Revive it!Wenhao Press

"What a coincidence, it's you again."

As Noguchi said, he stepped forward again and walked to Akira Chiba's grave.

He didn't know Hualijun, and didn't know what relationship she had with Chiba Akira, but he didn't ask, but sat down beside Hualijun, and took out the beer he bought from the bag.

With a "snap", Tomomo Noguchi pulled the ring, placed one of the cans in front of Chiba Akira's grave, opened the other can, and took a big gulp.

In front of the tombstone, there is a bouquet of flowers brought by Hualichun.

Glancing at the purple-haired girl from the corner of the eye, Tomo Noguchi took out a can of beer from the bag and asked, "Do you want it?"

As soon as he asked this question, he realized that he had made a slip of the tongue: "By the way, you are not yet of drinking age..."

"It's okay." Jun Huali interrupted Tomo Noguchi, took the beer from him, and pulled the ring.

Noguchi Satoshi looked at Huali Jun and frowned, took a sip of beer, and couldn't help but think of Chiba Akira's first article "Angelica" being rejected at the publication meeting, and the scene of having a beer party at his house.

He was never one to stick to the drinking age.

Holding the beer can with both hands, swallowing the alcohol down her throat, Hualichun lowered her head.

"It's so bitter..." She lowered her eyelashes and said in a low voice, "Is all beer this bitter?"

Noguchi Tomo was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at Huali Jun.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"...17 years old." Hualichun replied.

"yes."

Noguchi lowered his head and looked at the stones on the ground: "I have never noticed that children are more likely to feel the bitterness in beer than adults."

The female high school student next to me was like this, and Chiba Akira, who was not yet an adult at the time, must have been like this too.

Beer is the same, and so is the long-winged nymph. He has never been able to fully understand Chiba Akira's world.

Through the numerous tombstones, one can see the blood-red setting sun in the sky.

After silently drinking the remaining beer in front of the grave, Noguchi Satoshi packed the wine can, paused, and slowly took out the yellowed notebook from the briefcase again.

He didn't speak, and handed the notebook to Hualichun.

"I'll give this to you," Noguchi said.

Hualichun stared at the notebook in front of her in astonishment, not daring to pick it up: "Why? You obviously don't know me."

"Now it's meaningless to put it here with me." Noguchi Satoshi exhaled slowly.

What he did in the ten years after that was an irrefutable betrayal to Akira Chiba, who died for his own literature.What's more, he is no longer an editor now.

His qualifications to preserve this posthumous manuscript have completely disappeared.

"You're right, I don't know you," Noguchi said, "but I saw you cry over this story. So I know that I can entrust it to you as a stranger. You must, too. Will treat it kindly."

"Compared with me, you are more suitable to keep it." Noguchi Satoshi pushed the notebook in the direction of Huali Jun again, "Take it."

Hualichun was silent for a moment, and finally took the notebook and hugged it in her arms.

Seeing Noguchi carrying the bag all the way away, she suddenly couldn't help but chase a few steps: "Editor Noguchi!"

Tomo Noguchi paused and turned around.

Even though his name was called, he was not surprised.During this period of time, my face has appeared countless times in the media news, so it is not surprising that this girl recognized her.

Noguchi Satoshi looked at Jun Huali from a distance.And Hualichun had many questions to ask, many things he didn't understand, but when it came to his mouth, there was only one sentence left.

"Editor-in-Chief Noguchi," Huali Jun said loudly, "Your love for literature is as strong as anyone else!"

Noguchi stood there for a while.The sky had gradually darkened, and his face was blurred by the distance.But at a certain moment, Huali Jun saw a complicated smile on Noguchi Tomo's lips.

I don't know if it's real, maybe it's just an illusion of her self-comfort, but she thinks she sees Noguchi smiling.

Then, he turned around again and left the cemetery quickly.

***

night.

Hualichun's revival project of old works has been carried out for the most part.Already ten short stories have obtained permission from the author, signed a publishing contract, and obtained an ISBN.

After repeated attempts at typesetting, a series of content such as the order of articles, typesetting fonts, and ink and paper have been determined.And the rest is the title of the compiled anthology.

In front of him is the cover design interface displayed by the computer and the handheld, and there is no word on the blank cover.And Hualichun couldn't help but shift his eyes to the old notebook at hand.

What is written in the note is the unfinished story that Chiba Akira bought with his life.

When I went to sign the contract that day, after telling her the past, Kaya Koyama said: "In history, many creators ended their lives suddenly. Some were frustrated, some were exhausted, Some chose to end their careers during the most glorious period of their careers, and some did not want to die, but they could not resist the fate arranged by fate. "The death of a writer" has even become an entertainment topic."

He asked Hualijun: "Editor Noguchi made his own choice in the face of a dead writer. This is nothing more than a cliché that has been said countless times by countless people, but if one day, you also meet The same thing, what would you do then?"

"Would you choose not to change your style of work no matter what, or like Editor-in-Chief Noguchi, choose a path that betrays literature, the writer, and yourself, but allows you not to repeat the pain of the past? "

Now Hualichun has not lost any writer, so she can't give the answer to this question.

Including suicide, there are countless writers who died of natural or unnatural death in history.But their stories should be passed on.Even if a writer's penis dies, their soul will live forever with the article.

After looking back, Hualichun typed four words on the cover.

Hoshinosha's old revival project, the first in the series.And the series is called——

Writers don't die.

The lights in the Hoshinosha office area stayed on until late at night.At some point, Hualichun fell asleep lying on the table, still holding the mouse in his hand.

The first floor of Hoshinosha was silent until there was a slight sound of paws slapping the ground.Three dog shadows filed into the office area.Those are Dazai Inu, Oda Inu and Ango Inu.

On the edge of the desk where Hualichun sat just now, a leading sand-colored dog's head slowly emerged like a mushroom after the rain: "..."

Soon, three dog heads surrounded the desk.His eyes fell on the computer screen that was still on, and the words "Writers don't die" came into Dazai Inu's eyes.

The sand-colored Gouzi looked at the four words, and his thoughts went back to the time when he first came to Hoshinosha.

He has entered the water, hanged himself, jumped jumping, eaten poisonous mushrooms, mixed blood pressure drugs with blood pressure drugs...

But... writers don't die, do they?

The sand-colored Gouzi suppressed his thoughts, instead of waking Hualichun who was lying in front of the computer, he stretched his neck, slowly bit the notebook under her arm, and slowly took it off.

The three dogs quietly left the office area and returned to the bar.Dazai put the note on the bar and opened it, and the three dogs raised their heads.

The notes are turned page by page by the fluffy paws until the story ends halfway.The three dogs looked at each other: "..."

If you want to know the content of the second half of "Traveler", you can only do so under the two conditions that Chiba Akira has conceived the entire work before his death, and someone can read the memories and thoughts left on the items. done.

In the end, Ango Inu was pushed to the notebook by Dazai Inu and Oda Inu.The black-and-white dog looked down at the notebook, the tip of his black nose trembled with fluff, and finally stretched out his paw towards the notebook.

……

Hualichun opened her eyes suddenly and sat up from the bed.

A ray of morning light came in through the window.The Zhongye dog was snoring next to the pillow, and even Hualichun's violent movements couldn't wake up the puppy.On the farther pillow lay a sand-colored dog's head, pointing the back of its head at her, wagging the tip of its tail, and it was unclear whether it was awake or dreaming.

Hualichun stared at the sky outside in a daze: "I fell asleep... No, am I doing anthology design downstairs?"

Did dog teachers carry themselves back to bed again?

Hualichun pushed aside the quilt and got out of bed.She walked all the way to the office area on the first floor, but found something strange on the table she was sitting on before going to bed.

Under the old notebook, there is a pile of typed manuscripts with black characters on a white background.

Huali picks up the printed manuscript curiously, and randomly scans the first few lines.Soon, she was holding her breath in astonishment.

***

Since the announcement of the winners of the New Arts and Culture Awards, the sales of Hoshinosha's magazines and published books have skyrocketed.Even though Noguchi Satoshi returned to his hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture the day after he left office, he could still see news related to Hoshinosha on TV, newspapers and roadsides.

Overnight, Hoshinosha, which won the highest awards of the Classical Award and the New School Award, seems to have completely become the darling of the times.What is real literature and what is a literary dream is repeatedly emphasized on TV, and more people read books on the road, tram and subway.

And Noguchi Satoshi has no plans to find a job after leaving Tokyo.He lives alone in the old house in his hometown, and starts to read some books that he didn't have time to read because of work. He also goes to a nearby small bookstore every few days to buy some new books.

There are many acquaintances in my hometown, and when I meet him, I always ask him: "Azhi, isn't he planning to go back to the publishing industry?" Noguchi always answers like this: "No, I plan to retire early, and I will stay here until the end of my life." old and dead."

When leaving, he could always hear those people whispering: "Obviously he was a well-behaved boy when he was young, why has he become so hard-hearted now..." But his expression never changed.

One day in early December, when he was having breakfast with the TV turned on in his hometown, Satoshi Noguchi saw the news about Hoshinosha.

"After winning the New School Award, the publications published by Hoshinosha have attracted a lot of attention, and the publishing plan is also advancing rapidly. "Couple Zenzai" has released a separate volume last month, and this month, Hoshinosha announced a new plan on the official website... ..."

Noguchi Satoshi ate simple rice balls, listening to the voices coming from the TV.

"The new project is called—The Writer's Immortal. And just today, the first volume of the Writer's Immortal series has been put on shelves in the cooperative bookstore. There are two volumes in total..."

"One of the volumes is a collection of short stories "Gathering Leaves", which includes ten short stories that have been published in "Monthly Literature" in the past; and the other is a novella that has never been published. Teacher Ye Huang's "Traveler"..."

The rice ball in Tomo Noguchi's hand fell to the ground with a "click".

"Two months ago, the scandal about Mr. Naganoguchi, the former editor of Bailang Club's "Literary Times", was rampant. Mr. Noguchi himself was even involved in murder suspicions. The target was the deceased writer Akira Chiba. However, Mr. Akira Chiba But today, after Tomo Noguchi left Bailangsha, Chiba Akira’s never-before-published works were published by Hoshinosha, which is really surprising.”

The host said enthusiastically, "What is the reason behind this? Why is Chiba Akira's posthumous work handed over to Hoshinosha? Is it the decision of Chiba Akira's family..."

But these words, Noguchi Satoshi can no longer hear.He opened the door and ran down the street.

The advertisement on the side of the road passed by the corner of his eyes, and it was the "Writer Is Not Dead" series of advertisements put on last night, in which the words "Chiba Akira" and ""Traveler"" flashed past.

Noguchi Satoshi continued to run, just like ten years ago when he ran up the stairs to the 23rd floor of the Bailangsha Building with the original notebook of "Traveler".The glass window on the side of the street reflected the figure of a middle-aged man running alone in spite of everything. The lonely wind passed by his face, blowing red his eyes that were no longer young.

Running all the way to the bookstore that he often visited these days, Noguchi Satoshi found that the new books of Hoshinosha had been placed on the display shelves of the bookstore.Among them, the cover of "Traveler" is clearly visible - under the brilliant blue-gold starry sky in the style of Van Gogh, a villain who looks like Akira Chiba is carrying a heavy travel bag, trudging forward step by step with difficulty but firmness.

He couldn't wait to buy a copy, and he couldn't wait to open the book at the counter.

A miracle happened.After the point where the manuscript left off, comes the new content.The missing second half of the book is filled.

Although I don't know how Hoshinosha did it, Noguchi Satoshi has read Chiba Akira's text countless times in the past years.With just one glance, he could tell that those were Chiba Akira's strokes and style, which only Chiba Akira could write.

In the publication information on the last page of "Traveler", in the small print below the book number, a few words are printed on one line.

Editor in charge: Satoshi Noguchi.

The journey was not in vain.

Noguchi Satoshi was holding the book in his hand blankly.A child who came to buy books with his mother suddenly raised his finger and pointed at him, and laughed loudly: "Mom, that uncle is crying!" But he didn't care.

With tears in his eyes, the pages of "Traveler" in his hand were flipped by the wind.The snow-white pages swayed rapidly, like white wings constantly flapping.The black print seen through the tear film, and the circular marks on the paper where his tears had dripped, made up the markings on the wings.

Butterfly wings caught Noguchi's eyes.

Ten years later, Tomo Noguchi finally saw the dreamlike world that Akira Chiba had seen ten years ago.

Countless long-winged nymphs flew out from the pages of the book.