Dimensional Bookstore

The afternoon sun shone warmly on her body. Zhou Lu squinted her eyes and felt lazy. She sat on a bench on the street, dangling her short legs, licking a strawberry-flavored lollipop in her mouth, her mood as bright as the clear blue sky.

Here she is waiting for her husband to buy her a cake. As I get older, I like to eat these sweet things. When she was young, all her teeth were gone and she couldn't even chew noodles, let alone sweets. Now that she is older and her teeth have grown back, she can eat as much as she could when she was younger.

At this time, a young man with a wrinkled face and a stooped body sat next to her. She held the candy in her mouth and glanced at him with her cheeks puffed up. Her eyes almost immediately stopped at the book he was holding.

"You also like Rabindranath Tagore's poetry collection." She took the initiative to chat.

The young man smiled and nodded and asked, "You like it too?"

Tagore's poetry collection brought back a long memory for her.

Maybe as people get older, they just like to recall the past. She smiled and asked: "Young man, would you like to hear me tell you a story?"

※

When she first met the mysterious bookstore owner, Zhou Lu was still a sixty-seven-year-old young man, so she was stooped and achy, and she had to take a breath after walking a few steps.

The reason why she went into that strange bookstore was because she was lost. That day is the day when the social support department distributes support payments to citizens over 60 years old. Because of her poor memory, she found herself lost not long after she went to the city hall to collect her pension.

She walked around with the unfamiliar crowd and entered a bookstore in a daze. The bookstore owner is a very young and handsome guy who looks very old.

Seeing her coming in, the boss immediately stopped teasing the black cat with his fingers, stood up, and asked with a smile: "Hello, how can I help you?"

Zhou Lu smiled sheepishly: "Excuse me, how to get to Baiqiao Street?"

The boss thought for a while, and then clearly and smoothly stated the specific route to Zhou Lu. Afraid that Zhou Lu would forget, he drew a detailed route map on paper and handed it to Zhou Lu with both hands.

Zhou Lu was a little moved. Her eyes stayed in the book-filled store for a few seconds, and then she decided to buy a few books here.

"I want to buy some books here." She asked: "Do you have any books here that you can recommend to me?"

"What kind of book do you want to read?"

Zhou Lu hesitated. Although every resident of the Utopia has already understood basic common sense after opening the life fruit produced by the mother tree, if he wants to find a good job in the future, simple common sense is not enough. Systematic learning is also required. So when she was seventy-five years old, she entered a school specially set up by the government for citizens to study. This year is her eighth year of study. Although her memory, physical strength and eyesight are poor, she has been working hard.

However, this all changed half a month ago. There is a transfer student in the class. He was a gentle, humorous young gentleman, the same age as Zhou Lu, but much smarter than Zhou Lu.

Zhou Lu secretly glanced at her boss. She felt that when the transfer students grew older, they would be as handsome as this boss. But it doesn't matter if he is not handsome when he is old, because the ugly youth in life is too long, and the beautiful old life is too short, so no one cares about the appearance of the skin, they pay more attention to the inner soul.

Zhou Lu felt that he had an interesting soul.

She... wanted to be closer to him.

When you get along with interesting people, it seems that you also become interesting. This is the magic that only interesting people can do.

So she sincerely asked her boss, an experienced person, for advice: "What books did you like to read when you were in your sixties?"

The boss was obviously a little surprised. He thought seriously for a while before answering carefully: "I don't know... maybe it's a collection of poems?"

"A collection of poems?"

The boss nodded slightly, lowered his eyes and smiled slightly: "Yes, some poems can only be read calmly after a certain age."

"Then get me a book of poetry."

The boss walked into the bookcase, pulled out a green-covered book that she would never put down, and handed it to her, "This is the complete collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore, my favorite poet. The poems are beautiful, the meaning is profound, and it is a classic."

Zhou Lu took it, opened a page at random and read a few lines, and was touched by the beautiful and magical verses that were like divine revelation.

This is a short poem called "When Time Has Gone": 'If time has passed,

The birds no longer sing,

The wind is also tired of blowing,

Then cover me with a thick curtain of darkness,

Just as you wrap the earth in your sleep quilt at dusk,

Then he gently closed the petals of the water lily.

The journey is not over yet, the luggage is empty,

The clothes are torn and stained, and the man is exhausted.

You dispel the traveler's shame and embarrassment,

Make him under the night of your mercy,

Come to life like a flower.

Awaken under your loving night. ’

Zhou Lu knew from birth that after everyone lives for eighty years, their soul will return to the mother tree. Then a few years later, the mother tree will bear life fruit, and they will wash away their memories and fatigue and come back to this world. The cycle of life and death is endless.

Therefore, every citizen of the Utopia, including Zhou Lu, does not think about the past life, is not attached to the past, is not afraid of the future, and is not afraid of death.

Zhou Lu had no memory of death in her previous life, but she thought that the so-called death must be just like the poem said, just a dark sleep. The fatigue and pain of her eighty years of life will be swept away in the loving embrace of the mother tree. She will be purified again into a pure, new life, and at that time, she will awaken in the loving night of the Mother Tree.

So she bought the book and read it over and over again in the years to come.

※

Having said this, Zhou Lu couldn't hide her pride and said to the young man: "I may have bought the first collection of Tagore's poems in China."

The young man was shocked when he heard this. He lost his voice and said, "Is that bookstore a Kaiming Bookstore?! The owner is Mr. Le Jing?"

Zhou Lu nodded reservedly: "That's right."

The young man couldn't help but be in awe, and looked at Zhou Lu with envy in his eyes: "I have seen his name in the history books. Mr. Le Jing's origins are mysterious, his birth and death years are unknown, and he appears and disappears. The books he sells The origin of the author cannot be found, but it has caused shocks in various fields in the country. Even now, we still have to study the books sold in his bookstore in our school’s Chinese language class!”

Of course Zhou Lu understood how important and mysterious the bookstore owner named Le Jing was. So today, sixty years later, she still cherishes that memory and cannot forget it.

The young man asked again: "Historians are speculating that Mr. Le Jing may not belong to this world. Well... you understand what I mean. After all, the people in many books are so strange. They actually grew from the belly of human women Born in, and a baby as soon as he is born, every year It actually increased by one year, and the most terrifying thing is..." The young man opened his eyes wide, as if he had seen something terrible and incredible: "Everyone's natural lifespan is different! Some people may live more than ten years! He dies in just a few years, but some people can live for more than a hundred years!”

Zhou Lu nodded in agreement: "Yes, their growth experience is simply the opposite of ours. When they are born, they are as happy and energetic as we are when we are old, but when they are old, they are old, frail, deaf and blind, How sad it must be.”

The young man slapped his sore back and felt convinced. He couldn't help but ask: "Then what? Did you meet Mr. Le Jing again later?"

Zhou Lu's eyes were long and immersed in memories again: "Later..."

※

When we met again, it was already twenty years later. At that time, Zhou Lu was forty-seven years old and had been married for thirteen years. The groom was the transfer student she met when she was sixty-seven years old.

That year, she successfully struck up a conversation with the transfer student by virtue of her collection of Tagore's poems. They read poems and discussed together, and the two young hearts became closer and closer, and they became complete because of each other. Finally, after graduating from school, they got together and became a legal couple. At the time, she and he were both sixty years old.

Their hair is gray, their bodies are stooped, they are young and ugly. But they all know that there is a golden soul hidden under the other's ugly and withered body. But no matter how loving a couple is, they will eventually quarrel. In the past few years, due to some trivial frictions in life, the two of them had been quite unhappy. Although both parties know that they still love each other, this love has become greasy after absorbing the fumes of more than ten years of marriage.

Over the years, Zhou Lu has thought of the mysterious bookstore owner more than once - after all, he was the matchmaker between her and her husband! If it hadn't been for that collection of Tagore's poems, she and he wouldn't have gotten together. Now that she's once again in marital troubles, she longs for some enlightenment about her destiny from her boss again.

But she has never seen him.

At the same time, the discussion about Lejing in the society has gradually turned from the hustle and bustle at the beginning to the old news that no one cares about. It was at this time that she met Le Jing again.

At that time, she had just gotten off work from the newspaper office and chose to take a detour because of the traffic jam. Then she unexpectedly reunited with the bookstore.

It's still the same location, the same bookstore, and the boss's appearance is the same as when we first met.

She stared blankly at the gentle and calm boss for a while, then suddenly asked: "Do you still remember me? I bought a book of Tagore's poems from you twenty years ago."

After hearing the first half of her sentence, the boss, who was still a little confused, slowly raised his eyebrows and said warmly, "It's you. You look much younger."

Zhou Lu shook her head and corrected: "I'm not young, I'm getting old." She looked at the boss's unchanging appearance, and had countless thoughts in her mind. In the end, she just wrote lightly: "The boss takes good care of himself. I can't tell." What’s your age?”

The boss smiled and asked, "What book do you want to buy this time?"

"I'm married." Zhou Lu said with a hint of exhaustion on her face, "So do you have any books about love and marriage?"

"Yes." The boss stood up and took out two books from the bookcase and put them on the counter. He pointed to "Pride and Prejudice" and said, "This is love." He then pointed to "Fortress Besieged" and said, "This is marriage and life."

Zhou Lu didn't read it this time. She just paid and stuffed the book into her briefcase. Then she raised her head and looked at Le Jing, her eyes filled with inquiry and expectation that she didn't realize she had: "Can we meet again next time?"

The boss raised the corners of his lips, and this smile added a mysterious meaning to her heart for no reason: "As long as you live long enough, we will meet again eventually."

Zhou Lu also laughed, and her eyes were indescribably calm: "I may have changed my appearance and identity at that time, but 'I' is still 'I' after all. When I stand in front of you, I hope that you Can recognize me."

"Yes. I will definitely recognize you."

※

"Then what? Then?" the young man asked impatiently: "Will you see him again in the future?"

Zhou Lu shook her short legs floating above the bench, bit off the last piece of strawberry lollipop stuck to the candy stick with a snap, and said in a depressed voice, "No more. Since that time Another forty years have passed, and I have never seen him again." She puffed up her cheeks like a child, pulled out the candy stick in her mouth and threw it into the trash can. "I will probably wait until I am reincarnated before I can see him again. ”

"That's it." The young man couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Then he remembered something and asked, "What happened to you and your husband in the end?"

"Here, here!" Zhou Lu's eyes lit up, he stood up and waved forward, and saw a little boy carrying a plastic bag running up to Zhou Lu out of breath, looking at Zhou Lu who was smiling so hard that he couldn't even see his eyes. Lu frowned and said in an old tone: "I told you to wait for me next to me, but you still run around! Do you know how worried I am?"

"My legs are sore!" Zhou Lu shook the boy's arm coquettishly and kissed him on the face: "Kiss you, don't be angry."

The boy's face was visibly flushed. He glanced at the young man sheepishly, pulled Zhou Lu away, and whispered in a low voice: "Someone is here! Pay attention!"

Zhou Lu looked at the young man with a smile and introduced generously: "Let me introduce to you, he is a transfer student, my husband Ji An."

The young man was suddenly stunned, staring at the old couple who were smiling at each other, with unresolved affection in their eyes. He thought that he no longer needed an answer.

After saying goodbye to the young man, Zhou Lu and Ji An walked home hand in hand.

Along the way, Zhou Lu was chattering to Ji An about the conversation she had with the young man. Ji An smiled and listened carefully.

Zhou Lu squeezed Ji An's small hand, rested her head on his shoulder, and sighed in a low voice: "I really thought we couldn't go on."

Thinking of that time, Ji An also felt a little palpitated, "Fortunately, you brought back "Fortress Besieged" from Boss Le at that time."

"Yes." Zhou Lu gently closed her eyes and smelled the bitter aroma of her favorite dark chocolate on her husband. Her voice was peaceful after thousands of sails: "Marriage in the world is like a wall." People outside the city want to rush in. , people in the city want to escape. "There is no perfect marriage. The important thing is that it is rare to be confused."

The two fell into a pleasant silence, enjoying the sweet silence of the moment.

After a while, Ji An held his wife's hand tightly and suddenly said: "We are much luckier than Fang Hongjian and his wife. We don't indulge in appearances, we have the same interests, and we have gone from white hair to black hair, from shrinking to tall, we are the real souls." companion."

"Yes." Zhou Lu opened his eyes and echoed: "In the world where "Fortress Besieged" is set, people choose their partners based on appearance instead of talent and temperament. It's really scary."

"So we are happier." Ji An lowered his eyes, looked at his wife leaning on his shoulder affectionately, and said with a smile: "In the past few years, I have been thinking about how we will die."

Zhou Lu's smile faded slightly, her eyes a little sad: "Yes, we are seven years old, we are no longer young."

Ji An touched her hair soothingly and said softly: "Don't be afraid, I'll be with you."

"The night before we turn 0, we will lie hand in hand on the bed in the nursing home and look at each other. You are a few hours older than me. I will watch you go back first, but I will go to you soon. , so you don’t have to be afraid.”

Following her husband's words, Zhou Lu couldn't help but picture the relevant scenes in her mind, and she gradually became a little obsessed.

"In this way, when we sleep under the mother tree, we will hold hands. Maybe we will be husband and wife after reincarnation!" Ji An said excitedly.

Zhou Lu happily threw herself into her husband's arms, nodded vigorously and said, "Yes! You must find me in the next life!"

"Okay. If you don't come, I won't marry you."

※

This is the third time Le Jing has come to this plane.

Plane B58. A magical plane.

There is only one country in this plane, called Utopia.

The residents of the Utopia are all born from the fruit of a huge tree. Everyone is 80 years old when they are born, and every year they become one year younger. By the time they turn 0, they will turn into a newborn baby and stop breathing in bed. Then professionals from the nursing home will bury them under the mother tree. Their bodies will become nourishment for the growth of the mother tree, and their souls will return to the tree to wait for the day of reincarnation.

Citizens of the Utopia have no parents, and society and the state are their parents. After they are born, they are adopted by the state's welfare institutions, receive education under the arrangements of the state, and then find jobs based on their own expertise.

Because of the government's sound welfare policies, the people here are peaceful, content, optimistic, and happy. Also because they are getting younger and younger as they live, the old and calm and the young and energetic are wonderfully combined together, giving birth to extremely wonderful national characteristics and culture.

This is truly a utopia.

The doorbell rang, and an elderly woman walked into Lejing's bookstore in a panic. "Excuse me, do you know how to get to Blue Sky Road?"

Le Jing blinked and suddenly smiled: "I found you."

"Long time no see, Zhou Lu."

Looking at the confused face of the old woman, Le Jing suddenly remembered a line from a movie:

All encounters in the world are reunions after a long separation.

This sentence is very suitable for this situation.

The author has something to say:

Regarding the setting that people are born from trees, I first learned about this not from the official setting of the birth of elves in Western fantasy, but from reading a book "Twelve Kingdoms" by Japanese female writer Ono Fuyumi.

When I first read this book, I was still in junior high school. Although I didn't understand some of the profound connotations at that time, I was still amazed by the setting and plot.

In the distant Penglai, there are twelve countries, and the king of each country is selected by the Qilin of the country born in Pengshan. If the king's actions violate the way of heaven, the Qilin will suffer from the disease of losing the way. If the king does not correct the mistake in time, the Qilin will die of illness, and the king will die within a year after the death of the Qilin. Pengshan will produce the fruit of the country's new Qilin in the second year. On the day of Anhe, the country's citizens will ascend the mountain, and the new Qilin will accept the revelation to elect the country's new king. But if the king goes to Pengshan to abdicate, only the king himself will die, and the Qilin will survive to elect the country's new king as soon as possible, so as to end the natural disasters caused by the king's absence as soon as possible.

The book sets that humans and livestock are born from Limuli. Couples who want children tie a ribbon on the wood and pray. No creatures can be killed under the wood. On the 1st day, chickens and ducks and other poultry are obtained, on the 2nd day, dogs are obtained, on the 3rd day, sheep and goats are obtained, on the 4th day, wild boars and domestic pigs are obtained, on the 5th day, cattle are obtained, on the 6th day, horses are obtained, and on the 7th and 9th days, humans are obtained. Livestock hatch within a week. The fruit that produces humans is the egg fruit, which is yellow in color. The egg fruit cannot be picked without parents.

There are many novel settings in it. Until now, I still admire the author's imagination. You should know that this book was written in 1992, although it was barely completed in 2013 (…)

My favorite in the article is Yangzi. She is the queen of Qingguo. Because of the eclipse, the fetus fell into the ordinary world, so Yangzi grew up in the world of normal humans. Later, Qilin traveled through the world to find her, and Yangzi returned to Penglai. After a series of adventures, she finally became a qualified queen of Qingguo.

In addition to Yangzi, there are many stories about monarchs of other countries, all of which are very interesting!

Although "Twelve Kingdoms" is now a time-honored work and is particularly unpopular in Jinjiang fan fiction, I still can't help but want to recommend it to you!

As for the next copy, I will use the setting of my next article "Quickly Wear Infinite College Entrance Examination". Although that book is a dark history and is written very badly, some settings can still be used orz

ps Don't read it because of my words! Don't read it! Don't read it! If it weren't for the v-text not being locked, I would have wanted to lock it orz