The daughter of my hometown used to wear flowered shoes. The mother is clever, and the little girl wears good-looking flower shoes; The mother is clumsy, and the little girl has flowers on her shoes, but it is not good-looking.

At that time, there were no flowers on the shoes, which were called "blind shoes", and no girl wore blind shoes.

The fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl wears unsightly flower shoes, and no one laughs at her mother, saying that this girl is not skillful.

Tie the flower to cut the pattern first, cut it and stick it to the upper cloth, and then use more than 20 kinds of color flower thread to tie a needle, very slow, and so the pattern is covered with a needle and a needle of the color thread, and the flower shoes are tied.

Most people don't know how to cut patterns, and the neighbors in Baishitun all ask my sister-in-law to cut patterns. In my opinion, the patterns cut by my sister-in-law are not very good-looking, and those who are rich and good will come to the meeting to buy patterns. The patterns sold by people are much better than those cut by sister-in-law.

When I was a child, the flower shoes I wore were made by my sister-in-law and sister-in-law. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, I saw that other people's flower shoes were better than mine, so I asked them: "The pattern on your shoes is so beautiful, who cut them?" ”

They said, "I bought it at the meeting." ”

My family composition is not good, I don't have money to buy patterns, to see whose patterns are good-looking, I will follow the paper-cut pattern, and slowly cut it, and it will not sell well, better than my sister-in-law's cut. After that, the neighbors all looked for me to cut patterns, not my sister-in-law.

In my hometown, the first pair of shoes for children has to wear cat-eyebrow cat-eye shoes, saying that they don't wear cat-eyebrow cat-eye shoes when they are young, and they have no eyes when they grow up, and they can't see the height of their eyebrows. I haven't cut cat's eyebrow cat's eye shoes, my neighbor asked me to cut it, I look at other people's patterns, according to the cut, a few times to cut out the paper pattern, the neighbor is happy.

In the past, the little daughters wore hats with flowers, and the young daughters-in-law also wore flowered shoes and flowers, and they also looked for me to cut patterns. The pattern of cutting is almost the same, but the flower that is tied out is far behind. The ingenious will be wired, and the flowers will look good; Some people are stupid and don't look good when they prick it out.

At that time, there were baskets to sell things, all of them were old ladies in their fifties, they went from door to door, and the things they sold were all for women, there were silk threads with flowers, and there were cotton threads woven by machines, which I called foreign threads, which had more than 20 colors, and silk threads were more expensive than foreign threads. There are also patterns cut with paper, the patterns that people buy are much better than the patterns I cut, there are "two dragons playing with pearls", there are "phoenix string peonies", there are "magpies and plums", there are "carp jumping dragon gates", a lot of patterns.

They also sell the pink head rope tied by their daughters, which is half wool and half cotton, and sells it with a ruler. Usually people can't see money all year round, so I combed a big braid at that time, and I could only buy a three-foot pink head rope for the New Year and tie my head with it. Pierced, pricked again, broken again, pricked again. I really can't use it, so I put on a red thread rope that I spun myself.

There are also braids for hats, strangles, and shoes in the basket, which are also sold with a ruler. The braids are wide, narrow, red, green, blue, and many colors, and they all have woven flowers on them, which are very beautiful.

In the past, women who had passed the age of 30 did not wear flowered shoes. They are all small feet, wearing small black pointed shoes, and it is good to press two braids, and some to press one braid. The old lady made shoes, made cotton boots, and also pressed braids.

Later, when I put my feet, the women wore round-toed shoes, and the eldest daughters and little daughters-in-law also wore flowers on their shoes. Later, there was a supply and marketing cooperative, and all the things sold were cheap, and the old lady who sold things in a basket never came again.

I'm getting better and better, and I'm looking for more and more cuts. When the old family marries their daughter, they have to cut a lot of paper patterns, and I have to cut a morning alone, two big pillows, two small pillows, and four kinds of flowers. At that time, the new daughter-in-law put all the new shoes into a box, some put six pairs, some put four pairs, one pair of shoes and one pattern.

In the old Baishitun house where Jiang Shumei lived, the bricks and tiles above the door were added after the clamshell. Photo by Ai Ling.

When I got married, I made two pairs of box shoes, and I cut the flowers myself. Dad wrote sixteen words to me, and asked me to cut them out and tie them to the two ends of the square pillow. I don't know those words, but the sound they say seems to read: long life and wealth, good luck. There are eight more words, what is written, I can't remember for sure. The second sister-in-law has a good job of tying flowers, she gave me a tie.

On the day of the wedding, there were a lot of people who saw the new daughter-in-law, and they all said that the flowers on my shoes were beautiful. The learned all say that the words on the pillow are well written. My father has been writing with a brush all his life, and no one in the family can catch up with him.

There was an uncle and third brother who was in high school at that time, and he liked the words on my pillow, and he went home to practice for a summer vacation, and he didn't write my father's glyphs.

After I arrived in the Northeast, I never cut the pattern again, and no one in the Northeast wore flower shoes.