Chapter One

  I want to talk about my bald head style and the origin of this nickname.

  I wasn't originally bald, and I extremely hated the bald look.

  When I was a kid, my family was poor. My mother would try to save money by finding ways to get me and my brother haircuts from other places. To this day, I still admire my mother's skills - she could stand outside the barber shop window for a whole day and then go home and give us decent haircuts.

  Although that hairstyle looks like a red lacquer toilet lid, one of the characteristics of old Shanghai society, after all, the money for haircuts has been saved, and I have always thought that hairstyles are not as important as the meat dumplings that my mother made with her own hands on Saturday.

  But after satisfying my appetite, I envied the hairstyle of my classmate who had a small middle parting and some hair wax on his head. In order not to be laughed at by my classmates for having a "toilet lid" on my head, I could only ask my mother to give me a "devil's cut" every now and then, which absolutely conformed to the school rules that prohibited long or strange hairstyles.

  I've lost all my hair, what can life teacher say now?

  In Hunan people's habitual thinking, those who shave their heads are generally not good guys.

  Especially during the few years when I was studying. At that time, young people in society were popular with a short haircut, and some avant-garde guys dared to have a slightly longer haircut, but they had to spray hair gel hard before going out. Otherwise, people would misunderstand that they couldn't afford a haircut and cut their own hair with a kitchen knife.

  At that time, there were only two kinds of people who shaved their heads without being seen as strange. One was elderly people, which was a personal preference, and the other was Peking Opera performers, which was an occupational requirement.

  But I don't meet any of those conditions!

  So every time I go out, the people around me look at me with that extreme and strange gaze. If there are children around, they will quickly grab a live example to educate them, saying "Look, if you don't study hard, you'll end up like this! If you get sent to juvenile detention, your brain will be shaped like this..."

  Do you think I'm wronged?

  I really hate this bald hairstyle!

  It's probably because I hated the bald hairstyle so much that I came up with a clever idea, anyway, my studies didn't go well but my throat was still good, and as a result, I somehow managed to get into a band and sing.

  It was easy and difficult for street performers back then.

  It was easy to say that back in the day, the songs played in the song hall were mostly those of Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, and a few others, including Wang Jie and Guan Jie. Even Andy Lau hadn't gained much popularity yet. Anyway, by the end of the night, it was inevitable that their songs would be played three or four times. It wasn't until later when some guy named Chen came out, who looked even uglier than me but had a voice so high that it almost took my breath away, that's when the brothers and sisters performing outside finally had some difficulty level.

  The difficulty lies in that singer's certificate, which is a type of thing that leads to running around and selling songs on the streets.

  Back then, getting a singer's certificate was not as easy as it is now with those shameless people like Furen and Shuixian who can make it big just because they have fans who support them. Back then, there were around ten cultural bureau Marxist old ladies who would take one look at you, and if you sang poorly or couldn't even recognize a soybean sprout, you were out of luck.

  I guess I was also lucky at that time?

  Perhaps it was the dimly lit room, or perhaps the old lady's eyesight wasn't good, but somehow she mistook my messy hair and soot-covered face for a simple and honest look, and I managed to pass through in a daze.

  At the beginning of this wandering life selling songs, the horse bucket cover hairstyle that Lao Niang cut was no longer possible. Moreover, when I went to the barber shop, the master also said that this hairstyle can only be equal in length and then come back for repair, and it must accumulate a certain length before taking action.

  I was baffled at the time - how could my mother, who had studied medicine, manage to mess up a simple haircut so badly that even a professional hairstylist couldn't fix it?

  Later, my mother's colleague told me that when my mother was changing medicine in the dressing room, she had her own unique technique for stitching wounds, which ordinary people couldn't imitate, and even if they learned, they wouldn't be able to master it.

  After making a fuss for half a day, I also have my old mother's habitual professional disease on my head. It's just short of putting up a copyright notice or a sign that says "our family's private land can only grow cucumbers and cannot plant carrots" on my head...

  I'm impressed, mom!

  Then just keep your long hair!

  Several band brothers saw that I had long hair and immediately came up with a unified standard configuration, all of whom also grew their hair long.

  It's really true that one can know his own bitterness!

  You see those long-haired guys on TV holding an electric bass and being cool, right?

  You try having a head full of hair for three days without washing it and you'll know how hard it is to be a traveling performer!

  Every night, I practice until 12 o'clock and then rush to rehearse new songs or several brothers listen carefully to the melody.

  At that time, there was no complete score, and I could only rely on myself to listen to the tape and slowly pull out the scores of various instruments. After this toss, it was almost dawn, and after eating something, I hurried back to see Lord Zhou. In the afternoon, people were still dizzy, and they had to get up quickly to clear their throat so as not to lose face on stage.

  At that time, there were not many barber shops like now, just a few state-owned ones, and the business was so good that people had to queue up for several hours! Where did I have the time to wash my hair every day?

  So when several long-haired members of the band held their instruments, they were all very dedicated, and those long hairs could whip out a feeling like Hurricane Katrina passing through.

  That's an itch on top of my head!

  Still can't give up!

  Especially me, can't always hold the microphone with my left hand and shout with my mouth up, while stretching my right hand to scratch my head?

  What's there to think about after seeing it?

  Is this someone singing a song or has a monkey escaped from the zoo and come to sing for money?

  It's probably this long-haired guy who stirred up trouble.

  I feel that I am better looking than some mountain spirit or something, but I don't know if it's because the lighting in the song hall is bad or what. Anyway, at that time I still had a few female fans who would buy tickets every day to sit in front of me and cheer me on, their eyes burning with enthusiasm. Every night after the show, they would definitely stick around to invite me out for a late-night snack, and if I didn't have time to go, they would even buy snacks and send them over.

  So here I have to say something to a master of plagiarism!

  Seagull brother!

  You said you have a wife, why don't you go home early and sleep with your wife? Why do you always hang out with those young girls until late at night, and even buy them midnight snacks, especially the dog meat and mutton that you like to eat?

  It wasn't until later that I did something similar and realized, Haiying, you were using me as a scapegoat, right? My pure heart back then was actually corrupted by an old rascal like you...

  I still have to admire my mother's foresight in some things.

  My mother said it, there is no free lunch in this world.

  That means this free midnight snack is not delicious!

  So when several midnight snacks came together, I was inevitably drawn into a war between mutton and dog meat, roasted fish and hot pot.

  To be honest, I'm not afraid of being scolded by female compatriots for being a beast. Anyway, I thought I was quite good-looking back then...

  Four guys fought all night for me, and it was a fight with beer bottles and high heels.

  This doesn't have any charm, can it work? Is it possible?

  Then, that day I was on the stage facing Guo Rong's side and also happened to be casting a few hooking eyes at several night-dispersed people. Suddenly, four night-dispersed people started fighting below, and a bottle flew out on the spot, heavily smashing onto a man's face.

  I was then considered to have seen what is called reaction ability!

  The man in front of me had just a cup of tea, but I knew it was the only kind of tea in the song hall that matched the price and quality. That is to say, this man knows how to enjoy himself and must be the kind of person who gets what he pays for, absolutely not a spendthrift.

  In the dark and noisy environment, with the loud music, the man's face didn't even look in the direction of the fight, but he still managed to raise his hand and grab the bottle, gently putting it on the table.

  Watching the wine bottle fly and adding a few girls fighting, it's lively under the stage.

  The whole song hall instantly became a vegetable market, just missing the vendors selling melon seeds and peanuts.

  Anyway, the song hall was messed up that day. A group of people rushed to the song hall boss to ask for a refund, among whom there were two cultural bureau undercover investigators who wanted to see if there were any out-of-bounds programs in the song hall.

  This is great, the whole scene is full of martial arts.

  What does it have to do with the audience fighting in a concert hall?

  Yes! It has nothing to do with the nightclub.

  Those four guys were playing cards all night and suddenly called out my name...

  Got it!

  The singer's certificate was smashed on the spot!

  At that time, the song hall was tightly controlled and didn't look like it does now with all these underground dance troupes swindling everywhere! If you hadn't taken a legitimate path, even if you were just trying to make some extra money for a meal, the song hall owner wouldn't have dared to take this risk.

  Found out that there's no singer with a permit, this place is waiting to be shut down!

  Anyway, I felt like the sky was falling and the earth was cracking at that time!

  With these two cultures of mine, carrying a body that stinks, can I easily find a job easier than selling songs?

  Why don't I go back home and ask our old man to teach me about mechanical engineering?

  Our family's old man has been interviewed by countless TV stations and it has become a common occurrence, although our family's old man always used to avoid people.

  Others think our family's old man is quite impressive as a model worker, right?

  But as his son, I don't know what he used to exchange for this labor model?

  In Hunan Province's repair industry, our old man has a great reputation.

  That's almost our old man's life work!

  I won't be able to bear that punishment!

  So I said that black man who was playing with a bottle cap wasn't being honest!

  That guy is from Nanjing, his family owns some kind of down jacket processing factory. It seems like he got fed up with doing business and didn't want to be a young master, so he went out to join the army instead.

  The business is over, but the sharp eyes for observing things in business, this guy has absolutely left behind.

  What a sly devil!

  I was thinking of going to find those big shots at the cultural bureau and saying a few good words, when suddenly this guy almost jumped out in front of me, with a broken voice shouting loudly: "Are you willing to join the army?"

  I looked up at him and asked, "Who are you?"

  A bright red military ID card was thrust in front of me, Lieutenant, surname...

  I really want to write out your surname to see if I know it?

  This guy's surname is really well-suited! He's a complete...

  Forget it, you're still my superior after all. You're still struggling inside, so I won't provoke you to avoid you bringing people to bother me!

  Got it, can't let you off cheaply!

  I'll call you shrimp from now on!

  It's still the kind of big number that was scorched and charred by fire!

  Shrimp rice laughed at that time: "Don't you want to be a soldier? Art soldier, go to the troops and sing for a year, and I'll send you to Xi'an Music Academy for further study for free!"

  Anyway, Xiaomi must have said more than that at the time, and I didn't just chat with Xiaomi for a few simple sentences. If everything is written out, it would really be meaningless, wasting everyone's time and my typing energy.

  Anyway, I was cheated by Xiaomi. And at that time, there was a guy next to Xiaomi who was good at modern dance and was a regional Lei Feng pioneer, also being cheated by Xiaomi.

  That's all for now, let's talk about it later.

  In short, my family supported me in joining the army.

  Our family's old man and old lady are people who attach great importance to traditional ideas. This matter of selling songs outside is opposed by the family, especially the old man, from the bottom of his heart!

  Then, backpacks were packed and they set off!

  Destination - Xinjiang's certain troops' cultural troupe!

  Worth mentioning is that at the time, I and that big grandson were specially permitted not to shave our heads, while all the other new recruits had their heads shaved before boarding the train, so the two of us stood out in the crowd with our long hair.

  So at that time, my nickname "Bald Head" hadn't become well-known yet.

  There's another thing. At that time I was already 21 years old, which is considered special recruitment. If not, I would never have had the chance to wear a military uniform in this life, and there wouldn't be any stories afterwards...