"It's almost time, go take a nap, it's easy to be sleepy in spring." The mother passed by with a rag and busily explained to her daughter. Shi Jiaojiao crossed her waist and turned to look at the woman, tilting her head a little coquettishly, "I don't want to sleep, I don't have the habit of napping." Shi's mother was not reluctant, walked into the house, and quickly pushed her husband's rattan chair out, with a thick woolen blanket woven on it, and said: "It's comfortable outside, there is no wind and warmth in the corner of the corridor, and the sun can't be found. ”

"Mom......" Shi Jiaojiao was uncomfortable with this meticulous care, and she really couldn't find a reason to refuse, so she had to surrender and say "Okay", sat on the rattan chair in her mother's eyes, deliberately piled the blanket thickly on her stomach, and looked up and asked flatteringly: "Is it okay?" Mother Shi still reached out and pulled the blanket to her daughter's chest, and said with a smile: "It's still the blanket sent by Xiao Tang, it's so thick, your father is reluctant to use it." ”

Mother Shi patted Shi Jiaojiao's chest and smiled with satisfaction: "Is this comfortable?" Lie down for a while and you'll fall asleep! As he spoke, he continued to do his unfinished chores. The old rattan chair had been trampled out of a specific arc, which did not match Shi Jiaojiao very well, and it took several adjustments to barely find a suitable posture. Shi Jiaojiao hadn't been lying under the sky like this for a long time, and in front of her was the path where Zhuangzi was coming and going, and anyone who passed by could see her at a glance, which made her a little nervous.

The time in the countryside is so long, it seems that a long time has passed since lunch, but in fact it has just entered the afternoon. In the pale blue sky, clouds as light as white veils passed slowly behind the house, and occasionally a sparrow or two flew by, and the faint smell of plants came from the land. Shi Jiaojiao was kicked out of the dishwashing table by her mother, looked at the scenery in front of her, was infected by this leisure, and squinted her eyes comfortably.

"Hmm......" For various reasons, she couldn't fall asleep in the end, Shi Jiaojiao snorted and simply sat up, holding on to the handrail and reaching out to find her mother's traces, there was no sound in the hall, so that you could hear the sound of splashing water from the backyard, thinking that the woman had been going to water the vegetable seeds she had just planted. Shi Jiaojiao put up her dark red cotton shoes, got up and walked into the house, and was just about to open the door, when Shi's mother came in and asked, "Are you going to sleep in bed?" ”

Shi Jiaojiao shook her head energetically, "I can't sleep, I'll go to that book and read it." Mother Shi walked over and raised her eyebrows and said, "Didn't all the books let you move?" Leave behind all the textbooks you used to be in school or something, how can you still have what you love? Shi Jiaojiao was stunned for a moment, and then nodded approvingly: "It seems to be true!" I've moved several times, and I already know how many books I have left at home! Mother Shi pouted, "Who knows?" I was the most energetic when I moved to myself! ”

Shi Jiaojiao heard her mother teasing herself, and she was a little out of favor, which sounded very cute. She stretched out her arms and flicked them a few times at her side, and asked playfully, "Then what should I do, you won't let me look at my phone, or let me play for a while?" The corners of Shi's mother mouth crooked, and she pushed her coquettish daughter, "You still go and lie down, look at the little sparrow, mother will come soon, let's talk about it." Shi Jiaojiao knew that her mother wouldn't take out her mobile phone, and she didn't insist on begging for it, so she obediently turned around, "Okay!" ”

Lying on the old rattan chair again, Shi Jiaojiao looked very perfunctory, her feet did not take off her shoes and put them on the ground, and the blanket was also held in her arms in a mess, stupidly startled, and within ten minutes, she sat up again, wanting to work hard again, this time she decided to use the reason of "I told Fei Fei about the video", so that it was easier to convince her mother. As soon as she made up her mind, Shi's mother's footsteps came from the back door, walked all the way through the hall, turned into Shi Jiaojiao's room and came out again, and walked directly to the rattan chair.

Shi Jiaojiao looked up at her mother, only to see her hand over a black flat box and say, "Haven't you seen this?" Shi Jiaojiao recognized that this was the novel "Les Miserables" given to her by Zhang Kun's grandfather, and she had not opened it once before. She stretched out her hand to take it, looked down at the pure black box, and couldn't help muttering suspiciously: "I didn't take this book with ......me," Shi's mother clapped her hands, and answered, "In order to prevent your father from dismantling your book, I put it on top of the old cabinet alone, and I guess you forgot to take it!" Isn't it just right to see it now? ”

I thought that the black carton was smooth, but now it seems that it is not: its surface still has special lines on the surface of the grass and trees that have not been squeezed and flattened, and it feels rough and heavy, inexplicably reminiscent of the dead wood branches of the old man who gave the book! And this pure, deep darkness fell a thin layer of gray, like the color of the old man's eyes when he sat at the head of the bed in the nursing home where he had been lying for too long, and at dusk through the long and narrow window that had been erected, when he saw the waning sun behind the low wall outside.

Gently brushing away the layer of gray, it revealed the color of Zhang Kun's pupils in Shi Jiaojiao's memory, pure and deep black.

The lid and one side of the box are connected together, the book lies quietly inside, it turns out that it is not a new book, the book on the cover uses the most outdated font, the typography design is as rigid as a print, and the simple and crude chiaroscuro, called "Les Miserables" The four Chinese characters with a painful meaning look even more shocking. As if testing the temperature of a piece of red charcoal, Shi Jiaojiao tentatively touched the slightly soft cover with her fingertips, and then crossed her heart and took out the book from the black carton for the second time.

The first time was when Zhang Kun's grandfather gave it to her, he expressed his love for the gift in front of the old man, and picked it up and looked at it.

Shi Jiaojiao had already read Hugo's great work in middle school, but she had always preferred classical Chinese literature such as Dream of the Red Chamber, so she did not read it again. When she received the gift from the old man, Shi Jiaojiao was still very happy, and immediately made up her mind to regurgitate the masterpiece that she did not fully understand when she was young. But I don't know why, but she didn't open this gift once, and at first out of an inexplicable avoidance, she gradually forgot the existence of this gift.

The lid of the box protecting the book was opened, and the reader was placed on the extremely thin and curved armrest of the rattan chair, crumbling. Shi Jiaojiao was ready to open the cover at this moment, and was ready to enter this reading that was so difficult to start, completely ignoring the improper placement. The font is small and dense, and the paper is slightly rough, because the overall printing look is not very good, which is very in line with the style of the old book, and Shi Jiaojiao likes this old.

Skipping the translator's foreword, Shi Jiaojiao always goes straight to the point when she reads books, and she doesn't like to read with other people's opinions, which is one of the reasons why she doesn't like to read translated works. The appearance of the old bishop Charles awakened Shi Jiaojiao's memory of the story that began in 1815, and she could even immediately recall the chaotic and dirty city described in the text when Fantine entrusted Cosette...... Great works are timeless, and no matter how detached, the first time you encounter them again can exude infinite charm.

Shi Jiaojiao was fascinated from the beginning.