On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in the year of Ji Mao, at ten o'clock in the evening on January 29th in the millennium year 2000, Li Li, who had disappeared in Shancheng for nearly half a year, stood in front of Tang Qing.
"What? You don't want me to come in and sit down?"
Li Li had a smile on her face and a soft tone.
"Oh, okay, okay, okay."
Faced with Li Li's bright smile and soft voice, Tang Qing was a little at a loss. After hesitating for a while, she turned around and closed the rolling shutter again.
In the past, Tang Qing always muttered something every time he pulled the roller shutter: Who invented this crappy thing? It was so heavy and noisy that it almost deafened my ears when I pulled it.
This includes this morning and just now.
But now, Tang Qing was as light as a swallow, and he easily pulled up the heavy rolling shutter door without any effort. He also felt that the sound of the rolling shutter door was like the Yue Opera singing of "There is a Little Nine Sisters in My Family", so pleasant to the ear.
"Are you tired after a busy day? Do you want to go home and rest?"
Li Li followed Tang Qing into the People's Barber Shop.
"I'm not tired, I'm not tired, how could I be tired?"
Tang Qing felt very tired just now, but now he is indeed not tired at all.
"Then can you do my hair?"
Li Li smoothed her beautiful long hair with her hands.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course I can!"
Tang Qing was excited, extremely excited, extremely excited.
"Should I sit here?"
Li Li walked to the barber chair.
"No no no..."
Tang Qing went over and stopped in front of the barber chair where all the customers were sitting.
"What? You regretted it so quickly? Then I won't bother you anymore."
Li Li turned to leave.
"No, no, no, I'm not regretting it. You sit on this chair."
Tang Qing quickly ran to another barber chair covered with plastic sheeting and tore off the plastic sheet. Then he carefully untied a cloth cover wrapped around the barber chair. After untying the cloth cover, he took off the armrests respectively.
And several moisture-proof cloth bags on the seats.
The barber shop suddenly became much brighter. I saw that this barber chair was clean and brand new. It had a wooden frame, silk cotton seat cushion, velvet armrests, and the inclination of the backrest could be adjusted freely.
This barber chair and the old iron barber chair next to it are simply the same heaven and earth, one earth and one underground, a girl and an old woman, a flower and a dead leaf, a jade and a broken brick. They are incomparable anyway. There is no comparison at all.
Comparability.
"Is this a special seat for a certain boss? Are you letting me enjoy it today?"
Li Li turned back and walked towards the brand new barber chair.
"How could a big boss come to my shop to get a haircut? I won't accept him even if he comes. Please take a seat in Mr. Li's special barber chair here."
Tang Qing went over and gently wiped the barber chair with a brand new towel.
"My dad's special barber chair?"
Li Li stood in front of the barber chair with a solemn expression.
"Yeah, but Mr. Li only sat on it once."
"Only sat once?"
"Yes, Mr. Li has only been to the People's Barber Shop once, that is, he has only sat in it once."
"Isn't your people's barbershop still state-owned? How can you make it special for my father? And you still don't let others sit in it?"
"There is no specialization. This barber chair itself was purchased by Mr. Li, including some other old items in the barber shop."
"My father purchased it?"
"That's right, after liberation, everything was in dire need. The People's Barber Shop was opened, but there was no money to buy big items such as barber chairs. Mr. Li took the initiative to invest in purchasing various equipment for the People's Barber Shop."
"I have heard that my father has purchased important facilities for other important places. This is the first time I have heard of purchasing equipment for the People's Barber Shop. Qingtuan, do you know how to use idioms now?"
"What I just said were my dad's exact words. Didn't he once be the manager of the People's Barber Shop? I was just parroting, parroting, hehe!"
"Then I'm welcome to sit on it."
Li Li took off her coat and sat on the brand new barber chair.
"Sit down, sit down, it will be your special seat from now on!"
Tang Qing took out a brand new scarf and put it around Li Li.
"Qingtuan, please don't, otherwise I won't dare to enter the People's Barber Shop again."
Li Li said this with a bright smile on her face.
"Don't worry, I know what's going on. Are you cold?"
Tang Qing used to increase the temperature of the air conditioner a few degrees.
"It's hot, please do it for me today..."
"Big wave!"
Tang Qing said loudly before Li Li finished speaking.
"Yes, big waves!"
"whee!"
Li Li and Tang Qing looked at each other and smiled. It was hard to imagine that the two of them were strangers or even enemies half a year ago.
At the end of the year, the night in Shancheng was rainy and unstoppably cold. Only the People's Barber Shop on the downtown street still had lights on, and only the People's Barber Shop was warm and cozy. The infinite spring had arrived early.
"Qingtuan, can you close the store door?"
"Okay, just pull down the rolling shutter, it will be warmer that way."
Tang Qing has already done Li Li's hair style and put on the perm machine.
"You pulled the rolling gate to Dongqiaotou? Why did it take so long?"
Li Li's head was inside the hood of the hair curling machine and she couldn't move freely. Tang Qing just said to pull the roller shutter, but she dozed off and Tang Qing didn't come back.
Now seeing Tang Qing coming back to the shop out of breath and pulling down the rolling shutter, he joked with her, saying that it took so long to walk from the People's Barber Shop to Dongqiao.
"Come, have something to eat."
"what?"
“Handmade soup dumplings made by myself.”
"You made your own handmade soup dumplings? When did you make them?"
"Just now, I just ran home and cooked it. Eat it while it's hot."
Tang Qing handed Li Li a bowl of steaming handmade soup dumplings.
The butterfly-like handmade soup dumplings are flying among the blooming frangipani flowers, and are decorated with seaweed and mustard shreds, which is very appetizing.
Li Li was not polite, took the bowl of soup dumplings handed over by Tang Qing, and ate it.
"Eat slowly. Eat the soup dumplings one by one."
"Well, am I hungry?"
"I knew you hadn't had dinner, so I rushed back to make handmade soup dumplings for you."
"How do you know I haven't had dinner?"
"Your belly told me."
"Qingtuan, you are so caring to me, thank you."
"Say thank you and go out, right? Here, a tissue."
"I never imagined that the handmade soup dumplings you make are so delicious, even better than those made in that big hotel!"
Li Li handed the bowl back to Tang Qing, took the tissue and wiped her mouth and hands.
"I'm not telling you, the food in big hotels may not be delicious. If you want to eat delicious food, you still have to cook it at home."
Tang Qing took the bowl and went to the sink.
"That's true. My father never went out to eat in restaurants before."
"Master Li is a very particular person. He really understands what good things are."
"Oh, it's a pity that he ended up in such a miserable state that he almost couldn't be laid to rest!"
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I talked too much."
Tang Qing thought he had said something wrong, apologized to Li Li, lowered his head and washed the dishes silently, feeling uneasy.
Li Li didn't respond to Tang Qing, didn't say "it's okay" or said anything else. Her slender hands kept playing with the tissue that Tang Qing handed her, as if she was thinking about something.
Tang Qing was afraid that Li Li would be angry again, so he stood up and left the People's Barber Shop angrily. The relationship between the two that was finally reversed like that bowl of handmade soup dumplings would no longer exist and would never appear again.
In the People's Barber Shop, there is only the ticking sound of the pendulum on the wall and the sound of the hair ironing machine.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
One minute, two minutes, three minutes...
Time is passing and the silence continues...
"Huh? Not good! My hair is burnt!"
With a "bang" sound, the bowl in Tang Qing's hand fell into the sink. She rushed to the hair iron and unplugged it.
Alas, it’s over, completely over!
This is a typical example of extreme happiness leading to sadness!
Why do I talk so much? It’s rare that she comes to the People’s Barber Shop, it’s rare that she takes the initiative to talk to me, it’s rare that she asks me to do my hair, and it’s rare that she eats the handmade soup dumplings I made.
But what about me? If I don’t cherish it properly, I’ll be carefree and light-hearted, I’ll talk too much if I’m given a little face, I’ll make her angry without saying a word, and I’ll burn her hair, how can all this not end?