Brother Sharp is like a silent mirror, placed in the center of the stage. In the mirror emerges the faces of people who have watched or pushed Brother Sharp online or in real life, like a bizarre spiritual desert. The sand reflected an empty, sharp white light.
Early in the morning on March 12, 2010, there was an endless stream of villagers coming to watch. Most of them come from neighboring villages or even further away, coming in small groups on motorcycles or agricultural three-wheelers.
Cheng Guorong, who originally had an ordinary life, left his hometown to work in Ningbo 11 years ago and became a beggar. 11 years later, he became famous overnight because of an unintentionally captured portrait that went viral on the Internet. . From then on, Cheng Guorong became the "sharp brother".
My sister-in-law, Hu Meihua, also worked non-stop to help with the arrangements. The young women in these two families wore gold earrings, gold necklaces, and gold bracelets in the New Year style. In their opinion, Brother Sharp "returned to his hometown with great honor" and was "even more glorious than being a college student in the village."
The sparrows who are accustomed to being at ease are constantly frightened by the sharp sound of trumpets, and they fly from one tree to another in clusters. This empty-nest village, whose land has long lost its appeal to young people, has not been so lively for a long time.
No one can meet Brother Sharp. This "celebrity" that the villagers had been waiting for for a long time was like a gopher, locking himself in a room whenever he saw a stranger and never showing up again.
Cheng Guorong, who stays in his room all day long, likes to watch TV. Whenever he sees himself, he looks blank at first, then lowers his head and smiles dreamily.
The cognitive shortcomings of 34-year-old Cheng Guorong have not hindered his aesthetic joy and entertainment spirit as a "sharp brother", as well as the commercial impulse and political value derived from them. , and the dream of wealth that is currently being nurtured to change the fate of the family.
Paradoxically, without the magical effect of the Internet, Cheng Guorong would not have returned home in the Year of the Monkey. Returning home was supposed to be the end of Cheng Guorong's magical adventure. Unexpectedly, the originally bleak rural society quickly interacted with the impetuous fame and fortune society, and Brother Sharp was the loneliest one.
Howling in the room
“Brother Sharp has been a beggar in Ningbo for 11 years, but which beggar has such a reputation, and which beggar will be led like him? ""
Near noon, more and more people gathered at Cheng's house. The expected Brother Sharp never showed up, and everyone began to secretly exchange their impressions of Cheng Guorong. However, not many people can provide details for discussion. The Cheng family moved in from another village more than ten years ago. Within a year, Cheng Guorong went out to work and lost contact with his family. The traces he left in this village are almost invisible.
The amount of information is scarce, and the gossip is spread by word of mouth when going to the market, getting together to chat, etc. When various jokes gather in the Cheng family courtyard, multiple versions of Brother Sharp appear——
"I heard that a director outside is looking for him to be a martial arts star, specializing in costume dramas." A man clicked his tongue. "Didn't the Internet say that he was a hero who fought against the 1998 floods?" A woman retorted. This was said by her child who is in high school in the county. Laohushan New Village still does not have broadband access, and only young people who have gone out can access the Internet.
“There are people on the Internet who say that he used to be a multi-millionaire but later went bankrupt!” Another young man who had just returned from working in other places said while spitting out melon seed shells.
After all, the version cannot be unified, but everyone firmly believes that Cheng Guorong must be "remarkable" outside.
They saw on TV that the Ningbo Municipal Government took the initiative to contact the rescue station to look for Brother Sharp. The rescue station sent several groups of staff to search street by street, and even published a hotline to find Brother Sharp in the media. The spokesperson of the city government also publicly stated that "the government has the responsibility to pay attention to every life and also has the responsibility to make everyone feel the warmth of this city." These news are usually interspersed with the "Two Sessions" reports.
A more intuitive feeling is that just a few days after Brother Sharp came back, cadres from the county, township and village came to express their condolences one after another, bringing more than 30,000 yuan in condolences and three New Year pictures. , printed with the great rivers and mountains of the motherland and the portrait of Chairman Mao.
Cheng Guozhen took out these three precious New Year pictures over and over again and displayed them one by one in front of the villagers. On March 12, Cheng Guozhen decided to put them on the wall one by one.
This is the glory of the whole family and even the whole village. In the impression of older people, county leaders rarely inspect Laohushan New Village. This is really an ordinary village in central China.
With the disappearance of young people, the basketball stand at the entrance of the village is mottled like an abandoned relic. On the wall beside it, there remains the peeling slogan of an industry, "Unite the whole party and the people, build society Socialist New Countryside".
The road connecting Laohushan New Village to the county seat is potholed and dilapidated due to the insignificance of the village. The underage migrant reserve army or the returnees who are old and can no longer work can end up in Yang if they are not careful when traveling. He was hit by a car on the dirt-filled road. At the end of last year, Cheng Guorong's father and wife died in a car accident.
My wife got married in 1997. Two years later, Cheng Guorong had his second son. After he dropped out of school in the fourth grade of elementary school and returned home to herd cattle and farm, he realized that in order to repay the debt for preparing for his marriage and the support for his two children, he had to go out to work like his elder sister and younger brother. Three years before he came to Ningbo to work, Cheng Guorong, who worked as a cement transporter at the same construction site as his sister, worked quietly and sent his wages home. Cheng Guorong lost contact with his family after his sister returned home to give birth. No one could tell the story of his eight-year disappearance, and no one was interested.
He was once photographed by a netizen. In the photo, he was wearing various found women's clothes. He told the photographer that he was lonely and "wanted to find a woman to love."
This group of sad and true photos is unknown among the many sad and true photos. Cheng Guorong still wanders the streets of Ningbo, picking up garbage to eat and wearing women's clothes.
Until the afternoon of January 30, 2010, a photography enthusiast was auditioning on the streets of Ningbo and accidentally photographed Cheng Guorong walking towards him, frowning, smoking a cigarette, and wearing a Wearing a red cloth bag and carrying a large shopping paper bag.
This "very FEEL" photo was posted on the Internet and was seen on a forum by a senior high school boy from Honghe, Yunnan. He said he was "shocked" by the homeless man's penetrating gaze. He named him "Brother Sharp" and posted, "Instantly killing the most gorgeous and handsome guy in Uuchi."
Everything has changed for Cheng Guorong, who quickly became the "sharp brother".
On March 12, 2010, it was the fifth day since Brother Sharp returned home. Suddenly, several low howls came from the room, and the villagers in the yard became commotion. Cheng Guosheng explained to everyone that his brother had suffered too much in Ningbo and was feeling depressed and needed to vent.
At this time, a new round of discussion started again. Brother Xili has been a beggar in Ningbo for 11 years, but which beggar has such a reputation as him, and is cared for and received by the leaders like him? Even members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Ge Jianxiong and Zhu Jianmin mentioned him during the "Two Sessions", and the Vice Minister of Civil Affairs also expressed his position on this. Everyone gathered around Cheng Guosheng to discuss his explanation.
Cheng Guosheng was hesitant and couldn't explain. Later, he learned from reporters that his brother was famous because of his "sharp" eyes and "avant-garde" "mix and match".
When repeating these awkward nouns, Cheng Guosheng seemed not to be so fluent. The young man who had been eating melon seeds translated for everyone, "It means that he is very energetic and dressed fashionably."
Men and women became even more curious——
"A beggar still has money to dress fashionably?"
"I heard that people in the city think that the red strip of cloth that ties his trousers is the most beautiful thing." It's fashionable..."
"But don't rural people often use cloth strips to tie their pants? Then we have also caught up with the fashion?"
The crowd burst into laughter.
International famous brand "Sharp Brother"
The caller was very excited about his plan, "After the media reported that I registered the trademark 'Sharp Brother', someone called Tell me, 'I'm very jealous of you and I admire you very much. I've been thinking about it for three days and I haven't made a move. You're too quick.'"
Cheng Guosheng didn't have much time to spend time with the guests in the yard. chat.
On this day, Cheng Guosheng received several out-of-town calls one after another. The other party claimed to be the owner of a clothing factory and wanted to reach a cooperation agreement with Brother Sharp.
The ideas for cooperation vary.
After a Beijing boss carefully inquired about his brother’s height and body shape, he said that he was willing to pay Brother Sharp a monthly salary. In return, he only had to wear the new clothes launched by his company every season and “look into the camera.” Say 'eggplant'" Actually, these actions are very simple for us, but they are very difficult actions for Brother Sharp.
A boss in Henan invited Brother Sharp to be the spokesperson for his company and shoot a set of advertisements for him.