A: "It doesn't eat or drink, and it often vomits water!"
Just then, Dandan and Huaiyu spotted him and immediately jumped up to wave. It was too crowded to squeeze in. Being insiders, they didn't want to distract Zhigao, so they slipped aside to get a good spot to see what new tricks he had up his sleeve. Zhigao, seeing that the two had arrived early and he hadn't packed up yet, was halfway through his crosstalk performance when his face flushed. He quickly stopped, cupping his hands to Dandan, saying, "Grandma, please go over there and stroll around!" The group of men, seeing that it wasn't appropriate for a young woman, chuckled and chimed in, "Yeah, that's not human language."
Zhi Gao, in a tumble tone, said, "Grandma, please do me the honor, please, please. This girl is spewing filth everywhere. Please, please, Huaiyu, take her with you."
Huaiyu smiled knowingly and pulled her away.
Zhigao then continued. An audience member reminded him, "He's spitting water!"
B: "How will you feed it?"
A: "Pocket".
B: "That's quite unique. How big is that bird?"
A: "It's as big as I am."
B: "You're not young anymore, no wonder you don't bark. How's your fur? Brown, I think?"
A: "It's not brown hair, it's black hair, and there are one or two white ones too."
B: "Is he tall?"
A: "Normally, it's this big. Sometimes it jumps, and hey, it's this big..."
B: "Oh, Qing! My dad!"
A: "Yes, that's the name!"
Zhigao bowed deeply. His bawdy stand-up comedy earned him quite a few coins amidst the laughter, and everyone was delighted, readily giving him money.
But these were all unorthodox methods, and Dandan knew them all too well. However, she couldn't bear to leave, so she decided to stroll around with Huaiyu a little longer. Dandan pouted her little mouth:
"He's the worst!"
Huaiyu didn't answer whether it was right or wrong, he just smiled. Dandan was utterly puzzled, not knowing what he was thinking. This man was unfathomable. Dandan got angry again: "You're in cahoots with him!"
Then they saw someone selling balls at a stall ahead. A wooden box was piled high with round balls, and two children wanted to buy some. They asked, "How much?"
He said, "One copper coin!"
Wow, how cheap! It turns out it wasn't "selling," but "grabbing a ball." For one copper coin, you could grab a roll of paper with "available" written on it, and the ball was yours.
The child put down his schoolbag and tried to grab a ball. The two of them tried three or four times, but all the balls were blank. The vendor quickly grabbed a few balls at random, and out of five or six, one was a "yes." The child thought, "The ball is so expensive, how wonderful it would be if I could grab one!" He immediately held his breath, closed his eyes, and finally grabbed one—but it was blank again. He didn't have a single coin left, and tears welled up in his eyes.
Dandan went over and said, "I'll catch one for you!" She paid a copper coin, and this time she caught one. The man had no choice but to give the child a ball. They happily bounced the ball and left, thanking their lucky stars.
Dandan pulled Huaiyu along and whispered in his ear, "This is a lie. I hate it when he lies to children, so I broke his spell."
She was so close, closer than ever before, her voice swirling around him, carried on the fragrance of osmanthus in August. Huaiyu couldn't hear anything at all.
Zhi Gao set up this venue, and he had plenty of risqué plays to his name. The venue owner was originally an opera singer, but he had fallen on hard times and was even giving away freebies for "Si Lang Visits His Mother." The audience happily threw in a lot of money, and Zhi Gao split the profits with him 40/60, making a good buck as well.
It was getting late, and Huaiyu and Dandan hadn't returned yet. Zhigao glanced around. This Dong'an Market had the most "foreign" feel to it. Tulin and Guoqiang's cream cakes were both famous, but he preferred Guoqiang because their staff were hospitable, dressed in clean white coats. Zhigao stared at the beautifully made cream cakes for a long time, unable to make a decision. He calculated that they weren't cheap, and the ones with red cherries were even more expensive. —He steeled himself, pulled out a handful, and ordered two ordinary ones—one for himself and Huaiyu; and one with red cherries, needless to say, for Dandan.
Carrying three cream cakes, I squatted down next to the coffee shop, waiting. Why aren't they here yet? My stomach rumbled, so I quickly finished one. After a while, seeing no one around, I secretly ate half of Huaiyu's cake. As I ate, I thought, "When Huaiyu comes, I'll let them share one; no one will know." Feeling a little guilty, I finished the other two.
What movie is playing at the Qiguang Theater on Donghuamen Street today? After the movie, more and more people are coming in for coffee and cocoa. Guoqiang's friends are greeting customers: "Welcome, please come in!" "You're done eating!"
Zhigao couldn't resist. He scooped up a little cream with his finger, quickly stuffed it into his mouth, then cleaned up the rest of the cream, acting as if nothing had happened. It was his own fault that the person hadn't arrived yet; he'd already devoured the whole red cherry—and couldn't stop. Finally, as he smugly wiped the sweet taste from his lips, Dandan called out to him, "Brother Cut Cake! You said you'd give us something special again? What is it?"
What should I get? Zhigao scratched his head, wiping a bit of cream from his fingertip onto his hair without him noticing. Then, his eyes lit up, and he had an idea! He quickly pulled out three photos of celebrities, pretending they were a gift he had prepared earlier, to hide his craving.
Who is this?
"Female celebrities. Look at them, they all have permed hair."
Huaiyu also leaned over.
Dandan laughed: "Isn't she playing a flower girl? A flower girl with permed hair? That's ridiculous."
Huaiyu took it and looked at it, then read:
"Duan Niangpin, Cheng Lili, Ling Xian, oh, they're all the female leads in 'Dream of the Old Garden.' Where did you get that information?"
“They performed songs and dances on stage at Zhenguang Film Studio. I asked someone to give them to me, and now I’m giving them to Dandan.”
"These two are not good. Duan Bi is better; she's quite pretty." After Huaiyu finished speaking, she handed the rest to Dandan.
Dandan was a little unhappy when she heard the praise for the female celebrity. She immediately frowned and said, "Not pretty at all! No thanks."
Zhigao saw Dandan's face fall like a horse's, and he couldn't help but groan with resentment. Taking advantage of her distraction, he looked her over again and again, and blurted out:
"Female celebrities all have to rely on dressing up, but Dandan doesn't. She's beautiful even without dressing up. Dandan is the most beautiful!" Zhigao said this subconsciously, and for some reason, he was speechless.
Dandan blushed instantly, covered her face, and turned around. Her long braid was pointed at Zhigao. Dandan said, "Don't look! Don't look!" Her heart was pounding, afraid of meeting his eyes. For a long, long time, she didn't know how to take her hands off her face.
"That guy with the cut cake is the worst! He was just telling dirty jokes." Dandan blushed even more.
Time seemed to stand still. Huaiyu understood a little, and doubted a little. —However, the three of them still had to go to the market. Huaiyu said, "Let's go."
He quickly returned to normal and calmed down.
The clouds moved away just in time, and the full moon, which had been swallowed up for a while, suddenly appeared, its silvery light gently spilling onto the bustling market. The lights shone brightly on the green trees, and all kinds of people swayed in the breeze. The pedestrians in Dong'an Market seemed unable to distinguish between spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The old ladies had already put on their footed cotton trousers, but the fashionable young ladies still showed glimpses of their skin.
Zhigao pointed it out to Dandan: "Look, this 'Miss' is wearing glass stockings."
"Hmph, do you think I can't see it?"