1980 My literary era

In future generations, it is hard to imagine that someone would stay up late and queue up to buy a book. It would be almost the same as queuing up to buy an iPhone or a figurine.

But such a scene was completely normal in the 1980s. The grassland burned by the fire will not be deserted, but will become more lush next spring.

Among the people who came to stay up late and queue up to buy books today, there were workers in factory uniforms, cadres in shirts, and public officials in uniform.

Everyone was sitting, squatting, or standing, chatting with strangers or familiar people from all over the world.

There is no distinction between status when it comes to buying books and reading them. Everyone is a book lover.

Lin Weimin rolled up his bed rolls and came to line up. At midnight, he saw that some people couldn't bear it anymore, so he asked everyone to take turns to lie down for a while.

He stayed up until almost early in the morning. There was still mist in the early morning air. Lin Weimin took Qu Xiaowei to the breakfast stall and bought breakfast for everyone.

People around them swallowed their saliva as they smelled the soy milk and steamed buns that Lin Weimin and the others bought.

After waiting in a long line all night, everyone was tired, hungry and sleepy.

“It’s still reliable to serve the people!”

As the saying goes, those who eat people are soft-mouthed and those who take advantage of others are short-handed.

I slept on Lin Weimin's bed last night and ate the breakfast bought by Lin Weimin this morning. At least today, Lin Weimin is well-known among this group of people.

After devouring breakfast, it was already half past seven.

At this time, the employees of the bookstore began to come to work one after another, and the crowd became restless.

As eight o'clock approached, the crowd became more and more agitated.

As the staff slowly opened the door of the bookstore, the crowd rushed into the bookstore like zombies emerging from their cages.

The staff of the bookstore have long been used to this situation and dealt with it calmly.

Lin Weimin and his party lined up early yesterday and were almost the first ones to rush into the bookstore.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, people's living standards improved and their enthusiasm for learning culture was unprecedentedly high. Since the 1950s, every weekend, major bookstores in Yanjing have always been crowded with people buying books.

But for a long time, people went to bookstores to buy books, just like buying oil, sugar, rice and noodles. They had to stand across a thick counter. They often stretched their necks and couldn't see the title of the book or the author's name. The salesperson helped pick up the books.

Bookstore salespeople are most afraid of people who have no idea what book to buy. They can only take the books one by one to choose from, and they can't tell which one to pick up, which is very inconvenient.

The book purchasing procedure at that time was that customers first went to the counter to select books. After selecting the books, they went to the cashier to pay and issue the invoice, and then went to the counter to pick up the books. The procedure was cumbersome.

In 1978, in order to facilitate readers to purchase books, Xinhua Bookstore in Yanjing began to sell books on open shelves in the sales department. Readers could directly pick up books from the bookshelves and bookcases to browse and purchase.

This method of selling books was immediately popular with readers. One month later, book sales in many sales departments doubled.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and soon some bookstores switched from open-shelf sales to closed-shelf sales.

The fundamental reason is that the loss cost of open-shelf book sales is too high. Since the switch to open-shelf book sales, a large number of books in bookstores have been damaged and lost.

Fortunately, as the largest bookstore in Yanjing, the largest in the country, and the most representative bookstore of Xinhua Bookstore, Wangfujing Bookstore has always implemented the policy of open-shelf book sales and still maintains open-shelf book sales.

Lin Weimin and others rushed into the bookstore and headed straight for the literature bookshelf.

Xinhua Bookstore has divided the books into 17 categories and compiled a formula so that the staff can memorize them. One is Ma (Marxist-Leninist), the other is Philosophy (philosophy), the third is Social Sciences, the Four Classics (economy), and the Fifth Army (military). Six laws, seven religions (education), eight arts (literature), nine languages, ten literature is the best to remember, eleven history, twelve places (geography)...

Anyone who frequents bookstores these days is familiar with this set of formulas, so finding bookshelves is effortless.

Several people came to buy books with a mission. Each person held a few sets of books, and the bookshelf was more than half empty at once.

Lin Weimin was the most outrageous. He had an arm full of books and asked Qu Xiaowei and Abeier to bring him two more sets.

"Are there many of us? Why did you buy so many books?" Qu Xiaowei asked.

People around him also looked at him strangely. Lin Weimin said sternly: "Do you know a hammer? I love books as much as my life."

Qu Xiaowei gave him an "I believe you are a ghost" look. He knew that Lin Weimin was definitely not hiding his good intentions.

Sure enough, he guessed it. After queuing up and paying the bill, everyone was walking away, when they saw this kid running to the end of the line holding a pile of books.

"Take a look, you just bought the "Four Great Classics" from the bookstore. Are you the same as before? It's not expensive, it only costs you 20 cents more."

"I also have other ones here, "Pushkin's Selected Poems", "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace"... The set will cost you two cents more, and the single copy will cost you ten cents, which will save you a long time waiting in line. Isn’t it our team?”

"Time is money. With this effort, you went home and took a fancy to the book. Do you think this is true?"

…

The big scammer is online again, and it just catches the pain of those at the end of the queue.

These people all came to line up early in the morning, and the line stretched out for two miles. Looking at the endless line in front of them, many people were moved.

Anyway, it’s only one or two cents, just think of it as a way to save some time.

Lin Weimin is not afraid of people either. He just shoots and runs away. Anyone who wants to catch him for speculation can't catch him.

"Bring me a set of four great classics."

With the first, there comes the second, "I want a copy of "War and Peace"", "And me, I want "Selected Poems of Pushkin".

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the nearly one hundred books Lin Weimin had just bought from the bookstore were swept away by the book buyers at the end of the queue in just a few minutes.

Lin Weimin spat on his fingers and counted the scattered receipts in his hands. He was in a good mood and hummed a little tune.

"We, the common people, are so happy today..."

Zhang Lin stepped forward and interrupted him, "Okay, stop counting. We have to go to class later. We have to go back quickly."

"Okay, my monitor."

On the way back to the Literary Research Institute, several other people looked at Lin Weimin who was counting money and smiled and muttered to the side.

"This kid doesn't forget to make some money when he comes to buy books."

"Who says it's not the case? But don't mention it, this guy Weimin is really financially savvy. This can make him earn more than a week's salary."

"This kid is really obsessed with money."

…

Several people talked all the way back to the Literary Research Institute and were treated like heroes. After all, they stayed up all night to queue up to buy masterpieces for everyone.

Qu Xiaowei vividly described to everyone the bustling scene of queuing in the bookstore. The colleagues who listened excitedly were even more moved by the dedication of several male classmates.

Everyone unanimously decided that everyone would take care of the meals for Lin Weimin and the others today.