Reborn as a landlord in Shanghai

Chapter 6 Taking Over the Haircut

Honestly, Mao Xiaoyu's extra money earned every morning for the past month wasn't earned randomly. She's not stupid; she knows how to treat people differently.

When she first came here, Mao Xiaoyu didn't think about cutting hair. She just washed and dried the hair of the customers. After all, it didn't matter to these customers. As long as the customers didn't say anything when they came to the store next time, no one in the store would know that she was making money from them.

Although the barbershop belongs to her parents and is considered part of the family business, as an employee, she can't say anything even if she makes money off customers. However, to maintain a good reputation, Mao Xiaoyu tries to keep this matter to herself as little as possible. After all, it's easy to learn bad habits if you don't follow good ones, and she's afraid that her employees might follow her example and try to make money in the future.

However, there are only so many people who come to get their hair washed and dried every morning. If you're unlucky, you might not get to get your hair washed and dried even once in the limited one or two hours. So even if you come early at first, you don't make much money. Until one day, it was raining heavily in the morning, and a customer came in with very long hair and asked to get it cut.

Looking at the weather outside, Mao Xiaoyu knew her parents would definitely be late. Given the awful weather, no other customers would likely come. She had come in the pouring rain hoping to earn some money. Besides, the customer's hair was incredibly long. Moreover, Mao Xiaoyu had been working there for over half a year and hadn't seen many customers who wanted haircuts. She knew this customer wasn't a regular, like her parents or the shop's employees; they must have come because of the rain. So, with the thought of earning as much as possible, Mao Xiaoyu finally couldn't resist and started cutting her hair.

After the first haircut, there was a second, and then a third. In the days that followed, there were haircuts almost every day. Whenever Mao Xiaoyu checked the time, she would cut the customer's hair if she had enough time. If she didn't have enough time, there was nothing she could do. Mao Xiaoyu would ask the customer to wait a while, and at most, she would wash and blow-dry her own hair. So even when the stylist from the shop came, Mao Xiaoyu would just fool them.

She thought that since she had kept this a secret, if it got out, she would have to wait at least a while longer. After all, once hair is cut, it takes at least a month or two for it to grow back. But when Mao Xiaoyu saw the customer sitting next to her father, she realized that it was one of the customers she had shaved. And when she saw her father's face, she knew that her father must have found out about her haircut.

However, after a moment of fear, Mao Xiaoyu quickly regained her composure. After all, Mao Xiaoyu was already in her forties, and her mindset was similar to her father's. Even though her father had seen through her, she only felt a momentary panic when he did, but once it was over, Mao Xiaoyu felt that there was no use in panicking now that he knew. She would just deal with it as it came, and she didn't think it was that difficult to solve.

Therefore, as Mao Xiaoyu walked towards her father, she adjusted her mindset slightly. When she reached her father, she pretended to be relaxed and asked as if she didn't know anything, "What's wrong, Dad?"

"It's nothing. Come on, a customer is here. Let's give him a haircut." Mao Jun glanced at Mao Xiaoyu, but didn't say anything else in front of the customer. Instead, he handed the razor in his hand to his son.

Mao Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then casually took the razor from her father. Although she didn't understand what her father meant at first, the customer was already sitting there, and Mao Xiaoyu couldn't explain to her father what was going on at this juncture. Besides, in Mao Xiaoyu's opinion, shaving was just a haircut. She had been doing it for over twenty years and was not a novice. What was there to be afraid of? Since she was asked to shave, she might as well get started.

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Since the customer's bib had already been put on, Mao Xiaoyu didn't need to put it on again. So, Mao Xiaoyu took the razor and first asked the customer how he wanted his head shaved. When the customer said to shave it a little shorter, Mao Xiaoyu immediately said he understood and started shaving his head.

As for Mao Jun, he didn't say anything or leave. Instead, he stood aside and watched his son get a haircut. Even so, because the shop was small, the commotion between Mao Jun and Mao Xiaoyu attracted the attention of the other masters and apprentices. Everyone saw Mao Xiaoyu giving a customer a haircut and kept looking over, wondering what was going on.

After all, apprentices can't just cut hair anytime. Usually, an apprentice learns for three to five months, becomes proficient in the hair-cutting procedure, and then, when they have nothing to do in the evenings, they buy cigarettes for the barbers and borrow their hair to cut first. After another two or three months of practice, when the barber feels ready to cut customers, the barber will ask a regular customer for permission to cut their hair first. The barber will then make some adjustments and teach the apprentice why the hair is cut that way.

After cutting hair like this for a while, the apprentice's skills were about 70-80% developed. So when the apprentice was assigned a customer, the master would choose a simple hairstyle and let the apprentice start. When the apprentice had almost finished cutting, the master would take a look. If it was really too bad, he would at most fix it. Sometimes he felt it was okay and didn't need to fix it at all.

After another two or three months of shaving, you'll be almost ready. The entire apprenticeship takes about a year, meaning you'll be ready to graduate after a year. Of course, if you have a relative as your master, the apprenticeship will be faster. After all, the more heads you shave and the more attentive the master is, the more likely you are to graduate in three months.

However, Mao Xiaoyu's parents' barbershop is an old-fashioned barbershop, and the master's teaching method for apprentices is also outdated, so the apprenticeship period is a bit longer. As far as Mao Xiaoyu is concerned, he has been working at his parents' shop for almost 9 months since graduating from junior high school last July, and he has probably shaved less than 30 heads in total, which is a bit too few.

After all, not everyone likes to have their head shaved by an apprentice. Besides, stubble can be prickly. Some people just want their heads shaved and it'll be done in 5 minutes. They don't want to let an apprentice or master shave their head for an hour or two, not to mention that heads are precious in Shanghai.

Actually, given Mao Xiaoyu's apprenticeship time, it would take at least another six months before she could graduate. But unexpectedly, during this busy daytime, Mao Jun actually had his son shave his head. This kind of thing has never happened before in this shop.

After all, barbershops rely on daytime business to make money. They don't have time to dawdle and make customers sit or stand for one or two hours. How can they make money then?

After all, each barber has their own workstation. If it's occupied, when a customer comes in, it's usually the barber who's available who serves them. Busy barbers can't serve customers unless a regular customer specifically requests it. So when they saw Mao Jun asking Mao Xiaoyu to cut his hair, the master barbers and apprentices couldn't help but mutter to themselves. After all, if Mao Jun asks Mao Xiaoyu to cut his hair, won't he be able to make any money during the day?

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Mao Xiaoyu, the barber, and Mao Jun, who was standing by watching his son get his hair cut, didn't think about what others were thinking. By this time, Mao Xiaoyu had already finished shaving the customer's hair with ease. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. This was because Mao Xiaoyu had slightly extended the time to give the customer a better experience; otherwise, the haircut would have taken even less time.

"Come on, come and get your hair washed." Mao Xiaoyu brushed the hair off the customer's neck, took off the apron wrapped around the customer, and then invited the customer to the shampoo station to wash their hair.

While Mao Xiaoyu led the customer to the sink to wash her hair, Mao Jun did not follow, but instead fell into deep thought.

After all, in Mao Jun's opinion, this haircut was perfect, and he didn't even need to make any adjustments. It was already acceptable. He really didn't expect it! The customer had said that his son had cut the customer's hair last time, and he didn't believe it. But now his son was in front of him, cutting the customer's hair so well. He couldn't help but believe it.

Mao Jun couldn't help but wonder: When did this kid's hair-shaving skills suddenly become so good?

Meanwhile, Mao Xiaoyu led the customer to the shampoo station for a hair wash. Along the way, all the employees in the shop kept their eyes on the customer's hair. Whether it was the four master stylists or the two apprentices, they all knew that Mao Xiaoyu was the one who shaved the hair. Now, as the customer passed by, they all wanted to see how the haircut was done. And to be honest, the haircut was really good, almost indistinguishable from the one done by their master stylist.

This surprised everyone. They hadn't expected Mao Xiaoyu to be so skilled. They couldn't help but wonder if Mao Jun had been giving his son special tutoring, which was why his skills were so good.

But thinking about it, that doesn't make sense. Even if you give special treatment, without a head to shave and without the skill, how could you possibly shave this head shape?

Thinking about this, everyone couldn't help but wonder, what exactly happened?!

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Soon, Mao Xiaoyu finished washing the customer's hair and led the customer to a seat. Then she started blow-drying the customer's hair. During this time, Mao Jun stood not far away without saying a word, watching his son work. Only after Mao Xiaoyu finished blow-drying the customer's hair, collected the money, and left did Mao Jun come over.

"It'll be my turn in a bit, then you can start shaving," Mao Jun ordered directly.

Hearing her father's words, Mao Xiaoyu was stunned. She had thought that her father would come over and ask her why her skills were so good and when she had learned them.

To her surprise, her father came over and immediately started shaving her head without even asking any questions. This made Mao Xiaoyu swallow back the reply she had prepared in her head while getting her hair cut, and she could only silently agree, "Okay, I know."

After all, Mao Xiaoyu was planning to slack off and go out for a stroll in the afternoon, but now that her dad is making her get a haircut, it seems she won't have time this afternoon.

Seeing his son's helpless expression, Mao Jun didn't say anything. He simply took the newspaper and sat down not far from his work table, intending to supervise his son's work while reading the newspaper.

Next, Mao Xiaoyu's father really kept his word. When customers came to the shop, and it was Mao Jun's turn to be on duty, he directly asked Mao Xiaoyu to greet them. Whether it was a haircut or a hair styling, or whatever, Mao Xiaoyu's father didn't say anything and just handed everything over to his son to handle.

However, as a barber who had been shaving hair for over twenty years in her previous life, this was a small matter. Therefore, no matter how many customers there were, it was a minor problem for Mao Xiaoyu.

However, those who didn't know the situation were worried, since they had never seen Mao Xiaoyu do these things before. Now that Mao Jun had asked Mao Xiaoyu to do these things, every employee in the store couldn't help but look at Mao Xiaoyu, afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle it. But such worries were in vain, because even when Mao Xiaoyu was busy, he did it all by himself with great efficiency.

She worked like this until evening. Mao Xiaoyu served a total of 18 customers, two of whom were getting their products colored. She handled all of these customers by herself, which greatly impressed the other workers in the shop.

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"It's time to get off work. Go home early."

Finally, it was 9:30 pm when everyone was saying goodbye and leaving. One by one, the employees left the store.

Seeing that everyone had left, Mao Xiaoyu, who was sitting on the stool, stood up, rubbed her tired hands, and followed Mao Jun outside the shop. After seeing her father lock the shop, she followed him back inside.

As for Mao Xiaoyu's mother, she had already taken Mao Tingting home on her electric scooter around 8 o'clock when she wasn't busy. After all, the children need to go home early to wash up; otherwise, it would be too troublesome for all four of them to queue up for the one restroom.

Mao Xiaoyu only had one electric scooter at home, so his mother took it, and the father and son had to walk back. Fortunately, Mao Xiaoyu's home wasn't too far away, just two residential areas apart, and it only took about ten minutes to walk there.

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Mao Xiaoyu walked back side by side with her father. Mao Jun walked forward while smoking, without saying a word. Mao Xiaoyu also remained silent. When they arrived at the place selling late-night snacks, Mao Jun bought some side dishes, preparing to go back and drink.

After a long day, everyone's pretty tired. Going back to sleep isn't an option, but I can't fall asleep right away anyway. So I'll have a little drink and some food. That'll be a good way to make up for a busy day.

After buying the groceries, the two returned home.

When they arrived home, Mao Xiaoyu's mother and sister had already finished washing up, and even their clothes had been washed. So when Mao Xiaoyu and Mao Jun arrived home, Mao Xiaoyu went into the bathroom to wash up and also washed the clothes she had worn that day.

When she finished everything and came out of the bathroom, she heard Mao Jun call out, "Xiaoyu, are you done washing up? Come and sit down."

"They're here."

Hearing her father shout, Mao Xiaoyu knew it was time for her to confront him.