Bai Luochuan woke up early the next morning, waiting with great anticipation for Mi Yang to take away the two heavy hardcover books that were pressed down on him, waiting to read the book "Draft on Ancient Characters" from yesterday.
After Mi Yang moved it, he pulled out the absorbent paper that he had put in yesterday, and tidied it up a little before taking it out for observation. The corners of this thirty-year-old book had been flattened, and the places that had been repaired with glue yesterday were also very solid. Because a layer of rice paper straw pulp mixed with white hyacinth water glue was used to paste it, the color was powdered like a layer of pulp, and it looked a little "cleaner", but the rice paper used was soaked in black tea, and the color was slightly yellowish, and it didn't look obviously new.
It lay quietly in Mi Yang's hand, looking very natural. The pages that were originally loose had all been closed, and the "sick book" had been cured. Now it looked like an ordinary old book of the eighth grade.
Bai Luochuan was a little surprised and said, "The corners of the book are flat!"
Mi Yang smiled and said, "Of course, I've been suppressing it all night."
Bai Luochuan also looked at the book again and again. He found that it was not what he thought. It was not a brand new book that appeared in front of him, nor was it the brand new ones in the bookstore. Instead, it looked like it had been there naturally for a long time, without being broken or repaired.
Mi Yang asked him, "What's wrong?"
Bai Luochuan frowned and said, "Well, the fallen pages are stuck together..."
Mi Yang put it in his hand and said with satisfaction: "Yes, isn't it very strong?"
Master Bai looked at it over and over again. It was the same, but also a little different. He looked at it for a long time and said in confusion, "I thought it would turn white and be the same as new."
Mi Yang was happy and said, "Then it's not called repair, it's called renovation, which is different."
Bai Luochuan gestured and said, "Why didn't you clean it yesterday? I saw there was a lot of detergent left."
Mi Yang shook his head, touched the book lovingly, and said with crooked eyes: "No, Grandpa Wei likes it, maybe he likes it the way it is now. After so many years, the pages inside it have turned yellow, so let it remain as it should be now."
Bai Luochuan didn't quite understand and frowned for a long time without saying anything. However, when Mi Yang wasn't paying attention, he secretly touched the pages of the book with his fingers and wiped it. After making sure that the old book was not dirty, he relaxed his frown and took the book calmly.
Mi Yang watched all these little movements of his out of the corner of his eye. If it were in the past, he would definitely pay more attention to Master Bai and not show off these things in front of him, thinking that Master Bai was picking on him again. But now he just wanted to have fun, and even went over to ask him: "Commander Bai, you were crawling on the ground during the battle, why don't you think the dirt is dirty?"
Bai Luochuan frowned and said awkwardly, "I'm afraid your eyes will hurt. If they get red, you'll have to go see a doctor again."
Mi Yang was stunned. In the spring, there were too many catkins and his eyes became a little red. It took several days to heal. At that time, he stayed at home for a long time and the kindergarten was closed for nearly a week. He had suffered from such minor ailments several times since he was a child, and he couldn't even remember them all. He didn't expect that Young Master Bai still remembered them clearly.
He reached out and touched Bai Luochuan's little head, grinning and saying, "Don't worry, I washed my hands very cleanly, and they won't get into my eyes again."
Bai Luochuan looked like he didn't believe him, and pouted, "But you were blinded last night."
Mi Yang said: "It's okay, just help me blow it."
Bai Luochuan thought about it, nodded and said, "Okay."
Mi Yang put a few more sheets of absorbent paper between the pages of the book, put the book back to its original place, and followed Bai Luochuan downstairs to have breakfast.
On Sunday, Mi Yang's main job was to change the absorbent paper, and he also took the time to do his homework.
Primary school students usually rush to finish their weekend homework on Sunday night, and Mi Yang and his classmates are no exception. They spend too much time fiddling with their books during the day, and by the time they remember to do their homework, it is already six or seven in the evening.
The two of them sat at one end of the small desk, brought two wooden chairs over, and buried their heads in their homework.
Bai Luochuan usually seems to be quite playful, but he also has strong self-control. When he is busy with something, he usually won't be distracted and can finish his homework in one go.
Mi Yang's writing was even simpler. After finishing the few test papers handed out by the teacher, he ran to continue fiddling with his books.
After Bai Luochuan finished writing, he found a test paper when he was packing his schoolbag. He quickly took it and said, "Xiaoguai, this is what the math teacher asked me to give you before. I forgot about it."
Mi Yang took it and took a look. It was a practice test paper for the elementary school mathematics Olympiad. The difficulty of the questions seemed to be that of a third or fourth grader.
In the 1990s, mathematics Olympiad competitions were very popular all over the country. There were many mathematics Olympiad questions in the newspapers at that time, and there were also many competitions. Many teachers kept talking about words like "Hua Luogeng Cup". Students and parents talked about this. If a child could represent the school in the mathematics Olympiad competition, it would definitely be a proud thing, and they would walk with their heads held high.
Moreover, many local schools also take Mathematical Olympiad scores into account when taking the high school entrance exam. Students who get first place in the Mathematical Olympiad will be allowed to enter key middle schools as an exception, even if their scores in other subjects are particularly poor, and their school selection fees will be waived.
This is an era when every street and alley is shouting "Learn math, physics and chemistry well, and you won't be afraid to travel around the world", and people's enthusiasm is in full swing.
Mi Yang's class also selected several people to participate in the competition. It is said that together with the fourth grade, the head teacher, Mr. Wang, specially selected several students with good math scores to participate. They usually did not attend classes in the afternoon. Everyone looked at them with envy, thinking that the students who went to study Mathematical Olympiad were particularly smart. Mi Yang took the test when he skipped a grade and his grades were very good, but he was not selected by Mr. Wang.
But apparently the math teacher who had taught him for a month felt it was a pity and couldn't help but ask Bai Luochuan to send him a test paper.
Mi Yang took the test paper in his hand and took a look at it. Elementary school mathematics Olympiad was not difficult. Many of the questions looked familiar and brought back many memories. After getting the test paper, he buried his head and started answering the questions.
Mi Yang remembered that if he won the first place in the Mathematical Olympiad, many schools would give him some bonus. Now all he had were a few coins, which together amounted to less than two dollars, so he still had high hopes for the bonus.
Bai Luochuan looked at him and said, "Xiaoguai, are you going to participate in the competition too?"
Mi Yang said vaguely: "Not necessarily."
He was unsure about the competition, but after he finished these questions, maybe he could wait for another half a year, perform well in class, and skip a grade, and wait until he entered junior high school. He didn't tell Bai Luochuan about this. In his plan, according to his original memory, his family should return to Shanhai Town in two years. Bai Luochuan should have left earlier than him. After all, Mrs. Bai would not let her only son study here forever.
Thinking about the separation in the future, Mi Yang suddenly felt a little reluctant.
I was a little distracted while doing the last few questions. After I finally finished them, I washed up, climbed onto the bed, pushed Master Bai who was lying down playing the game console, and asked him to get up and talk to me.
Bai Luochuan was still looking down at the game console and asked casually, "What's wrong?"
Mi Yang looked at him, opened his mouth, and changed the words on his lips: "If we don't study in the same school in the future, let's write letters, right?"
Bai Luochuan put down the game console in his hand and ignored the half-played Tetris. He looked up at him and frowned, "Where are you going now?"
Mi Yang said: "It doesn't have to be me, what if you go back to Shanghai to study?"
Bai Luochuan sneered, and was no longer as vigilant as before. He picked up the game console and continued playing: "I'm not going back."
Mi Yang asked: "What if?"
Bai Luochuan said simply and completely: "Impossible."
Mi Yang: "If my parents take me back to my hometown and we don't go to the same school, I will write to you. How about we be pen pals? I heard from Tang Xiao that it is very popular in senior grades to find pen pals in magazines and write letters to each other, which is also good."
Bai Luochuan put the game console down again and asked the key point: "Who is Tang Xiao?"
Mi Yang: "It's my new deskmate. No, I didn't tell you about Tang Xiao. I meant writing a letter."
Bai Luochuan said, "Don't write. Don't learn from that Tang Xiao. What's the point of writing letters? You're with me." He thought for a moment and added, "You can use the home phone to call your parents. When we go to junior high school and live on campus, I'll ask my mom to give me a cell phone and let you call home every night."
Mi Yang: “…”
Mi Yang thought, your arrangement is quite comprehensive, you have arranged a five-year plan in one go.
Mi Yang couldn't convince him and he was too lazy to bother with it. These were not things he could decide at the moment, so he just had to take it one step at a time.
By Monday evening, Wei Xian came back early.
Mi Yang agreed to do homework with Master Bai. When he saw Teacher Wei coming back early, he winked at Bai Luochuan, jumped down from the chair in front of the desk and ran back to the bedroom to get something.
Bai Luochuan stepped forward to help the teacher carry the things and said, "Grandpa Wei, I will give you a gift later, so don't open your eyes yet."
Wei Xian was familiar with the two of them, so he closed his eyes and let the child lead him in. He took a step forward as he listened to his words. He felt that he had entered the study room where they usually had classes. He couldn't help but ask, "What gift? Why did you two suddenly give me something? Did you not finish the homework you left behind?"
Bai Luochuan said, "How could that be? I have already written it down, and Xiaoguai and I have checked it with each other."
Wei Xian smiled and said, "Xiaoguai helped you check again? You have to work harder, or you won't be able to catch up!"
Bai Luochuan said confidently: "We can catch up!"
As he was talking, Mi Yang came back, put the book on Wei Xian's desk, stepped aside, and gestured to Bai Luochuan. Bai Luochuan said, "Grandpa Wei, it's okay, open your eyes and take a look."
Wei Xian opened his eyes and took a look. He was indeed in the study, but after looking around carefully, he found that there was nothing new there. Even the small ornaments on the table had not been changed. The book he had placed on the table when he left was still there - he glanced at the book and quickly moved his eyes back, blinking and staring at it. It was placed there too naturally, and he almost thought that the book was supposed to be like this.
Wei Xian didn't look at it at first, but later he realized that the book had been revised and was overjoyed: "What is this?"
Bai Luochuan said proudly: "Mi Yang repaired the book for you, it's very sturdy!"
Wei Xian only saw the cover, which looked slightly different from before, but when he heard them say that, his heart immediately skipped a beat, and he hurried over to take a look. When he opened the book, he was particularly worried that there would be some kind of transparent tape on it, but there wasn't, and the pages were smooth and clean. The whole book felt thicker and more solid, and it felt particularly reassuring to touch it in his hands. He suddenly said "Huh", shook the book, and said, "Why is it heavy?"
Mi Yang said: "It should be glue. I applied glue to the fallen pages and glued them back."
Hearing him say that, Wei Xian quickly picked it up and looked at it carefully, focusing on the middle seam. It was true. The glue was re-applied evenly. If he hadn't looked carefully, he wouldn't have noticed that it was newly applied. He reached out and touched it. The glue had dried, the two ends were neat, the spine was stiff, and the reinforcement was very good. Wei Xian couldn't help but touch it back and forth with his fingers. After touching the cover, he looked inside and saw that the dirt inside was gone. He was surprised and said, "It's much cleaner. The previous ink spots are gone!"
Mi Yang smiled and said nothing. Bai Luochuan puffed out his chest and said, "That's right, Xiaoguai wiped it for a whole day!"
Wei Xian kept saying, "Great, that's great." This book was his most treasured one, otherwise he wouldn't have carried it with him all the time. He was so satisfied with the repair effect, especially after closing the book. The newly added glue merged with the previously yellowed pages without any abruptness. Except for being a little hard, it looked as if it had always been like this.
After he calmed down, he suddenly remembered what Bai Luochuan said just now, and turned around and asked, "What? You said that Xiaoguai did it?" He had been with the two children for a long time, so he started to shout like that. He quickly turned around and asked again, "Did you really build this?"
Mi Yang rubbed the tip of his nose and nodded: "Yes, Grandpa Wei, do you think it's okay?"
Wei Xian thought this was great. He also knew a few book repairers, but they always made the books too white, which made him very unhappy. These books had been with him for many years and had been baptized by the years. After the half-white and half-yellow repairs, they looked particularly ugly. But Mi Yang's was very surprising. He waved Mi Yang over, holding his hands, bent down and asked him: "Little darling, tell the teacher, how did you do it?"
Mi Yang looked up at him and said, "I saw it on TV. I went home and practiced it several times and repaired a lot of things! TV also taught how to make little rabbit lanterns, and how to build houses with building blocks and matchsticks. They are all very interesting." He looked at the book, "But repairing books is still the most fun. It's like building blocks. You fill them with glue and realign them little by little. You can play for a long time and help others."
This was the excuse he had thought of early on. He had made two little rabbit lanterns for Bai Luochuan to play with, and they were still placed in the corner of the study. The little gadgets made of Lego blocks were also piled in the corner. Wei Xian had seen all of these.
Wei Xian had indeed seen Mi Yang's handicrafts. He had taken them to play with paper airplanes during their free time. The styles of the folded ones were complicated, and Mi Yang could basically master them in one go. This child showed extraordinary talent for this kind of thing that requires memory, repetition and patience.
But Wei Xian still didn't expect that he would be able to do this. With a little curiosity, he asked Mi Yang to teach him two tricks: "How do you remove the ink? Tell the teacher, I usually like to use a fountain pen, and I have accidentally stained it several times."
Mi Yang mixed some hot water and demonstrated to him using the soapy water he had prepared before. Wei Xian followed and carefully learned two moves, but this was too much of a test of details. He had big hands, and when he used tweezers to hold the cotton ball and wiped it, he kept shaking, and his waist hurt after a long time. After trying it himself and finding it difficult, he kept praising the two children, saying that they were thoughtful and it was not easy.
Wei Xian touched the repaired book and praised it highly, "Great! Xiaoguai's patience is so precious. He looks more focused than those jade carving apprentices. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought it was taken apart and reassembled. It's so well repaired. Is this glue that was applied with a thin stick? Is it all inside?"
Mi Yang nodded when he heard it and said, "Yes."
Bai Luochuan rolled his eyes and followed suit: "That's right."
The two of them had a little secret, looked at each other, and smiled secretly.
The better the book was restored, the less visible it was, so Wei Xian just thought it was solid and glued the loose pages back together, thinking that Mi Yang had never opened his book and had only filled it with glue. Later, when he showed it off to a friend at the National Library and was asked about Mi Yang's whereabouts, he learned how well the book had been restored, but that was many years later.
And now Wei Xian was just immersed in the joy of having his baby repaired, and he was still praising Mi Yang: "I've noticed from a long time ago that Xiaoguai has a talent for playing with building blocks. Even at such a young age, his hands are very steady, especially this attentiveness, he is even more dexterous than girls."
Before Mi Yang could answer, Bai Luochuan frowned and said, "Mi Yang is a boy."
Wei Xian smiled and said, "I'm just giving an example."
Bai Luochuan insisted: "He is a boy."
Teacher Wei stopped teasing them and nodded. Bookworms like them rarely have material demands, and if they do, they are mostly for their own books. Wei Xian touched his repaired book and looked at Mi Yang, the little kid, and said embarrassedly: "Little darling, if you are not busy with your homework, can you help the teacher take care of other books? I will give you money."
After saying this, Wei Xian felt a little guilty about employing child labor, and quickly said, "Or do you have something you want? The teacher will trade with you."
Mi Yang shook his head to indicate no, and asked him: "Grandpa Wei, is there any school where I can learn this little handicraft? I want to continue playing with this in the future."
Wei Xian thought about it and smiled, "Yes, there are. When you go to college in the future, you will find library science and archival science in these majors. One of my very good friends is a university professor who teaches this, specializing in ancient book restoration. Are you really interested in this?" Seeing the child nod seriously, he was also happy and said, "Okay, I will ask for you later and let the teacher teach you in advance. People must have a hobby first before they can be interested in this thing and study it."
Wei Xian was very happy and wrote a letter to his old friend on the spot. Because he was so happy today, he couldn't help but praise the little guy he was taking care of in the letter, and he wanted to praise it to the sky.
Mi Yang didn't have much expectation for this. He lay on the edge of the desk, looking at Wei Xian with sparkling eyes, and whispered: "Grandpa Wei, when you meet my parents, can you praise me in front of them? Just praise my handicrafts for being so good."
Wei Xian smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay."
Mi Yang was also happy. He edited this book for the first reason that he wanted to show off his skills, and the second reason was to prepare for many years to come and convince his parents in advance. There was no more suitable authority figure to speak here than Grandpa Wei!
The author has something to say: Thank you all for collecting the author’s column. I’ve added 2,000 words, making a total of 5,000 words!
In addition, there will be 2k words added tomorrow~