The plum blossoms welcomed the rain, the boundless late spring.
It rained in the afternoon.
After the peach blossom rain on the Qingming Festival, the plum rain of the Dragon Boat Festival came again. For Liu Changan, this was not a disgusting thing. Most people who had nothing to do and were free would feel that the rainy weather made their lazy state more natural.
For the students of Junsha, it was certainly annoying. Few people looked at the weather forecast. When they went out in the morning, they did not bring umbrellas. In the afternoon, the pitter-patter of rain did not stop.
The plum rain in 1954 was particularly long, more than two months, causing a rare year of flood in history. In 1958, the plum rain only lasted two or three days, causing a great drought.
Wild geese were innumerable when wet, and flowers were stained with color.
Liu Changan found many colors, but he was not very satisfied with them. He drew many afternoon paintings, many clothes, and also many An Nuan. The colors of the clothes were different, and the beauties' smiles and shyness were also different.
If there were a person as talented as Liu Changan thirty or forty years ago, he would probably be very popular, right? Bai Hui thought of this and felt sorry for An Nuan. Talented people often gave up after they started. They thought they were very talented and arrogant, but in fact, in today's society, this kind of talent was useless. They could only open an art studio, set up a stall to sketch people, or take some jobs to draw portraits of the dead. Then they went from being eye-catching and glorious when they were students to being down and out in reality. When they lost their mental balance, they vented their anger on their girlfriends or wives.
Of course, there were people who stood out, but weren't they few?
Moreover, people in the art world beat their wives, played with mistresses, and held all kinds of messy parties. It was very common for them to fall into depravity.
If An Nuan was a little smarter, she would eventually leave Liu Changan. At that time, when Liu Changan held the portraits he drew today, would he cry, or would he burn with anger and tear these paintings to vent his hatred? Bai Hui sympathized with Liu Changan for a while.
For the whole afternoon, Bai Hui sometimes sympathized with An Nuan, and sometimes sympathized with Liu Changan. In the end, she didn't know what she was thinking about. In short, Liu Changan was extremely annoying.
Liu Changan skipped the last class and didn't mind that he didn't bring an umbrella. He went to Ziping Street.
This was an old street. In today's pursuit of style, an old street naturally had some sentiments and status. If one were to add the words "old street" to the text, write about the surprise discovery of a handmade shop in the "old street", tell the story of the boss, read a book on a charming afternoon, and spend the plum rain lazily, and so on, post something like that on social media, it would immediately feel that it was several levels higher than posting a few photos and selfies, and positioning themselves as best friends in Manalola Town.
There used to be a big chastity memorial arch at the entrance of Ziping Street. When the Qing Dynasty was still rigid, the whole street belonged to the Lan family, who opened a cloth shop. However, it naturally declined later. After the liberation, after several setbacks, the descendants of the old Lan family opened a second-hand bookstore not far away. People called him Boss Lan.
Of course, Liu Changan wasn't going to buy books or play chess with Boss Lan today. Although this street had changed beyond recognition, it retained the original pattern of the industry. In addition to the rare cloth shops, there were Hunan embroidery shops, clothing shops for middle-aged and elderly people, and a tailor shop that Liu Changan was looking for … Now it was called Private Customization.
Walking through the fluttering rain of parasol trees in the middle of the street, in the gloomy weather, the floor-to-ceiling windows that occupied four shops were very eye-catching. "Explain" was the name of the shop.
The shop wasn't so big in the past, but looking at the small seal next to the shop name, "Weng Simei", it seemed that the owner hadn't changed.
"Explain" was taken from "Shuo Wen Jie Zi". The shop owner believed that making clothes was the same as creating characters. Each character was different, with different sounds, shapes, and meanings. Different clothes needed different people to wear, which meant different styles and interpretations. Hence, the name of the shop, "Explain".
The front of the shop was full of floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Walking up the stairs on one side and down the stairs on the other side, Liu Changan walked up from one side and saw many umbrellas opened on the other side. A group of curvaceous women walked down the stairs.
One of them was Qin Yanan. The other woman, whose hair was coiled up like an elm coin, seemed to have a slightly different status. One of them was holding an umbrella for her, while the other was holding her arm. There was also someone who hurried over to open the door of a Bentley parked nearby.
Qin Yanan walked the woman down the stairs and didn't go far. When she came back, she saw Liu Changan standing on the stairs.
"Why are you here?" Qin Yanan looked at the time, "Did you skip class? And you didn't bring an umbrella! "
After all, Qin Yanan was her cousin. When she saw her little cousin, who shouldn't have been here at this time of the day, drenched like a drowned rat, Qin Yanan consciously integrated into her role.
"Who's that beautiful girl?"
The muscle in the corner of Qin Yanan's eyes twitched. Fortunately, the air today was humid and thick, so she didn't press her chest.
"Beautiful girl?" Qin Yanan felt that this cousin's words were so interesting. He would be beaten sooner or later. Qin Yanan was amused and annoyed at the same time, "That's Zhu Juntang's mother, Mrs. Zhu San!"
"I was wondering why her profile looked so familiar. It turned out to be Zhu Juntang's mother." Liu Changan nodded. Mrs. Zhu San had a plump figure. Although she was not as tall as Qin Yanan, her legs were slender, and her steps were elegant and gentle. She had the charm of a beautiful woman, even more graceful than Zhu Juntang, who claimed to be a fairy.
"What are you doing here? Go back and change your clothes. Be careful not to catch a cold." Qin Yanan wanted to drive him back.
"Why would I catch a cold?" Liu Changan asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I ordered some fabrics of different colors to make clothes. They arrived today. I'm here to choose the colors." Qin Yanan just remembered that the person she wanted to make clothes was in front of her. She couldn't help feeling awkward and guilty. She just wanted to let him go, "Well, we only make women's clothes here. I'm sorry that you're not welcome here."
"I'm here to buy some cloth. Give me some."
"You don't have to be polite!"
"You almost wanted to be my fiancée. Why should I be polite?" Liu Changan shook his head.
"There's someone I know here!" Qin Yanan blushed. She had told Zhu Juntang about this. If others knew that her family had arranged a blind date for her in the third year of high school, she would lose her face.
"Okay, give me some cloth."
"You're so annoying!" Qin Yanan rolled her eyes at him and pulled his wet shoulder, "Then you have to promise me that you'll go home as soon as you get the cloth."
"Okay."
Walking in, Qin Yanan took a towel and threw it to Liu Changan to let him dry his hair. A charming woman in her early thirties came in from outside. It was Wang Jiangzi, the old tailor's daughter who had just seen Mrs. Zhu San off.
It was said that Weng Simei named his daughter Jiangzi because she liked purple cloth. In ancient times, purple dye was the rarest and most difficult to make. It also implied that it was not easy to conceive a daughter.
Any craftsman who gradually became famous could not stay in the shop all the time. Usually, it was Wang Jiangzi who took care of the shop.
"Miss Qin, this is?" Wang Jiangzi knew Qin Yanan's identity, so her tone was naturally polite and warm.
"Liu Changan, my cousin. He said he would give me some cloth." Qin Yanan said directly.
Wang Jiangzi smiled, "What do you want some cloth for?"
"To make clothes." Liu Changan knew Weng Simei. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come here. He had also seen Wang Jiangzi when she was young, but naturally, Wang Jiangzi didn't know him now.
"Then are you going to bring your … your friend here?" Wang Jiangzi said, "If you bring someone here, you have to measure the size before you can make clothes."
"I only need the cloth. I can make clothes myself."
Wang Jiangzi looked at Qin Yanan, and Qin Yanan nodded.
Wang Jiangzi was not curious about how a boy of this age could make clothes. She just said, "Okay, but there is only enough for one piece of cloth of each color. He picked the color that you like. If you want more, you have to wait for the next batch."
"That's okay." Qin Yanan said generously.
Liu Changan had a good eye. Sure enough, he picked out Qin Yanan's favorite piece of fabric. Qin Yanan had no choice but to remind him not to waste God's gift recklessly. If it really didn't work, he could take it back to the shop to have it altered.
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