Literary Heroes of the Republic of China

"What? Such a box of paint costs one yuan?" Boss Chen's voice suddenly sounded.

"This is a paint imported from France." The bookstore clerk said, "This one costs one yuan, and it's already the smallest box."

"Just a little paint..." Boss Chen couldn't understand.

When Mu Qiong looked over, he saw that Boss Chen was holding a small tin box in his hand. The box was about the size of a pencil box. When he opened it, there were compartments of paint inside, not much in total.

Such a box of paint would cost around 20 or [-] yuan at most in modern times, but now it costs an ocean...it is really expensive.

But apart from this expensive paint imported from France, there are no other paints for sale in the store.

"Mu Qiong, you want to paint on the wall in the store, so a small box is enough to paint a small area?" Boss Chen looked at Mu Qiong, the big box of paint is more expensive here, a large box costs ten yuan Money... ten yuan!The calligraphy and paintings hanging in his shop were made by an old scholar, and it only cost two yuan in total.

"Boss Chen, buying such a box of paint is enough, let's just buy some more ink." Mu Qiong said immediately, he planned to paint something on the wall for decoration, but he didn't want to paint the wall colorfully.

"It's okay." After all, Boss Chen was rich, so he didn't care too much. He quickly bought paint and ink, and bought a few A4-sized thick cardboards, and a piece of white paper one meter square—Mu Qiong Said to draw an advertisement and put it on the door.

"You took the blank paper? What are you doing?" Boss Chen saw the blank paper in Mu Qiong's hand.

Mu Qiong immediately said: "It's a bit small for drawing drafts."

"That's right." Boss Chen agreed deeply, and readily paid for the blank paper that Mu Qiong bought.White paper is so cheap compared to expensive paints.

Boss Chen is quite a nice person... As soon as Mu Qiong returned to the western restaurant, he began to draw the menu.

He first sketches the draft with a pen on white paper, then draws it on a thick cardboard the size of A4 paper, and finally colors it.

His painting skills are very average. Today's painting level is estimated to be at the level of elementary school students who have attended interest classes in modern times, but Boss Chen has little experience as a person from the Republic of China. Seeing Mu Qiong's tossing so much, he only thinks that Mu Qiong is exceptional. sharp.

Although he left Mu Qiong to work in the store before, he didn't take Mu Qiong's saying that he could speak English and French seriously. I know English by myself.

But now it seems...Mu Qiong really knows how to do it!

Look at that foreign language, how beautifully written!

Seeing that Mu Qiong was painting very attentively, Boss Chen subconsciously lowered his voice to greet the guests.Even though there were more customers in the store later, he didn't call Mu Qiong for help, but went up to greet him.

Mu Qiong just painted like this all day, not tired at all.

As for the results... He finished drawing the two menus, and made a draft of the advertisement that would be placed at the door.

In fact, menus and advertisements are the same, and it is no problem for him to finish drawing in a day, but his health is not good, and he needs to rest... so he just got lazy.

Fortunately, Boss Chen didn't notice it at all. He packed the menu drawn by Mu Qiong in a kraft paper bag and carefully put it in a drawer: "I don't know if this menu can be framed..." Just show it to the guests , What a pity to be broken by a guest!

Mu Qiong: "..."

The customers who come to Boss Chen’s shop are all from ordinary families. They will definitely finish eating the tonkatsu they ordered, and usually there will be no leftovers from the stir-fry. So Mu Qiong didn't bring anything home that day.

Of course, it doesn't matter if he doesn't take it now, since he has a job, Zhu Wanwan is not so picky anymore. She really bought salted fish and bean sprouts that day, and left Mu Qiong a palm-sized pickled bean sprouts cake.

Mu Qiong had a very full dinner in Boss Chen's shop, but he is growing up now, and he will be hungry soon at eight or nine o'clock, so it is just right to have a cake now.

The next day, when Mu Qiong went to the western restaurant early in the morning, the door of the western restaurant was already open, and Boss Chen was directing people to whitewash the walls with lime.

The workers worked very quickly, and finished painting at noon, which did not affect the daytime business at all. It was also on this day that Mu Qiong drew the advertisement that he planned to put at the door.

On the third day, the entire restaurant and the kitchen were cleaned. Mu Qiong also went to the widow's house of Boss Chen's friend, instructing her and a few middle-aged women she called to cut the washed and dried curtains and make them tablecloth.

On the fourth day, the simple painted walls of the western restaurant were almost dry, so Mu Qiong began to draw pictures and write on the wall, and asked Boss Chen to find a carpenter to make a wooden frame similar to an easel and a rather large wooden frame, and a bar.

The wooden frame pasted with the advertisement he drew can stand at the door, and the wooden frame with a length of two meters and a height of one meter was nailed to the wall by Mu Qiong to make a "Wish Wall". A wish to set an example.

"I want to study abroad."

"I hope my mother is in good health."

"I want to be a writer!"

……

Of course, he did not forget to write some mottoes he remembered in English on the wall of the western restaurant: "If goals are valuable, life will be valuable."

"Don't pray for comfort in life, pray for yourself to be stronger."

"It is not eternal life that counts, but eternal vitality."

……

It took a total of eight days of tossing around before the western restaurant was completely cleaned up. At this time, Mu Qiong's tailor-made clothes had already been made.

This morning, when Mu Qiong came to the western restaurant, he changed into the suit that Boss Chen bought for him.

Although Mu Qiong doesn't eat very well in western restaurants these days, at least there are meat and vegetables in every meal, and there is no limit to the staple food.

He eats and drinks enough every day, and he doesn’t have to do heavy work. He sits or stands to write and draw every day. His body has been taken care of. .

Now that the suit was on, covering his too thin legs and arms, he became a handsome young man with a thin waist and long legs.

The genes of the original owner's family are quite good. He is not only handsome, but also tall, depending on the situation, he can grow longer... Mu Qiong is quite satisfied with his current appearance.

Boss Chen was also very satisfied. He felt that because of Mu Qiong's appearance, those young wives and big girls would probably be willing to come to the restaurant for dinner.

"Brother Mu is so handsome! I've never seen such a good-looking young man!" The chef in the shop praised him repeatedly.This cook is an old man in the shop, he is a bit dependent on the old, and his attitude towards the other helper in the shop is not good, he always shouts and drinks, but he is very enthusiastic towards Mu Qiong, and his attitude even seems a bit humble in front of Mu Qiong .

The knowledge shown by Mu Qiong made him subconsciously place Mu Qiong in a very high position.

In fact, he is not the only one with such an attitude, and another helper in the store is also like this.Not only did he have no objection to Mu Qiong not doing any work these days, but occasionally when he was free, he would stand beside Mu Qiong and watch Mu Qiong draw with awe.

Mu Qiong asked him if he wanted to learn it, but he immediately refused, saying that he would definitely not be able to learn it.

Mu Qiong is also very busy, so he doesn't have to teach the other party.

"It's still close..." Boss Chen suddenly said, and then took out a dime to Mu Qiong: "Go out and walk half a mile to the left. There is an alley. There is a barber shop in the alley. Go there and shave your head."

"Thank you boss." Mu Qiong replied with a smile.

His hair is indeed a little long.It is inconvenient for them to take a bath in their house, so they can only wipe it with a towel. They can wash their hair in a wooden basin for washing their faces, but there is no shampoo... He wanted to shave his hair long ago, but he just didn't have the money.

"Wait!" The boss called Mu Qiong: "You change your clothes before you go, otherwise it's not good to dirty the new clothes."

Moo-joon ends up finding the shaving shop wearing his old clothes.

The shop is in an alley, very small, with a coal stove burning water at the door.

The water vapor in the kettle rushed upwards, hiding the door of the store behind the water vapor... Mu Qiong told the barber sitting inside smoking that he wanted to shave his head, and the barber asked him to sit down, and then took a pair of scissors to cut his head. He took the razor and hit his head directly.

"Get me a [-]-[-] points." Mu Qiong said.At this time, people in Shanghai like the middle score, but he thinks it looks better.

Although... three to seven points is actually very earthy.

The barber replied: "Okay, but this actually depends on how you comb your hair."

That's right, shaving your head at this time usually means shaving your hair short, but not designing your hairstyle... Mu Qiong sat on a chair and let the barber shave his head.

The razor and scissors were flying on his head, and his hair fell down one after another. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he actually felt that his head was a little lighter.

It's just some short hair falling down his neck, which makes him itchy.

The hair was shaved quickly, and before Mu Qiong had time to look at his appearance, the barber mixed warm water in a wooden basin, called him to wash his hair, and rubbed his neck violently with a towel.

After such a lot of tossing, the head was finally shaved, and Mu Qiong looked at the boy whose neck was flushed red from rubbing in the mirror, and felt that he was a little more handsome.

There is no hair dryer in this kind of ordinary shop, and the barber is naturally not responsible for drying the hair, so Mu Qiong finally left the barber shop with wet hair, and the hair on his neck stood up when the wind blew outside .

After autumn, the days are getting colder and colder, but the people in their family have no winter clothes...

The barber shaved Mu Qiong's hair very short, and when he returned to the western restaurant, his hair was already half dry.

When Boss Chen saw Mu Qiong's current appearance, he was very satisfied: "Put on new clothes, and put some oil on your hair..."

"I'm going to change my clothes right away, and I don't need to apply oil." Mu Qiong immediately said, he really has no interest in wearing oil all over his head!

But Boss Chen's aesthetics are different from his: "It looks good with a little oil. Look at those foreigners, many of them are oiled!"

Mu Qiong ignored Boss Chen and quickly ran to the small warehouse next to the kitchen to change clothes.

On this day, Boss Chen waited for Mu Qiong to change his clothes before opening the store.

But at this time, the store has changed a lot!

Although Mu Qiong has been tossing the wall for a long time, but it was not completely painted at the beginning, and the guests who came to dinner could not see anything, but now it is different.

Most of the store has white walls, but in some places, some sentences are written in cursive English and French, some western-style buildings are drawn in black ink, and several style and ink paintings are hung Very different paintings.

In addition, there is a custom-made narrow wooden bar under one wall, and a wooden frame hangs on the wall above.

The words "Wish Wall" are written on the top of the wooden frame, and paper, pens and glue are prepared on the bar below.

There are also beige curtains and tablecloths in the same color.

There was some lace on the table-cloth and curtains, and white flowers embroidered with thick thread.After such a tablecloth is spread on the table, the original old table immediately looks "noble".

The layout of the store has taken on a new look, Boss Chen was not satisfied, and carefully took the menu drawn by Mu Qiong out of the kraft paper bag.

Mu Qiong is different from Boss Chen, he is actually not that satisfied with the layout of the store, and always feels that the store is a bit nondescript.

Fortunately, no one knows at this time.

After seeing the layout of the restaurant, Mu Qiong took the advertising shelf outside and stood by himself... The eyes of people coming and going were immediately attracted to him and the advertising board.

On the billboard, the words "Authentic Western Restaurant" are very large and conspicuous.In addition, there are English and French written on it, and a head portrait of a foreigner wearing a hat and smoking a pipe is drawn in ink.

Many people subconsciously stopped to look at the advertisement, and at this moment, Mu Qiong greeted them in foreign language with a smile: "Mister and Madam, do you want to come to our restaurant for dinner? Two cents per person."

Those passing by didn't understand.

"Sir and Madam, would you like to come to our restaurant for dinner? Two cents per customer." Mu Qiong said again in Chinese, and those people saw that under the big characters of "Authentic Western Restaurant", there is a line of small characters: "The restaurant is newly renovated , to give back to new and old customers, each customer only needs [-] cents to taste authentic western food!"

Many customers were dizzy and followed Mu Qiong into the western restaurant.