Chapter One Hundred and Five: Foreign Etiquette

"Oh, Miss Jiang, you came quite early today. I heard you even brought foreign guests. My little shop probably isn't really suitable for entertaining them, is it? Wouldn't that break the rules?"

When Hong Tao arrived at the beauty parlor, he did not see the Russian man his aunt had mentioned, only the young married woman chatting with Han Xue.

"What Miss Jiang? Didn't I tell you to call me Auntie?" The young woman tapped Hong Tao on the head and corrected him with a smile.

"Well, that would make you sound older, and you look barely in your early twenties. Calling you Auntie doesn't seem right, heh heh heh!" Hong Tao insisted on flattering her all the way.

"All right, enough teasing. I'm not here to get my own hair done. I brought foreign guests. Give them haircuts, will you? There's a banquet tomorrow, but they don't like the styles in the barber shop. I just happened to think of your place. As for breaking any rules, don't worry about it. This is a comrade from our unit's security office. With him here, no rules will be broken. I'll go call them. They're quite interested in your clothes too."

The young woman pointed at a middle-aged man sitting in the corner, then quickly walked toward the tailor's room.

"Oh... Jiang, is this the young barber you mentioned? He's far too young, isn't he?" Soon the young woman came out from the back room with two foreign women.

The two foreign women were about the same age, somewhere between thirty and forty. They were both wearing pale business suits, and their high heels were extremely tall. As soon as they spoke, Hong Tao could tell that they were probably from America; their English did not have a hard edge to it.

"At first I didn't believe it either, but this is indeed where I had my hair done. Do you still want to give it a try?" The young woman also spoke fluent English, though with a more British flavor.

"Piers, what do you think?" the blonde woman asked the brunette.

"I don't mind. I'll let you try it! Hi, you... hello!" The brunette split her crimson mouth wide and forced out two Chinese words at Hong Tao. If this had been any other child standing here, the poor thing would have burst into tears from the fright.

"Hi, hello!" Hong Tao smiled and made a gesture inviting them to sit.

"Jiang, I want that spring-like hairstyle, the same as your colleague's. Do you remember?" After Piers sat down, she began speaking with the young woman in English, trying to make clear what kind of style she wanted.

"Do you remember my colleague? The way they all perm their hair looks like springs..." The young woman was stumped. Her colleagues often came here to have their hair done, but she had no idea which one this foreign guest meant.

"I have photographs here, and drawings of hairstyles I made myself. You can let her choose from them. Sister Daling, bring over our hairstyle album." Hong Tao had already understood. He directly asked his cousin to bring over the hairstyle portfolio he had made himself. Besides photographs, it also contained many hand-drawn style sketches, because not every customer was willing to leave behind a photo to be used as a display sample. For those without a hairstyle to copy, Hong Tao had to draw it by hand.

"Oh, I like this one... this one is good too. Laura, which one do you think I should choose? The styles here are even more numerous than in New York. I'm getting dizzy just looking at them... help me!"

Once Piers opened the album, she could no longer remain calm, and had completely forgotten her identity. She kept exclaiming in delight, pulling her companion along, and simply stopped talking about getting her hair done. Instead, the two of them concentrated on flipping through the pages one by one.

"Miss Jiang, they don't understand Chinese, right?" Hong Tao knew these two would not make a decision until they had finished looking through the thick album, and he was not in a hurry to press them. So he quietly asked the young woman.

"They don't!"

"Then later I'll charge them a bit more. You won't mind, will you? Foreign guests pay different prices than Chinese people for food and lodging, so naturally hairdressing shouldn't be the same either. Wouldn't you agree?" Hong Tao was planning to strike while the iron was hot.

"Ah! You... how much do you plan to charge?" The young woman was stunned by the question. She probably had never even thought about it.

"At the very least it should be in dollars, right? Oh, by the way, do they need to pay me in foreign-exchange certificates? If they pay in foreign-exchange certificates, I'll give them a little discount. Let's just say double the usual price, in the spirit of Sino-American friendship. What do you think?" Hong Tao suddenly remembered something very important, something he should have thought of days ago, except he had forgotten it.

"Dollars? Foreign-exchange certificates? That's against the rules. You don't have the right to accept foreign-exchange certificates here. I can only pay you in yuan. What do you want foreign-exchange certificates for?" The young woman was left baffled by his words, unable to understand how a little primary school boy knew so much about these things.

"Heh heh heh... you're trying to fool me again. If it were according to the rules, they shouldn't have come to me in the first place. Since we've already made one exception, let's make another. I need foreign-exchange certificates for a very important purpose. I want to buy a washing machine at the Friendship Store. Look how many towels I have to wash here every day. By winter, Yanzi's hands are cracked from the cold. Besides, if the towels are washed clean, won't that allow us to better serve the people?" Hong Tao laughed with all the cunning of a little fox, because he had discovered another money-making scheme.

"Well, I really didn't expect this from you. You know quite a lot! But today I can't give you foreign-exchange certificates. That would break the rules. Tell you what, in a couple of days I'll help you exchange some, and you can go buy a washing machine. How about that?" The young woman's eyes were nearly bulging out. In those days, there were very few people who knew these tricks, and foreign-exchange certificates had only just been issued. Not to mention ordinary people, even offices and department stores had barely seen such things. Yet this little primary school boy spoke of them so naturally, as if he had used them himself.

"That works too. Better make it two! Next year I also plan to expand this place a bit and add some beauty equipment. Then after work, you can come here to enjoy some beauty treatments and rest at the same time."

As soon as Hong Tao heard that the young woman had a way to exchange for foreign-exchange certificates, he immediately held up two fingers, instantly raising the price.

"Fine, we'll talk about it later. You take good care of the foreign guests first, and the rest will be easy to handle." The young woman had no time to ask Hong Tao any more questions; she still had to look after the two foreign guests.

In the end, the two foreign guests spent half an hour looking through the entire album. Piers chose a crystal perm, while Laura wanted to turn her naturally curly hair into straight hair and add blunt bangs. Hong Tao did not mind them fussing over their hair. Even if they wanted it shaved into a bald pate, that would be fine. Right now, his mind was filled with only three words: foreign-exchange certificates.

With these two foreign ladies sitting in the beauty parlor, no one else dared come in for a haircut. They all gathered outside at the entrance, watching from afar. Before long, Hong Tao even saw the local police officer come over to help maintain order outside and persuade the crowd to disperse. The security officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sitting inside the room also went out to murmur with the neighborhood policeman for a while, then returned and continued sitting in the corner like a piece of wood, saying nothing.

This was Hong Tao's first time cutting foreign hair, and at first he had been a little uneasy, worried that differences in race might mean a very different hair texture. But after applying the cold perm solution, he relaxed. White hair was softer and easier to perm, and it took less time as well. By the time it was finished, Piers looked like a curly-haired poodle, while Laura had been transformed into a waterfall of golden straight hair. Hong Tao even carefully trimmed her bangs into a graceful curve, resting them across her forehead so she looked like a girl of eighteen.

The two foreign guests were very satisfied. In turn, they crouched down and kissed both of Hong Tao's cheeks, making all the women in the room shut their eyes at once.

Hong Tao had no intention of letting them leave just like that. With feigned innocence, he took out his camera and then gestured between himself and the two foreign guests. They quickly understood, laughing as they took Hong Tao's little hand, and posed with him for a photo in the beauty parlor. But Hong Tao still wasn't satisfied. He forcefully pulled Han Xue, her sister, and Sister Daling over to take a group photo too. His aunt refused no matter what; even when they tried to pull her, she would not move.

"Auntie! Next time foreign guests come, no matter whether they're men or women, if I tell you to take a photo, you take it. You are not allowed to ask why. That's the rule. My grandfather said that you have to listen to me when it comes to the shop, or else I'll go tell him when I get home!"

After the foreign guests left, Hong Tao rushed into the tailor's room and shouted right into his aunt's ear.

"Shameless! I am not letting them hug me and bite me!" His aunt cast him a disdainful look, and even she turned red after saying it.

"Hee hee hee..."

From nearby came the suppressed laughter of several other girls.

"What's there to laugh at? Look at how little ambition you have, all of you. The moment you see a foreigner, you hide. Are they not people? Yanzi, come here. Let me practice foreign etiquette on you!"

Hong Tao knew there was no point saying much to them. Customs and ideas were not things that could be changed by a few words.

"Pr-practice what etiquette?" Han Yan actually came over, looking dazed.

"You sit here. I'll teach you!" Hong Tao pointed to the small stool beside the sewing machine.

"...."

Han Yan sat up very straight.

"Oh no... Sis! He's bullying me! Pull his ears off!" As soon as Han Yan had settled, Hong Tao suddenly wrapped an arm around her head, planted a kiss on her cheek, and then bolted for the door.

Only then did Han Yan realize she had been tricked again. She sprang to her feet and chased after him, calling for Han Xue to help as she ran.

"Hahahahaha..."

Having succeeded in his sneak attack, Hong Tao naturally ran like the wind. Today's harvest had been huge. Doubling the haircut fee and stealing a kiss from Han Yan were only minor gains. The real prize was finding a way to exchange for foreign-exchange certificates and receiving foreign guests, not to mention getting a photograph. That was the main event.

Hong Tao was not a fervent admirer of everything foreign, but with this title and these photos, his two little shops had gained another layer of protection. In the early days of reform and opening up, anyone who latched onto a foreigner's thick thigh would not only be looked up to by ordinary people, but even government departments would treat them with unusual favor. As for why, people knew, but could not say.

P.S. Thanks to the deep affection of all our readers, this book has finally earned its place on the shelves. On Friday, the twelfth of this month, at noon, friends who like this book are warmly welcome to come support it, maybe with a subscription or something, so our numbers can look a little better. Of course, the only thing I can give back to everyone is one thing... more updates, with all my strength!