Chapter 20 Section 6

The Kobushicho Library is an old wooden building. I don’t know how many years it has been, but it feels that it should be so old that it is not surprising that it is protected as a historic site.I looked up at the library building, and a strong uneasiness welled up in my heart. The appearance of the beetle car guy just now really disturbed me. Although his dress and lines were exaggerated like acting, and he even used the wrong idioms, but he did know that I was investigating something, otherwise he would not have connected Appeared by my side for two days, how could there be such a coincidence in the world?What the man said, "I advise you to stop before you get hurt", can't just be a joke, let's forget it after laughing!

However, the main thing that disturbs me now is not the men's threats.The timidity in my heart finally turned into words and slipped out of my mouth: "...Now, looking for books seems to have been completely changed to an online operation..." Just thinking about flipping through those catalog cards one by one feels exhausting. The lighting in the library is very good, and even the air-conditioning is cool, creating a bright and comfortable atmosphere.There was a burst of children's cheers on the right, and I turned my head to look through the bookshelf with a lower height. There should be a place for some children's books!Fortunately, there was a touch-screen retrieval machine next to the counter, and there was a nice-looking young girl inside the counter, who immediately swept away my anxiety.

"Excuse me, is this machine available?" "Ah, yes, please use it." When he was about to press his finger on the touch-sensitive egg screen of the retrieval machine, he hesitated suddenly.The person in charge of cleaning is too lazy!It was covered with fingerprints of unknown origin.At least wipe it off too!I couldn't help cursing swear words in my heart, and pressed the screen reluctantly. And it's a touchscreen that feels super inflexible.The title of the book or the author must be typed out character by character by using the fifty syllables displayed on the screen. Just to spell out the word "Middle Ages" requires considerable patience and perseverance.After finally typing the title of the book, press the search button, and the following screen will pop up immediately:

"No book found" Wow!How could this be?I just remembered that Jiang Ma Changguang's book is called "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States", not "The Warring States and Xiaofu Called the Middle Ages".With tears in my eyes and my nose biting, I had to erase the line that I typed after working so hard for a long time.It's really exhausting, even if there is no keyboard, at least give it a handwriting screen!After wrestling with Wuyin for a long time, I finally typed the title of the book again and pressed the search button again. "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu, Called the Warring States Period Author: Jiang Ma Changguang"

There is. But no matter how many times I pressed "Detailed Display", there was still no response, and finally I had to press my whole fist on the screen, and finally the following screen popped up slowly: "The book you are looking for is on the bookshelf 210.4D of the local data bookshelf on the first basement floor" I want to print this page, only to find that this machine does not seem to have a printing function.I had no choice but to recite the location and book number several times, and asked the girl at the counter: "Excuse me, where do I go down from the first basement floor?"

The girl raised her hand and pointed in the opposite direction of the children's book section.There was an open iron door, and inside the door seemed to be another library, and the only lighting seemed to be relying on weak lights and some scattered light and shadow. "It's right there." "thanks." I thanked her and stepped into the dim library with the dusty air. Every bookshelf here is taller than me, and the distance between the bookshelves is barely enough for a person to pass through.Rather than a library, it is more like a second-hand bookstore with a very small space and crowded with old books.

What surprised me the most was that there were no windows.The ones who also got 1.1 bright lights on the first floor were books with book numbers over 900, that is, "literature" books.They seem to be some popular novels.If you go further inside, you can only rely on the light of the electric light.And I don't know if there is something hidden about the light, it's extremely faint. This library is bigger than I imagined. When I walked to the innermost part, I finally saw the stairs leading to the basement.The steps of the stairs are so large that one can't help but suspect that this does not comply with building regulations at all!Considering the age of this library, it is not surprising that there have been one or two accidents where people fell to death.Maybe there are some ghost stories about broken necks or something... I was chilled down my spine by my wild thoughts, and it was quite cool in the basement without air conditioning.

I leaned on the wall and walked down cautiously step by step.Like the first floor, the basement is filled with bookshelves that are taller than a person, and the bookshelves are filled with books, so the actual size of the room is hard to see.Maybe the basement is actually an endlessly extended space!What a horrible Kobushicho library. The light bulbs here and there are all the light in the basement.It's a light bulb!Not even fluorescent lights.It's an exaggeration.When was the last time I saw a light bulb?Ah, the lighting in my toilet seems to still use light bulbs.The soft orange light casts dim light and shadow on the old wooden bookshelf.

Enduring the unpleasant pressure, I began to look for the book number on both sides.It's still more than 900 numbers of literature, and it's also some writers whose names I haven't even heard.Just when I thought it was strange, I immediately understood that those were fanzine novels, poetry collections, essay collections, etc. published by Kofushi Town, Babao City, and Liusang Village.Although what I was looking for was a book numbered over 200, from the point of view of "locally published books", I might be close to my goal.So I carefully browsed the titles on the bookshelf.

After looking through a whole row of bookshelves, I finally found a book number 200 at the corner.The first thing that catches the eye is "History of Kobushicho".I remembered that the one I was looking for was 210/4, so I kept looking. Fortunately, there are less than one hundred books on local history, so I found it quickly.Regardless of the book number, Jiang Ma Changguang has four books in total, and they are all put together.They are "Xiaofu Yikui and Its Doom", "Xiaodong Waterway", "The History of this City and Place——For the Young People Who Should Bear the Next Generation—", "The Way of the Village·Liusang·Xiaofu·Babao ".

Fortunately, there was no one around, so I couldn't help crying: "Hey! Why is there no "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States Period"?" No.The book I was looking for was not there. After a closer look, none of the four books on the shelf had a sticker prohibiting borrowing, so "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States Period" should also be loanable!Did it just happen to be borrowed?Or was it accidentally placed on another shelf?I can't help cursing the overwhelmed online retrieval system of Kobushi-cho Enshukan.People's Babao Municipal Library can know whether the book has been borrowed by the way when searching. I repeated the half-squat movements of standing up and squatting down, squatting down and standing up again, and carried out a carpet-like search near Jiang Ma Changguang's works.No. Zoom in on the scope and start searching through a whole cabinet of books, but still nothing. Later, I found that the half-squatting search method was not only tiring but also inefficient, so I changed the combat method, first from one end of the first floor to find the other end, then from this end of the second floor to find the other end...and so on. With the dim light of the light bulb, I have widened my eyes to the maximum, but I still can't find it.Inhaling a gulp of dusty air, he sighed. "I think it should be true! At least it looks like this..." A thorough search would require turning the library over.What I am doing now has far exceeded the scope of detectives. If I continue to search, it will be faster to just change jobs. Who will tell me which one is my profession? I climbed the stairs back to the sun-drenched first floor like a rock climber. I've only been in the library for about fifteen minutes!The staff at the counter has changed a round.The girl just ran away somewhere, and was replaced by a man with white hair and a pair of boxy thin-rimmed glasses.The name tag on the chest reads the word "Name and".I was about to step forward to ask a question, but was preempted by a brat. The little ghost asked loudly: "Where's the dinosaur book?" The white-haired man smiled gently: "Over there, there is a No. 7 bookshelf hanging on it, probably in the middle! Do you know that?" But the kid shook his head. "have no idea." "That's it...Miss Sano, please help this child lead the way." The man yelled into the counter, and then the girl just came out. "Go this way!" Before the little ghost walked away with her to find a book, Minghe did not forget to say one more sentence: "Kids, don't run or talk loudly in the library!" "it is good!" The kid answered honestly, his voice was still loud. After watching the kid leave, Nawa turned to look at me.The gentle expression just now disappeared somewhere, and the tone of voice was as stiff as a straight line drawn with a ruler. "do you need anything?" Why are you so fierce?I was a little startled, and quickly put a polite smile on my face.It's annoying to feel so careful. "Uh, I'm looking for a book, but I can't find it. I don't know if it's been borrowed. Can you check it for me?" "What's the title of the book?" "Uh, "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States Period" was written by a person named Jiang Ma Changguang." When I said the title of the book, I don't know if it was my illusion, but Nawa's attitude seemed to soften suddenly. "Are you looking for Mr. Jiang Ma's book? It's a good book! But it just happened to be borrowed now." "what?" I blinked in disbelief.Even if the librarian is an expert in the library, there are at least tens of thousands of books in the library. It is impossible to have a clear grasp of the borrowing status of each book to this extent! "Are you sure? Can you check more carefully?" Minghe's hard-faced face seemed to relax a little. "Of course I can't remember the borrowing status of all the books! It's just that someone was looking for that book, and he happened to come to ask again today, so I can remember. It's not wrong, the book was indeed borrowed gone." Then he added: "Mr. Jiang Ma really has a way. Even after he passed away, young people like you still come to find his books." It sounds like there is some sense of history in it, but I'm not much interested in his memories.So he scratched his head and said: "Ah, what a headache. I'm anxious to read that book." This kind of entrustment that pays all at once after the completion of the matter is to quickly set the goal and get things done as soon as possible.This is not just for the client, good work efficiency is also one of the necessary conditions for a good detective. Unexpectedly, this angered Nawa again. "It's useless for you to complain to me. Otherwise, you should make an appointment first! I will contact you when the book is back." "However, we still don't know when the book will be returned, right?" I have a great idea. "Ah, yes. Do you know who the borrower is? I want to go straight to him. Because I just need to ask him to let me take a look." But this sentence seems to have stepped on Nawa's landmine.A pair of eyes under the white hair suddenly hung up, and the two eyebrows were tightly frowned.I was almost scared to death by his angry face, and I was scolded: "How can you do such a thing!" Although his voice was not very loud, it was still loud enough for everyone to hear in such a quiet library!Although I was scared to death, I still had to use my stalking skills. "No, it's not that serious! I will definitely not cause trouble for the other party." "..." Nawa also seemed to feel that it was embarrassing for him to shout so loudly, so he lowered his head and changed to an explanatory tone: "Listen to me, as for the library, the user's data must be kept absolutely confidential. Even if the police come to ask the case, it's the same. Even if there is a search ticket from the court, try not to say anything. No matter where the library is , No matter which librarian it is, this is the most basic common sense. You should give up and line up obediently!" That being said, I seem to have heard of this rule before.But this is just superficial talk!I can't believe that all librarians are as virtuous as this man said, guarding the secrets of borrowers.If it wasn't this stubborn old man standing at the counter today, he might have told me.But let me apologize first!I don't want to be scolded again. "Is that so? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have made unreasonable demands." Nawa also apologized to me: "Don't say that, I shouldn't have yelled at you, sorry... do you still have an appointment?" "Ah, yes." He took a piece of recycled paper and a pencil from the counter that said "Appointment Form" and gave it to me.Then very formulaic telling me which fields to fill out. "Please put your name here, your phone number here, and your library card number here." Perhaps because of the question mark appearing on my face again, Nawa stopped explaining and looked up at me. "Do you have a library card?" "Uh, this... no!" "Then I have to get one. Do you live in Xiaofu?" "No, I live in Eight Guarantees." Nawa's face hardened again.I thought I was going to be scolded again, so I couldn't help shrinking into a ball, but Nawa just snorted softly, and then lowered the volume in a seemingly embarrassed way: "I'm afraid it won't work with Babao! Because we only cooperate with Xiaofu, Shizhang, and Liusang, and Babao is not within the scope of our services!" This is how you are called bureaucrats!When I was about to make a fuss, I raised my head and suddenly remembered one thing—although I live in Babao, but... "Ah, I'm from Liusang. I can give you my ID number." Nawa nodded very simply. "In this case, you can apply for a library card." I never even dreamed that after so many years of wandering like duckweed, there would be a day when I would thank myself for being a member of Liusang.The following procedures were quickly and smoothly completed, and the appointment for "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States Period" was finally settled. We can only wait patiently again.Although I am not ashamed to the client, this is also something I can't help.It is already very good to have such a harvest today. When I was ready to step out of the library with my heart full, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in my mind. Maybe Yan Mao from Shanbei High School also has a copy of "The Middle Ages and Xiaofu Called the Warring States Period".Because when I asked who had done more research on Xiao Fu's history, his name was immediately mentioned.And he said that the library might have it, so I came to the library to look for it. If I asked him to lend me a look, he wouldn't refuse me, would he? If this is the case, what is my hard work this afternoon?Holding the appointment form that gave me a sense of accomplishment just now, I suddenly felt a sense of emptiness. It would be too tragic to go back empty-handed like this.I turned around and walked back to the library. A few minutes later, I walked out of the library again, holding all of Ema Changguang's works except "The Middle Ages Called the Warring States Period and Xiaofu" in my hand. Although this is just an act of venting my anger that I don't want to let go, maybe it will still be useful. It's just that I can't say what it is useful for in the end.