The villagers all trusted Li Xiang’s skills.

After all, he’d posted so many of his creations online—the big drum, the hairpins, and so on. They were so well-made. Anyone could see he had deft hands, so his haircuts couldn’t be that bad.

Soon, the whole village heard the good news. Not only did the elderly line up, but some children also came over, brought by their parents.

Women of his grandmother’s generation and other middle-aged ladies came too. At their age, washing their hair was inconvenient, and short hair was much easier to manage.

"Thanks for all your support, everyone. You all don’t mind if I start a livestream, do you?" Li Xiang asked as he prepared his haircutting tools.

Everyone chimed in, "We don’t mind, we don’t mind."

"Livestream however you want."

"Livestreaming is great! Once you’re popular, you can help us sell our local produce."

Someone asked curiously, "You can livestream this? Will anyone even watch?"

"Oh, who cares? It’s none of our business. We’re just happy to get a free haircut!"

Of course, some of the older folks were more reserved and didn’t want to be on camera. "Xiang Ya," one said, "when it’s my turn, don’t point the camera at my face."

Li Xiang was happy to oblige. "No problem. I’ll just film the back of your head."

With that, everyone’s last shred of worry vanished.

Some of the more able-bodied elders even volunteered to lend a hand. After all, Li Xiang was providing a free service for everyone. They couldn’t just let him work all by himself; how could he possibly manage alone?

It was a bright sunny day, and with the year-end approaching, the weather was still quite warm.

Grandma sat among the crowd, chatting with the villagers in line. She would occasionally look over at her grandson with a cheerful smile, her heart filled with relief. ’It’s been so long since the house was this lively,’ she thought.

The few months since Li Xiang’s return had been livelier than the previous ten-plus years combined.

Li Xiang set up a chair at the main gate. On a small table, he laid out the haircutting tools he had bought. There wasn’t much, really—just a simple set of electric clippers, a pair of long flat shears, a pair of long thinning shears, a plastic comb, a razor, a yellow foam sponge for removing cut hair, and a blue cape. All together, it didn’t cost more than 300 yuan.

He just used the hairdryer from inside the house.

He ran a long extension cord from the house and placed it on the table.

Not far from the table, a stove was set up to heat water. Next to it was a large bucket of cold water. There were also two stools, one tall and one short, for washing hair, as well as a basin, towels, and shampoo—all for communal use.

They were all fellow villagers who knew each other inside and out, and no one had any contagious diseases, so why be particular about it?

Two helpful elders took charge of heating the water and washing the hair of those next in line for a haircut.

The first person to try was one of Li Xiang’s great-uncles. Li Xiang’s great-grandfather had five sons and three daughters; Li Xiang’s grandfather was the second son, and this old man was the fourth, so Li Xiang called him "Fourth Grandfather." Different regions have their own dialect terms for relatives of one’s grandfather’s generation, and even within Sichuan Province, the forms of address can vary greatly from place to place.

As the saying goes, "Customs vary every ten miles, and traditions differ every hundred." Sichuan Province is likely one of the provinces with the most diversity, due to the historical "Hu-Guang Filling Sichuan" migration, which brought in large numbers of settlers from various provinces. In reality, the immigrants weren’t just from the Hu-Guang region; they came from over a dozen other provinces as well, though in smaller numbers.

The geography of Sichuan Province is also incredibly diverse, featuring plateaus, basins, grasslands, and glaciers, giving rise to the saying that Sichuan has "a thousand faces." These different living environments also gave birth to distinct cultural customs.

As for grandmothers, there are various terms of address as well. In Li Xiang’s area, they use their local term for "grandmother." Of course, using the standard Mandarin word for "paternal grandmother" is also fine; after all, times have changed, and Mandarin is universally understood everywhere.

"Third Granny," who had previously stayed at Li Xiang’s house, was the wife of "Third Grandfather." That Third Grandfather was Li Xiang’s grandfather’s paternal cousin. He was the third-born in his branch of the family, which is why they were called "Third Grandfather" and "Third Granny."

The paternal Third Grandfather’s family line had a rather tragic story. Their son died young, and their three daughters married into other families, leaving Third Granny all alone in the village. Third Granny came today as well. She wanted to get her hair cut short, as long hair was hard to manage. Washing one’s hair in the winter is too much trouble for the elderly.

There were several other relatives with "Third" in their titles, but they weren’t from the same family branch. Relations in the countryside are quite complex because there are so many relatives.

For example, Li Xiang had previously called that man, Li Jintang, "Third Uncle." This was simply because he was the third of three brothers in his family branch: Li Jinyu, Li Jinman, and Li Jintang.

He wasn’t a direct third uncle. Li Xiang’s father had dozens of cousins on both his paternal and maternal sides—too many to count. Because there were so many, and their relationships varied from close to distant, many of them no longer kept up with the social obligations of visiting and gift-giving.

If they "visited" every family, the amount of gift money required each year would be unbearable.

Li Yucheng was the son of Li Xiang’s "Fourth Grandfather." This "Fourth Grandfather" was a direct great-uncle, as he was Li Xiang’s grandfather’s biological brother.

Although "Fourth Grandfather" was a few years younger than Li Xiang’s grandfather, he had married and had children earlier, which was why his son, Li Yucheng, was older than Li Xiang’s own father.

There was nothing to be done about it. When it came to marriage, aside from the words of a matchmaker, it also depended on whether you had a sweet mouth and knew how to charm a girl.

Li Xiang’s grandfather was a quiet, awkward man who had fared the worst among his brothers and had married relatively late. When Li Xiang was a child, he once heard his grandmother teasing his grandfather, calling him a good-for-nothing. Apparently, when "Third Granny" first arrived, she was originally intended for Li Xiang’s grandfather, but she ended up taking a liking to his paternal cousin instead.