National Tide 1980

Comfortable!

Ning Weimin has never had such a comfortable meal!

From hot pot to chopped green onions, there is nothing that does not bring joy.

After eating and drinking, Ning Weimin's mouth was smooth and smooth with the mutton soup with a layer of oily starch and green coriander leaves.

His nasal cavity was also filled with puffs of flue-cured tobacco, making him feel as happy as a cloud.

Even his thoughts have changed a lot, almost subverting his original values.

Yes, life is meaningful only if there is oil and water in the stomach.

Otherwise it is said that food is the most important thing for people, but the belly is located in the middle of a person.

This is life, this is the truth!

It did cost a bit, but the money was not unreasonably spent.

Not to mention that I should have spent it for Master.

Just like this mutton-shabu-shabu and mushroom mutton pot soup, they are destined to become extinct in the future.

That's probably no different from eating caviar and black truffles, there's nothing to be reluctant about.

But to be honest, don’t even look at the delicious food.

But there is still one step left before becoming a real little fairy.

Because in the words of Old Man Kang, your stomach is full, but you have to take another shower before it is considered perfect.

Exiting the restaurant is Goldfish Alley.

Kang Shude and Ning Weimin crossed the street with a bag of fried butter cakes bought from the nearby "Fengfenggong" and headed straight to the west.

In fact, you don’t have to go far, just a few steps.

Because you can see it when you look up. In the northwest corner of the busy Bamiancao intersection, there is a front door with a high step. That is the bathhouse where the master and the apprentice are going - Tsinghua Garden.

Speaking of the bathhouse industry in Beijing, it has a long history.

As early as when Dadu was built in the Yuan Dynasty, there were bathhouses.

However, during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, only palaces, temples, and government offices had bathrooms, which were not accessible to the common people.

It was during the Qing Dynasty that the bathhouse industry in the capital truly flourished.

Due to the emergence of private bathhouses, bathhouses are everywhere in the capital.

Especially at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, not only were traditional bathhouses with ponds and Guantangs spread all over the capital, but more comprehensive services such as scrubbing and pedicures were developed.

There are even "new bathhouses" built in the style of Shanghai and Hainan, with running water, boilers, electric lights, heaters, and fans.

This triggered a quite vigorous wave of industrial upgrading.

Since then, the capital's bathhouses have also been divided into "Beitang" and "Nantang".

Like the three-story, brick-and-wood structure Tsinghua Garden Bathhouse at Bamiancao Intersection.

In the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916), Dong Mutang, a member of the Cao Kun military government, spent a huge amount of money to demolish the original "North Hall" - Dongxingyuan Bathhouse, and then rebuilt the "South Hall" in the style of a Western-style building in the Jinmen Concession. ".

What's more interesting is that they are actually within a hundred steps of Ning Weimin and Kang Laotou's residence.

There is also a two-story bathhouse with an equally loud name that is easily confused with this one - Qinghua Pool.

Yes, this is where the person who later talked about cross talk got a "Tsinghua" degree.

It's just that at this time, Qinghua Pool was still at its original location - north of Dongtou Road, Zhushikou.

That is, it is opposite Fengzeyuan Restaurant, and it has not yet been moved to Huguang Guild Hall.

It can be seen from this that the "university scholar" who is a famous teacher and shakes the world is at most a graduate of the "Tsinghua" branch.

And it is very likely that his qualifications are shallow, and he may not be "roughly proficient in writing" until he is over 30 years old.

So when Ning Weimin walked to the door of the bathhouse and before he went in, he became happy when he saw the stone carving plaque with red letters on the white background.

Turn around and follow Kang Shu De Pian.

"Old man, look at this font size. What a coincidence. Our door is Tsinghua Pool, and here is Tsinghua Garden. Isn't this confusing? I don't understand. These are all bathhouses, except for one big one. Son, a little bit, what difference does it make?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as I asked for the exit, I was blocked.

"What's the other difference? Let me tell you, it's a big difference. It's like eating hotpot mutton. It's a 'one-stop' in Dashilan, and it's a 'sooner' here. Although it's similar, it's not the same. One is a restaurant and the other is a restaurant. The same goes for the bathhouse, which is divided into three, six, and nine grades."

"Originally, the largest bathhouse in the capital was the Dongshengping Bathhouse on Yangmeishu Xiejie. Unfortunately, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government changed it into the First Hotel. Therefore, this Tsinghua Garden is now the bathhouse with the best conditions and the largest area in the capital. "

"You see, this is a prosperous place in the city center, so this Tsinghua Garden is not only old, but it has always hosted bureaucrats and wealthy men from Dongcheng. Tsinghua Pool is incomparable."

"The Tsinghua Pool at the door of our house was a halal bathhouse. It was originally called 'Xiao Canglang' and was very small. It was not until the 1930s that the Ningxia warlord Ma Fuxiang bought and converted the two buildings into a medium-sized bathhouse. .”

"The customers who went there used to go south after visiting Dashilan and Bada Hutongs, or they went to the merchants who lived in the south. It was the same after liberation. Here were all the cultural people and officials, and only the traffickers were left in the south. You're just a pawn. Do you understand? The difference is that the location is different and the quality is different."

"Let me tell you this, I won't bring you here to save trouble. Of course I know that it's more convenient to eat hotpot mutton at Yilong and take a bath at Qinghua Pool than here. That's why I have to bring you here. I came here to open your eyes."

"It's hard to come out and spend money to enjoy yourself. If you want to eat, let's eat to make it comfortable. If you want to wash, let's take a good shower today. Right? Come on, come in with me. You treat me to a meal, and I'll treat you to a bath. …”

Hey, I actually let the old man despise me.

But to be honest, Ning Weimin was really dissatisfied.

who is he? What bath center have you never been to? What health care project have you not tried before?

In order to settle the relationship, he also invited hundreds of thousands of guests to the most luxurious places with full suites.

He didn't believe it. Is there any room for him to open his eyes here?

Aren’t they all bathhouses? He understands the so-called tricks of the old capital!

So, while following Kang Shude inside, he kept mumbling.

"Old man, I admit that what you said is right. But it is precisely because this is Wangfujing and the location is so good that I am worried."

"Look here, there are so many people coming in and out. What if we have to wait to take off the basket later? Do you want to wash it? How long will it take for us to wait in line for the bunks?"

"I think it's better to go to the door of your house. If you have an acquaintance to take care of you, the waiting time will be shorter. Really, isn't it just a little bigger and a little smaller? What difference can there be..."

What Ning Weimin said was mainly that "bathing is difficult".

This problem is not only real, but also long-standing and deeply rooted.

Beginning in the 1950s, although the government tried its best to expand the pond and build new bathrooms, it still could not keep up with the expansion of the capital's population.

Except for large offices and factories that have internal bathhouses, everyone else can only rely on the welfare bath tickets issued and the bath tickets purchased by themselves to go to public baths to solve the bathing problem.

This is equivalent to hundreds of bathhouses, responsible for millions of people in the capital.

In addition, the price of bathing is too low, and the price of a bathing ticket of 26 cents remains unchanged all year round.

The operating conditions of the bathhouse industry are also quite embarrassing.

In fact, the more people take a shower, the more the government will pay, roughly 10 cents for each person who takes a shower.

This has resulted in limited financial resources for the industry and the inability to replace outdated equipment. It has also caused the industry to shrink and the number of existing bathhouses has been reduced.

You can imagine what the bathhouse will look like every weekend or holiday, especially at the end of the year.

Naturally it was overcrowded.

You often have to queue for an hour or two to take a shower.

It is precisely because of this that all bathhouses gradually began to "take off the basket" in fashion.

The bathhouse purchased a kind of basket used for carrying rice in the south, so that people who didn't want to line up for a bunk could finish washing first and leave first.

But even so, there are still long queues in the bathhouses, especially in recent years when the educated youth have returned to the city, which has aggravated the situation.

That is to say, Aunt Bian's eldest son Bian Jianjun happened to be burning a boiler in Qinghuachi, and an acquaintance was taking care of him.

The neighbors in Courtyard No. 2 of Shan'er Hutong don't have to worry too much about taking a bath.

Therefore, it cannot be said that Ning Weimin's concerns are not justified at all.

Because people like Kang Shude who regard "bathing" as a hobby are reluctant to take off the bathtub.

But what Ning Weimin didn't expect was that the old man snorted a few times rather contemptuously and ignored him at all.

He walked straight past the shoe shine stall at the entrance, then entered the second door, and came to the window selling bathing tickets, and queued behind a queue of three or five people.

The most surprising thing was when buying tickets.

Ning Weimin was still rushing to pay fifty-two cents. Unexpectedly, the old man blocked his hand and handed over the two yuan inside.

"Here's a pair. Four tickets."

The person standing behind the old man couldn't help but let out an "ooh".