Chapter 271 Interlude 1: Yueyue
This story is told by my brother-in-law. In order to restore history, the author will narrate it in the third person.
Background: The late 1970s, Location: A small village. Narrator: Gao Xu.
One, two, three, ready, go:
Tailor Lu was a man. His hands were more delicate than a woman's—long, pointed, and white. Some said that if Tailor Lu hadn't taken up embroidery and sewing, he would have been born with such good hands in vain.
Tailor Lu is extremely particular about his clothing, and you can tell by the way he cuts the cloth. A length of fabric is spread out on the table, and he takes a quick glance at it. Then, with a pair of scissors, he quickly makes use of even the leftover material: a bag.
An apprentice watched Tailor Lu cut cloth for the first time and was so frightened that his eyes widened. He asked, "Master, how can we learn if you don't cut with chalk?" Tailor Lu smiled and said, "Of course you cut one by one."
Tailor Lu's skills were remarkable. He was known as the "blind tailor." Those who doubted his skills would cover his eyes tightly with a piece of cloth, and he would still cut the hair perfectly. Therefore, neighbors near and far who wanted to learn tailoring had to seek out Master Lu.
All the students who learned tailoring were women. The queue of apprentices was always long. So, Master Lu would take four or five women with him at a time, and his home became a "country of women."
At that time, tailoring was a respectable profession, and women in respectable professions were generally beautiful. Master Lu's home was always filled with such a group of beautiful women, making it a lively place.
The one who liked to hang out at Master Lu's house the most was undoubtedly Liu Piantou. Liu Piantou's family was poor, but being poor was fine, as they had a hunchback on their back.
If you look at him from the front, Liu Piantou has hunched shoulders and sunken neck; if you look at him from the back, the middle part of his head is raised.
But his face was not bad, with regular features and sharp angles. Master Lu liked to joke in front of the group of female apprentices:
Liu Piantou, you were a camel in your previous life. If you hadn't been reincarnated into the wrong body, you could choose any of these girls.
Liu Piantou smiled and said: Who would like me?
Of course, everyone looked down on Liu Piantou and looked disgusting. There was only one apprentice named Yueyue who didn't say anything but didn't dislike Liu Piantou. Every time Master Lu made fun of Piantou, she would just smile slightly.
So, the women in the village talked about it, and some said: Piantou, Yueyue likes you, she doesn’t hate you.
Some said: Piantou, you are not a bad person, you just have a hunchback.
Some said: The fairy in the sky also fell in love with Dong Yong.
Some said: "Do you think Yueyue only cares about face? Yueyue loves your heart."
The people who were talking asked Yueyue again: Is that so, Yueyue?
Yueyue blushed and secretly glanced at Liu Piantou. Piantou's heart was moved by this glance. Even a fool could tell that Yueyue was playing along with everyone to make fun of Liu Piantou.
Ever since Yueyue secretly glanced at Liu Piantou, Piantou has been running to Master Lu's house more frequently.
Once, he said: "Master Lu, you are busy, I will help you carry water." Master Lu said: "That's great, you have plenty of strength."
Liu Piantou saw the opportunity to show off and filled the water tank in one go. Later, it became a habit for him to check the water tank first when he arrived at Master Lu's house.
Then he said: "Alas, there are many people and we need more water." He picked up the bucket and went out.
Everyone was amused when they saw this. They said to him in front of him: Liu Piantou, that's what it should be like. What Yueyue likes about you is your diligence. You have a good heart.
Liu Piantou didn't care whether people laughed at him or not. He seemed to have no other way to express himself except carrying water.
He filled the two buckets to the brim, almost to the top, and walked briskly and steadily without a drop of water spilling out of the buckets.
Liu Piantou's carrying of water had become a kind of difficult acrobatic performance. He seemed to want to express to people, especially Yueyue:
He just had a hump, but his character, his honesty, his simplicity, and his strength were no less than any healthy man, and he even had qualities that normal men lacked.
So, amidst laughter and fun, he bravely went in and out of Master Lu's house, putting his love into every firm step.
Master Lu's daughter is still young, and there is a lot of work to do in the fields, so he is happy to have a strong man like Liu Piantou to help. Everyone saw Liu Piantou helping Master Lu turn the soil and carry manure.
Some women would pull Liu Piantou from behind and say: You are stupid, you thought Yueyue would marry you.
Liu tilted his head and smiled, ignoring the others. He went to carry manure and plow the soil as usual.
When the village teacher Mr. Song heard about this, he called Liu Piantou over and said seriously after closing the door:
Piantou, it's not impossible for you to think about Yueyue. Everything in this world is possible. But you have to find a way to treat this hunchback of yours.
Although Liu Piantou admired Teacher Song very much, he also knew that even Hua Tuo could not cure this hunchback, so he smiled.
Teacher Song said: "I have a prescription that can cure it." Liu Piantou smiled again, knowing that Teacher Song was joking.
Teacher Song saw Liu tilting his head and smiling. He said, "Forget it. If you think I'm joking, I won't say anything."
He waved his hand, asking Liu Piantou to leave. Liu Piantou refused to leave.
Teacher Song whispered something to him, and Liu tilted his head and smiled innocently.
Although Liu Piantou didn't believe Teacher Song's method outwardly, he secretly followed it. Every night before bed, he would hang a few red bricks on his feet, hoping to straighten the hump on his back.
Seeing that Liu Piantou had taken the bait, Teacher Song instructed a few children to steal Liu Piantou's beloved erhu.
One night, the child went to Liu Piantou's house and pretended to steal his erhu. Liu Piantou played the erhu very well. He had made it himself and he treasured it very much.
They first used a stick to open the bolt, and then pretended to be sneaky to take his erhu from the wall. However, they were afraid that they would not hear the sound if they turned their heads away, so they deliberately fell to the ground.
This woke Liu Piantou up, and he shouted: What are you doing?
Liu Piantou wanted to turn over and catch these thieves, but he just lay on the bed and screamed:
Who dares to touch me, who dares, who dares, who dares. He kept babbling, but his body could not struggle.
The joke about Liu Piantou hanging a few red bricks on his feet when he slept at night in an attempt to correct his hump spread quickly.
Some people said: "Teacher Song has no conscience," and some people said: "Yueyue, don't tease him." As a result, Liu Piantou didn't dare to visit Master Lu for several months.
Liu Piantou seemed to realize that it was impossible for him and Yueyue to be together. He even felt that others were making fun of him. He stopped running towards Master Lu's house.
On summer nights, he sat on the floor of his house, moved a stool, and played the erhu. He had not read much and did not know the simple musical notation. He learned everything from others.
However, his musical talent is outstanding.
There was a wide river in front of his house. Liu Piantou sat down and tried the sound first. Some intermittent music flew around him.
On a summer night, lights shone on the water, mountains were hidden in the distance, and some music flowed like water in his loneliness.
Those melodious notes, like the river water in the night, hang on the branches by the river, humming, and then are washed far away.
Liu Piantou was immersed in the music, swaying his body as if he wanted to shake away all his troubles.
People began to sympathize with Liu Piantou, and those women blamed Yueyue openly and secretly.
She said Yueyue shouldn't smile at Liu Piantou, and when Liu Piantou visited, Yueyue shouldn't serve him tea. This was misleading Liu Piantou and making him have improper thoughts.
Yueyue felt a little uncomfortable when she heard this. Her temperament seemed to change all of a sudden. She stopped joking around and kept her head down all day.
This group of women in the village felt like they were the embodiment of justice and publicly spoke ill of Yueyue, saying she was a seductress who loved to seduce men.
About a month later, Yueyue told Master Lu that she was ready to go home.
Master Lu said: If you study for another half a year, you will be able to become a master. Why don’t you continue to study?
Yueyue said: "My mother found me a job." Master Lu also understood the reason and felt a little regretful that it was inconvenient for him to keep Yueyue.
My brother-in-law paused and drank some mineral water.
I asked, "Yueyue really doesn't want to be an apprentice anymore and is going back?"
My brother-in-law nodded and said, "The best part is yet to come."
So he continued telling the story.
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