Siheyuan: He Yuzhu’s Sunshine Farm

Chapter 191 Bathing Artifact
"Comrade Jiang Bo, I order you to kiss me!"

He Yuzhu and Zhou Guoping had just walked into the house when they heard a line. This was a line from the most popular TV series now called "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp". The content was very simple, it was about a guard who had been alone in a tiger's den for 18 years.Regardless of his personal safety, he dealt with the enemy skillfully, made prompt decisions at critical moments, and gained wisdom in haste. He avoided the enemy's heavy surveillance, safely sent out intelligence time and time again, shattered the enemy's conspiracy, and finally ushered in liberation.

You have no idea how popular this TV series was back then.

Although this TV series only has 9 episodes, TVs were still a rarity at that time, especially in rural areas, where very few families had TV sets.

So there was a grand scene. Hundreds of people crowded in front of a TV, all holding their breath and staring at the screen. As the piercing siren sounded, and then several gunshots were heard, the TV series officially started.

The play was filmed in 1980. The background at that time was that the opening up had just begun, and a number of TV series introduced from abroad, such as "The Man from the Bottom of the Atlantic" and "The Garrison Suicide Squad", were successively appearing in front of the audience. However, domestic dramas But it was very embarrassing. There was none at all and there was no material to shoot.

Regarding this kind of cultural poverty, the relevant departments believe that the impact is very bad. How can a huge country with 5000 years of culture not have its own TV series?
Therefore, TV One, as a top-level media, began to organize relevant personnel to break through this cultural shackles. It was against this background that "18 Years in the Enemy Camp" came into being.

The directors of the play are Wang Fulin and Du Yu. Everyone is familiar with Wang Fulin. He later filmed "Red Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple", "Dream of Red Mansions" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", especially "Dream of Red Mansions", which has become an immortal classic. .

This TV series is really a classic. Although it does not highlight the characteristics of preaching, "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" still has some common characteristics of many film works of that era. Many lines and scenes are familiar.

For example, the protagonist Jiang Bo has been undercover for many years. When he finally got in touch with the organization, he said excitedly, "I finally found you." Is this sentence familiar to everyone? It seems to have appeared in many works.

For another example, Jiang Bo's daughter was tortured by the enemy. As a father, Jiang Bo stood in front of him, but as an undercover agent, he could only watch, but with the enemy behind his back, Jiang Bo closed his eyes in pain. This kind of shot actually It has also happened in previous domestic films.

Also, in the scene where Jiang Bo's assistant Tang Hua and his girlfriend met in the woods, although they were in love, they always kept a distance when talking. Moreover, the woman hugged the tree and pinned her neck, and did not dare to look at the man in the end. This was very strange. It is in line with the depiction of love scenes between men and women at that time.

However, although "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" became a sensation after its broadcast, it also attracted numerous criticisms.

One of the most criticized points is that there is a sex scene in this drama.

As an underground worker, you must stay clean and keep yourself clean, rich and high, and poor and low. However, the sex scene in the play obviously goes against this requirement.

What really happened?
The actor Zhang Lianwen, who plays Jiang Bo, was initially confused when faced with this kind of criticism, saying that there was a sex scene in it, how come I didn't know about it because I acted it myself.

Later, I found out that there was a scene in it where Jiang Bo went to the female agent Luo Maoli to find a code book. At that time, Luo Maoli was lying on the bed with a male agent. After Jiang Bo broke through, Luo Maoli exposed one shoulder.

This is the so-called sex scene, which is quite common in today's movies and TV dramas, but at that time, this kind of scene was unprecedented. Even if you were lying on the bed with only one shoulder exposed, it would cause an uproar.

What can you see from here?

Haha, most people can't see it, but He Yuzhu has seen something, that is, the success of the video hall and the popularity of "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" show that our people's entertainment is indeed real at this time.

The opening up has begun, and most people's lives are getting better, so they need entertainment. Television entertainment is not enough, hugely not enough. So He Yuzhu saw the future of the video hall from the fire of "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" .

"Grandma, are you still watching TV?"

As soon as He Yuzhu entered, he saw Grandma Li, He Yuyu, Yu Haitang, and Li Xiuniang sitting together, staring intently at their large color TV. This color TV was originally the only one in the entire courtyard, but now Xu Damao and Liu Haizhong also have it. .

Here you can see that the days are getting better.

In the 70s and [-]s, ordinary families could have high-end appliances such as radios, and listening to news, storytelling, cross talk or something like that was the highest enjoyment.

Around the late 70s, black and white televisions appeared in homes.At the beginning, they were all tube TVs produced in the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. They were clumsy in appearance, had average picture quality, and were quite noisy. They were incomparable with the transistor TVs that followed one after another.

At that time, the penetration rate of televisions was not high, and only a few houses in Nanluoguxiang had televisions.

Houses with TVs are very lively. The house is often filled with relatives and friends watching TV, and even the back window is crowded with people watching TV.At that time, the neighborly relations were harmonious, which is unimaginable today.

Later, most families had TVs, so there was no need to go to other people's homes to watch it, but that scene is still unforgettable.

There was no cable TV at that time, and TV signals could only be received through TV antennas. The antennas that came with the TV had poor reception capabilities, so people had to find ways to make homemade antennas.

They are usually made of copper and aluminum metal, or cans, and are made into various shapes and placed outdoors, and then connected to the indoor TV with wires, which greatly improves the viewing effect.

In those days, bungalows used tall poles to prop up antennas or tie them to the chimneys. You can see the phenomenon of numerous antennas in old photos of shantytowns.

After the antenna is installed, the direction needs to be adjusted to achieve the best effect.Fortunately, the antenna often changes when it's windy or rainy, so you need to go outside and readjust it.People today can't imagine the embarrassment at that time. It was really difficult to watch TV. Later, cable TV solved this problem.

In the mid-80s, color TV gradually entered thousands of households.Television became an indispensable household appliance in people's lives in that era. It was one of the new big items that must be bought when getting married. A happy family must have a television.

TVs at that time were not cheap. A black and white TV in the early 80s cost 500 yuan, and a later color TV cost about 2000 yuan.How much was the salary back then? Now it’s astronomical.

At that time, the [-]th City Electric Factory No. [-] produced TVs in the [-]th City, but because demand exceeded supply, they could only supply them on a ticket basis.Many people begged their grandparents to buy a TV, and everyone was happy until they took it home.

In those days, the first thing I did when I got home was to turn on the TV. No matter whether I watched it or not, my heart felt at ease when there was something going on on the TV.

Television is the entertainment center of the family and a symbol of family warmth.The image of the whole family sitting in front of the TV is frozen forever. It was the golden age of watching TV.

"Zhuzi is back, come and watch TV together. These spies are really not human. Jiang Bo's daughter is so pitiful." As she said this, Grandma Li wiped the tears on her cheeks.

You must know that Grandma Li’s favorite thing now is watching TV. The first thing she does when she gets up every day is to turn on the TV. If there is no TV to watch, Grandma Li will be irritable and restless. Haha, it’s very interesting. She is just like an old child, and she is getting more and more The more I like to eat sweets.

Donkey rolling and candied haws of sugar are Grandma Li's favorites.

"Grandma, these are all fake and staged, so you must never smash the TV?" When He Yuzhu said this, everyone laughed. It turned out that it was He Yuzhu who bought a TV for the first time. After Grandma Li was sitting here watching a war movie, she noticed that our guard was knocked down. She immediately picked up the basket on hand and threw it directly at the TV. Fortunately, the basket was not lethal, otherwise she would have bought it for a few hundred yuan. The TV set is finished.

This has always been something that old ladies feel embarrassed about. There is nothing we can do about it. We, the older generation, just have a natural sense of mission for our motherland.

"What are you talking about? Grandma is not an old fool." Grandma Li rolled her eyes at He Yuzhu, and everyone laughed again.

At this time, He Yuyu looked at He Yuzhu and said: "Brother, when can we get the video recorder you mentioned? There are also video tapes. You said you could get the movies in Xiangjiang. I and many of my friends have boasted about it. When the time comes, I will take them to see it. If you can’t get it, I will lose face.”

He Yuyu is now an older young man. Fortunately, he has already met a partner, named Zhang Zhiping, who is a registered security guard. He has a widowed mother and a pair of younger siblings at home.

Zhang Zhiping is the eldest. He Yuzhu has met him once or twice. He is relatively honest. It would be great if He Yuzhu likes him. Now they have begun to agree on a date and are ready to marry He Yuzhu.

This time He Yuzhu also prepared a lot of dowry for He Yuyu, including a roasted seed shop. These dowries will be used by He Yuzhu to support his parents' family.

He Yuzhu smiled slightly and looked at He Yuyu and said: "It's almost healed. Just wait a little longer. By the way, why are you all so together today, instead of going to the store, you are all watching TV at home?"

"Everyone is a little tired, so we're just taking a day off. Anyway, there are people in the store, and everyone is here today. It's just a good time for everyone to have a meal together." Yu Haitang stood up.

"Oh!" He Yu nodded: "Are you going to eat at home or in a store?"

"Let's just stay at home. Haitang, Yu, and I will work together and we'll be ready to eat in a while." Li Xiuniang smiled.

"Then you go and get busy. Zhu Zhu and I will watch TV together." Grandma Li laughed, and He Yuzhu also took the opportunity to sit next to Grandma Li and said with a smile: "Yes, you go and get busy, I want to watch TV."

Everyone laughed again.

At this moment, as he pushed the door open, heavy snow fell outside. He Yuyu shouted in surprise: "Hey, it's snowing. It's finally snowing. I thought it wouldn't snow this year?"

He Yuzhu looked outside and saw that it was snowing heavily outside. At this time, He Yuzhu thought of something. As long as it started snowing, he could start another business.

Bathing in winter is very troublesome. If you are a city dweller, of course you can go to the bathroom. There are many bathrooms in Sijiu City. They cost [-] cents or [-] cents a time. You can take a bath comfortably, but not in rural areas. There are no bathrooms in rural areas. .

Bathing in winter on northern farms is really a big project.

Every year in late autumn and early winter, the busy harvest and autumn planting and farming seasons are the most embarrassing periods for rural farmers.During busy periods, the production team's work is very intense. During the day, the body is sweating, and at night, it is quite cold to take a bath in the wooden basin at home.

Especially when threshing on the threshing floor, the floating objects on the grains and the mud and dust on the rice handles will flutter unkemptly on the face, mouth, eyes, head, neck, grass clippings, and dust all over the body and inside. Extreme itching and discomfort on the skin.When I really couldn't take a shower at night, I could only boil a little warm water and wipe my lower body before going to bed every day.

Although the children had time to go to town to take a bath, they had no money.We children never have a penny in our hands.

The price of bathing chips in the town's bathrooms is two cents for the inner hall and eight cents for the outer hall.The bath chip is made of bamboo slices, about ten centimeters long and two centimeters wide. The top of the bath chip has square and bevel marks to distinguish the inner and outer halls.

Sometimes when parents feel that their children are particularly dirty, they give us a dime and invite a few friends from the village who are about the same age to skip to town along the way.

Friends who have two cents, we also agreed to wash the outer room together for [-] cents. The difference between the inner and outer halls is [-] cents: there is tea supply in the inner hall, and there are berths for one person, which can be occupied by bathers. You can sleep all afternoon and the room temperature is guaranteed.

The outer hall is a long wooden paved hall, with one person per person and several children taking off their clothes and stacking them together.

After taking a bath in the pool, you have to put on clothes when you get out of the pool and into the hall. If you don't do it in time, you will be shivering from the cold.

During the Spring Festival, the outer hall was overcrowded, and there were waves of people taking baths, and we couldn't stay any longer.

After taking a shower, there were still two cents left. At that time, two cents could buy a pencil or an eraser.If you don't need to buy school supplies, you can buy two candies or two "Iraq" dates for two cents.

There is also a way to take a bath in the village, bathing in a "bathing pot".

On the threshing floor, in the hut of the cowshed and piggery, there are two large iron pots specially used for cooking pig food and hot water to feed the cows.

On the large earthen stove with two burners, the inner pot is a large iron pot with wide sides and a diameter of about one meter. The outer pot is a large iron pot with narrow sides and a diameter of about [-] centimeters.

Villagers bathed in large iron pots with wide sides inside.

There are more than 30 households in the village, with a total population of more than 150 people. Every night, each household is arranged by the accountant to take turns to take a bath in the pot.

Large households have one extra household per night, and small households have two households per night.

If it's a family's turn to take a bath, everyone should be present together. The adults should wash the children first, followed by the boys and girls, and the hostess should be the last one to wash in the pot.

When bathing, a wooden board or a pole is placed across the mouth of the pot, and people sit on it to wash.

When the bath water becomes cold, someone is waiting under the stove to add firewood and light a few fires to heat the water.Just add the bath water without changing it. If you change a large pot of water, it will take a long time to boil and consume a lot of firewood. The village does not allow it and time does not allow it.

Plastic films were not yet available on the market at that time. A straw curtain was used to cover the stove next to the bath pot. It had two functions. One was to reduce the heat dissipation rate of the water in the bath pot; the other was to cover the naked body.

A village takes turns taking a bath for more than 20 nights. The production team only arranges such a pot bath for the whole village once a year in winter.

It can be said that bathing is difficult, and it is because of this difficulty that He Yuzhu invented a magical bathing tool.

(End of this chapter)