When the bell rang for the third time, the students walked out of their respective study rooms. Some students who lived for a long time hurried to the kitchen so that they would not miss the special meal on the first day of school. Some students who were returning to Chang 'an hurried to the meadow in the Academy so that they would not miss the celebration party of their friends in the city. Most of the students packed up their books and followed the quiet alley beside the study rooms to the depths of the Academy.
Looking up at the signboard, Ning Que knew that the old library was in that direction. Thinking of the earnest exhortations of the chief professor in the first class this morning, Ning Que could not help but feel curious. He waved goodbye to Chu Youxian and followed the crowd to that alley.
The distribution of the buildings in the Academy was irregular. There were a few areas in the east and a few corridors in the west. They were scattered among the meadow at the foot of the mountain, but it gave people a feeling of nature. There were countless hidden alleys between the study rooms with flat eaves and the corridors. It was quiet and secluded, extending in all directions. If there was no signboard, no one would know where it would lead.
Ning Que seemed to be joking, but deep down, he was not willing to follow the crowd. After a few steps, he deliberately separated himself from the crowd and walked quietly in the alley alone. The noon sun covered his head, casting a neat black shadow on the flat eaves beside the alley. It just happened to press on his right shoulder, which felt a little heavy.
He walked quietly like this for a long time before he finally walked out of the alley. In front of him, there was suddenly a bright and open landscape. Ning Que lifted the headscarf that was blown up by the wind to the back of his neck and looked at the large wetland forest in front of him. Looking at the lush water pines and green bamboos, he did not know that there was such a beautiful scenery in the depths of the Academy.
There were endless reeds growing in the swamp. At this time, there was no autumn wind to dye them yellow or white. Their upright waists fluttered in the spring breeze, looking like a dense cornstalk field. The slightly dry wind passed through the forest by the swamp and was filtered by these green stalks that carried water vapor, becoming cool and pleasant again.
Ning Que walked on the stone path beside the wetland, looking at the fish in the shadow in the water and listening to the unknown insects chirping in the woods. His heart, which had been tense for more than ten years, gradually loosened and softened, as if it was moistened by the water and gently rubbed by the shade of the trees. Occasionally, he passed by a classmate and nodded politely, but did not speed up his pace.
The stone slabs under his feet had not been polished, and the uneven surface was just enough to prevent slipping. They were laid out from the alley of the study room, circled around the wetland, and then extended into the forest. About thousands of stones were densely packed together to form a flat road, forming an extremely long stone path. At the end of the path, they arrived in front of an old three-story wooden building in the green forest at the foot of the mountain.
The three-storey wooden building looked ordinary on the outside. It did not have any fancy decorations, nor did it have any curved eaves. It was simply built against the mountain, but the varnished wood should not be ordinary. Looking at the traces left by the wind and rain over the years, no one knew how long it had been standing in the depths of the Academy, but there was no sign of decay.
Ning Que looked up at the horizontal plaque above the wooden building, with the words "Old Library" written on it. He could not help thinking, "Are the instructors of the Academy too lazy? How could a library be called Old Library just because it is old?"
"I know you are all curious as to why this building is called Old Library. In fact, the reason is very simple. This building is responsible for collecting books for the Academy, and books are only used to record our thoughts. Once thoughts jump out of the mind and are written on paper, they are no longer fresh, but just old things. Therefore, any book is an old book."
There were already many people gathered downstairs. In front of the closed wooden door, a middle-aged instructor of the Academy was smiling and explaining to the students the origin of the name Old Library.
"Now that you are all members of the Academy, you must remember that in our Academy, there is no such thing as cherishing words and paper, and there is no such rule as kowtowing on the table. Books are books, they are just tools, not sacred. Only our thoughts are fresh. In order to let you remember this, this building is called Old Library."
The students nodded, but not all of them understood the hidden meaning of these two simple sentences. Ning Que vaguely understood some of it, but he did not know if his understanding was completely correct.
"Let me tell you the rules of the Old Library." The middle-aged instructor in charge of managing the Old Library smiled and continued, "There are a total of two instructors and four managers here. Our task is to serve all the teachers and students, so we work day and night. You can come and read at any time, but there are three things you must remember."
"First of all, the Old Library has the richest collection of books in the world. That is because there is an organization of 100 people in charge of searching for books in various countries, and your Senior Brother Li Jie also spends a lot of money to buy books. They work very hard and spend a lot of money. Therefore, when you read, please wash your hands. When you discuss, please do not spit on the books. You do not need to cherish them too much, but do not treat them as toilet paper in your own toilet."
"Secondly, it is impossible for us to find more books. Therefore, when you want to read a book but can't find it, please first question yourself whether the book you want to read is worth reading. If it is a novel, is it the most exquisite Hejian novel? If it is a novel about the Eastern Expedition, is it the most representative big river? If it is not, then don't ask us again, because it means that we have judged the books you want to read to be meaningless. "
"Finally, and most importantly, the Old Library is strictly prohibited from taking any books out, and copying is prohibited. Don't look at me like that, and don't try to instill any spirit of freedom and sharing in me. The rules of the Academy are rules. Professor Cao Zhifeng from Class C this morning must have taught you with his fists that the rationality of these rules is not to be questioned. As for the painstaking and earnest intentions behind these rules, you can unconditionally experience them and be inexplicably touched, but don't expect me to explain to you. "
The instructor stood under the horizontal plaque of the Old Library, smiling at the students with different expressions. His smile was extremely hateful, like a profiteer giving out loans, or a miser showing off his gold to tempt the poor. He said slowly, "Don't try to challenge the last rule. Even if you are the best book thief in the world, if you want to play tricks in the Old Library, there will only be one end, and that is death … a very miserable death."
The students were in an uproar. Ning Que stood outside the crowd and shook his head. He thought that even if the Old Library had the richest collection of books in the world, how could you remember if you were not allowed to copy or borrow? He had other doubts about the collection of books in the Old Library, but he thought that others would have the same doubts as him, so he suppressed his impatience and waited.
As expected, a student raised his arm and asked loudly, "Sir, you said that there are all kinds of books in the Old Library?"
The instructor shifted his gaze and found the student who dared to question him in the crowd. He frowned slightly and said unhappily, "Do you have doubts about what I said?"
"I dare not." The student was frightened by the instructor's gaze and trembled slightly. He said, "I'm just … I'm just curious, is there … that book about cultivation in the Old Library?"
The instructor's expression became slightly better. He raised his chin and smiled slightly. He was so confident and arrogant that he could be pointed at by thousands of people. He said, "In the eyes of the secular world, the so-called Mysterious Door books are probably extremely rare, but it is not difficult for the Academy. If you want to read the legendary Seven Volumes of Tomes of Arcane and Lanke Buddhist Scriptures, the Old Library does not have them. But other than that, I really don't know what other cultivation books you can think of but can't find! "
Hearing this, Ning Que, who stood outside the crowd, slowly clenched his fists in his sleeves. Although his expression did not change, his heartbeat sped up for no reason. He subconsciously raised his head and stared at the ordinary three-story wooden building in front of him. His burning gaze seemed to want to ignite the wooden building.
Entering the cultivation world had been his dream since he was young. Although he had been repeatedly defeated yesterday, the reason why the dream was beautiful was precisely because it was difficult to realize. But it also attracted him to try hard, and from time to time, he would show his little tail to tempt him and moan softly, "Come after me, come and catch me!"
He, who had long since given up hope of entering the cultivation world, suddenly found himself able to enter and exit a wooden building filled with cultivation books. For a young man who had spared no effort in traveling to several markets in the frontier fortress in order to buy a copy of the Article on the Response of the Highest Being, this was a sudden and indescribable happiness!
"Let me remind all of you not to look too greedy. Otherwise, if you really burn the old library down, the Headmaster will cut all of us into peach branches and swallow us with wine."
The instructor downstairs looked at Ning Que who was outside the crowd with a faint smile. Then he stopped smiling and looked at the students with a serious expression. He said, "I have to warn all of you that the mysterious books that you are curious about cannot be memorized. You can only experience them. As for the reason behind them, I will still not explain it. After all, human strength is limited. If you do not have the potential to cultivate, but still insist on entering the books, it will lead to some very bad results. When that happens, please do not complain that I did not warn you. "
…
…
The wooden door of the old library opened slowly. It was quiet inside, as if it was a door to an unknown world. There was no dust or cobwebs, but it gave people a sense of vicissitudes. The students outside the building were silent for a while. They tidied their clothes and calmed themselves down. Then, they stepped over the threshold and walked in.
The inside of the building was much larger than it looked from the outside. There were many simple bookshelves neatly arranged in the spacious space. The bookshelves were arranged according to the six subjects and years. On them were all the books that one could think of. They were of different heights, old and new. They were all nestled together, as if countless sages and celebrities were naughtily looking at you side by side.
The students quickly dispersed after entering the building, looking for the books that interested them. Ning Que walked among the bookshelves alone, pulling out a book from time to time to read. Then, he found a writing table by the window of the library. There were writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone on the table. He could not help but wonder why these things were prepared if they could not be copied.
Ning Que found a book of Wang Xinglong's regular calligraphy in the South Jin Kingdom Library. He took one out and read it as he walked. Gradually, it became quieter. He looked up and saw a clean staircase in front of him.
The staircase was used to go upstairs. Now that he was on the first floor, above the staircase was the second floor.
…
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