Chapter 1
Perhaps it is truly my disdain for the bald hairstyle that has sparked some ideas. In any case, I have not excelled in my studies, yet my voice is surprisingly good. As a result, after some fuss and commotion, I unexpectedly found myself singing in a band.
I was still considering how to approach the leaders of the cultural bureau to speak some good words, when this fellow suddenly leaped in front of me, shouting loudly with a raspy voice: "Are you willing to join the army?"
Four late-night snacks were fought over for me, and it was the kind where they were hitting each other with beer bottles and high heels
At that time, there were only two types of people who shaved their heads without raising any eyebrows. One was the elderly, who did so out of personal preference, and the other was the actors in Peking opera, who did it out of professional necessity
Do you think I am wronged?
But as his son, I do not know what the old man used to exchange for that model worker status
This person is a matter for later discussion; we will talk about it later.
I have no hair left, so what else can the life teacher say
Indeed, it has nothing to do with the karaoke hall
I am truly impressed by you!
If someone is found performing without a singer's license, this venue can expect to be shut down for rectification
I would like to talk about my bald hairstyle and the origin of this nickname
Destination - a certain cultural troupe of a certain military unit in Xinjiang
Forget it, forget it. After all, you are my superior and you are still enduring it inside, so I won't provoke you to avoid you bringing people to trouble me
In the beginning of this wandering life of singing, the toilet seat hairstyle that I had cut was no longer suitable. Moreover, when I went to the barbershop, the master said that this hairstyle could only be fixed once it had grown out, and it must accumulate a certain length before it could be properly styled
So I said that the man playing with the bottles in the dark is not decent
Is this a person singing, or has a monkey escaped from the zoo to perform?
The singer's certificate was smashed on the spot
What does it matter to the karaoke hall if the audience gets into a fight
I cannot endure that suffering
I really want to write down your surname, do you know that
I suppose I was also quite lucky at that time
In summary, my family encouraged me to enlist in the military with a supportive attitude
I feel that, as a person, my appearance is somewhat better than that of a mountain demon, but I can't tell if it's due to the poor lighting in the karaoke bar or something else. In any case, at that time, I had a few female fans who would come in every day, buy tickets, and sit in front of me to show their support. Their gazes were all fervent and intense... Every night after the show, there were definitely some who insisted on treating me to late-night snacks; if they didn't have time to go, they would buy the snacks and send them over.
It is likely that this long-haired one has caused some trouble
The difficulty lies in that singer's certificate, which is essentially a type of permit for performing and selling songs in the streets.
Brother Haiying!
Thus, when several late-night snacks collided, I inevitably found myself caught in a war between lamb and dog meat, grilled fish and hot pot
This is good, it feels like witnessing a complete martial arts spectacle
The ruckus and jeering, along with a few unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of the chaos, turned the entire karaoke hall into a marketplace, as if it were just missing the stalls for selling stools, sunflower seeds, and peanuts
In any case, I was led astray by the shrimp! Moreover, at that time, there was a guy next to the shrimp who was a complete fool; he danced modern dance and was even a regional model of learning from Lei Feng. He was also misled by the shrimp.
I will just call you shrimp
At that moment, I truly witnessed what is meant by reaction ability
I was puzzled as to how my mother, who studied medicine, could manage to create a hairstyle that even professional stylists found impossible to fix
Both my father and mother hold strong traditional beliefs, and they are fundamentally opposed to the idea of performing songs outside, especially my father who opposes it from the depths of his being
In that pitch-black environment, amidst the cacophony of music, the man's face did not even turn towards the direction of the fight, yet he effortlessly raised his hand to grasp the bottle and gently placed it on the table
At that moment, Xia Mi laughed with the true essence of a cunning businessman: "Are you going to enlist? As an artistic soldier, if you join the army, you can sing for a year and we will send you to Xi'an Conservatory of Music for further study free of charge!"
In the habitual thinking of Hunan people, those with shaved heads are generally not considered good individuals
In the machine repair industry of Hunan Province, my family's reputation is quite significant
It is worth mentioning that at that time, the guy and I, who was a giant, were granted permission not to shave our heads, while the other new recruits boarded the vehicle only after having their heads shaved, making us two long-haired oddities quite conspicuous in the crowd
That guy is from Nanjing, and his family runs a small duck down processing factory. It seems that he got tired of doing business and decided to leave his position as a young master to join the military
It is still the kind that is burnt by fire in a large size
But I do not meet the criteria for any of them
Anyway, that day the karaoke hall was thrown into chaos. A group of people rushed to the owner of the karaoke hall to request a refund, among whom were two undercover inspectors from the cultural bureau, who wanted to see if there were any inappropriate performances in the karaoke hall
In those years, obtaining a singer's certificate was not as easy as it is now, where one could simply rely on shameless acts like those of the likes of Furong and Shui Xian, as there are always fans willing to support such antics. Back then, a line of ten or so cultural bureau officials, resembling Marxist-Leninist grandmothers, would scrutinize everything at a glance. Anyone who sang poorly or failed to recognize all the nuances was completely out of the running
Then let's keep the long hair
With my limited cultural background and a body reeking of foulness, is it easy for me to find a job that is less strenuous than singing for a living
Given this schedule, and back then there weren't as many hair salons everywhere as there are now, there were only a few state-run barbershops where business was so good that people would line up for several hours! ... How could I possibly have time to wash my hair every day ...
As the wine bottle flew through the air and several girls got into a scuffle, the audience became quite lively
Got it
It was only later, after I had done similar things, that I realized, Brother Haiying, you were just using me as a decoy, weren't you? ... My once pure heart back then was corrupted by you, an old hand in the game...
Your surname is indeed not mistaken! ... It is entirely a ...
Our family patriarch has received countless awards for his exemplary work, and it has become a regular occurrence for television stations to interview him, even though he has always preferred to avoid public appearances.
Then, that day I was on stage humming a song by Guo Rong while casually throwing flirtatious glances at a few late-night snacks below. Suddenly, four late-night snacks from mhetushu.com got up, and right then, a bottle was thrown out, hitting a man squarely in front of him
You will understand the feeling of not washing your hair for three days if you try it; it is not easy for him to make a living by performing on the streets
In those years, singing outside was both difficult and easy to say
Every night, practice until midnight, then make the most of the time to rehearse new songs or have a few brothers listen intently to transcribe the tunes
A few band members saw that I had long hair and immediately adopted a uniform standard configuration, all of them grew their hair long as well
However, after satisfying my appetite, my classmate's hairstyle, which featured a slight middle part and a touch of hair wax, made me quite envious. To avoid being mocked by my classmates for the "toilet seat" on my head, I could only occasionally ask my mother to give me a haircut that resembled a buzz cut. At least this way, it definitely complied with the school regulations prohibiting long or unusual hairstyles.
Although that hairstyle resembles one of the distinctive features of old Shanghai, the red lacquer toilet seat, at least I saved money on the haircut. Moreover, I have always believed that the hairstyle is not as important as the meat and vegetable dumplings my mother made by hand last Saturday
Then, that truly is a suffering known only to oneself
Every time I go out, the people around me look at me with those extremely strange eyes. If there are children nearby, they hastily seize the opportunity to use me as a typical example to educate them, saying, "Look, if you don't study well, you'll end up like this! ... If you end up in a juvenile detention center, your head will look like this ..."
You say you have a wife, so wouldn't it be better for you to go home early every day to sleep and spend time with her? Why do you keep urging those young girls to buy me late-night snacks, specifically buying your favorite foods like dog meat and lamb?
Am I supposed to go home and ask our patriarch to learn about the mechanical industry?
The business may no longer be pursued, but the keen observational gaze regarding matters in this business is certainly something this individual has retained
I truly came to hate this bald hairstyle in my heart
Later, my mother's colleague told me that my mother had her own unique technique for changing dressings in the dressing room, particularly for sutured wounds, which ordinary people simply cannot replicate, and even if they tried to learn, they would not succeed
At that time, the singing halls were strictly regulated, unlike now when strip dance troupes exploit loopholes everywhere! If you didn't go through legal channels, even if you were a fellow performer wanting to earn a couple of bucks for a meal, the singing hall owners wouldn't dare take that risk
After all this fuss, the habits and methods of my mother have become a sort of occupational hazard for me; it’s just short of having a copyright notice on my head or a sign saying that only cucumbers can be grown in our family’s reserved land, prohibiting the planting of carrots
When I was a child, my family was poor. In order to save money, my mother could only think of ways to provide us with something a bit more substantial to eat by cutting corners elsewhere. I still admire my mother's resourcefulness to this day; she would stand outside the barber shop all day and then manage to give my brother and me haircuts when she got home.
You still cannot scratch
This lacks a certain charm, can it succeed? Is it possible?
At that time, my nickname for being bald had not yet gained popularity
To speak frankly, I am not afraid of being scolded as a beast by my female compatriots... After all, I used to think I was quite beautiful back then...
In fact, I still greatly admire my mother’s foresight regarding certain matters
Before that man was a cup of tea, but I knew it was the only type of tea in the karaoke hall that matched its price and quality. This indicates that the man truly understands enjoyment and is definitely the kind of person who believes in getting what he pays for, someone who does not waste money frivolously.
That is quite cunning
In any case, Xia Mi certainly did not only say this one sentence at that time, and I did not just have such a simple conversation with Xia Mi. If everything were to be written out, it would truly lose its meaning, wasting everyone's time and my effort in typing.
There was another matter. I was already twenty-one at the time, which could be considered a special recruitment... Otherwise, I would never have had the chance to wear a military uniform in this lifetime, and there would be no subsequent story to tell
Others see our old man as quite impressive, being a model worker and all, right
At that time, there were no ready-made scores available, so I had to rely on listening to tapes to gradually transcribe the scores for various instruments. This effort continued until dawn, and I quickly had a bite to eat before rushing back to catch some sleep. By the afternoon, when I was still feeling groggy, I hurried to warm up my voice to ensure I wouldn't embarrass myself on stage.
But that was almost earned with our family's elder's life
Fine, but I won't let you off easily!
That is an itch on the head
What makes one ponder deeply?
Especially during the years I was studying. At that time, young people in society were all the rage with hairstyles that featured a side parting with everything slicked back, while some particularly avant-garde individuals dared to sport a relatively long crew cut, which they would spray with a lot of hairspray before stepping out. This was to avoid being mistaken for someone who couldn't afford a haircut and had resorted to chopping their hair with a kitchen knife.
It is easy to say that back in the day, the karaoke halls were dominated by the songs of artists like Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, and Wang Jie, with their catchy tunes being played repeatedly. Even Jacky Cheung had not yet gained significant fame. Regardless, on any given night, it was inevitable that these few artists' songs would be requested three or four times. It wasn't until later that a certain grandson, who was even uglier than me but had a voice that nearly took my breath away, emerged, bringing a sense of challenge to the brothers and sisters performing outside.
Therefore, I must say something to a certain master of plagiarism here
I was not originally bald, and I have a deep-seated hatred for the bald look
I looked up at that guy and said, "Who are you?"
So in my band, when a few of the long-haired members were holding their instruments, they were particularly engrossed, and their long hair gave off a feeling reminiscent of a hurricane passing through.
Especially for me, I certainly cannot hold the microphone in my left hand while shouting with my mouth and scratching my head with my right hand
Perhaps in the dimly lit venue, the elderly lady, with her poor eyesight, mistook my recently styled toilet seat hair and charcoal face for a simple and honest demeanor, and so I managed to pass through in this rather muddled way
That means this free late-night snack is not tasty
In any case, I felt at that moment as if the sky had fallen and the earth had collapsed
Thus, pack the backpack and leave
A bright red officer's certificate was thrust in front of my eyes, indicating a lieutenant, surname ... ...
You find it quite appealing to see those long-haired men on television playing electric bass with such fervor, don't you
My mother said that there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world
But those four late-night snacks kept calling my name as I was eating them