Books on the Pavement灯火、书摊，这样洒在北大的毕业季
Looking east from Xueyi Dining Hall, I could see bookstalls stretching down the road, scattered lights threading through the evening.
I had spent a year at Peking University. This was my first taste of graduation season. I walked along the pavement, past books laid out quietly at my feet. Some sat in neat rows on rugs; others were heaped in boxes for people to rummage through. Five yuan a book. Ten yuan a book. These were the labels they wore most often.
“Come and have a look. Anything you like?”
A student still tending her stall called me over.
“Are you finishing your bachelor’s or your PhD? Congratulations, by the way.”
“Have a look at my stall and take a guess.”
I crouched down. There were few books, mostly odds and ends: fan merchandise, vases, flowers in water that had almost dried up. She patiently told me about each item. My attention had already wandered to another stall with more books.
“Sorry, I don’t think there’s anything for me.” I gave an awkward smile.
I stood up and drifted on. Criminal law. Organic chemistry. An introduction to Python. There were even study guides for the civil service and teacher qualification exams. The titles set my thoughts wandering. Each stall seemed to tell the story of its owner’s years here.
“This one must be from chemistry. Probably law over there. How did this person find time to study everything?” I tried to read their subjects and choices in a handful of books. Almost every stall had a calculus or linear algebra textbook. Mathematical analysis and advanced algebra appeared here and there. A few books on functional analysis made me wonder which older student from my own school had left them.
I had never enjoyed browsing so much. I was walking alone, yet it felt as though the graduating students were beside me, quietly telling their stories. I listened, imagining how, three years from now, I might tell mine to the younger students.
It was late before I noticed. I hurried back towards the dormitory, stopping for a few books I liked, paying the small amounts their owners had written down.
Perhaps this, too, was a way of passing something on. They left their books to me, and their memories here.
June 26, at night
从学一食堂往东看去，无尽的书摊、零散的灯光交织成眼前的夜晚。
与燕园共度一载，这是第一次感受到毕业季同学们的热情。我沿着路边走去，一本本书静静地躺在人行道上。他们有的被整齐排列在地毯上，也有的被粗暴地摞在箱子里，待人翻选。5元一本10元一本是最常冠在他们身上的标签。
“同学来看看吧，有没有什么喜欢的。”
我走过一个摊位，一个还在守摊的学姐招呼我过来看看。
“你是本科生毕业还是博士生毕业呀，毕业快乐！”我简单寒暄。
“哈哈那你可以看看我的摊来猜一下了。”
我俯下身，摊位的书不多，大都是零散的生活用品。最常见的是追星吃的“谷子”，还有一些花瓶和半干的水培花。学姐不厌其烦地跟我一一介绍，然而我的心已挪到另一个书更多的摊位上去了。
“抱歉好像没有我感兴趣的。”我苦笑道。
站起身来，我漫无目的地走着，浏览着眼前的一本本书：刑法学、有机化学基础、Python入门…甚至还有公务员考试和教资考的复习资料。跳跃的书名引起了我的遐想，摊位的书好像在诉说着主人在燕园经历的春夏秋冬。
“这同学肯定是化院的，这个估计是法院，这个大佬怎么什么都学了点…”我试图从几本书窥探他们的专业和选择。仔细看来，几乎每个摊位都有几本高等数学或线性代数的参考书，数分高代也偶尔出没。突然看到几本泛函分析的教材，还会让我猜想这是数院的哪位学长……
第一次感受到逛街有如此的乐趣。虽一人独行，却犹有学长学姐在我身边娓娓道来。我兴奋地听着他们无声的诉说，想象着三年后的我会怎样把这份故事讲给小孩们听。
恍惚间才发现时间已经不早了，我匆匆走向宿舍。沿途看到几本钟意的书便驻足买下，按同学留下的极低价格自觉付了款。
这也是薪火相传嘛，他们把书传给了我，把记忆留在了燕园。
—— 6月26日 夜