A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 800: Hands Follow the Mind, Techniques Emerge from the Hands

In the dead of winter,

Outside, the north wind howled fiercely, and the cold wind was like a knife.

At this time, after seven days of arduous travel, Li Yi finally returned to his home in Tongjifang, Luoyang.

Go take a hot bath in the bathroom.

People soaking in hot water feel so comfortable they want to sleep.

The concubines all wanted to help Li Yi scrub his back, but he refused them and instead called for Old Wang.

Old Wang is a groom who takes care of horses. He was also a veteran before joining the army. Before that, he worked as a back scrubber at a bathhouse in Yangzhou, and his back-scrubbing skills were passed down from his ancestors.

People in the Tang Dynasty enjoyed taking baths and scrubbing their backs; there were over a hundred public bathhouses in Chang'an.

Officials would take a break every ten days, a period known as a "rest and bath," during which they would have time to shower and wash their hair.

Old Wang's back-rubbing skills were highly praised by Li Yi.
While it was amusing for the concubines to serve him baths and scrub his back, today he only wanted Old Wang to give him a proper scrubbing with burlap.

For scrubbing, a hemp towel is necessary. Silk towels are too soft and slippery and not very effective. Therefore, people in the Tang Dynasty used hemp towels for scrubbing. Hemp towels made of ramie have coarse and tough fibers, a natural abrasive feel, absorb water and do not shed lint. The key point is that hemp towels are also cheap.

A bolt of linen costs two hundred coins and can make more than a dozen bath towels.

Old Wang was a bathhouse attendant in Yangzhou. He was later forcibly conscripted into the Sui army, fought in the Central Plains, and eventually became a Tang soldier. After ten years of fighting, he retired as a cripple.

At his advanced age, he had no children, so his fellow villager Chen Lingjiao took care of him and helped him get a job feeding horses at Situ Liyi's mansion.

The work isn't tiring; I just feed them hay at night.

"No need for fine linen, use coarse linen. Give it a good scrub; it's been a long time since I've scrubbed like that." Li Yi lay down on the ground.
The steaming heat made me feel completely relaxed.

Scrubbing a body is actually a skill, and his family has been doing this for generations. Although he served in the army for ten years, Old Wang has not forgotten this family tradition.

Now he works as a groom in the Prince Wei's mansion, but Li Yi still frequently calls him over to scrub his back.

Nobles typically used fine linen cloths for bathing; the fibers were soft and delicate, and some were even embroidered with patterns. These were no cheaper than silk scarves. They were more durable than towels but wouldn't irritate the delicate skin of the wealthy.

Officials and scholars generally used medium-grade hemp, which was retted and made softer than coarse hemp.

Li Yi specifically requested a coarse linen towel, the kind with coarse and stiff fibers that could penetrate the back when scrubbing, instantly removing dirt and grime.

Old Wang smiled and agreed.

I took off my coat and specifically changed into a short-sleeved shirt.

He started rubbing his bare arms.
There's a proper way to scrub your back: scrub with the grain of the skin, and scrub against the grain of your arms. Scrubbing with the grain helps clean better, while scrubbing against the grain removes dead skin.

An expert will know if there is one as soon as he takes action.

Li Yi groaned with pleasure as Old Wang made his move.

"Old Wang, next time try using loofah sponges to make a bath towel, that should be pretty good too."

"Okay, I'll try it next time."

Old Wang agreed verbally, but his hands kept moving, expertly rubbing the dough.

Old Wang knew about loofah; it was also called "heavenly nettle." Some were planted along the wall of the stables in the Chang'an Prince's mansion. In late summer and early autumn, the vines would climb all over the trellis, blooming with clusters of small golden flowers.
Old Wang loved looking at the green leaves and yellow flowers. He would use fermented horse manure to fertilize the loofah vines, so that many loofahs would grow on the trellis.

This loofah is amazing. It looks like a cucumber, but when it's young, it's incredibly smooth and tender, delicious whether boiled or stir-fried. However, as it matures, the fibrous strands inside become as tough as iron wires. After peeling off the outer shell and removing the seeds, it can be used as a utensil for washing pots and bathing.

They can even be flattened and used to make shoe insoles.

Old Wang's favorite dish is still stir-fried loofah with eggs.

I usually use a loofah to wash dishes, but I've never tried using it to scrub my body.

Speaking of which,

This loofah was obtained by Master Situ, Master Li Zhenren, from the Dongyi people; it had never been seen before.

However, it is said that the loofah originated in India.

Old Wang's skills were superb; his hands moved along the meridians, striking the eight acupoints with a powerful, hammer-like force, while his cloud-like hand gestures brushed over the Jianjing acupoint with a light, feather-like touch. His movements were both firm and gentle, and the coarse hemp cloth expelled the stagnant air from Li Yi's pores.

Old Wang's back scrubbing not only removes dirt but also involves massaging the back with eight light and eight heavy strokes, providing maximum comfort. He also performs back warming, which is one of the thirteen traditional Chinese medicine treatments, similar in principle to moxibustion.

Rub, scald, tap

The hand moves with the mind, and the technique comes from the hand.

“Old Wang, I see you’re only in your early forties. How about I pay you to open a Yangzhou bathhouse in Luoyang? You can hire some staff and apprentices, and spread your skills so that the people of Luoyang can also enjoy your craft.”

Old Wang kept working, smiling as he said that the Prince's Mansion was doing quite well now.

"What's so great about it? Haven't you thought about getting married and having children? With such great skills, are you going to let them be lost?"

Old Wang's skills have been passed down for generations. He once said that his ancestors not only knew how to scrub people's backs, but also how to cut hair and trim feet.

Actually, people in Tang Dynasty China also got haircuts. These days, barbers were very skilled. They could not only trim hair, but also shave, trim beards, clean ears, and trim nose hairs. Moreover, barbers would also learn bone setting, so they could treat stiff necks, dislocations, and fractures. They were practically doctors.

“Back then, my ancestor knew how to cut hair, scrub baths, and trim feet. He had three sons, and each son passed on one of these skills. My ancestor’s branch learned how to scrub baths.”

In Yangzhou, many of the barbers, bathhouse attendants, and pedicurists share the surname Wang and are related.

If it weren't for the war
He was just a bathhouse attendant in Yangzhou; he would never have ended up in Chang'an, and now he's in Luoyang, let alone become a stable boy.

"Honestly, I'll have someone find you a suitable shop in Luoyang. With your skills, this business will be very successful."

Now that the war has ended and the country is unified again, life is gradually settling down, and the demand for skills such as hairdressing, bathing, and pedicures is high.

Old Wang hesitated.
He hadn't thought about going back to his old job before. Shaping clothes was actually quite hard work, and he wouldn't earn much even after a year of doing it for someone else.

After ten years of military service, he was left disabled. Now he works as a groom in the Prince's mansion, where he is well taken care of. He is essentially living there in retirement.

Going to a bathhouse for a scrub wouldn't be as comfortable as it is now.

But if you were to open a bathhouse and be the owner, that would be a different story.

After settling down, I gradually started thinking about starting a family, getting married, and having children again.

I've saved up some extra money.

"We don't have the capital," Old Wang said frankly.

"I give you."

"That won't do."

Finally, Old Wang offered to open a bathhouse with the money from the royal palace, and he would be the manager, helping with the management and scrubbing the bathhouses, earning a wage in return.

"Old Wang, how about this? I'll provide the money, you provide the labor, and we'll open a bigger bathhouse together. You can manage the bathhouse and train the bath attendants. We'll split the profits 50/50, how about that?" Li Yi felt a lot of mud being scrubbed off his body, and he felt much lighter.

"That won't do,"

Finally, Old Wang reluctantly agreed to the partnership, but the bathhouse still belonged to the Prince Wei's mansion, and he would only take 20% of the profits.

Li Yi didn't actually care whether the bathhouse could make money or not.
I just discovered that Old Wang had such a great skill, and although he looked older than his early forties, he was actually still middle-aged.

Invest some money in him to set up a bathhouse; it's better than him being a stable boy in the Prince's mansion waiting to die. If the business thrives, he can get married and his life will be more prosperous.

For him, it was just a simple matter of lending a helping hand.

But it can truly change Old Wang's fate.

Li Yi doesn't mind helping others achieve their goals. He's willing to discover the strengths of those who follow him, even to cultivate and train their abilities, and then give them a boost.

He's not the kind of person who wants to keep someone under his control for life.

“Old Wang, keep up your good work. You’ll open branches in Chang’an and Luoyang, and maybe even back in your hometown of Yangzhou.”

Old Wang chuckled, somewhat excited as well.

(End of this chapter)