On the weekend, Yan Jiecheng decided to go to the bookstore.
He will show more and more abilities in the future, and the only explanation is reading.
Therefore, he should develop the habit of reading and collecting books.
If you want others to believe it, you must first believe it yourself.
After exiting the alley and crossing the Drum Tower, Yan Jiecheng headed straight to the east.
In less than ten minutes, we arrived at Dongzhimen Inner Street.
In addition to avoiding trolleybuses and buses on the road, Yan Jiecheng went on a rampage.
After all, there will be no red street lights, and there will be an endless stream of ox carts, donkey carts, and horse carriages along the way.
Seeing the Dongzhimen Tower in sight, Yan Jiecheng was filled with emotion.
Now all that is left of the Dongzhimen Gate Tower is the tower. The tower has three drops of water, double eaves, and a hilltop. The gray tube tiles and green glazed tiles are trimmed along the sides. Animals roam the ridges of the walls. There are horse trails on both sides of the inner walls of the tower.
The urn city and the arrow tower have long disappeared.
This summer, in order to facilitate transportation, a gap was opened on the north side of the city tower, the watchtower platform was dismantled, and the urn city and the watchtower were completely demolished.
At that time, Yan Jiecheng was just like the residents nearby. He comes here every night and steals bricks every day.
Of course, there is no means of transportation and not much can be stolen.
There is a Xinhua Bookstore on Dongzhimen Street, and Yan Jiecheng spent half an hour shopping there.
I purchased a set of industrial design and basic mechanical introductory books.
There are no books related to railways.
Later I saw a set of "Music Appreciation Series" and the "Oral Organ Learning Manual" issued by Shanghai Tonghui Publishing House.
When I was going to check out, I saw a row of comics listed on the counter.
I pulled it out out of curiosity and looked through it, and yo, it turned out to be Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House.
Yan Jiecheng read it with gusto. From the characters' joy, anger, sorrow, and gestures, to the carved pillars of the palace, the military operations, and the battles and victories on the battlefield, the comic strips were all described in detail and lifelike, making people unable to put it down.
"Hey, what about you, do you want to buy it? You want to see it when you take it home, and don't rip it apart for me." A female shop assistant in her thirties shouted to Yan Jiecheng.
Yan Jiecheng was not angry, closed the book and said quickly: "I'll buy it, I'll buy it."
Yan Jiecheng knew about this comic book series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and started publishing it in the fourth quarter of 1956.
This year, due to some reasons, drafting, creation and other work have been stopped.
Later, it was not until 1962 that the creation work of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was resumed. By 1964, all 60 volumes were finally published.
Therefore, the comic strip Yan Jiecheng saw was only half a set of 34 volumes.
I paid the bill at the counter, the total was six yuan and thirty-five cents, and the comic book alone was three yuan and forty cents.
It made Yan Jiecheng feel distressed for a long time.
Along the inner street of Dongzhimen, there is a narrow-fronted house with a Chinese bookstore facing the street.
Yan Jiecheng entered the door and saw bookshelves along the wall on the left and right, with books written densely and high.
The space between the two rows of bookshelves is enough for two people to stand back-to-back in front of the bookshelves and flip through the books. If a third person comes over, all three of them will have to turn aside to make it through.
It was already very crowded, so a checkout counter was set up on the right hand side of the entrance on the first floor, half the size of a table.
Yan Jiecheng walked through the cashier's desk. There was a staircase next to it and he went up to the second floor.
The second floor suddenly opens up, with an area of about 100 to 200 square meters, and a row of windows facing the street. While reading a book, you can watch the people on the street downstairs. It feels like a quiet place in the middle of the hustle and bustle.
Yan Jiecheng saw that the bookshelves were filled with cheap picture albums, copybooks, notes, unofficial histories, essays and the like. The printing and binding were also sloppy. There was no definite edition, and there was no so-called collection value.
Yan Jiecheng didn't know which books were worth collecting, so he just treated them as a treasure hunt based on luck.
After searching for a while, I found a manuscript of recipes called Zhihuang Shanji.
The exposed area is filled with the chef’s experience, and it looks like the handwriting is that of two different people.
From the information on the title page, we know that this recipe was mainly collected, created and compiled by a person who calls himself Zhihuang.
Yan Jiecheng saw that the narrative in the book was vivid and interesting, so he put the manuscript away and bought it later.
After shopping around, he finally found a box full of manuscripts. He looked at it carefully and found that it was the original manuscript of railway design. He exclaimed in his heart: This one looks good, this one is good.
Seeing that there was nothing he liked, Yan Jiecheng paid the bill and left the bookstore, and bought a flute in front of a small stall.
On the way home, I stopped by the trust store and bought a harmonica.
Just like this, more than ten yuan disappeared along the way, which was enough for two people to eat for a month.
The third aunt in the family was chattering again, calculating how much corn flour, how many sweet potatoes, and how long they could be eaten for more than ten yuan.
At noon, Yan Jiedi made a fuss about eating white flour steamed buns. Yan Jiecheng pinched Yan Jiedi's face and said, "You little guy, I'm afraid you won't be able to eat these two noodles in the future."
Yan Bugui has made up his mind that everyone in the family will eat sweet potatoes from now on.
Sweet potato rice, sweet potato steamed buns, you can’t live without sweet potatoes.
In the afternoon, Yan Jiecheng took the bus out of the city and headed towards Zuojiazhuang.
It arrived in less than an hour.
I got off the car and walked for a while. It was the coldest month of winter and there were no people on the country roads.
Along the way, villages are dotted like stars. There are small villages with seven or eight households, and large villages with dozens or hundreds of people.
After walking for about an hour, covering four or five kilometers, we finally arrived at Zuojiazhuang.
There are several households in one village, and visiting relatives and friends relies on walking, which makes both legs collapse from exhaustion.
There are more than thirty families in Zuojiazhuang, all named Zuo, all of the same clan.
Yan Jiecheng is looking for Yan Bugui's cousin Zuo Linhe.
Zuo Linhe is the accountant of the brigade and has some skills. In the past, the Yan family always turned to him in exchange for food.
"The solution is here, come inside and warm yourself up."
There is not much farm work in the village in the middle of winter. Dogs don't even care if it's cold outside, and everyone hides in the house.
After entering the house, I took off my shoes and got on the kang.
A warm current spread from his butt to his whole body, and Yan Jiecheng suddenly felt that the fatigue from the journey was swept away.
The cousin looked at the two bottles of Erguotou that Yan Jiecheng placed on the table, and was more than a little curious.
You must know that your cousin is the most calculating. Although I didn't suffer a loss every time I exchanged food, I didn't take advantage either.
When have you ever seen someone bring gifts to your home? How strange!
"Xie Cheng, what are you doing?"
Yan Jiecheng saw his cousin's face looked strange, so he told him about working in a steel rolling mill.
"Okay, okay, my cousin will definitely drink this wine. Now that you are working, your dad will be able to relax. It's really not easy for your dad to raise your family all by himself over the years."
The two chatted for a while, and then the cousin asked his aunt to watch outside the door.
My cousin took the soles and sat at the door to bask in the sun, pulling the soles.
The two people in the room started talking.
"Now every household in the village has had their food taken away, and they all eat together in a big pot. Most people don't have any extra food to exchange for." My cousin puffed away at the cigarette.
"It is estimated that only a few cadres in the village and the cook on the stove have food in stock."
After hearing what his cousin Zuo Linhe said, Yan Jiecheng was shocked. It's strange, cooks everywhere these days are indispensable for stealing.
