Three or Two Things about Rebirth

Qiu Luming carried the half pound of red wool and went directly to the Dream Hair Salon.

As soon as he opened the door, the uplifting song of "Asian Pride" came to his face, and Qiu Luming couldn't help rubbing his ears.

The lady boss greeted me warmly, "Hey Lu Ming, you're here! Do you want to trim your split ends or get a perm? I just installed a new machine and new chemicals. Zhang Li from the People's Bank of China got her hair permed yesterday. She looks like a Hong Kong star!"

Qiu Luming couldn't remember when she became so familiar with her. She smiled and looked inside. There were only two people waiting in line on the bench, so she sat in the third seat. "Sister, I don't want to perm my hair. I'll just cut it short from here."

"What a pity." The lady boss touched Qiu Luming's hair and said, "Are you really willing to cut it?"

"Ah."

An hour later, Qiu Luming in the mirror had short hair that reached her ears with a 4:6 split. She shook her hair and felt her head was light, then she casually tucked the hair on the "4" side behind her ear.

When I got home, the whole family was shocked.

"Winter is coming soon. It's too troublesome to wash your hair. It's easier to cut it." Qiu Luming ate with big mouthfuls. She picked up a potato and broke it into two halves with a little force. She picked up one half again and it broke again. She groaned, got up and went to the kitchen to get four spoons. She shared them with everyone, scooped up a potato with a spoon, put it in her mouth, and praised, "Wow! Mom, your cooking skills are getting better and better!"

Without waiting for He Manshu to speak, he asked Qiu Jiashu, "Second brother, can you pick me up from get out of class today?"

"Yes, of course I can." Qiu Jiashu agreed readily, exchanged glances with his parents, and then looked at each other.

"That's fine. Wang Xin, who used to go the same way as me, has dropped out of school. I have no one to go with me after class, so I'm a little scared when I get home at night."

"No problem! Second brother will pick you up every day from now on."

"It won't affect your search for a partner, will it?"

"Finding a partner is not as important as my sister!"

"How corny." Qiu Luming laughed and scooped another spoonful of potatoes. "But I like to hear it!"

Qiu Luming's TVU course is from 6 to 8 p.m. It's not so bad in the summer, but it's a bit of a torture in the winter. The temperature at night can easily drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius. No matter how much you wear, you will feel cold. If there is a northwest wind, it will be difficult to walk.

It was a little after four o'clock and it was already dark. The road was covered with compacted snow, which glowed under the dim street lights. If you were not careful, you could fall down with your bike.

After Qiu Luming fell several times, he stopped riding a bike and instead rode on Qiu Jiashu's bike to and from get off work. He had long legs and could support himself by stretching his legs, so he wouldn't fall. His brother's back also blocked the wind.

In winter, most people in Jiayang stay at home. Unless necessary, they don't go anywhere after get off work. The song "Desire" is playing on TV. As long as the song "The years have passed and I want to tell you how confused I was back then" starts playing, the streets will definitely be deserted.

Qiu Luming relatively prefers watching TV dramas from Hong Kong and Singapore, and is not at all interested in themes about women enduring humiliation. However, He Manshu loves dramas involving educated youth. Whenever Qiu Luming and his second brother return home, they would see their mother wiping tears in front of the TV.

In a blink of an eye, the TVU had been in operation for four months. However, half of the students returned part of their tuition fees and gave up their studies due to various reasons, such as pessimism about the situation on the other side of the strait and insufficient teaching staff.

Qiu Jiashu was surprised to find that his sister, who had always been easy-going and gave up as she pleased, was still insisting on learning Russian. In the past, her tape recorder only played pop songs, but now, most of the time it plays Russian texts. She also often has oral conversations with her father and asked Qin Huifang to buy reference books for her in Harbin.

For this reason, he secretly held a small meeting with his parents and carefully analyzed the external and internal reasons why his sister studied so hard. In the end, the three of them agreed that although Youyou seemed calm on the surface, she must have been greatly stimulated mentally.

Qiu Luming was unaware of her parents' and brothers' speculations and worries. She was still regretting the departure of her foreign teacher Katya. Today, Teacher Yang suddenly said that Katya had returned to China, but he did not say much about the specific reasons.

Qiu Luming wanted to ask Teacher Yang to translate for her. She wanted to have a good talk with Katya about Sasha's education. She had to tell Katya that Sasha almost pushed her down the stairs and injured her, and she should discipline her son. But Teacher Yang was very embarrassed after hearing the whole story. He felt that Qiu Luming had not suffered any substantial harm after all, and advised her not to bother with a six-year-old foreign child.

Qiu Luming swallowed back all the words in his heart and said with some disappointment, "Then I will talk to her myself."

Teacher Yang was relieved, "Yes, you should study hard!"

Qiu Luming never told his family about the incident in which he almost fell down the stairs, because once he told them, his second brother would definitely go to the TV University to look for Katya, causing a big fuss. When he heard Xie Zhi's name, he would also think more.

She looked up a lot of words in the dictionary and even thought about the declension and conjugation in advance, but when she really talked about Sasha with Katya, she still stumbled. Katya smiled cunningly and shook her head and said, "I don't understand, please say it again."

After repeating it twice, she still stuttered and Qiu Luming's face turned red. She was determined to learn Russian well, at least to be able to communicate with Katya and explain her son's affairs clearly.

Until Katya left, she didn't send her son to school, and let the child run wild on the street. In October, Qiu Luming was wearing woolen trousers, but Sasha was still wearing shorts. He came out of a restaurant with only a jacket on his upper body. He didn't seem to feel cold. When he saw Qiu Luming, he smiled with gap teeth and said, "Sorry!" Then he ran away. Of course, until Katya left, Qiu Luming's ability to talk was limited to using the sentence structure of the text, and he was still far from expressing himself. Katya still didn't know what she wanted to say to her.

***

Throughout the winter, Chen Xingchen was always late and left early for no reason, and Sister Wan was basically the only one running the reading room.

Although the reading room has good sunlight, the room is empty and the temperature is still low. Only at noon can a few old men and women come to read newspapers.

Qiu Luming enjoyed his leisure time. He sat by the window, leaning against the heater and memorizing words and sentences.

Sister Wan came over quietly, "Qiu'er, study!"

Qiu Luming put down his pen and said, "Sister Wan, please accompany me to the toilet!"

"Let's go!"

The two put on their coats and hats and went to the toilet fully armed. After going to the toilet, Qiu Luming felt that half of her body heat had been taken away by the urine. Her teeth were chattering, and she pulled Sister Wan and walked back quickly.

It was much warmer when they entered the corridor. Sister Wan approached Qiu Luming, who turned around and said, "Sister Wan, let me tell you a joke."

"Okay, I just enjoy hearing jokes."

"Once upon a time, there was a woman who was very greedy since she was a child and loved to eat delicious food." Qiu Luming stood at the guard window and said to Mr. Li who was leaning out to listen to the joke. "Later, this woman got married, and her mother-in-law was in charge of the kitchen. Naturally, she couldn't eat whatever she wanted like she did at her parents' home."

Uncle Li listened with joy.

"Her newlywed husband loved her very much, and he always secretly took some food from the kitchen or bought some delicious food from outside for her. One day, it was as cold as today, and the woman's husband came back from outside, his teeth chattering from the cold, and the woman jumped up from the sofa and hugged her husband..."

"Hold him?" Uncle Li asked very tactfully.

"She hugged her husband, opened his mouth, and asked unhappily: What are you eating?"

Hahahaha!

Uncle Li threw his head back and burst into laughter, which made Qiu Luming feel a sense of accomplishment. She raised her chin towards Uncle Li and went back to the reading room with a smile.