I have always thought that reading is a state of mind, at what age to read what kind of books, if you think a book is not good, it is likely that you do not read it, perhaps after some years to read, will be puzzled by their own year of not think. For me, Lin Haiyin's "Old Stories in the South of the City" has been familiar for a long time, but I have opened it in the bookstore countless times, but I could never get interested in reading it. When I really liked this book, I realized that it had been quietly waiting for me in that corner, never far away. Sanmao once said, "Childhood is only perfected in memories." However, in Lin Haiyin's writing, this childhood story is full of a poignant flavor, as if it is not an ordinary fictional story, but a real memory about the past. The whole book is divided into five short stories: "Hui'an Pavilion", "Let's Go to the Sea", "Auntie Lan", "Donkey Playing Rolls", and "Dad's Flowers Fell and I'm No Longer a Child", each of which is drenched in a strong melancholy, a melancholic flavor peculiar to remembrance, elegant, soft and breathtaking. In "Hui'an Pavilion", Xiuzhen, who waited for her lover's return, reminds me of the old legend of "the stone of hope", but Xiuzhen, who was even more unfortunate, became pregnant with the man's child on the eve of parting, and the man never came back, and the fruit of her love, which had just been born, was abandoned by her heartless mother in the barren faraway land. The mother of the child was abandoned by her mother in a desolate and distant place. Unable to withstand the double blow, Xiuzhen becomes mentally deranged and spends her days and nights talking about her old lover, Sikang, and her poor child, Xiaoguizi. As an onlooker, Yingzi's kind heart sympathizes with Xiuzhen and hopes that she will get better. One day she realizes that her best friend, the ill-fated Nyonya, is the abandoned child, and without hesitation, she takes her mother's gold bracelet and gives it to Xiuzhen and Nyonya as money for their journey, and puts them on the train in search of the man. "Let's see the sea! /Let's go see the sea! /The blue sea,/with white sails. /The golden sun, /Rising from the sea, /Shines on the surface and on the bow of the ship. /Let's go see the sea! /Let's see the sea!" What a beautiful and happy poem, Eiko, who loved it dearly, recited to the strange man she had met in the bushes. This man, who didn't seem bad at all, had promised to go to the sea with her, just as he was supporting his brother's education across the ocean, but, in the full sunset, Eiko only saw this kind brother being taken away by the police, knowing that he had stolen for the sake of his brother's education. But why would a not so bad man be taken away, and what consumed him? Eiko doesn't understand, because the darkness of society hasn't yet cast a shadow on her innocent heart. I couldn't help but laugh at Yingzi's little scheme to set up Auntie Lan and Dexian. A child's mind is always innocent, and she decides to give Auntie Lan, who is pestering her father, to Dexian to keep her away from her father's side just for the sake of seeing her mother's smiling face. Upon learning of her masterpiece, her mother asked her with a smile, "What did you say you wanted to buy the other day?" Without hesitation, she said: "A pair of rollerblades, a pair of shoes, and now I'm going to add a whole year's subscription to Children's World." The cute image of a little girl with a smug demeanor jumped off the page. Song Ma in Donkey Punch Roller is undoubtedly sympathetic, as she almost breaks down when she learns of her son's drowning and her daughter's being given away at the same moment. Later, she takes Yingzi to search for her little daughter, who is nowhere to be found, but there is no news. In utter despair, she decides to return to her hometown to have another child and regain the taste of motherhood. In the old society, there were all kinds of tragedies in the poor families, and Song Ma, like Mr. Lu Xun's Sister-in-law Xianglin, lost her beloved children. In the story, Song Ma still has the courage to start a new life, but poor Sister-in-law Xianglin died in the midst of all the blessings in the city, which is a sad ending. After six years, Yingzi finally becomes the representative of the graduates to receive the award, but when she realizes that the parting is close at hand, the sound of a black stallion has already begun. After five years of singing the song, it was finally the turn of their classmates to sing it for them, and all the graduates shed tears. When Yingzi rushed home with her elementary school diploma, she seemed to be afraid that she wouldn't be able to make it. Sure enough, her premonition came true. When she entered the house, her siblings were still playing in the yard, but the pomegranates planted by her father had fallen. When the cook, Lao Gao, told her to go to the hospital to persuade her mother, Yingzi became so calm. When her father's flowers fall, she is no longer a child. Such a quiet novel is not a story, but a fable about growing up. The people and things that dotted Yingzi's life journey are so hastily far away. The past is like a poem, lying in the depths of her memories, never forgetting or needing to remember, because they have long been part of her life. Separation is one of the most painful things in life, the pain of tearing the heart and lungs often make people lose themselves, after many years of thinking about it or sad. I remember a disappointing lyrics: "Wine to the east wind, and **** calm. The poplars and purple strings in the east of Luocheng, always hand in hand when the place, traveled all over the bushes. The reunion and dispersal of the bitter haste, this hate is endless. This year's flower is better than last year's red, poor next year's flower is better, know with whom?" We also used to sing that melancholic song like Yingzi: "Outside the Long Pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is blue even in the sky. The evening wind whisks the willow flute, and the setting sun is beyond the mountains. At the end of the world, at the corner of the earth, half of my acquaintances have fallen away. A ladle of cloudy wine is all I have left to drink, and this night's farewell dream is cold." We have always been in the parting, and our friends, family, old times in their own, in the lamentation of the sadness at the same time, we find that they have quietly grown up. In fact, everyone has his or her own old stories of the south of the city, that drift in the corners of childhood to let a person reminiscent of the dots and dashes, or happy or sad. Please do not be disappointed for the time that has passed, if this is to grow, then let's rest easy.