Seven thirty in the evening, cafe in the lighthouse.
"Well, let's start. We can have a brief exchange. First, let's talk about the book I read recently." The crew-cut boy in a blue fine-striped shirt smiled politely at the stranger at the table.
"Let's start with me. I recently read Doris Lessing's Golden Notebook, about two-thirds of the way through." The round-faced girl sitting next to her raised her little finger and gently supported the slender Spectacle frames, after scanning the people on the table, he added leisurely, "It can be regarded as a work of contemplating the fate of women."
"Sounds good." The crew-haired boy nodded in agreement, and quickly responded, "I recently read a pre-publicized murder case by Marquez. The theme is to discuss fate. Very concise, the language is a bit cold and humorous."
"Ah, why are all the books you read so profound?" The next person who spoke was sitting diagonally across from the crew-haired boy, a delicate girl with a slightly reserved face, her voice was soft, with a bit of self-deprecating tone, "I I read a lot of popular literature, and recently I am reading Long Yingtai's Watching, and I feel that her writing is simple and beautiful, very touching, suitable for people like me who are studying abroad and often homesick."
There was a slight pause after the three of them finished talking. After a few seconds, they all looked at the only remaining girl who did not speak. He concluded that she was the only beautiful woman with a good figure among the three girls present. She happened to be the tall type he liked, with simple clothes and a good temperament.
Seeing that she didn't seem to speak for a long time, the boy with short hair leaned forward and said softly, "This female classmate who is in deep thought, how about you?"
The girl who was named slowly raised her head, showing a serious look in her eyes, and said honestly after thinking about it: "I haven't read anything else for a long time except professional books."
"No way?" The crew-haired boy couldn't forget to stare at her fair and quiet face, "But this is a book exchange meeting in the same city. I thought only people who like reading would come to participate."
The implication is, if you don't love reading, what are you doing.
The girl replied: "The introduction on the Internet doesn't seem to emphasize this point. Only people who like reading can come to the exchange meeting, right?"
She spoke slowly, her tone was slightly flat, her attitude was steady, and she didn't mean to be joking, which immediately made everyone at the table puzzled.
"That's what you said." The flat-haired boy smiled, and his attitude was deliberately intimacy, "You can definitely come here to make friends, and no one will object. By the way, your surname is Bai, and your name is Ziren, right? I remember correctly If so, this is a blind medicine that can cure insomnia."
He started to strike up a conversation with ease, completely ignoring the frown of the round-faced girl sitting next to him.
"That's right." Bai Ziren immediately averted his gaze after revealing the truth.
"You said that you haven't read a book for a long time." The nostalgic girl who loves to read Long Yingtai sitting on Bai Ziren's right turned her face, and returned to the topic in a regular manner, "How long is it? I want to know What was the last book you read?"
"The last book?" Bai Ziren replied after a short pause, "Momo River, I read it in the first year of high school."
However, judging from the confused expressions on the faces of the other three people, none of them knew anything about the book.
"Momo's River? Who wrote it? What type?" The delicate girl expressed interest.
"The author is He Mo." Bai Ziren said while recalling, "In terms of genre, it should be regarded as youth literature."
After the words fell, the round face on the opposite side let out an inaudible grin, and commented: "No wonder I haven't heard of it. I never read youth literature. Forgive me for not being able to understand the meaning of such books."
The flat-headed boy shook his head: "I don't agree with what you say. There is a reason for the existence of a class of books. Survival of the fittest, or they will be eliminated long ago, don't they? As far as I know, many people like this type of books. "
The delicate girl touched her nose, and shyly agreed: "Actually, I also liked to watch it when I was in high school. I watched a lot."
The round face was a little unbelievable: "We are not sitting here today to discuss youth literature, are we?"
The short-haired boy shrugged: "Why not, there is no distinction between high and low in reading, and you don't have to reject it."
"If that's the case, I can only say that there is no mutual agreement." The round face stood up solemnly, picked up the bag hanging on the back of the chair and prepared to leave, with a straightforward attitude, "I'd better find a quiet place to study alone."
After one of them left, the remaining three chatted for more than 20 minutes. Soon, the delicate girl was urged to go back by a phone call. Before she left, she even said she was sorry. Afterwards, the short-haired boy kept trying to chat with Bai Ziren. Others, but soon realized that she had a dull personality, was not good at words, and obviously showed no interest in what he said. After repeated setbacks, she was depressed, and she didn't want to waste time on unproductive feelings. She had an excuse to take a step ahead.
This Friday's city reading exchange meeting ended without a problem.
Bai Ziren sat alone in the original position, with her hands on the table, her back straight, her eyes drooping, staring at a natural scar in the center of the wooden table for a long time, and finally stood up when the melodious music played on the first floor, carrying the He picked up his schoolbag, walked downstairs, and quickly left the three-story cafe.
Sure enough, it was difficult for her who had some social barriers to communicate with strangers she had never met before. In front of a strange face, she didn't know what to say, and she didn't even have any desire to communicate in her heart.
Although this situation has persisted faintly for many years, it tends to worsen recently. She has checked some online information on this, and plans to adopt the advice of people who have experienced it, participate in some activities in the same city, and force herself to face strangers and try to communicate with them.
After searching all the relevant information, she was at the end of Siwei Road. She was very helpless and only found this reading exchange meeting. The only luck is that the location is not far from her dormitory, only one stop away from the end of Siwei Road. This one is called Lighthouse. She had passed by the third-floor cafe in the cafe before, and she only felt the strong aroma of coffee beans coming out of it, but she never thought of going in for a cup of coffee and taking a break. In the casual living room, old-fashioned projectors are often used to play black and white movies, and occasionally some city-wide activities are held, such as reading exchanges.
It's just that it's different from the imagined scene. She thought that there would be at least ten people, but only four people came. It didn't even take half an hour. Everyone felt that the conversation was not speculative and ended in a hurry.
Perhaps now, sharing the experience of a book with a stranger at the same table without a destination is a fantasy in itself, not to mention that she has not read an extracurricular book for many years. She spends all her time on her studies. She is meticulous and accurate, so she has achieved excellent results in every stage. She is the first in the city in the high school entrance examination, and she is recommended for the college entrance examination. She entered the city's industrial university and studied for four years. Biological science, and then passed the postgraduate entrance examination, and now I am studying a bacteriology, life is step-by-step, no surprises or joys.
This kind of life is very safe, and she didn't feel any bad. Until the past two months, she realized that she had less and less idea of communicating with others. Excessive silence brought troubles to her studies and life. When the mentor looked at her with clear doubts, she rarely felt uneasy.
She didn't know why it became like this, but she knew that she didn't want to continue in this state, and wanted to take some actions to get herself out.
Back in the dormitory, Bai Ziren took out the novel "The Momo River" that he had read in the first year of high school from a corner of the bookcase.
The blue and white book cover, the cover is a hand-painted river, there is a small bridge on the river, there are trees beside the bridge, and flowers under the tree, the overall atmosphere is soft and light, the title of the book is in pen font, and the four characters fall on the right side, The whole book has a total of 262 pages from beginning to end, which is not long.
Because I bought it seven years ago, the book is old over the years, and there is an obvious crease on the back. The pages of the book are pale yellow like fallen leaves, and you can feel the slight roughness when you stick your fingertips on it.
With the help of the bedside lamp, Bai Ziren re-read the book he liked in high school again.
This book is a bit semi-autobiographical. It tells the story of a girl named He Mo who traveled around the world after leaving school. She saw the sea, crossed the desert, and passed through barren or beautiful scenery. A somewhat boyish girl fell in love with a handsome and melancholy rock and roll uncle, experienced happiness and was hurt, and finally returned home tired and reunited with her family.
In the ending of the book, that hearty girl became He Mo’s best friend, and the family who has always loved her is still by her side, only the rock music uncle is missing, probably expressing a certain theme, friendship, affection and love, the most What is firm is family affection, what is calmest is friendship, and what is most changeable is love.
Bai Ziren's favorite book at the time was not because he envied He Mo's freedom and uninhibitedness. To be honest, she didn't agree with the life He Mo chose. Compared with adventure and the unknown, she advocated reason and science more, but the reason why she liked this book Books, in the final analysis, what they are obsessed with is just a character in the book, He Mo's elder brother He Yan.
That elder brother who is always gentle, generous, and just, has a clear and clear mind, and his heart is as beautiful as his appearance. He will say when He Mo encounters any difficulties: "It's okay, I will solve it."
He silently fulfilled all the obligations of an older brother, and he gave He Mo the most complete and pure family affection. With such a relative, He Mo's inner world is complete no matter how incomplete it is.
From the beginning to the end, Bai Ziren only likes him, this supporting role who is not important in the whole book, and is very likely to be He Mo's fictitious character, which actually brings her a real sense of joy. Over and over again, she became obsessed with all the details related to him, exploring the past word by word, with a subtle emotion of enlightenment.
Love book people.
It's absurd to say that she has never been in love, nor has she ever pursued a star. The only love fantasy object in her entire youth turned out to be a character in a book.
Isn't it kind of... silly
Under the light, the words on the yellowed pages of the book seemed to be blurred, as they walked farther and farther away, Bai Ziren rubbed his eyes, closed the book, and placed it beside the pillow.
It was very late, there was no sound outside the window, and she could hear her own breathing clearly.
Looking around this tidy room, there is always a chilly atmosphere that cannot be shaken off. It is really a coincidence that on the first day she moved in, she was notified that her roommate in the same room had to suspend school due to a temporary family accident. For one year, the double dormitory temporarily became a single dormitory. This fact made many students envious.
Then it turned out that living alone in a space where no one could talk would only make her more and more closed off.
For a long time, except for the necessary communication, she could not take the initiative to talk to others, and could concentrate on doing her own things, and she didn't feel that time was too much. Day after day, the days were rushing like leaves falling in autumn and winter. It flowed silently.
Another Friday, the afternoon class ended early, after dinner, Bai Ziren decided to go to the cafe in the lighthouse again.
But she didn't expect that there would be no one else in this week's book exchange meeting except her. She sat alone for an hour, drank two cups of hot drinks, and finally went to the bar downstairs to pay the bill.
There is a transparent glass bookcase with sliding doors at the turn of the stairs from the second floor to the first floor, and there are all kinds of books. There are several movie posters on the wall above. From left to right, there are Quiet on the Western Front, Ben-Hur, Sunset Avenue and The bike thief.
On the way down the stairs, Bai Ziren heard a bang on the first floor.
Then came the annoyed voice of the waitress at the bar: "I screwed up everything, what should I do?!"
Stepping down the wooden stairs, Bai Ziren came across a small accident. There was an open wooden box on the floor in front of the bar. There were many books neatly placed in the box. Next to the wooden box was a broken A glass jug, in front of which a man is bent over, inspecting books for water stains.
"It's all my fault, I'm really stupid!" The waitress sighed in vain, and then bent down, "These books are all going to be destroyed now, what should I do now, should I move them first?" Go to the ventilated place, I should go find a hair dryer, or have any other remedies, if Manager Zhang finds out... "
The man calmly interrupted her chatter: "Is there an iron?"
The waitress suddenly said, "I'll go find one."
She turned her back, opened the drawer and looked for the keys, a little flustered: "It's over if Manager Zhang finds out."
The man picked up a book, stood up slowly, dusted a corner of the book, and said softly, "It's okay, I'll take care of it."
Bai Ziren stayed two meters away from the bar, and was thinking about paying the bill. Hearing this sentence, the movement of his hands froze, his eyes turned to the past, and he looked up at the man standing opposite him.
With a clear face, downcast eyes, a handsome nose, and a slightly fair complexion, he is a handsome man with a very good temperament.
When the other party noticed her gaze, polite eyes cast on her face.
"I'll pay the bill." Bai Ziren looked straight at him, unable to look away.
He nodded, turned around and walked into the bar, and told the waitress to take care of the guests, and he came to find the key.
The waitress breathed a sigh of relief, put on a smile, and quickly settled the bill for Bai Ziren.
While Bai Ziren was paying, out of the corner of his eye, he followed the man's slender and tall figure uncontrollably, until he found the key in the drawer, left the bar alone, and went straight upstairs. She was still standing there.
The waitress seemed to have gotten used to most of the girls seeing the handsome guy in their store looking dazed, so she smiled to herself and didn't make a sound to remind her.
After half a minute, Bai Ziren came back to his senses, remembering that he should have left here long ago.