Ring of Seven [Online Version]

At the turn of Wenxing Road, there is a small building from the 50s, which is a small library.The internal structure of the library is completely in the style of the past 50s, and the exterior walls of the floors are covered with green ivy.This kind of plant can absorb a lot of sunlight and heat, so walking in the aisle of the building does not feel the heat of the end of summer, but it looks a bit dark and obscure because of the mottled layers.

Quiet is the only atmosphere here.Therefore, no matter how high the flow of people is, it is still so quiet all year round. The most basic principle of the library is this requirement, but another meaning of being silent is an extremely fragile balance.Because you can't know what will break the balance of static in the next second, even if it is a needle falling on the ground, it will make your soul tremble.

After Zhou Jue finished packing the newspapers, he looked up at the old-fashioned wall clock, patted the old Zhao who was sitting and having breakfast on the shoulder, and said, "Master Zhao, I'm going to tidy up the bookshelves first."

Old Zhao took a sip of tea unhurriedly, squinted his eyes cheerfully: "Okay, then I will trouble you. By the way, a batch of new books finally came this time, and I guess the curator must have those old books I was kicked. Come out and help me when the time comes."

A look of miscalculation flickered across Zhou Jue's eyes, but he changed into a smiling face in the next second, because he had something to do at noon, and originally wanted to change shifts to free up time to sneak out, but unfortunately he has no chance now.

Now the library has not officially opened for business. In order to save electricity, the curator asked them to only turn on the middle row of lights, so the work of checking book labels in the morning is the most annoying.It was supposed to be Lao Zhao who checked the book today.

Zhou Jue glanced back to make sure that no one was staring at him, so he secretly put on the earphones. He still had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, and he planned to hide in the back window and secretly smoke one.Thinking of this, Zhou Jue felt a little refreshed. He hummed a ditty and wandered back and forth among the rows of bookshelves with a flashlight. He knew that there would be no big mistakes, as long as he paid attention to the particularly loose bookshelves. , this life is not difficult, the difficulty is that you have to stare at it every day.

Not long after he left, he reached the innermost row of bookshelves. According to the order, it was the oldest row of bookshelves. At the beginning, the curator meant to throw away the old books, but for some reason, he kept them in the end.He also asked Mr. Gu in private, and Mr. Gu looked a bit scrupulous, but he just said that throwing was not allowed.In short, after working for a long time, he didn't know why the shelf of old books was placed here.But it seems that today this group of old antiques is going to be kicked out.He can vaguely feel the sadness of these books, and of course Zhou Jue himself knows that this feeling is pure nonsense.

When we got here, the light in the aisle had lost its power, and the bookshelf was still dark brown, so it was dark except for some blurred outlines, and to the north of this shelf was the one that was only open on book drying days. storehouse.He took out his MP3 and doubled the volume.After turning the flashlight, I walked straight into the old library area.Zhou Jue doesn't come here often, because he can't get used to the smell here.What came to the face was an indescribable rotten smell. This smell was not a smell, but a fishy smell.It's like the smell of old cotton wool.He waved his hand into the air.But the smell didn't dissipate at all, he walked in holding his nose, thinking that as long as he walked around and lost time by the bookshelf outside, he could go back then.Thinking of this, he quickened his pace again, without even looking at the books on the shelf.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a person rushing out of the warehouse at an extremely fast speed.But Zhou Jue vaguely felt that it was a woman, because her hair was very long, and when that flashed by, he only saw the hair of that person's back floating behind her like a black veil.There are also female staff in the library, but they don't have such long hair.Zhou Jue shouted from behind, but disappeared between the bookshelves in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Jue failed to call out to the woman, and before he could recover, suddenly he heard a rustling sound coming from behind him, as if someone was flipping through a book quickly.He turned around abruptly, and found that the closed and narrow warehouse had been opened by someone at some point. Zhou Jue felt something was wrong, he thought that someone might have come to steal something.So he quickened his pace, and the only sounds in the empty library were his hurried steps and breathing.The surrounding bookshelves stood darkly at the door of the warehouse. Zhou Jue went straight through without looking at it. Suddenly, he felt his feet were caught by something, and because he walked too fast, he rushed forward. Instinctively, Zhou Jue immediately supported the bookshelf next to him with his hands.Yi pulled out a book from the bookshelf vigorously, and the person fell to the ground together with the book.

Before he could recover from the pain, he felt several books falling directly on his body, and he quickly covered his head with his hands.He also ripped off the earphones, and the soft music came from the earphones, like some kind of insect's cry. He just got up, but he heard Gu Lao's voice from the door, asking him what's wrong.He frantically slapped away the books on his body and shouted towards the door: "It's okay, some books fell off and I will come out after I put them away."

Gu Lao let out a cry, and then there was no more sound.Zhou Jue quickly grabbed the book on the floor, and stuffed it back on the shelf in confusion without looking at the label. When he grabbed the book in his hand and wanted to stuff it in, he found that the book couldn't get in anyway. , there is no place for him at all, as if this is an extra book.He leaned the book in hard, and managed to squeeze out a gap, but it was not enough to fit the book.Then I heard Gu Lao's voice shouting at the door: "Are you ready? Xiao Zhou, come out and help!"

Zhou Jue took a look at the book, it was a book with an earthy yellow cover, the leather was very old and moldy.But the quality is good, it is still very strong, and it has not come off the glue.He reluctantly put the book in a corner.He glanced at the bottom of the bookshelf again, and found that there was nothing stumbling him.Gu Lao's urging sound came again, and he was a little impatient.

Zhou Jue came out in a hurry and found that everyone was waiting for him.He smiled embarrassedly and said that he accidentally fell down.

The curator saw that Zhou Jue was covered in ashes, and helped him pat the dust on his shoulders.Then he said: "We have bought a batch of new books, Xiao Zhou and Lao Zhao, you two, help Gu Lao get out the old books from our restaurant, and then put the new books on it."

Gu Lao hummed, and asked with a little concern: "Then do you want to move the one in the last row this time?"

The curator touched the melon seeds on his head for a while, and finally said: "Okay! I kicked it! There are so many piles and no one is looking at it. You can kick it back then."

The lonely old man and Lao Zhao met each other's eyes, but the speed was extremely fast. Before Zhou Jue could see the name, they started to work.

Zhou Jue was still thinking about what it was that tripped him. He always felt that it looked like a human hand, and there were wounds on this hand, which looked very mottled.But almost the moment Zhou Jue tripped, his hand disappeared out of thin air.Just like the woman who flashed by, Zhou Jue doesn't believe that there are any ghosts and gods in this world, but he is not a complete materialist either.It belongs to the kind of mentality that would rather believe what is there than believe what is not.So after thinking about it for a long time, he decided not to go there alone in the future, maybe there are such things as book spirits in the world.

Then everyone started to carry the box together.Fortunately, there is a cart. As long as you carry it on the cart, the next thing will be much easier.After putting all the books in place, they threw all the old books into the empty box, and Zhou Jue secretly threw the book with the yellow cover into the box.Mr. Gu marked it with a marker pen, thinking that he would be able to sell the old book immediately, but this morning's business is basically over.When everyone else was sitting in their seats to rest and wait for a meal, Zhou Jue was not free. He hurriedly rode his bicycle to the gate of the university not far from the library.

In fact, Zhou Jue is a sophomore in university.But the major he majored in is actually very partial. It is the Department of Humanities and Sociology. To put it bluntly, it is what we now commonly call folklore. According to Zhou Jue's own understanding, he failed in the journalism department when he applied for it.Unexpectedly, instead, he entered a department that he had filled in blindly.This gave him the urge to hit the wall in a state of dumbfounding. One was that he had lost his second degree, and the other was that he really felt that this major had no future, so he might as well come out as a specialist to find a job...

This time he came for the new textbooks and schedules for the new semester.Unexpectedly, he was late again. The teacher and classmates had already left, and the classroom was locked.He knocked on the door ventingly, blowing away the disheveled hair from his haste, and suddenly stretched out a hand from behind him, holding a set of books in this hand.He seemed a little nervous because of the weird experience in the morning. He turned around quickly and found a tall man in a gray shirt standing behind him at some point. The buttons on his chest were not buttoned at all. Lu Chu was very popular at the time. The exorcising pestle pendant in Tibetan Buddhism (Zhou Jue himself has one, but he can't bring out that uninhibited feeling).Jeans are also very fashionable.It doesn't look like a stall.The man's hair is a little long, covering his eyes a little.But no hair.Otherwise, I really thought it was the little singer who came to the school to perform.

He quickly took the book to thank him, the man held a cigarette, glanced at him and pointed to the wall clock in the corridor, Zhou Jue nodded with an apologetic face, and said, "Hey, isn't this Brother Chen?"

Zhou Jue knew who this man was, his name was Chen Hao.He and Zhou Jue are from the same university, but he has a master's degree in archeology.So his age is only a few years older than Zhou Jue, but it is said that this person is not easy to get along with, and he has fought with people in society in the past.It is said to be for a woman.Anyway, the school he engaged in was a mess, and he was eligible to be expelled.But it seems that his family has some skills, and in the end it was settled without even getting a punishment. Moreover, this kid is so arrogant, but his grades are amazing.This made everyone firmly believe that this kid's backer is definitely very good, and it is likely to be the principal's immediate family.It can be said to be awesome, the whole school knows him, but no one dares to provoke him, and of course no one dares to get close to him, a hero is always lonely.Just because of his good looks, girls think that this is Fan Er, and such a quiet hooligan has turned into a school grass-level character.

Zhou Jue took the book, Chen Hao stubbed out the cigarette butt, ignored him and left after glancing at him.Zhou Jue breathed a sigh of relief, thinking why he left a book for himself.There was no friendship in the past.The front is completely close to it in desperation.Zhou Jue wrinkled his nose a few times towards Chen Hao's back, then flipped through a few pages of the book, and found that this semester was actually a subject of folklore and history. Looking at the lecture schedule, he understood.It turned out that this substitute was either someone else or this suspected hooligan.But shouldn't all the lectures in the university be at the doctoral level? Why do you let a master student take the class?Zhou Jue suddenly thought of something, and said to himself: No way...Could it be that this kid passed the examination for the Expo last year?He swears inwardly: His mother's skipping a level can't be so exaggerated, is it really a book-eating monster?If I had half of his brain, I wouldn't be where I am today.At the same time, he thought that the number of classes he failed this semester was within the range his mother could tolerate.Zhou Jue hastily put away the book.Ready to go back to the library.

When he was about to leave, he found that Chen Hao had turned back.He held another large stack of books in his hand, but what was cruel enough was that he walked over holding it with one hand.For the first time, Zhou Jue felt that this kid might really be a good fighter, because his hands are big enough...

Zhou Jue suddenly had an ominous premonition, he has a natural sensitivity to the troubles and extra labor that are about to happen.Zhou Jue's mother once said that this kid is as smart as a monkey.But his father quickly clarified a fact for him. His father sneered: "Fart, he is much smarter than a monkey." So his parents concluded that this kid is a character.

Knowing that he came back because he had something to do with him, Zhou Jue quickly put away the book and thanked Chen Hao: "Brother Chen! I'm in a hurry to go to work, let's go first. Thank you for leaving the book for me." After speaking, he waved Get ready to run back.But Chen Hao hurried several steps and grabbed his shoulder.

Zhou Jue had no choice but to look at Chen Hao helplessly. Chen Hao walked up to him and said, "You work part-time in the library, right? Return it for me. Three of the books are overdue. You try to erase them for me."

Zhou Jue twitched the corner of his mouth and said with a dry smile, "You... How long have you expired?"

Chen Hao touched his forehead, and after thinking for a while, he replied: "It's hard to say, maybe two or three years, maybe three or four years."

Zhou Jue's tongue started to twist a little, he stammered: "Brother, Brother Chen, do you know how much you owe? Two or three years, two cents a day, how much is it!"

Chen Hao continued to touch his forehead, and after a moment of silence, he said, "You are Zhou Jue from the Department of Humanities. I will teach you this semester. Let's get to know each other and make friends. We will get along well in the future. Apart from the teacher-student relationship, You can still be friends in the future. Basically, I am very loyal to my friends."

Zhou Jue's smile became even brighter, and he nodded again and again, laughing so hard that he could barely see his eyes.But I have already greeted Chen Hao's ancestors in my heart.It seems that the rumor that he is a hooligan is definitely not groundless.Isn't it obvious that the credits are threatening him?

Chen Hao quickly stuffed the book to Zhou Jue, then patted him on the shoulder, threw him a cigarette chicly, turned his head and left.Zhou Jue nodded in resignation, and reluctantly stuffed the books into the backpack, thinking that there would always be a chance to get this debt back in the future.Then he returned to the library as fast as he could. At this moment, Xiao Zhao walked up to Zhou Jue with a glass in his hand. He looked at the book next to Zhou Jue and said, "Hey, Xiao Zhou is back to school?"

Zhou Jue knew that Lao Zhao had guessed that he had sneaked out, so he smiled awkwardly and said, "Uncle Zhao won't tell the truth, I helped you check the books in the morning. Come, Uncle Zhao, smoke a cigarette." After finishing speaking He took out the cigarette that Chen Hao had given him from his pocket, and handed it to Lao Zhao as a gift of flowers and Buddha.

Old Zhao took the cigarette and sniffed it in front of his nose, and after confirming that it was a good cigarette, he patted Zhou Jue's shoulder with a smile: "We are all on our own, Uncle Zhao won't say anything, you see, after you go out to get some fresh air Tell me too, otherwise, if the curator comes, wouldn’t that be the end of the gang?”

Zhou Jue nodded with a smile and said yes.After speaking, he quickly handed Lao Zhao a lighter.After they talked and laughed, they went about their own business.Soon it was Lao Zhao's turn to check the bookshelves again, and Zhou Jue glanced at Gu Lao, who dozed off listening to the radio.Then he quickly sat down in front of the computer almost like an agent, and then scanned the few books.Zhou Jue was amused when he found that each book was more than four years old. If the credit card system was also used for borrowing books, Chen Hao would probably be blacklisted by all libraries.The debt collection agency came to his house every day to have a carnival.Zhou Jue quickly opened the background operation, and then deleted the records for him one by one, and then pasted new barcodes on these books.Luckily, Zhou Jue has been working here for a year, and he has quick hands and feet, and quickly finished posting all the notes.He quickly put the book into the pile of books to be put on the shelf, and his movements can be described as one-stop.At this time, Lao Zhao happened to come back.Seeing Zhou Jue flipping through the pile of books, I thought he was going to put them on the shelf by himself.Zhou Jue thought that if they found out that these books were unfamiliar, they might open the backstage to check them, so he might as well upload them by himself, so he quickly agreed and pushed the trailer to put them on the shelves.

While pushing, I wondered if I could miss a few courses this time, but hooligans are not easy to get along with, and the hooligan teacher is the urban management among hooligans.He was amused by his apt description.Actually laughed by himself.The library is always such a quiet place no matter when and where, when he entered, the little noise made those old men who read newspapers look up at him.He smiled shyly at them, and quickly walked into the bookshelf.He looked outside, then took out his MP3 and listened to music, while his other hand was symbolically arranging the bookshelves.At this time, his hand suddenly dropped a book. Zhou Jue picked it up and found that it was the old book that couldn't be stuffed in front.

He unconsciously snorted, and said to himself: "Didn't it already be kicked into the box? Why is it here again? Could it be that someone dug it out? So it was stuffed here indiscriminately? But it's not right... ..." He quickly checked the label of the book, and found that it was completely consistent with the left and right books, indicating that the four-corner number was completely correct.Could it be that this book was originally not an old book, but a new one?Originally in this position?But Huang Cheng has been like this, at least for three to forty years.And it was in the morning that the curator said he was going to kick the book, and then he started to meet strange figures, and then he tripped inexplicably, and then this book...he began to have a strange interest in this book.So much so that the previous sense of resistance was completely covered by this curiosity.This feeling is like a strange but very familiar invisible person hugging him from behind, completely grasping his mind.He gritted his teeth and pulled off the earphones, picked up the book to find out what it was all about.The name of the book is "The Ring of Seven".There is no author's signature, not even the publisher, and the last page has been torn.The first page of the book has the stamp of being clearly kicked.It shows that this book has actually been kicked out earlier.The fact that the last page was torn off is also a proof.So how can a book that has been kicked out for a long time appear in the new book recommendation area?He opened the book, and there was the choking smell of the warehouse in the book. Zhou Jue flipped through a few pages and felt that it was a novel, but the author's name was not revealed at all.This made Zhou Jue think it was a privately printed or pirated book.He turned over the title page, and the first story was called the Ring of Seven.Zhou Jue leaned on the bookshelf and began to read this strange book.

The author has something to say: Ah, I forgot to say, you must be patient, the judges, the main reason is that my brain is particularly abnormal recently, so don't rush... I thank you all here!