In the old bookstore that was converted from a garage, Wei Ran and Xia Shushi worked together and spun lies one after another on the spot, and finally managed to comfort the tearful Xia Chuan.
After helping Xia Shushi help the old man to sleep on the bed in a room on the first floor of the villa, the two young men of similar age breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's talk somewhere else"
Xia Shushi gently broke away from the hand held tightly by his grandfather Xia Chuan, greeted Wei Ran in a low voice and left the room. He sat on the sofa in the hall on the first floor and said apologetically, "It was all thanks to you just now."
"fine"
Wei Ran waved his hand and looked at the other party hesitantly, not knowing whether he should ask.
Xia Shushi sighed, "Our old man can't hear the four words 'Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea'. You think it's strange, he obviously doesn't even remember me. Every time he hears these four words, he can remember them."
Why do you think you are still fighting?"
"Why don't you take this opportunity to treat him?" Wei Ran asked puzzledly.
"That's fine. Although he doesn't remember anything now, at least he is living happily every day. If he is reminded of it like I just did, he will have to cry until he falls asleep every time."
Xia Shushi pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window and skillfully took out a box of cigarettes from the flower pot and gave it to him. Seeing Wei Ran's refusal, he then explained to himself, "My grandfather is almost eighty. He
No one in his body can withstand such a huge mood swing. It’s better to just leave it like this, and let him live a relaxed life for a few days."
"That's right..." Wei Ran sighed and decisively put an end to the idea of expressing his intention.
"I didn't ask you just now." Xia Shushi leaned on the window sill and asked curiously, "Why did you come to our Bincheng? Are you going to investigate some historical events?"
"Just came to meet a friend"
Wei Ran pointed out the window and said with a sincere expression, "On the way back, I happened to see a second-hand bookstore here, so I was curious and came over to take a look. You are also a history student, so you must know how tempting a second-hand bookstore is."
"Haha! Then you've come to the right place!"
Xia Shushi put out the cigarette he had just taken two puffs in a flowerpot with green radish, and greeted him with enthusiasm and pride, "Let's go! I'll show you my and my grandfather's collection!"
"What collection?" Wei Ran, who was just looking for an excuse, asked curiously.
"Come up with me and you will know!"
Before Xia Shushi finished speaking, he had already taken out two pairs of shoe covers from the wooden cabinet next to the wooden stairs leading to the second floor. "My grandfather's rule is, put on the shoe covers. Also, if you have a lighter on you, put it on first."
Put it in that big porcelain basin."
Wei Ran took the shoe cover, looked at the large porcelain basin next to the handrail of the stairs, and then looked at the two fire extinguishers placed next to the large porcelain basin. Then he happily took out the old-fashioned kerosene lighter from his pocket and put it in, and then
After putting on thick cotton shoe covers for his shoes, he followed Xia Shushi to the second floor of the villa.
Contrary to his expectation, the room on the second floor was much darker than the first floor. As far as the eye could see, almost all the walls were covered with bookshelves, and the windows had thick curtains drawn.
In the living room not far from the stairs, the only furnishings are a solid wood table, with many broken old books placed on it, and some things such as paste placed in the corners.
"A few years ago, when my grandfather still remembered, he always liked to repair old books here."
Xia Shushi stroked the solid wood table and explained, "This is still a craft inherited from our family."
"Do you usually rely on this craft to make a living?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
“You can’t support yourself by doing this.”
Xia Shushi smiled, but did not explain in detail. He just pointed to the surrounding bookshelves and said, "Those old books were collected by my grandfather. They are all in the other rooms as well."
As he spoke, Xia Shushi opened the door of a room and turned on the light.
In this room that seemed to be a bedroom, the large floor-to-ceiling windows also had thick curtains drawn. The originally spacious room was crowded with four sets of bookshelves, leaving only a few gaps less than one meter wide for walking through.
"This room stores all the history of Northeast Asia." Xia Shushi pointed to the label on the door, "I wrote those bad words, don't be ridiculous."
"You also wrote the sign for your bookstore?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
"When I was nine years old, my grandfather tricked me into writing it."
Xia Shushi grinned and said awkwardly, "That sign has been up for more than ten years. My grandfather used to ask me to trace the sign every year. He said that he would wait until I mastered calligraphy before I could change the sign.
Come down.
It’s a pity that until he doesn’t remember anything, I haven’t mastered my calligraphy skills at all, so I’ll just keep thinking about it!”
While talking, Xia Shushi opened another door, turned on the light as well, pointed to the bookshelf inside and said proudly, "These are all historical materials on World War II in Southeast Asia, including the archives of our expeditionary force. I went to school.
At that time, even our teachers came here to borrow books."
"The old man collected them all?"
Wei Ran asked in disbelief. Not to mention anything else, the number of books in these two rooms alone far exceeded those old Soviet books that he had purchased with scrap paper prices.
“Basically all”
Xia Shushi continued to walk forward, opened the third door and said, "These are all historical materials of World War II related to the little devils."
Before he finished speaking, Xia Shushi had already opened the last door of the room on this floor, "This is related to the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea."
Wei Ran probed inside and saw that the amount of books in this room was far greater than the previous rooms. There was even an extra small table on the side of the door. There was a thin layer of dust on the table. Under the dust,
There is also a copy of "The History of the Chinese People's Volunteers in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" covered, and there is even a big red bookmark sandwiched between the pages of the book.
"That was the last book my grandpa read. Don't move it," Xia Shushi reminded. "Maybe one day he will remember it and continue to read it."
"How many years have you been ill, old man?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other person toward the third floor.
"Almost four or five years"
Xia Shushi said, "Basically since I went to college away from home, this old man started forgetting things. When I graduated from college last year, he sometimes couldn't even remember where his home was."
"You... where are your parents?" Wei Ran asked tentatively.
"They are busy." Xia Shushi's tone was still calm but no complaints could be heard. "I can't come back more than once throughout the year. If I count on them, I might as well do it myself."
Having said that, the two of them also arrived at the top floor of the villa. The layout of this floor was no different from the one downstairs, except that most of the bookshelves displayed were figures and weapon models that Wei Ran knew or didn't recognize.
, and complete sets of comics.
In the living room on this floor, there is also an expensive-looking liquid-cooled computer host and a curved screen monitor. In addition, there is a stack of mobile hard drives and two scanners on the desktop.
, and a crystal glass trophy with the words "2017 Outstanding Creator Teletubbies of a certain subtitle group".
However, sitting side by side on the long sofa behind the computer chair were several scantily clad silicone dummies with big breasts and fat buttocks. There were even many colorful clothes hanging on the hangers next to the sofa.
Wigs and all kinds of women's clothing.
Although Wei Ran often held or carried this thing in the swimming pool of Hongqi Forest Farm, seeing these lifelike dummies here still made him couldn't help but look at the owners of these dummies with strange eyes.
"Ahem! So what...my hobby is painting"
Xia Shushi pulled over an air conditioner and hurriedly covered the dummies, and explained in a pale tone with white teeth, "I bought them to use as models."
"Understood, understood!" Wei Ran twitched the corner of his mouth and responded with a normal expression, "You definitely need models for painting."
Xia Shushi grinned, sat down on the computer chair, and shook the mouse casually. After the screen lit up and displayed the image of the four Teletubbies, he immediately opened a folder and pointed at the densely packed files inside.
Category said proudly, "The materials I collected are all here. It adds up to almost two T's. They are all historical materials and various research documents from Eurasian countries. I even scanned my grandfather's book collection into electronic versions.
It’s inside.”
"Are you sure it's all historical data?" Wei Ran looked at the other party suspiciously.
"That...that's not possible!"
Xia Shushi's expression showed a trace of unnaturalness for a moment, and then he said firmly, "Even though my place is small, the number of books it holds is almost the same as our school's library."
"But why do you collect so many of these things?" Wei Ran asked in confusion.
"I'm a history student," Xia Shushi said matter-of-factly. "What history student doesn't want to build his own database?"
"That's right..." Wei Ran grinned. He also studied history, but he didn't have any database.
"I also have historical data on the Soviet-German battlefield here," Xia Shushi said with a hint of intent, "If you are interested, I can sell it to you at a cheap price."
"Can it still be sold?" Wei Ran became interested.
"Of course it can be sold, but you can't make much money just by relying on the used bookstore downstairs."
Xia Shushi had skillfully opened a folder while he was talking. He stood up and gave his chair to Wei Ran and said, "I have all the information from the signing of the agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany before the blitz on Poland to the end of World War II, although it is not complete, and
They are all electronic versions, but they are much more convenient than collecting them yourself.”
"The Western Front and North Africa..."
Wei Ran stopped mid-sentence, and after a pause he said, "Well, let's pack it up. As long as it's related to World War II and documents related to World War II, I'll buy as much as you have!"
"real?!"
Xia Shushi immediately became interested and greeted Wei Ran downstairs with increasing enthusiasm, "Let's go to the store to talk! I haven't encountered such a big business in a long time."
"Is this business very profitable?" Wei Ran asked as he followed the other party.
“The most I can earn is pocket money.”
Xia Shushi said frankly, "After all, the electronic version of a document can only be sold for ten yuan at most, but occasionally I can make a lot of money if I meet a big customer like you."
"What about your main business?" Wei Ran asked in confusion, "What is your main business?"
Hearing this, Xia Shushi pointed to the cowhide portfolio that Wei Ran had been carrying and said, "I usually flip around old books, sell materials, and occasionally do subtitles or work as a translator for two days. Although my income is not stable, but
At least it’s more free than working.”
Why does this grandson look so dishonest? Wei Ran glanced at Xia Shushi who was walking in front of him strangely, and couldn't help but murmur in his heart.
