Seeing Liu Fang approaching, the master raised his head and showed a friendly smile, "Hello, boss." In Mandarin with a Wenzhou accent, he asked Liu Fang, but the work in his hand did not stop. Here he looked down at Liu Fang, saw his feet in sandals, and continued, "What do you need?" I have haberdashery such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, and candy here. ”

In the 80s, most of the shoe-shiners who came out of Wenzhou, in addition to a fairly complete range of shoeshine and shoe repair utensils, generally brought mirrors, toothpaste, needlework and other haberdashery. Therefore, even if you meet a customer who does not need to shine your shoes, you will ask kindly in the hope of making more business.

"Brother, are you brewing it for more and more (are you from Wenzhou?) Liu Fang deliberately greeted in Wenzhou dialect to shorten the distance.

"Yes, brother, you're tired of getting tired of it every day (what business are you doing here?) ）”

"Brother, I came with my brother to sell shoes, and I was crowded during the ride, and I waited for him here. I have nothing to do, I want to learn how to shine shoes with you. ”

"Oh, that's fine. This is easy to learn, you can read it more. ”

The two spoke in their native dialect, which was difficult for the guests to understand. After a while, a pair of shiny leather shoes were polished, and the master charged the guest 2 cents for shoe shine.

At this time, there were customers who left the station to buy toothpaste and toothbrushes, and the master quickly collected money while taking the goods from a travel bag. When the second pair of shoes was polished, Liu Fang roughly understood, thanked the master and left. The reason why Wenzhou businessmen can do business is that they will not lower prices and grab land like businessmen in some places, but rely on their own efforts to expand their business in new places, and eventually become a bit connected.

Liu Fang found under the willow tree at an exit on the west side of the square, and went to the vicinity to find two cement road bricks, stacked them together, folded the napkins wrapped in shoe shines, spread them on them, and sat on the ground himself. It was noon, the weather began to be hot and dry, and the guests who left the station also came here to enjoy the cool while waiting for the train, and gathered five or six people, Liu Fang began to whisper: "Shoe shine". The cooler cast a worldly gaze and endured it silently, and one of them asked, "How much?" ”

Liu Fang thought that the master only charged 2 cents for bringing a stool and newspaper to shine shoes just now, so he said to the guest: "1 cent." The guest sat down without hesitation, and Liu Fang put one of the guest's feet on his crossed legs, and wiped it unfamiliarly, perhaps the shoe polish cloth was damp, and soon polished the guest's leather shoes shiny. The guest also happily paid 1 dime.

With the first income, Liu Fang became even more bold and began to greet the guests loudly, "Shoe shine, 1 mao.... 1 cent, shoe shine..."

Successively began to have waiting for the guests to sit down, until the sixth pair, the shoe polish on the shoe shine cloth was almost wiped out, due to the hot weather, the shoe shine cloth also began to become dry, the effect is getting worse and worse, Liu Fang almost on the guest's leather shoes, with the way of Ha to moisten. After wiping it alive, the guest of the seventh pair had already sat down, it was a middle-aged man, Liu Fang looked at the guest and said, "Uncle, wait a minute, I'll go to the bathroom." ”

Then he got up and almost fell down again, and his legs were numb because he had sat on the floor for too long, and his feet were no longer at his disposal. Holding back the numbness, he walked crookedly towards the station. When I got to the bathroom, I didn't care about the convenience, so I washed the shoe shine cloth first, and at this time, the hands that were already black were even more stained with oil, except that the temples were not pale, and the ten fingers were black, like Bai Juyi's charcoal seller.

After the convenience, the numbness in Yang Liufang's legs had been relieved, and he quickly ran to his fellow villager Brother who was learning to shine shoes, and bought a tube of shoe polish. In Wen Shang's view, the so-called dignity is earned by making money in a down-to-earth manner, big ability to earn big money, small ability to earn small money, dead love face and live to suffer, the most despised.

After buying shoe polish, Yang Liufang is more confident. Immediately go back to your stall, let's call it a stall, and immediately put yourself into work very skillfully. One after another, he was busy until the sun and shadow were setting in the west, and then the elder brother came over, took a piece of dough, said that it was a "pot helmet" and handed it to Liu Fang, "Brother, it's good, you haven't eaten, come, eat this." ”

Liu Fang felt hungry at this time, looked at Brother Shyly, took it obediently, and devoured it. Brother handed over his water cup again, and Liu Fang drank it happily. At this time, another guest came, and after Liu Fang thanked the elder brother, he threw himself into the intense work until it was dark, and when Liu Fang went to look for the elder brother again, he found that the person was no longer there.

Liu Fang dragged his tired body and went to the bathroom to wash his hands, these black hands stained with shoe polish, no matter how much he rinsed, Liu Fang wanted to have laundry detergent or soap, how good it would be. I went out to the store in the station to buy it, and when I asked for 5 jiao for a piece of soap, Liu Fang was reluctant to do it, and put it back after getting it, and left ashamed.

After working hard to shine shoes for a day, I couldn't even take care of eating, and I wiped 23 guests with my hands and feet all day long, and received 2.3 yuan for shoeshine fees, and I used up 2 cents to buy shoe polish, and then spent 5 cents to buy soap, which is really too luxurious for the current Liufang. I could only go back to the bathroom, rub it under the water repeatedly, and then leave until my hands hurt a little, pick up the shoe-shine cloth and shoe polish wrapped in paper, and walk to the beef noodle restaurant tiredly.

After Yang Liufang finished eating beef noodles, it was already dark, and he was a little anxious that there was no Yang Tongfu for two consecutive days, but it was to no avail, so he could only wait until nine o'clock the next day to take a look. I walked a long way along the road in front of the station, and I felt the city of Xizhou for the first time.

This is a city with a strong Islamic style, countless beef noodle restaurants have halal words engraved on their doors, and many men and women with little white hats and turbans walking on the street after dinner greet each other politely, and it seems that only Yang Liufang is a stranger.

Unconsciously walked to the vicinity of Xizhou Station, a large wholesale market came into view, but the huge wholesale market ended the day's business, and it was quiet at the moment. Yang Liufang smelled that he had not bathed and clothes for so many days, and there was a sour smell, thinking that he must come here tomorrow to buy laundry detergent, and if he worked hard to shine shoes to earn more, he would also come to buy a set of vests and shorts.

With the income from his hard work and shoe shine, he ate a full meal of beef noodles, except for the occasional wake-up by the radio in the station, Yang Liufang slept very soundly this night.

I woke up early in the morning, went to eat beef noodles as usual, and then returned to the willow tree where I had polished my shoes yesterday, where a police patrol motorcycle was parked, and Liu Fang had to find another place to use as a shoe-shine stall, walking along the edge of the square, and the other shades were far away from the exit and the bus stop, and there were tall pine trees in between, and the ground was dirty. Looking back at the willow tree from yesterday, the police motorcycle was still parked there, and the willow side left in a huff.