Chapter 158
Every time I wanted to share with him, he just didn't come back.
Wang Jiazhi went downstairs to eat a few slices of bread, drank some boiled water, and continued upstairs to study the box of old books.
She loves old books, perhaps because she loves stories from the past. As a child, she loved visiting used bookstores. Those old books seemed to take her back to a time long, long ago, a time that had quietly passed, a time she had never experienced or had become a blur.
Whenever she comes across a book, she would check the printing time.
"This one was when I was three, this one was when I was six, and this one was when I was born two years later..."
To this day, she still calculates her age based on her studies.
She found a few pages of manuscript inside, and the handwriting was his, although the ink was very light.
It is a sequel to "Border Town".
This book is a serene and simple utopia, though somewhat sad at the end, especially the death of the old man who steered the ferry.
The old man's daughter committed suicide with her lover after giving birth to Cuicui. An old man in his seventies, a fourteen-year-old girl, and a yellow dog made a living by ferrying people. Although their life was poor, they lived a peaceful and happy life.
But the old man knew that he didn't have much time left, and before he died, he hoped to find a good home for his granddaughter.
The two sons of the ship owner both liked Cuicui. When the eldest son knew that Cuicui liked the second son, he went out to do business in order to heal his sorrow, but he accidentally fell into the water and died on the way.
The ship owner and the second son both blamed Cuicui and her grandson for the eldest son's death, believing that they were the ones who killed their eldest son.
Not only did he refuse the marriage, but his second son also left.
The old man was deeply shocked and died with hatred on a stormy night.
Cuicui was alone guarding the ferry waiting for her second son to come back.
The novel ends by saying that he may or may not come back.
Wang Jiazhi disliked the ship owner's family very much. He became the ship owner because of his high moral character and prestige. However, when it was clearly a matter concerning his two sons, he blamed others for his sons' deaths.
It seems that the Shang Dynasty fell because of Daji, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang became incompetent because of Yang Guifei. Everything is caused by beautiful women.
The second son didn't like Cuicui that much either. When the two brothers were fighting over her, they seemed to like each other very much. But when one of them died, the other would immediately become vicious, as if the other was the enemy who killed his brother.
She thought that if it were her, she would rather guard the ferry alone for the rest of her life than marry such a man.
She opened his manuscript curiously.
Most men would have thought this was a beautiful story, like the story of a woman waiting for her husband to return. Cuicui must have been eagerly waiting for her second son to return, so that they could get married and live out her days as a loving wife and mother. If he didn't return, she would have waited in sorrow and loneliness for the rest of her life, until she grew old and faded, and finally died.
Wang Jiazhi opened the manuscript and thought, is that the only man left in the world?
To her surprise, he also seemed very dissatisfied with the ship owner and his family.
In the sequel, Cuicui waits for the two elders, but they do not come back for a long time. The sadness and loneliness make her sober up. She realizes that if it were not for them, Grandpa might not have died so quickly.
From then on, she refused everything the ship owner and his family sent her. Even when the ship owner told her he would marry her when the old man returned, she vehemently refused, saying she would never marry the old man and even asking the big yellow dog to bite the messenger.
She operated the ferry day after day, just like when her grandfather was alive, carrying the bride's sedan chair, people going to the city for the market, and merchants going to the mountains from one side of the river to the other.
Once when she was rowing a ferry, she met a young man who was going to the city. Later, they became familiar with each other, and the young man said that he was willing to row the ferry with her.
They got married, and there were only two people and a yellow dog on the ferry again.
Later, the old man came back. He was very sad to know that Cuicui was married and wanted Cuicui to leave with him. Cuicui asked the yellow dog to bite him. He did not marry the girl from the mill and left again. Maybe he would come back in ten or eight years, or maybe he would never come back.
Wang Jiazhi felt very happy after watching it, and more importantly, she felt relieved.
Think of the pitiful old man, with only one daughter, who committed suicide after giving birth in her teens. Such a tragedy, seeing a young woman die in her old age. To raise his granddaughter, he toiled as a ferryman at such an advanced age. Despite his tragic life, he didn't complain, but continued to diligently operate the ferry, treating everyone with kindness and courtesy. He simply wanted his granddaughter to marry the man she loved, but he was attacked and harmed by the ferryman's family, leading to a tragic death.
If Cuicui had any heart, she would rather remain single than marry the ship owner's family.
This guy wrote in his usual handwriting on the first few pages, but it was obvious that he was excited and happy when he wrote the last page. Maybe he felt the pleasure of revenge, so he wrote a few lines of Slender Gold Script, then a few lines of Zhang Xu's Cursive Script, a few lines of Wang Xizhi's Running Script, and then a few more lines of...
That person's handwriting was probably imitated. That person's handwriting was very beautiful, and many people around him liked to imitate it.
Wang Jiazhi felt disappointed. He had never imagined that following this person would lead to such a result.
The kitten jumped into the box, and Wang Jiazhi fished it out. Cats really like to crawl into boxes.
She thought to herself that this guy really liked showing off his calligraphy. No wonder he always said that he didn't have enough paper to practice calligraphy when he was young.
The next evening he came back and she took out the box of books to share with him.
He picked up the book and smiled, "This one, I was really sad at the time."
His expression was soft, as if he was remembering that time.
She took out a copy and said, "This person only has one copy."
He opened it and saw the words written on the title page: Zi Qi.
He touched the book gently and thought of other things.
"This belongs to a friend of mine. We studied in Japan together. He's a very nice guy."
"That……"
"He's been gone for a long time, but now I think about it, it might be a good thing. He's finished his life, and he got what he deserved. He can finally put his life to rest sooner rather than later."
When he was sad, she didn't know what to say, so she would either hug him or hold his hand.
He quickly came out of his thoughts of the past. Like her, he didn't dare to stay in the past for too long.
He told her the story of the box of books. Back then, when there were many people, everyone would put their books on the communal shelves, write their names on them, and whoever wanted to read could take it and return it afterward. Later, when their group was moving, the other two forgot to retrieve their books, so he remembered and put them in this box. Over the years, they would still see each other, but either the box was gone or they were too full to carry it, so it ended up here anyway. Because there was still some space, he later stuffed some manuscripts and other books in there.
He laughed and said, "I've been wandering around for so many years, more than 20 years, and this box is still here."
Wang Jiazhi looked at the books of these people. Although his was flipped a lot, it had almost no curling. The borrowers must have treasured it very much. The other one had some serious curling, but also a lot of smudges. It must be that he didn't pay attention. The one with the book cover was very new. He probably didn't want to lend it to others, but if he didn't give it to others, he would seem stingy. So no one else wrapped the book in a cover, but he did. It was just plain white paper with the title written on it in block letters, as if to say "I cherish it, please don't read it, it's damaged." The book was newer than the others. Perhaps everyone understood his intention and simply didn't flip through it to avoid trouble. But the pages were curled and dirty, probably his own doing.
She mentioned who likes to read this kind of book.
He picked up the book wrapped in a yellowed and tattered cover with a complicated expression, the most obvious of which was helplessness and disdain.
"This person just loves to read such boring books. A grown man, he reads in the middle of the night and sobs. You can hear it from the neighbors next door."
Wang Jiazhi was stunned.
A lovesick boy who dares not confess his love to a girl and can only scribble and draw her portrait on the pages of a book; a nasty guy who drinks and beats people, is conceited, neurotic and narrow-minded, likes to read cheesy novels and cry under the covers; a heroic spirit who dies young and sacrifices his life for his country.
There is also him among this group of people, who has to take a comprehensive view of the overall situation and mediate, which gives him a headache, but he is also happy to watch the fun.
Although his role was that the excitement was theirs and had nothing to do with him, it was obvious that when he was young, he felt that, apart from his good friend who sacrificed his life for the country, he still found the excitement of others interesting.
Through this medium-sized rattan box, she seemed to see scenes of his life when he was young.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
