1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 971 The Daily Life of Qi Country

"Dang! Dang! Dang!..."

The clock tower of Chang'an University struck six o'clock very punctually. Bai Guangyong opened his eyes reflexively, sat up from the bed, stretched his arms vigorously, and shook his head at the same time.

Last night, the dinner hosted by His Royal Highness Qi Guojing, from Bai Guangyong's point of view, didn't seem very extravagant. On the huge round table, there were only seven or eight cold dishes, two or three baskets of fruit, and a few plates of pastries. , one of the few hot dishes, or a few deep-fried dried fish and crispy meat.

There are quite a few wines, including spicy shochu, sweet and palatable rice wine, spicy and slightly sweet mead (cane wine), sour wine with a touch of pleasantness, and a bit like horse urine wine. flavored beer.

Of course, it is impossible for this kind of banquet to focus on eating. After eating a few mouthfuls of cold dishes and putting some pastries on the table, the participants may go forward to chat with His Royal Highness King Jing in order to get closer to the royal family. , or three or five acquaintances greet each other and connect with each other.

Bai Guangyong cautiously followed his three companions, and when he arrived at the seat, he only ate food with his head covered, and he didn't dare to say much, and he didn't even dare to drink wine, for fear of breaking etiquette, making people bored, and humiliating the identity of Daqin people .

In the middle of the banquet, a big man came, who seemed to be the deputy prime minister in charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology Industry and the Ministry of Industry.During the meeting, he highly praised King Jing's spirit of exploration and innovation ability, fully affirmed the Feitian Research Institute he established, and said that the cabinet government will provide all-round support for the research institute and this invention.

The Deputy Prime Minister Wang Zhongyi finally claimed that King Jing, as a son of the royal family, may not let his reputation spread for a hundred years. The balloon voyage, which took place on November 1783, 11 and was completed by the Montgolfier brothers), will forever be recorded in the annals of human history and will be remembered forever.

Bai Guangyong didn't know why the Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Qi would elevate His Royal Highness King Jing's flying action to such a high level.When he thought about it, a rich prince would build a high-altitude hot air balloon, and then satisfy his desire for novelty, and fly into the sky. Isn't this purely playthings?Moreover, he did not hesitate to take his own life at the cost of riding a high-altitude hot air balloon, just wanting to enjoy the feeling of being worshiped by thousands of people in front of everyone.

It is said that the children of the royal family of Qi State are not like the former Ming Dynasty, who will seal off their lands and become rich princes. Instead, they have to learn various knowledge and skills since childhood, and choose a profession that they like or are good at.Except for a few "incompetent" princes who are content with the status quo and spend their idle days in the Royal Investment and Trading Company, most of the princes have devoted themselves to the military, administration, education, diplomacy, and private welfare industries, and they seem to have done well. It is very impressive, and its reputation in China is not bad.

Bai Guangyong is not envious of a wealthy prince like King Jing, who has no shortage of money and no worries about food and clothing. After all, the difference in status is too great.While he was eating food, he was thinking about the conversation he had with Daqin officials during the day, and when he returned to Daqin the next day, he would be reused by the court.Perhaps, one day, like the deputy prime minister of the Qi State, he would be able to scold Fang Qiu at the high-end banquet in Daqin and comment on a certain son of the Daqin royal family.

Thanks to the teacher who taught me, I can stay in the student dormitory of Chang'an University for the past few days in Chang'an, and I can also eat cheap meals, which saves me high expenses.

At one end of the corridor of the dormitory is the collective bathroom. Students who got up one after another, carrying enamel washbasins with towels, toothbrushes, and soap in them, came to the bathroom to wash up one after another.

Having been in Qi State for more than two years, Bai Guangyong's biggest feeling is that people in Qi State love cleanliness.Not to mention the citizens in the city, even the farmers in the countryside, after a busy day, they will connect a basin of water and simply wash and clean.

You know, during the few years he was in Nanjing Guozijian, except for taking a simple shower and taking a bath during the hot summer, he seldom took a bath in other seasons, especially winter and spring.As for the cleaning of clothes, at least one or two months of continuous wear before washing them.

But in Qi State, not to mention summer, even in winter, they will take a bath once in ten and a half months, or even seven or eight days.As for the clothes on their bodies, they often wash them, oh, no, they should wash them with soap.The underwear they wear next to their bodies will be washed more frequently.

The Qi people say that frequent bathing, cleaning clothes, and keeping the body dry and hygienic can prevent the invasion of viruses and bacteria and reduce various infectious diseases.Oh, by the way, according to them, viruses and bacteria seem to be observed through teaching microscopes in medicine or biology, which is quite amazing!

Toothbrushes were also available in Daqin. It is said that they were invented by Emperor Hongzhi of Ming Dynasty. They were made of bristles embedded in bones, but they were expensive. I can be envious.On weekdays, if you want to clean your mouth, you can only swallow saliva, simply rinse your mouth, or at most put your fingers into your mouth and wipe it up and down.

The toothbrushes produced in Qi State are made of bamboo, wood and other materials. Several rows of pores are drilled on the head with a machine, and then horsetail or pig bristles are implanted. The price is also as high as twenty-five cents.When Bai Guangyong first bought it, it was so painful that he used the toothbrush for a year and was reluctant to replace it.

Toothpaste is also expensive. It seems to be made of cuttlefish bone powder or coal ash. Using it to gently rub teeth can whiten teeth.In addition, there are toothpastes made from camphor, myrrh, and burnt alum, which all give a "potion" taste.Especially the camphor-flavored toothpaste, as long as you open your mouth, you can let everyone know that you brushed your teeth today. The taste is really unacceptable.

Among the many types of toothpaste, coal ash is the most used by Qi people, which surprised Bai Guangyong.But his acquaintances told him that apart from its color, coal ash is the softest of all abrasive materials, and it can remove stains and tartar on the teeth without damaging the teeth and gums themselves.Of course, it's also easy to wash off without leaving a residue, and it's okay to accidentally eat a little bit of it now and then.

Compared with expensive toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, which is very expensive in Qin, is extremely cheap here. You can buy a square inch bar of soap for only a few cents.If you are more particular, you can also spend more than a dime to buy soaps with various fragrances, so that you can wash yourself deliciously.

Like the Southeast University Hall, the dormitory bathroom of Chang’an University Hall is also equipped with self-flowing water facilities. When the faucet is gently turned on, the water will flow out automatically, which is very convenient.Many people wash their faces with cold water, which is said to improve blood circulation in the body.

The only downside, though, is that soap or bar soap isn't soluble in cold water, which means it can't lather up.Therefore, many Qi people insist on washing with cold water every day, and they will always use hot water once a few days later to remove the oil on the face.

By the way, the Qi people also like to drink hot water. They seldom drink river water or lake water in the wild to prevent the unclean substances in them from entering the body and causing unnecessary diseases.In the university hall, almost every student will be assigned a well-sealed hot water bottle, which can be used to fetch hot water in the public cafeteria.There was a huge boiler filled with boiling hot water.

Because he is temporarily staying in the dormitory of Chang'an University Hall, Bai Guangyong naturally does not have a hot water bottle, but he has an enamel cup with him, and he plans to make a cup of hot water for himself when he goes to the cafeteria for breakfast later. Tea.Naturally, I grabbed a handful of tea at the banquet last night, wrapped it in a tissue, and carried it out with me.

When the morning steps of washing and dressing are over, the next step in the morning routine is usually to solve the physiological problem-valley bowel movement.

Toilets are generally built in very remote places, away from residential areas.The cleaners will clean up the cesspit under the toilet in time, and then transfer it to a large composting site in the countryside. They will also regularly whitewash the walls and ceiling of the toilet.In fact, it is not only in the university halls. In many cities of Qi, almost every few blocks, there are toilet workers and street cleaners who clean up the cesspools. They usually come out to work at night, pushing carts and walking around On empty streets, try to avoid disturbing other people.

Except for a small number of new immigrants (mainly immigrants from Japan, North Korea, and Annan), most of these waste disposal workers were Hanzhou natives or Nanyang natives who came to Hanzhou to "serve".

However, with the acceleration of the urbanization process in Qi, the public health conditions such as toilets gradually fell behind, and even became overwhelmed, and various hidden hygiene problems began to appear.In some crowded worker-inhabited areas, there may even be a toilet shared by more than 200 people at most. Queuing up to go to the toilet early in the morning has become a strange and lively scene.

Of course, in the university hall, there are quite a few people going to the toilet in the morning. Bai Guangyong waited in line for more than ten minutes before it was his turn to squat.

In Qi State, in addition to producing a large amount of printing paper, writing paper, and wrapping paper, there is also "toilet paper" for toilet use.

Like Qin State, this kind of toilet paper is made of straw, reeds, weeds and other plant stalks. It is rough in texture and is called grass paper. It is relatively cheap. It is used as toilet paper (this kind of papyrus was used as cleaning paper in the Yuan Dynasty of ancient China).

However, for the vast majority of Qi people, the most suitable paper for wiping their ass is the various cheap domestic publications. Those discarded newspapers, books, advertisements, paper bags, and old envelopes are all optional tools.Because for ordinary people who do not have a lot of money, spending a sum of money to buy things that are thrown into the latrine is simply too wasteful, and it is a prodigal act, even if this money accounts for a very small part of the entire income, That is also unacceptable.

Although some printed materials such as newspapers are hard and slippery to the touch, not very friendly to the buttocks, and sometimes they can't even be wiped clean, but this small "flaw" can still be tolerated by most people.At the very least, we didn't scrape our butts with branches or clods like those savages. We are already very civilized and advanced!

Compared with the clean and fresh Qi people, Bai Guangyong has always been entangled with the long hair on his head. It takes a lot of extra time to take care of it in the morning, and it needs to be cleaned and maintained every day.In the state of Qin, ordinary people usually wear their hair in three or two buns at the back of their heads, and tie it up with a straw rope or straw.

Scholars, scholars, and officials and aristocrats like them generally wear their hair in a bun on the top of their heads, and wrap a net towel around their heads to fix their hair, which is quite troublesome to tidy up.

On the other hand, men in Qi State, although there are many people who imitate our traditional literati hair style in Daqin, most of them have very short hair, no more than three to five inches long, and some even only an inch or so, just like Uzang in the southwest and Mongolia in the north. The lamas of the land are ordinary.

Bai Guangyong has been in Qi State for two years, but anyone who sees his hair accessories can tell with great accuracy that he must be from Qin State in China.

Since he was a teenager, Bai Guangyong has been familiar with the "Book of Filial Piety", and he has been instilled in his subconscious mind with the concept of "body and skin should be treated by parents and dare not damage them", and he even learned it from his teachers. The people of China shave their hair and wear clothes easily, making the barbarians of China feel ashamed, which arouses fierce resistance from countless people.My Great Qin Gaozu (Sun Kewang) gathered rebels, made several Northern Expeditions, and finally wiped out the world, unified the mainland, changed dynasties, and founded the Great Qin. Only by this can the continuation of the clothes and hair accessories of our Han people be continued.

Doesn't Qi state claim to be the country of China, with Han people and Miao descendants?Why do you want to abandon my traditional Han Chinese hair accessories and take the initiative to shave the hair on my head so short! ?

"for health!"

When those Qi people said this to him, their brows and eyes were full of disdain.They claim that a thick head of long hair, if not regularly cleaned and groomed, will become infested with germs, and it is not surprising that a few fat lice will jump out of it.

Bai Guangyong was ashamed and angry about this. Could it be that the traditional hair ornaments that we Han people have lasted for thousands of years should be shaved off on the grounds of being unhealthy?Back then, in mainland China, in order to fight against the bloody decree of "keep your hair but not your head, keep your head but not your hair" by the Qing captives, I don't know how many Han people fell under the butcher's knife of the Tartars. What is the significance of this?
Fortunately, although the people of Qi State would not force you to shave off the long hair of the people who came to Qin State except for the faint ridicule, they were consistent with them and gave full tolerance.

In order to avoid being ridiculed by the Qi people in terms of personal hygiene, Bai Guangyong paid great attention to taking care of his hair.Not only do I get up ten minutes earlier every day, carefully organize and braid my hair, but also pay attention to cleanliness at all times, washing my hair with hot water and soap every few days.

Of course, whether you use cheap soaps or expensive soaps, they all have strong alkalinity, which will not only make the hair dry and easy to break, but also cause scalp pain, and even bleach the hair color.This kind of soap is more suitable for people with oily hair, but if people with dry hair use it, they may get into trouble.

Therefore, when Bai Guangyong washes his hair, he only uses a little bit of soap or soap each time.After washing his hair, he also painstakingly put some pomade or hair oil on his hair to make it smooth and shiny.Finally, comb the hair thoroughly with a comb, so that the oil applied to the hair can be evenly applied to the ends of the hair along the roots of the hair.

Qi Guo, who was acquainted in the university hall, couldn't help laughing at him when they saw him, saying that his hair care was comparable to the daily grooming of his sisters at home.With such effort, I don't even know how many more pages of books I can read.

After meticulously combing his hair, Bai Guangyong couldn't help but secretly sighed. Perhaps, the strength of Qi State, the speed of development, and their simple and efficient way of doing things and attitudes in daily life, can be seen from the length of their men's hair accessories, the daily style Reason and many other details can be reflected.

(End of this chapter)