On Zhong Shuhe's Third Reading： Seriously

　　Text/Liu Shaolong

　　The long desk lamp and the oval dark gray lampshade swooped down, scattering soft light, shining on the small book table on the sickbed and the small paper box on the table. Obviously, after cutting, it can just be put into the draft paper and can also play the role of fixing the draft paper. This design is specially convenient for Zhong Shuhe, a 93-year-old hemiplegic on the left, to edit articles. Every day, he works around the clock with only one movable right hand. In the words of Zhong Lao, "there is not much time left for yourself."

　　Holding the correction fluid in his slender right hand, he absorbed meticulously and smeared it on the draft paper through a pair of black reading glasses. After the revision, he picked up a pen to edit the article, seeking simplicity and truth. He didn't notice anyone's close photography at all, and he was immersed in it, just like the old monk's meditation and serious appearance, which was a pure landscape painting of life.

　　文字里的认真

　　毛泽东说过，世界上怕就怕认真二字。对此，钟老身体力行。在病榻的书桌上，摆放着他初中时写的文章集《蛛窗述闻》，红色封面，书长而薄，由海豚出版社出版。打开书，里面是文言文写就的随笔，震惊于当时只是初中生的钟老毛笔字犹如印刷体一般，竖排的字工整大气，没有一丝丝的改动。在我印象中，字犹如印刷体一般，没有改动痕迹，只有翻译家傅雷。

　　钟老说，这书是他85岁时，海豚出版社为其祝寿影印出版。因为写在他姐姐的练习本上，他的文章是从练习本最后一页开始写的，纸张看上去比较粗、灰白，可见解放前的印刷质量。薄薄的《蛛窗述闻》在网络上炒到了近400元一本。钟老抚摸着书，眼神里是无尽的缅怀。这不仅是他青少年的记忆，更有对姐姐的怀念。他介绍，“姐姐从小读书成绩很好，而我从小就很顽劣。读初中时，父亲担心我不会照顾自己，便要姐姐留级带我读初中。当时，为方便照顾，我还睡在女生宿舍一段时间，因同学们的嘲笑，我就再也不去睡了。初中毕业时，他姐姐以优异的成绩考上了长沙市一中，后又考上了浙江大学。”

　　Seeing that I was surprised by his handwriting, Zhong Lao said that he has always been very serious about what he likes, and he is also very calm and enjoys a serious state. "My handwriting is not good, but I write very carefully, stroke by stroke and meticulously." Zhong Lao explained. He told the nurse's aunt Xie Jie very clearly, asking her to take out the diary written in his middle school from the specific position on the first floor of the bookcase in the study. The two yellowed diaries are thread-bound, and the brush strokes inside are neat and orderly. This should go beyond the serious category and reach a philosophical position. I think, Zhong Lao's monument in publishing and academia, seriousness is one of the best help.

　　Zhong Lao said that over the years, he has taken books edited and published and articles seeking truth and simplicity very seriously, word for word, word for word, and seriously. Listen to this, in the snowy Beijing, Zhong Lao, wearing black cotton trousers, immersed himself in copying pictures of different authors going to the world in the series "Going to the World" and broke into his mind.

　　On that day, Zhong Lao was editing Selected Essays of Zhong Shuhe, which People's Literature Publishing House was preparing to publish for him. He arranged the catalogue of selected essays in chronological order, and all the words in the catalogue were written by him with his right hand in the case of hemiplegia. Hard work, every word is a work of art, because it contains Zhong Lao's seriousness! "The last article in the prose collection is the longest article written since I was seriously ill. I felt something and wrote it down." Zhong Lao said.

　　Charge on the sickbed

　　Eating liquid food every day to maintain nutrition, nearly three hours of rehabilitation treatment every day, enduring continuous drooling every day, and sleeping only on the right side every day ... Hemiplegia lasted for more than three years, trapped in a sickbed, and Covid-19 and influenza virus threatened the life of seriously ill Zhong Lao from time to time.

　　In such a desperate situation, Zhong Lao worked until the early hours of the morning every day, editing and revising his previous articles. He published five books and a set of Zhong Shuhe Collection with more than 3 million words by People's Literature Publishing House, Yuelu Bookstore, Huangshan Bookstore and Huacheng Publishing House, published many articles in Essays, Bookstore and other magazines, and accepted exclusive interviews with magazines and newspapers such as New Weekly and Freezing Point Weekly ... Purify the mind, improve the soul and spread the beauty for those who are lost.

　　At the release ceremony of the 2022 Blade Book Award, New Weekly gave Mr. Zhong Shuhe the "Annual Tribute". He is one of the most outstanding publishers in the last century, worthy of the sharpest literary blade.