Old Don – Remember my 15-year relationship with a hairdresser

Some time ago, Wen Feng's news rushed to the hot search, reminding me of one of Wen Feng's barbers, Old Tang, who helped me cut my hair for more than ten years. If you calculate it 12 times a year, he has sorted me out more than 100 times, and we have been together for more than 100 hours. In the bustling metropolis of Beijing, I have to say that this is a deep fate. Although I have not seen him for several years, I still want to write a small article for him to express my respect and nostalgia for such a "craftsman".

01

Each head, regardless of its size, had to be cut slowly

In 2006, shortly after I joined the work, I rented a house on Beiwa Road, next to a Wenfeng store that had just opened, I walked in and met Old Tang, and I have been looking for him ever since. Old Tang was a few years older than me, a fellow of Kaifeng, Henan, of medium stature, with a small flat head and a strong spirit, a thin and long face, deep eyes, a steady person, and not much to say. He never takes the initiative to talk to guests, you talk, he will chat with you. Later, when it was ripe, when the conversation was happy, he would grin and smile.

Old Tang was the most skilled hairdresser in that Wenfeng store, how good was it? In my wife's words, it is like not being sorted out, naturally, without hesitation. He had many guests, and every time he went he was cutting someone else, looked up and smiled, and said: Just wait a little longer! Then, continue to bury your head in a slow and methodical way. Old Tang always used scissors to set the large, then push with a fader, and finally carefully repaired with scissors. So he cut slowly, in his words, the identity of the guests is different, but they have to be cut slowly one by one, not urgent, let alone favor one over the other.

I worked very hard in those years, staying up late and working overtime was the norm, sometimes I fell asleep while straightening, he would slow down on the side, and then smiled and asked me: What do you do, why are you tired of this? I said that it was a consulting, he said: It is not easy, alas, in fact, it is the same in any line of work, after surviving the first few years, tired and used to it, I don't feel tired. After the haircut, he will send it to the door, dragging a long voice and shouting: Thank you for coming - please go slowly! Then I whispered: Slow down the road.

02

I blushed at the mention of money

In 2008, I bought a house and moved away, and every time I had to drive more than ten miles to Beiwa Road to find him get a haircut, by the way, Lala was homely, just like an old friend meeting, plain as water. Even if you are particularly tired one day and don't want to say a word, you don't feel embarrassed with each other. Once, I just sat down, and a girl next to me said: Teacher Tang has been promoted to technical director, and the fee will rise to 120 yuan. Old Tang looked at me apologetically and said: I am embarrassed that the store has such a rule.... I quickly said: not expensive, not expensive, your level is so high, you should be more expensive. He said: You have a card, you can discount it, and it is only a few tens of dollars after the discount.

Old Tang was not used to talking about money, and he blushed when he said it. I asked him if it was time to charge the card, and he said that if you want to charge it, you can charge it, and if you don't want to charge it, you can wait until you run out. I knew that he couldn't make much money by giving me a haircut, so he pulled my parents, mothers, and children over to consume, and my wife's facial maintenance was worth my haircut for a year. To be fair, no matter how people scold Wen Feng now, my impression of this institution has always been good, at least Old Tang has never seduced and deceived me.

03

Not everyone gets luckier the harder they work

Old Don had a daughter who attended a nearby school and was entered by one of his clients who helped find a relationship. As soon as he talked about this matter, Old Tang sighed: I have met a noble person, and there are still many good people in this world! Sometimes I would meet his daughter in the shop, and I just happened to take her with me, and the two girls would play together. His daughter was beautiful, with big eyes, long hair, quiet, sweet, and spoke very good English, and had won awards in the district for dancing. Old Tang relied on his own craftsmanship to support his wife and children's life in Beijing like us, and created a growing environment for his children to be no worse than anyone. It should be said that he was a great husband, a great father.

But Old Tang has not always been so lucky, probably around 2016, his body began to have problems, frozen shoulder is very serious, standing for a few hours a day can not be carried. When I went to look for him during that time, I felt that my appearance was getting worse and worse. He discussed with me to want to transform, saying that there is a customer who is very rich, willing to invest in him, open a store in the community, only serve a few old customers, and charge a little higher, so that you don't have to be so tired. Later, he said that if he lost money, he couldn't stand people, so he gave up.

One afternoon I went to look for him, and the people in the shop said that Old Tang was no longer working in Wenfeng. I contacted him and he said he had recently crossed the road and had been hit by a car and was recuperating at home. I said, "Then how do you raise a family?" He said that he was doing e-commerce, selling a hair dye from Yunnan, using Pu'er tea as a raw material, really pure and natural, and there was no harm to the scalp. I said I'd buy two boxes and go home and dye them for my dad. He laughed twice and said, "That's good!" I could imagine that on the other end of the phone, he must have blushed again.

04

One last haircut

The last time I asked him for a haircut was one winter night in 2017, in a barber shop in the basement of Wumei Supermarket on Beiwa Road, a small shop opened by one of his former apprentices, who borrowed someone's premises and took time to do some private work to supplement the family. It was windy and very cold that night, and I stood at the intersection waiting for him, and saw him coming out of the opposite neighborhood, with a scissor bag under his armpit, limping across the road, and smiling at me from afar.

Still as slow as ever, or as always, while reasoning and chatting. He said that he would send his wife and children back to his hometown, without a Beijing hukou, the children would not be able to take the college entrance examination in the future, and they would get them back as soon as possible to adapt to the fierce competition for the exam in Henan. When I left, I asked how much to give, and he said a hundred! I took a copy of Grandpa Mao and handed it to him, and he said, "I may not have a haircut in the future." I drove a long way, looked back to see him still standing at the intersection, and suddenly realized that he may not have had a haircut for a long time, but only out of affection, he came out this last time.

Thinking of this, I don't feel miserable. He loved his job, a craft that had ignited his ambition to fight for life and sustained his dignity as a husband and father. Now watching the customer leave, how much unspeakable reluctance and helplessness will be in his heart. Middle-aged like a dog, the hardships of being "hammered" by life, why am he and I different? We met in our youth, witnessed each other's best years together, and worked and lived together diligently, although shallow and deep, although different and working together. It's just that he wields scissors and I wield brain juice, but there is no difference in his insistence on ingenuity.

05

Good people live in peace

Later, I never saw Old Don again. Because Wen Feng's card still had money, I went to the store to get a haircut several times. I heard a few old clerks say that Old Tang was missing, as if he had lost money by speculating in bitcoin, and later heard that he ran to Xinjiang to make a living. I can't help but worry in my heart, will Old Tang have any personal safety? Will his family have no livelihood? Can his handsome daughter continue to receive a good education?

There was no news of Old Tang for several years, and in the busy work day after day, he slowly forgot the story of this fellow. It wasn't until wen Feng was reported on the news a few days ago that I remembered him again. So, I sent him a WeChat, and he actually replied: The whole family is in Zhengzhou, or do the old business, nothing else will do, I wish your family a happy and happy. I told the news to my family, and the old mother was particularly happy and said in a loud voice: Good, good, good people have a peaceful life.

Yes, the good people have a peaceful life, and what a beautiful expectation we good ordinary people are! Old Tang changed cities, still working as a hairdresser, and started his hard life again, which is really good. Send him the most sincere blessings in your heart, and also to every good person who works hard like him: health and happiness, peace in life!

Author: Ma Shun, Vice President of Peking University