good and I will be very successful in my future career. However, I also believe that "Four" is indeed connected with my life. In my future life, it is indeed true. Every major turning point is inseparable from the number of "Four", but this is something to say Too.

    On a starless and moonless night, an assorted old man asked me to go to his house to play. That day, he drank more dry wine and his face looked rosy and a little shiny. I am afraid this is the first time I have seen him since I met him. He has such a spirit of excitement.

    The assorted old man leaned on the back of a chair with a broken leg. He shook his body, the broken chair creaked, and he stared at me. The wall behind me was covered with various old newspapers. The newspapers had turned yellow, and some were dry and cracked, and they crept crookedly on the wall. Only a printed portrait of "Lao Zi riding a green cow" was affixed to those yellowed old newspapers, which were not damaged, but were covered with thick dust. This room is actually just a narrow cave under the stairs. There are no windows at all, let alone a hint of sunlight. The door is a sliding door that can move left and right. Of course, there is no need to install a lock on the door, and no one will be interested in drilling into this hole to steal. The creaky floor slab kept falling down with the sound of the footsteps of the neighbors.

The assorted old man stared at me and said seriously: "Child, you are a tiger, the tiger is the king of the forest, and the head of the beasts. According to the "Twelve Zodiac Books", the tiger is an adventurous, tiger person Both are adventurous and courageous, able to stand alone and have strong will, majesty, and self-confidence, and have a demeanor when they encounter setbacks. However, sometimes they have a stubborn personality that forces others to obey what they have intended to do. People who are tigers like to talk and talk. Looking sideways, I also like to be alone, sometimes overconfident, difficult to communicate and coordinate with people, life is ups and downs very fierce." The eyes of the assorted old man showed a strange light, and he said more and more, "Children, your life palace is very Okay, but there are also many twists and turns. It doesn’t matter. When you are young, you will get help from the nobles and you will definitely fly to the top. Unfortunately, by the middle age you will be a bit less fortunate. You will have some money, but it will often be profligate."

    I widened my curious eyes. I couldn't believe it. The assorted old man could actually measure my life palace and my future. I seemed to believe it or not, but just looked at his impenetrable, alcoholic face in confusion. Underneath this face, at the corner of the mouth leaning on the lip whiskers, was white stains.

    The assorted old man turned the topic to the advice to me. He told me that I have been ups and downs in my life. I often have twists and turns. Courage and adventure are better than ordinary people. I must be proactive in doing things and save money. As long as you can overcome difficulties, you will be happy and rising. You may become an official, surely, I have no hope, no hope. Speaking of which, he drank the white dry mouthful again, his face redder and purplish.

    "Why do you want to be an official in the future? I don't want to be an official. I hate being an official. Isn't my father bad luck just because of being an official?" I argued.

    "Ah! No, you must be an official! Boy, you don't have a "long" title, and you will be looked down upon in the future. Why do you study? Just to be the champion, Guangzong Yaozu, and his wife Yinzi. There is an old Chinese saying called 'Three hundred and sixty lines, line out the top champion', in fact, in these three hundred and sixty lines, only the people in the'Shihai' dominate the world, dominating all living beings, of which benefits and cheapness, you will know in the future. Otherwise, why do Chinese people like to look forward to hopping the carp to jump the dragon gate, because it is worth a hundred times as soon as they reach the dragon gate. There is no doubt that a person cannot be an official and has a lot of fate. Liu Bei sells straw shoes, who Looked at him? But he became emperor, and no one would obey him!"

    The assorted old man seemed a little excited, and he quoted again, "There is a small grass on the top of the mountain and a pine tree on the mountain stream. Are you saying that the grass is high or the pine is high?" "The grass is high." "Yes, the grass High. Why the grass is higher than the pine tree? The reason is very clear, the grass is in a higher position than the pine tree, it can be seen how important the position is. As long as he is in a high position, even if it is a grass, even a full fool, he Taller than you! What about even pine trees? Not at the foot of the grass!"

    "But, the grass is a grass after all. The pine tree is a pine tree after all. I would rather be a pine tree than a grass!" I said to the assorted old man. I saw the face of the assorted old man suddenly changed and became terrible. He closed his mouth, the green bars on his forehead were twisted and swelled, he became angry: "You stop me! You must give up this idea, you To change the environment, remember my words: I would rather be a grass on the top of a mountain than a pine tree on a mountain stream! No! No pine trees!

    I was terrified. I had never seen him so angry. Slowly, the assorted old man eased down. He eased his breath and said, "Of course, it is better to be a pine tree, but to be a pine tree on the top of the mountain, a pine tree on the top of the mountain..."

In our ancient country, the feudal hierarchical concept of "official value" formed over thousands of years is too strong. Its influence penetrates into people's bones. Even such an assorted old man selling groceries was actually an official fan. I pity him. But there is one thing, I am sure that when my father is in office, our family will always be in the same place. After the father's dismissal, our family will not be as good as a poop, and no one will visit.

    I haven’t understood or interested in the official scriptures of assorted old men. I am interested in listening to his fortune-telling congratulations. He actually nagging from King Wen, Zhou Gong, and Confucius to one of his distant ancestors. . It is said that his distant ancestor spent all his life writing a book about Confucius' thought study. He often takes pride in what he has done for his distant ancestors.

    He told me repeatedly that he wanted to dedicate this book to Sun Yat-sen, but Sun Yat-sen did not see this book with his own eyes; he once dedicated this book to Yuan Shikai, and later Yuan Shikai did not see this book with his own eyes. .

    Assorted old men said, "I am an amazing book. After they read it, they will definitely take the case. They hate those who are too snobbish. They are afraid that I will be treated by the big president, so they have been detained! How can it be? Oh, is this clearly Chinese jealousy? China is so wide-ranging, but the Chinese mind is not even as good as a pinhole! It’s a fucking jerk!"

    Later, I heard from the old man of assortment that after the May 4th Movement broke out, he was shaken by the slogan of "Down with Kongjiadian". It turns out that the era of Confucius in China has passed. No wonder the big presidents are right Confucius was not interested. So, he resolutely took to the streets, betrayed his distant ancestors, and actually shouted "Down with Confucius!" Finally, he simply burned out the proud masterpiece of family history. Then he was excited for the Northern Expedition War and propagated everywhere for the Anti-Japanese War. In the war of liberation, he scolded the Kuomintang for the country and the people. He mobilized many youths to the liberated area, but when it was his turn to persuade him to go to Yan'an, he retreated. He said he would take care of his mother. In this way, he was a rhetorical revolutionary in almost every major historical period, but later he was lost in retreat and naturally became a giant in speech and a dwarf in action. Even at this point, he complained that he failed to become an official, and could not be an official, what can he do?

A mediocre old man, an authentic little person, was originally not worth remembering. He is like a trivial ant, there are thousands of trillions in the ancient land, one more and one less will not hinder people's lives. . Although he also had rhetoric, enthusiasm, and divination, he was disappointed in the end. He did not become the lucky man of the times; but I still remember him...

6

 You can't believe it, the short and ugly old lady with a bow and a book stand, once an editor of a children's magazine, and a quite famous children's literature writer! She actually wrote many books about children!

If it weren’t for the old man who told me the truth about her, I thought the old man was bullshit again, just like his divination or the great book about his family.

The difference between my old lady and my father is that she did not go to Baimaoling Farm. She loved her children so crazy that she stupidly accumulated many years of manuscript fees to buy so many villains.

What kind of money can I earn by renting a villain book?

What's more, there is more than one child like me who loves to read books without paying?

To make matters worse, I and Qiao Lin, Xiaoliu, and Adi took aim at this old lady who was a good deal, and she succeeded in stealing her life-saving villain books from her again and again, and saw her The villain's books have continued to increase, and we are both sympathetic and pitiful. On the contrary, the number of teasing her is increasing. She was a big fool, not even aware of it.

    Since the assorted old man told me that she used to be a great writer, I have been watching her for several days, but I can't see her like a book.

    Once, I said to the old lady: "I heard that you can write a book. Is this the case?"

    The old lady didn't answer me, but just said to me: "Do you like reading?"

    "like."

    "You will come here to see it later. I don't charge you money. Really, I don't charge you money. There are many children who love reading. I don't charge them money."

    Is there such a thing? How can I not know at all? I looked at this silly old woman with a rumpled face in surprise.

    The old lady probably took out a stack of villain books from the bookshelf to dispel my suspicion, and said to me: "This is the latest villain book. You can hold it and read it, but you must love it and don’t tear it."

Whatever it does, as long as I have a book to read, I am enough.

I read one book after another on the book stand, and I took whatever I loved, without spending a penny!

I watched it all afternoon, and when the sun was setting, the old woman was about to close up, and I slowly stood up.

    "You come again tomorrow, I am here every day." The old woman said to me.

    "I, have class tomorrow." I murmured.

    The old woman quietly took several brand-new villains from the bookshelf and put them in my hands: "You can read it and return it to me in a few days."

    I was so surprised that there was such a person in the world.

    For several weeks, I was reading and borrowing books from the old lady, without spending a penny. I became an indispensable patron of her book stall.

For a long time, I always felt like I owed her a debt, and the debt was still unclear.

At night, I lay in bed and I couldn't fall asleep again.

Remember, it was a Sunday morning, and I got up early in the morning.

I lifted the sheets and pulled out a cardboard box under the mother's bed. This is my treasure trove-the stolen villain book that I seized from the six children. But when I opened the treasure trove, I hesitated. These books are my treasures for many years. Once I lose these treasures, what will happen to me?

    The old lady with the book stand appeared before my eyes again. The old lady stumbled over to the bookshelf and took a brand-new villain from the bookshelf: "Child, take it and read it later. Here, I don’t charge a penny..."

Anything else to say?

I already have books to read, and I can read many, many books. These books have taught me how to be a man.

    I took up my "own" treasures, carefully organized the books neatly, held them tightly in my arms, and came to the old lady, looking at the old lady's amazed eyes, and said to the old lady: "This book ..."

When she put the books back in the bookshelf, turned around and smiled at me, revealing to me the pink gums that had no teeth, I was relieved as if I had paid off all the debts owed to her, I returned to the long-awaited forest like a happy bird and was able to fly freely again.

It seemed that I had completed the biggest business between heaven and earth. I liberated myself. No, it was the old lady who set up the book stand. It was she who liberated me with innocent love. It was also the books she gave me that liberated me.

    Since then, I have become a good assistant to the old lady. I help her organize books, help her collect money, and like her, read books for penniless children for free.

When the old woman was free, she told me the fairy tales of Andersen, the fables of Krylov and Aesop, and the stories of the Brothers Grimm. I also read the works written by Ye Shengtao, Yan Wenjing, Chen Bochu, and Ke Yan... I left Into a new innocent world, this is the most beautiful world.

7

    Just as I walked into the reading world, an unexpected thing hit me hard.

    I haven't seen the assorted old man for several days, and even the old lady with the book stand is missing. I seem to have lost my soul and lost my spiritual support.

Whenever I pass by the place where I once placed a book stand and a grocery stand, I will bite my lips, and I will numbly shed tears, I do not know what happened.

I used to go to the small attic under the stairs where the assorted old man lived, and the door had been sealed. I want to ask the neighbors, but I feel a misfortune in advance, and I hope not to hear this unfortunate news.

But the unfortunate news is still here.

One Saturday evening, when I came home from school and passed the alley, the old lady with the book stand suddenly appeared in front of me. I began to be amazed by her face. I had never seen such a somber and somber face.

She told me that she had been waiting for me for a long time.

   "he died."

    The old lady shook her teethless mouth and stared at me dullly.

   "I'm going to the country because some people don't allow me to stay in the city."

The old woman's dull eyes became sad and melancholy. I grabbed her hand and said desperately, "Why? Why?"

    The old woman did not answer. She let go of my hand, from the backpack, from a faded backpack embroidered with a little rose, took out a carton, and tremblingly handed the carton to my hand Going up, tear-filled eyes looked at me: "Boy, this is what he gave you. Before he died, he said to me that he must hand it over to you, keep it as a commemoration, and hope that you will study well and don’t forget it in the future. he……"

    I opened the carton tremblingly. In the carton were the earthen toys I made myself, the earthen toys I once mocked assorted old men, and I believed that the old people had sold them for me. All earth toys!

I cried!

There was a bone spur and a hot iron embedded in my throat.

    It was dark, so dark, that the entire city seemed to overturn in thick ink, and the turbid and depressed black made people breathless.

Since then, I can no longer see the thin, assorted old man selling groceries; and since then, I have never seen the ugly old lady in the book stand.

The departure of the two old people left a deep rift in my heart, which could not be bridged. As soon as I thought of them, my heart would bleed, and my blood would be red...