Taoshu Memories: My Collection of Two Volumes of Xiao Jun's Memorial Collection

In my existing collection, it is rare that a book has two volumes at the same time. Of course, since it is rare, it means that it is not nothing. For example, in the "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection" (Spring Wind Literary and Art Edition), I have a hardcover book and a paperback.

Speaking of which, this has been a very long time. On June 22, 1988, after Mr. Xiao Jun died of illness in Beijing, with the joint efforts of Mr. Xiao Jun's family and all parties in society, two years later, in October 1990, the "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection" was officially published by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, with a first print run of 3,000 copies. In my memory, in May 1991, I bought a hardcover copy of Xiao Jun's Memorial Collection by mail order from the publishing house, and on the title page of the book was also signed by mr. Guo Feng, a special editor. It should be said that this is a souvenir book that I have turned over and have made the most notes. "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection" was inscribed by Comrade Peng Zhen, former chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, with a dark green cover and a book title lined with a combination of light red and gold, which appears concise, solemn and generous. The commemorative collection includes three parts: "Eulogy", "Eulogy" and "Historical Materials", and is accompanied by a large number of precious photos, and finally there is also the "Chronology of Xiao Jun's Resume" carefully compiled by Ms. Wang Defen, The Wife of Xiao Jun.

Two years later, in June 1993, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Mr. Xiao Jun's death, I unexpectedly received a paperback copy of the "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection" from Ms. Wang Defen, The Wife of Xiao Jun, who had already exchanged letters, and I was really ecstatic. Ms. Wang Defen inscribed the following inscription with a ballpoint pen on the title page of the memorial collection: "Comrade Wang Defen presented 1993. Six. Five in Beijing". Obviously, Ms. Wang Defen's book donation has made my second volume of "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection". I remember that when I got the book donation, I couldn't wait to revisit it again, and some of the small details found in it were quite touching. It turned out that Ms. Wang Defen had made corrections and additions to some proofreading omissions or text errors in the book with red pen. I have roughly calculated that there are at least a dozen such corrections. It is precisely because of Ms. Wang Defen's rigor and meticulousness that the paperback "Xiao Jun Memorial Collection" has become a very precious volume in my collection.

Since then, these two volumes of "Xiao Jun's Memorial Collection" have been accompanying me, from the mountain city of Chongqing in the western part of the motherland to Xiamen, Ludao Island on the coast of the East China Sea, and also from the youthful age of prosperity to the middle age of "knowing the destiny of heaven". And whenever the night is quiet, sitting alone in the study, reading the slightly yellowed souvenir collection, the heart is not only a trace of warmth, but also a lingering endless nostalgia.