Chapter 5 Cheongsam War

I don't drink hard alcohol at all. But I would recognize the price of spirits when I was a child. It’s not that I have ever worked in a bar, but because when I was a child, my family would always receive foreign wine from others. I didn’t need to drink it at all, and I was familiar with it just by looking at it—— For ordinary occasions, such as dinner at home, what the guests bring is the minimum wine, which my father and the others used to call "red square" and "black square". Usually when you receive this kind of wine, you don’t even need to remove the wrapping paper. Just lift the top part, confirm it, and immediately “file” it. The only thing that will be removed is the wine giver’s business card, which is convenient for “logging in the book. ".

Within a week or so, these incoming wines will be affixed with Dad's business card, and the wrapping paper will be sent out again without changing the wrapping paper. When I was young, I often wondered whether the batch of wine that my father and friends always sent back and forth like this was ever opened and drunk?Or is it like a set of characters on the stage, one time wearing red to pretend to be our army, the next to wear green to pretend to be the enemy, and after being killed and then getting back up, it will always be the same group of people coming and going? If you encounter a more sophisticated occasion, such as a birthday party, the foreign wine delivered will be more varied. Dad will probably take apart the wine and "filter" it on the second day after the treat. During the process of filtering and logging in, I probably knew the prices of several important levels above "Black Square".

These wines will stay in the "gift warehouse" for a long time, and will not be sent out until a suitable occasion. I know that many people use foreign wine as a "chip" at home. It is easy to give away and the price is clear.When some of my classmates don't have enough pocket money, they will get a few bottles of wine from home to exchange for cash. In my father's era, the most common gifts men received were foreign wine, ties, and suit materials. For children, all of them were the most boring things.Wine is the easiest to identify, and it doesn't arouse our interest in tearing it apart at all; as for ties, "occasionally a masterpiece", most of the time it is a very boring color.As for suit materials, the most inexplicable thing is that I hold a heavy box in my hand, and when I open it, it is all dusty, and ten boxes are put together, all of which are all dusty; even if there are some differences, they are nothing more than dry cement walls. The difference between wet concrete walls.Although the uncle and father would shake the fabric a little bit, touch the pounds, and marvel at some famous factory products, but in the eyes of my sister and me, it is really incredible. I can't imagine that someone spends such a big The price, from so far away in England, to buy a piece of "coarse cloth" so dull and depressing.

In contrast, the gifts my mother received were much more interesting. Of course, the most common ones were perfume and clothing, both of which were flowers. Although our children didn't need them, it was still a pleasure to see them. My first impression of several old European famous brands that women love to use, such as Chanel and Saint Laurent, is based on the scent of their respective perfumes. As for the clothes that the women send to each other, it hurts to talk about it—— In my mother's era, buying materials and cutting cheongsams by myself was still the most important clothing for wives.

The hurtful part is that - ninety-nine percent of women, including mothers, would never give their favorite clothes to another woman! They would rather spend more money to buy a more expensive piece of material that "they have no feelings for" as a gift, but also keep the piece of material that they are right about. This is a matter of course, but it greatly increases the difficulty of "gift circulation" for wives—— The material that Mrs. Li's family doesn't like is sent to the Wang family's empress. If everything is normal, the Wang family's empress will not like this material, and if she passes it to her mother, she may not like it either, so she went around like this , In the end, innocent people were sent back to the hands of the "perpetrators". This is a common occurrence.A silly look, no one knows who, women's clothes have their own characteristics, the more you don't like the color, the more you remember it clearly, and you will definitely "identify it" the second time you see it, so don't give it carelessly, in case you forget It was delivered by Mrs. Wang, and returned to Mrs. Wang two months later. It was simply "returning the product in person", which was too embarrassing.

So every once in a while, the "gift library" will hoard a few pieces of clothing that the mother neither wants to wear, nor can give away. "The taste is gone. In fact, these "tricky" cheongsam materials, in the eyes of our children, are often as charming as the precious woven cotton in the Arabian Nights.Often when the lid of the box was opened, my sister and I would "wow" in admiration, but my mother immediately frowned and pronounced this piece of clothing "out".The reason is very simple, we children will feel dazzled, of course, they are all shiny golden things, which are absolutely suitable for the Arabian princess in the movie, but there is no such thing as a cheongsam for mother.

From the reciprocity of my parents' generation, I understand a cruel thing—— Good gentlemen are happy to share a bottle of fine wine with each other; good ladies can never share the same fine cloth. There are so many aunts and aunts in and out of my memory since I was a child, but there has never been two ladies wearing the same color of cheongsam together! Even if the Oscars ceremony is as luxurious as Hollywood, it is unavoidable that female stars wear the same clothes and "bump their shirts" and immediately turn pale like "hitting a mountain". However, the mothers have not bumped into their shirts for so many years. Of course, they are highly conscious hard work.

Looking at these women's cheongsams also let me see that even such a well-regulated garment can show so many changes with the different personalities of the protagonists. If the cheongsam is cut wider and longer, it will be more relaxed and elegant. If you really want to wear it too tight, it will be "careful", making the people watching restless—— For example, there was a textile tycoon from Shanghai who came to our house to socialize, and he brought his beloved concubine wife with him.According to the habit of our family, "Ms. Zhenggong" must be called "Aunt XX" and "Mother XX"; ".

This set of names of "Mother so-and-so" and "Aunt so-and-so" is like the Tianhe drawn by the Queen Mother with her hairpin, which simply and clearly shows the "marriage coordinates" in the social world.As long as the grown-ups hear it, they will naturally know it well, and they don’t need to ask further to avoid embarrassment. On the contrary, we little ghosts who are in charge of "calling people" have been calling for several years. Once we figure out the mystery, we realize that we have already joined the "class Discrimination" guard of honor.

No wonder when I was young my sister and I would often look at the guests who came to socialize, make "comparisons", and wonder why "Uncle Xu" always appeared with "Mother Tao"?Why does "Mother Wang" always follow "Uncle Wang", but "Uncle Weng" is always accompanied by "Auntie Baoai"? It turned out that on the infinitely extending coordinates of marriage, they were each at a certain point that children could not understand. Among all these aunts and aunts, the "aunt" is generally younger and more beautiful than the "aunt". This is a cruel law of nature that does not need to be doubted.

Among all the aunts, this textile tycoon's concubine's wife is the most beautiful. Her eyes are watery, her lips are cherry red, her figure is exquisite, and her cheongsam is tight. I often feel "spiritual separation", secretly worrying about the buttons of her cheongsam. She is one of the very few people who I remember with "a certain state" rather than "a certain color". What "status"?Four words - "swords are on the verge of breaking out"! Fortunately, my mother is very beautiful, and she is definitely the first in the "Auntie Team". The victory is not martial, even if she advances to the "Auntie Team" to compete, she is also one of the best, you are welcome. This ensures the demeanor of my sister and me, not like some children, when they are "shot" by a woman's luster for the first time, they often open their mouths wide, as if they were hit by acupuncture points. In terms of the creativity of designing cheongsams, I also want to give my mother the first place. Of course, this is an unfair impression, because every set of cheongsams my mother makes from scratch, I have been observing for a long time. Matching, I gradually figured out some principles—— For a cheongsam that is too flowery, use a gauze coat to cover it; for a cheongsam that is too plain, the collar and sleeves of the coat should be more aggressive; when it is suitable for the edge of the raceway; What I admire is that my mother's tricks are endless, and there are also "middle school for the body, Western learning for use"; ". After the cropping is completed, what the effect will be is secondary.What really moved me was the spirit of perseverance, persistent efforts, self-satisfaction, and self-seeking, which made me deeply understand the truth that "beauty is both born and hardworking". When I was young, I would occasionally open her closet when my mother was out, bury my face in the "sea of ​​cheongsams", smell the perfume stained on the cheongsam, and feel the sweetness and sweetness of different fabrics on my face. Suffocating indulgence. Americans once had a favorite novel, "The Biography of a Tycoon" written by Fitzgerald. There is a passage in which the heroine spreads all the silk shirts of various colors on the big bed, and the whole person throws herself on it and immerses herself in tenderness. . What I remember most is this paragraph. When I think about it now, I still nod slightly: "It should be so, it should be so". The cheongsam may become popular again, but the situation where a large group of women compete secretly, come up with unique designs, and find exclusive tailors, probably won't happen again. Civilization is worth cherishing because it is easy to disappear. I was thinking about a set of unique cheongsams, silently disappearing in various ways until all of them disappeared... I can only nod slightly—— "It should be so, it should be so".