Chapter 129
Sure enough, someone couldn’t stand it. A girl sniffing her runny nose came to knock on the office door: “Auntie, can we go inside to tear them?”
Qiao Wei said kindly: “Sure, go ahead. Just don’t light any open fires; this is a high-priority fire prevention unit.”
“Oh, we won’t.”
The girl turned back, and soon the students moved the chairs into the Library first, then moved the half-torn books back inside—they had just moved them out from there earlier.
It was another round of physical labor, but moving around wasn’t bad; it was a little warmer.
Sister Shen asked Librarian Zheng Ai: “Is the stove in the Library lit?”
“No.” Librarian Zheng Ai pushed up his glasses, “There was nobody here today, so I didn’t light the stove.”
Qiao Wei said: “You still need to keep an eye on them. Don’t let the little ones get desperate and light a fire inside.”
Librarian Zheng Ai picked up his thick cotton-padded coat, toasted it over the stove until it was nice and warm, put it on, and went to the Library to keep watch.
The students were listless.
Burning books was so exciting. But sitting in a cold, gloomy room tearing books was no fun at all.
Seeing a tall man with glasses tidying up the bookshelves in a professional manner, Wang Daliang said: “Hey, comrade, could you light a stove for us?”
Librarian Zheng Ai pretended not to hear.
Are you even old enough to talk? How dare you call me comrade.
The girl was a bit smarter and more polite: “Uncle, we are really cold, could you please light the stove?”
Only then did Librarian Zheng Ai, sitting on the stepladder, turn his head and push up his thick glasses: “No, there isn’t that much coal.”
“There are so many revolutionary meetings right now. To support them, fuel supplies for all units have been reduced. We’ve saved some coal to support the revolutionary rallies of various revolutionary mass organizations.”
“We don’t even have enough coal for our own heating. Look at us, we’re all huddled in the office, afraid to come out. Our hands freeze while working; it’s miserable.”
Well, there was nothing to be done then.
The teenage boys and girls were dejected.
What was even more hateful was that at noon, a young auntie came in to deliver food to the uncle with glasses: “I’ve brought your meal.”
The uncle with glasses started slurping his food right there in the Library. Steam and the aroma of food filled the Library.
Several people swallowed their saliva, and their stomachs started rumbling.
At this moment, the young Library Director Qiao also walked in carrying her lunch box: “Oh, you’re still here? It’s lunchtime, hurry home and eat first. You can continue in the afternoon.”
Everyone exchanged glances, stood up quickly, and said hypocritically: “We’ll come back in the afternoon…”
“Librarian Zheng Ai, register everyone—which school they’re from, their names, where they live, their parents’ names, and their workplaces…” Library Director Qiao said, “When we report our work later, we’ll include the students.”
Everyone froze, desperately signaling Wang Daliang.
Wang Daliang bit the bullet and said: “N-no need, right?”
“Why not? It’s a must!” Qiao Wei said, “Our revolution must have organization and discipline. How can we be a loose sand? Listen to me, I’m a military family member. In our Military Unit families, even the children are trained like new recruits; organization and discipline must be instilled from a young age!”
But the reason they were stirring up the revolution was precisely because they loved the joy of being unrestrained and lawless.
Wang Daliang said: “We all live nearby; we’ll come right back after eating.”
Qiao Wei said: “Then I’ll just register you; you’re the leader. We hold people accountable, so we’ll come to you if anything happens.”
Librarian Zheng Ai had already put down his lunch box, wiped his mouth, walked to the counter, and opened the registration book: “Speak up, where do you live? Home address? Parents’ names? Workplace?”
Wang Daliang’s scalp tingled, but since he could be the leader, he obviously had some wit. Rolling his eyes, he said: “No. 4 Courtyard, Jianshe Road. My dad is named Wang, Wang, Wang Jianguo, and my mom is, um, Li Fengmei. They are both, um…”
He couldn’t come up with a workplace on the spot, so a female student cleverly helped him make it up: “Bearing Factory!”
“Yes, yes, yes, Bearing Factory.”
“Alright, go back and eat then.” Qiao Wei carried her lunch box and arranged the follow-up work, “Continue tearing in the afternoon; once you’ve torn this much, it should be about enough. Go contact the neighborhood committee, pull out the list of residents, and then create a distribution list. Try to get it into the residents’ hands by tomorrow. By the way, you’d better bring some tools tomorrow. Baskets, boxes, or something. Can you find a flatbed cart? Otherwise, with so much, if you carry it back and forth, I’m afraid you’ll exhaust yourselves.”
“Although it’s all for the revolution and the masses, you are also the flower buds in the great garden of the motherland. Auntie would feel bad if you really wore yourselves out.”
“Oh, remember to bring ropes tomorrow so it’s easier to carry the baskets and boxes on your backs.”
The staff members all brought their food back to eat today.
One by one, they held their lunch boxes, eating hot meals, and watched as the students left stiffly.
“Guess how many will come back this afternoon?”
“I live on Jianshe Road, and I’ve never seen this kid before.”
“Heh.”
However, to everyone’s surprise, someone actually did come back in the afternoon.
Just him alone.
He was also confused: “Did no one else come? Will, will they come later? Or…”
The kind-hearted Library Director Qiao, warming her hands with a hot tea mug, gave this honest kid a chance: “I don’t know. Why don’t you help Auntie by going to Jianshe Road to urge them?”
The honest kid felt as if he had been granted an amnesty, agreed, and ran off as if his feet were greased.
He never came back.
But this was just a splash wetting the toes; the big waves were still to come.
The staff members were still immersed in the joy of the Library Director Qiao repelling a group of brats, but Qiao Wei read the newspapers every day, seeing various things happening in big cities, and her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
“It’s just that children are easy to fool.” She said, “If it were adults with rich struggle experience, they wouldn’t be so easily fooled.”
Everyone’s joy was doused with cold water.
Thinking about the ancient books treasured in the storage room, the ones everyone spent so much time and energy organizing and preserving, might be burned to ashes, Little Wu started crying: “Library Director, please think of a way…”
Unknowingly, Qiao Wei had become the pillar and the protective umbrella of the Library in everyone’s hearts.
Qiao Wei really thought for a long time, trying to find a safe method.
Spring Festival arrived, but there was no holiday. The people of the whole country stood fast at their posts.
But various meetings still had to be held, and Qiao Wei, as the Library Director, often had to cross two streets to the County Government auditorium to attend those large meetings.
She actually did come up with a solution.
She told this method to Yan Lei: “The most dangerous place is the safest place.”
Yan Lei asked: “Will he agree?”
“We have to try. We can’t not even try.”
If it really doesn’t work, we’ll just hand over the books. After all, people are more important.
Qiao Wei respected and sympathized with Director Xiao, but she would not let herself become Director Xiao.
She went to find Huang Zengyue.
“There is a batch of ancient books in the storage room, said to be the treasures of the Library, there are over a dozen boxes.” She told him nonchalantly.
If anyone else had run to Department Head Huang to say this, it would most likely be to surrender, offer a treasure, or show loyalty.
But Huang Zengyue knew Qiao Wei too well.
He put down his fountain pen, leaned back in his chair, lifted his eyelids to look at her: “What are you trying to do?”
“I remember you saying you were very lopsided in your studies, bad at math and science, but good with a pen.” Qiao Wei said, “I remember you saying you had read all the documents of any significance in the Library.”
“I remember you saying you grew up in the Library.”
A boy who grew up in the Library, whose writing skills were strong enough to be valued, appreciated, and promoted by leaders, must be someone who loves books very much.
Qiao Wei stood in front of the desk, staring at Department Head Huang.
Huang Zengyue found that Qiao Wei was truly a person who made him feel complicated.
You could say you controlled her, and you sort of did. Holding onto her organizational affiliation, she had no choice.
But if you really thought you controlled her, you didn’t at all. Because you had no way to directly control her words and actions, and she was particularly slippery, always doing the unexpected.
Huang Zengyue was sometimes helpless too.
He didn’t stand on ceremony with her: “Just tell me straight, what do you want me to do?”
Qiao Wei said: “I saw that the auditorium is going to make a large background board?”
“Yes, for meetings. To hang flags, hang banners, and write slogans.”
Qiao Wei walked over, braced her hands on the large desk, and leaned forward slightly: “That kind of frame needs to be held down by a counterweight.”
Huang Zengyue: “…”
The new background board for the auditorium stage was set up bit by bit.
Department Head Huang even came to check on it several times himself.
Someone carried over a dozen boxes to use as counterweights, pressing them onto the rear support legs. No one knew what was inside, but they were really heavy.
The wooden boxes looked dirty, with “Counterweight, do not move” written on them in red paint.
They were so heavy that it would take at least two people to lift them; who could move them?
Those dozen or so boxes served as counterweights, pressing on the support legs behind the background board, keeping it steady so it wouldn’t fall.
As for the front, every day, depending on the meeting, different banners were hung, different large characters were written, and different posters were pasted.
No one went around to the back to see what was holding it down.
People came and went in the auditorium every day, slogans filled the air, and applause thundered.
Those boxes hid quietly behind the background board, silently experiencing the years alongside all the noise and commotion.
No one knew.
Perhaps Director Xiao knew.
Perhaps when he saw from heaven that the person he entrusted had fulfilled her promise and protected the treasures he cherished, he might also reveal a gratified smile.
Later, the Library inevitably encountered a few waves of attacks, with revolutionary masses rushing in to demand the burning of books.
Some books definitely had to be burned; it was impossible not to burn any.
They were all adults, not as easy to fool as the children before.
From the staff to the Library Director, everyone in the Library was very cooperative, with a very good and positive attitude.
The revolutionary masses also knew that this Library Director had some connections, so after sweeping through and seeing that nothing was left behind, they were satisfied and didn’t dare to cause too much trouble to the Library.
But everyone couldn’t help but sigh as they looked at the bookshelves that were now much emptier.
“Alright, alright, don’t look so dejected.” Library Director Qiao clapped her hands, “Cheer up!”
“Out with the old, in with the new!”
“We’ve lost so many books, we have to fill the gaps. Little Wu, make this year’s budget double the previous years’ before submitting it to the Cultural Bureau.”
“Rejected? Rejected what? Whoever rejects it, have them call me, and have them come here and see these bookshelves themselves!”
Library Director Qiao put her hands on her hips: “Don’t think of our Library as a unit that’s easy to bully.”
