Stopping and going, it took a full hour to reach the destination.
As one of the Three Kingdoms of Tianfu, Bashu is blessed with a unique climate and hydrological environment. It has been a land of plenty for thousands of years.
Of course, this place not only produces food, it is also an important producing area of tea.
At that time, more than 70% of the tea produced on the Silk Road had to pass through Chengdu.
As the saying goes: Chengdu would not be complete without tea.
Chengdu is a city nourished by water.
There is abundant rainfall, abundant water flow, and abundant tea drinking.
Chengdu's tea culture has always been at a very high level, both in terms of cultural accumulation and popular base.
Old Chengdu had a population of more than 600,000 in the 1940s.
Among the population of more than 600,000, nearly 120,000 old Chengdu residents are veritable “tea drinkers.”
The earliest teahouse in Han Dynasty originated in Sichuan.
In the early part of the last century, Chengdu had 516 streets and 454 teahouses.
Of course, with development, these 454 companies are now not only not less, but more and more.
There are more than 30,000 registered teahouses in Chengdu, and at least 20,000 are operating normally.
From this exaggerated data, we can see that Chengdu people love tea.
They are addicted to tea and consume tens of thousands of tons of tea every year.
Today, Chengdu people’s demand for tea still ranks among the top ten in the country.
Bamboo chairs, stone tables, and tea bowls have formed a unique leisure life culture for old Chengdu people.
The place where Li Xiao appeared was an old alley in Chengdu, a gathering place for teahouses.
As soon as Li Xiao got out of the car, he could hear the noise coming from far away.
Seven or eight teahouses are gathered together in the distance.
Most of these teahouses are open-air.
On the dark charcoal stoves, copper kettles filled with water were placed.
The water room is filled with steam, like a fairyland.
The water boiler, wearing a vest that had turned white after washing, was holding the boiled copper kettles one by one and adding water to the thermos.
Some aunts and ladies were selling melon seeds and peanuts around.
Under colorful parasols and trees two or three stories high.
On the stone tables, there are a mess of thermos pots and bowls of tea.
Sitting next to the stone table were men and women in twos and threes.
Although most of them are old men and women, there are also young and middle-aged people among them.
Some people just come here to drink tea.
There are those who drink tea and play cards at the same time.
Some were sitting under the shade of the trees, fanning themselves, closing their eyes and meditating.
There were those with flushed faces and excited voices posing in the Longmen formation with people they knew or didn't know.
There were even people drinking tea and performing square dances, sword dances, and fan dances nearby.
Some were eating melon seeds, and some were reading newspapers.
In crowded locations, the distance between tables and chairs may not allow people to pass normally.
But everyone enjoys their own world and their own fun.
Although it is noisy, everyone enjoys himself and does not interfere with each other.
Many viewers in the live broadcast room felt sour when they saw this scene.
"I have decided to settle in Chengdu when I retire!"
"This is simply my dream life. I do nothing but drink tea, brag and play cards with my friends every day."
"It's such an enviable day to look at. It's so leisurely."
“For me, who commutes for more than 4 hours every day, I can’t even dream of living this kind of life!”
"Brothers upstairs, don't try too hard!"
"You can tell at a glance that he is a migrant worker from the capital. He has been working for 4 hours. He probably lives in the next province. It's a hard work."
··········
There are many famous teahouses in Chengdu.
Heming Tea House in People's Park.
Yuelai Teahouse at Jinjiang Theater.
The old teahouse in Peng Town.
Ginkgo Forest Teahouse in Houzimen.
Qingyang Teahouse in Qingyang Palace.
What Li Xiao is going to today is Heming Tea House, which has a longer history.
There are many old teahouses in Chengdu.
There are also many teahouses that are over a hundred years old.
But most century-old teahouses are small teahouses that have been passed down from generation to generation, usually run by only four or five people.
Usually the whole family comes together.
The old man at home prepares tea, while the mother sells melon seeds and arranges the table.
The son boiled water and refilled it, while the daughter-in-law looked after the door to welcome guests.
The Heming Tea House is a little different.
This tea house was already the first of the six major tea gardens in Chengdu 100 years ago.
Regardless of scale and influence, it ranks among the top in Chengdu.
As long as you are a Chengdu person, even if you have never been to Heming Tea House in person, you must have heard relatives and friends talk about it.
Li Xiao wanted to visit these small tea houses surrounding Heming Tea House, like stars holding the moon.
The entrance is an antique archway.
The archway is not very tall, only two stories high.
The silver words "Crane" on the plaque convey a sense of leisure and leisure.
It can be seen with the naked eye that hundreds of tea tables are almost occupied.
The atmosphere here is even more lively than when the seven or eight teahouses gathered just now.
It is indeed a teahouse that can firmly sit at the top of the teahouses in Chengdu, and it does have some heritage.
After searching around, there wasn't even a single empty seat.
Li Xiao was a little helpless and was trying to find a shady place to wait for a vacant seat.
But I felt someone tap me lightly on my shoulder.
He turned around and looked, and a black folding fan appeared in his sight.
Following the fold line, he is an old man in his 70s who has lost all his hair.
At this time, the old man was drinking a bowl of tea and looking at him with a smile.
Seeing Li Xiao turn around, the old man took back the black folding fan and pointed the folding fan towards the seat next to him.
The old man spoke softly:
"Alone? If you don't mind, just sit next to the old man."
When Li Xiaozheng was confused, the other two people at the tea table also invited:
"Boy, are you a tourist? Unfortunately, the space here at Heming is very tight, so you should come here early to get a good seat."
"Yes, either come early or join other people. Everyone sits like this."
Li Xiao didn't refuse either.
He had often encountered this kind of table-sharing situation when he was a child.
When I used to go out for morning tea with my uncle, I often encountered how popular the teahouse was.
Teahouse halls usually use large round tables for more than a dozen people.
Therefore, guests who have morning tea in twos and threes usually need to share a table in twos and threes.
With a smile on his face, he quietly pressed down the lens of the camera in his hand so as not to capture the three tea guests at the same table.
After all, not everyone wants to be in front of the camera.
At the beginning, the old man stopped Li Xiao with a folding fan.
Although he is very old, his eyes are surprisingly good.
He saw the small movements on Li Xiao's hands, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Don't worry about filming, we are all used to it, no one will mind at all."
The two people next to him also agreed.
"Yes, yes, we are a tourist city, so we can take photos as you like."
"This teahouse is all about doing whatever you want and treating it as your own home!"
Seeing that the three of them were so hospitable, Li Xiao stopped delaying and sat down while thanking the three of them.
