A Pretty Little Girl

Plums ripen with timely rain, a desolate scene in late spring.

It rained this afternoon.

After the peach blossom rain of Qingming Festival, the plum rain of Dragon Boat Festival arrived. For Liu Chang'an, this was not a bad thing. Most idle and leisurely people would feel that rainy days made their lazy state even more justifiable.

For students in Junsha, it was certainly annoying. Few people checked the weather forecast, so they went out in the morning without an umbrella, and then it kept drizzling in the afternoon.

The plum rain season in 1954 was exceptionally long, lasting more than two months, which triggered a historically rare flood. In contrast, the plum rain season in 1958 lasted only two or three days, which led to a severe drought.

The geese fly erratically when wet, and the flowers are even more vibrant when wet.

Liu Chang'an looked at many patterns, but he wasn't very satisfied with any of them. He spent the whole afternoon painting, painting many clothes and many An Nuan clothes. The patterns on the clothes were different, and the beauties' laughter, shyness and pouting were also different.

If it were thirty or forty years ago, someone as talented as Liu Chang'an would probably have been very popular doing this, right? Bai Hui thought to herself, feeling sorry for An Nuan. Talented people often start things and then abandon them. They think they are very talented and are arrogant, but in fact, in today's society, such talent is not very useful. It's just opening an art studio, setting up a stall to draw sketches for people, or taking on jobs drawing portraits for the dead. Then they go from being the center of attention and glory in their student days to being down on their luck in reality. In their unbalanced state of mind, they take their anger out on their girlfriends or wives.

Of course, some people step forward, but they're few and far between.

Moreover, it's quite common for people in the art world to beat their wives, have affairs, and engage in all sorts of promiscuous parties; it's very common for them to fall into depravity.

If An Nuan is smart, she will eventually leave Liu Chang'an. When that time comes, will Liu Chang'an hold these portraits he painted today, with tears streaming down his face, or will he be burning with rage and tear them all to shreds to vent his hatred? Bai Hui felt sorry for Liu Chang'an for a while longer.

Throughout the afternoon, Bai Hui felt sympathy for An Nuan one moment and Liu Chang'an the next. In the end, she didn't even know what she was thinking, but in short, she found Liu Chang'an extremely annoying.

Liu Chang'an skipped the last class and, without even noticing that he hadn't brought an umbrella, went to Ziping Street.

This is an old street, and in today's standards of style, old streets certainly hold a certain charm and status. If you were to include the words "old street" in your writing, describing the delightful discovery of a handmade shop, the owner's captivating story, or the lazy days spent reading here during the rainy season, and posting such things on social media, it would feel far more sophisticated than simply posting a few tourist photos and selfies, tagging your best friend in the town of Manarola.

There used to be a large chastity archway at the Ziping Street. Back in the Qing Dynasty, when it was still rigid and inflexible, this entire street belonged to the Lan family, who ran a cloth shop. However, they naturally declined later. After several upheavals after liberation, the descendants of the Old Lan family opened a used bookstore not far away, and people call him Boss Lan.

Today, Liu Chang'an was certainly not going to buy books or play chess with Boss Lan. Although this street has been completely changed, it has retained its original business layout. In addition to the fabric shops that are now rare, there are also Hunan embroidery shops, clothing shops for middle-aged and elderly people, and the tailor shop that Liu Chang'an was looking for... now called private customization.

Walking past the sycamore trees lining the half-street, drizzling rain, the shop with its floor-to-ceiling windows occupying four shops stands out brightly in the gloomy weather; "Explanation" is the shop's name.

The shop wasn't this big before, but judging from the name "Weng Simei" on the small stamp next to the shop name, it probably hasn't changed owners.

The name "Explanation" is taken from the Shuowen Jiezi). The shop owner believes that making clothes is like creating characters; each character is different, with varying sounds, forms, and meanings. Similarly, different clothes require different people to wear them, resulting in different styles and interpretations. Hence, the shop name "Explanation".

The entire front of the store is a floor-to-ceiling glass window. There are steps on one side leading up and steps on the other side leading down. As Liu Chang'an walked up from one side, he saw a group of women with figures that looked like waves gathered together, with many umbrellas open on the other side, walking down.

One of them was Qin Yanan, and the other woman, whose hair was tied up like elm seeds, seemed to have a different status. One person held an umbrella for her, another took her arm, and someone else hurriedly went to open a Bentley parked not far away.

Qin Yanan escorted the woman down the steps, but didn't go far. When she came back, she saw Liu Chang'an standing on the steps.

"What are you doing here?" Qin Yanan checked the time. "You skipped class? And you didn't bring an umbrella!"

After all, she was her older cousin. Seeing her younger cousin, who should never be here at the normal time after class, soaked to the bone, Qin Yanan consciously adapted to her role.

Who is that pretty little girl?

Qin Yanan's eye muscles twitched slightly. Fortunately, the air was humid and heavy today, so her breathing wasn't as rapid, and she didn't press her chest.

"A pretty little girl?" Qin Yanan found her cousin's words hilarious. She figured he'd get a beating sooner or later. Qin Yanan both amused and annoyed. "That's Zhu Juntang's mother, Third Mistress Zhu!"

"I was wondering why her profile looked so stunning and familiar. It turns out she's Zhu Juntang's mother." Liu Chang'an nodded. This Third Mistress Zhu was voluptuous. Although she wasn't as tall as Qin Yanan, she had long, slender legs. Coupled with her elegant and graceful gait, she possessed the charm of a beautiful woman in the misty rain, even more ethereal than Zhu Juntang, who called herself a fairy.

"What are you doing here? Go back and change your clothes, or you'll catch a cold." Qin Yanan wanted to send him back.

"How could I have caught a cold?" Liu Chang'an retorted. "What are you doing here?"

"I ordered some patterned fabric to make clothes, and it arrived today. I've come to choose the patterns." Qin Yanan suddenly remembered that the person she was supposed to be making clothes for was right in front of her, and she felt awkward and guilty, wanting only to get rid of him as soon as possible. "Alright, we only make women's dresses here. We can't serve you here."

"I'm here to buy some fabric, can you spare some for me?"

"You're not being polite!"

"You almost became my fiancée, why should I be polite?" Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"I know someone here!" Qin Yanan's face flushed. She had already told Zhu Juntang about this. If others knew that her family had arranged a blind date for her with a high school senior, wouldn't she lose face?

"Okay, give me some cloth."

"You're so annoying!" Qin Yanan rolled her eyes at him and tugged at his damp shoulder. "Then you have to promise me that you'll go home right after you get the cloth."

"Good."

Qin Yanan went inside, took a towel, and tossed it to Liu Chang'an so he could dry his hair. A pretty woman in her early thirties walked in from outside; she was Wang Jiangzi, the old tailor's daughter who had just seen off Third Mistress Zhu.

It is said that Weng Simei named her daughter Jiangzi because she liked the color of purple fabric. In ancient times, purple dye was the rarest and most difficult to produce when dyeing fabric, which also implied that it was not easy to conceive a daughter.

No craftsman who gradually gains fame can always be present in the shop; it is usually Wang Jiangzi who manages the shop.

"Miss Qin, and who is this?" Wang Jiangzi knew Qin Yanan's identity, and her tone was naturally polite and warm.

"Liu Chang'an, my cousin, said he wanted to give me some cloth," Qin Yanan said directly.

Wang Jiangzi smiled gently, "What do you need some cloth for?"

"Making clothes." Liu Chang'an knew Weng Simei, otherwise he wouldn't have come here. He had also seen Wang Jiangzi when she was a child, but Wang Jiangzi naturally didn't recognize him now.

"Then you'll have to bring your... friend?" Wang Jiangzi asked, carefully choosing her words. "You need to bring someone so we can take their measurements to make the clothes."

"I only need the fabric; I can make my own clothes."

Wang Jiangzi glanced at Qin Yanan, Qin Yanan nodded.

Wang Jiangzi wasn't curious about how a boy of this age could make clothes. She simply said, "Okay, but there's only enough fabric for one piece of each pattern. He's already picked out the pattern you like. If you want more, you'll have to wait for the next batch."

"It's alright," Qin Yanan said generously.

Liu Chang'an had a good eye and indeed picked out the piece of fabric that Qin Yanan liked the most. Qin Yanan could only tell him not to waste such a precious material, and if it really didn't work out, he could take it back to the shop to be altered.

Is he making clothes for Zhu Juntang? Or for that little girl from the Affiliated High School? This little cousin of mine, who would have thought he'd be such a womanizer? He really knows how to charm girls.