Chapter 19 Three teahouses in Beihai

I have a special affection for Beihai, where memories of my childhood and teenage years are left.The vicissitudes of the world in the past forty years are fleeting, like some old photo negatives, I don't know if they can be printed out. There are three teahouses in Beihai, where you can look at the beauty of Beihai from different angles in different seasons and have different feelings. Entering Beihai from Chengguangmen, crossing Yong'an Bridge to the west, is Shuanghong Pavilion.Shuanghong Pavilion is five rooms wide and faces south. There is a plaque inscribed by Mr. Fu Yuanshu under the eaves in front of the door.

In March of Yangchun, or after the Qingming Festival, the teahouse of Shuanghong Pavilion has been moved from indoors to outdoors. In front of the white marble fence facing the water, a row of rattan tables and rattan chairs is placed, leaning against the shore for more than 50 meters. long.Every spring and autumn, Shuanghong Pavilion will place the teahouse in the open air. At this time, the sun is warm, or the golden breeze is cool, and it is neither cold nor hot. Drinking tea and taking a rest here can fully enjoy the breath of nature. The teahouses in Beijing in the old days were different from those in the south. No matter how many guests there were, it was still a pot of tea, and only a few more tea bowls were added according to the number of people.There are only two grades of tea leaves: five cents and ten cents. If you lose your taste, you can pour it out and make a new pot.Except for Sundays, the teahouses in Shuanghong Pavilion are never full. You can occupy a table and stay for a long time if you drink tea with two or three friends, share family happiness with your family, or read books and write articles alone. .The fruit dishes of Shuanghong Pavilion are the simplest. The four fruit dishes are always one dish of soy sauce melon seeds, one dish of pumpkin seeds, one dish of rose dates, and one dish of peanuts or sticky peanuts.People sitting here don't care about eating and drinking, they just want to rest.The sun is warm in spring, and the sky is high and crisp in autumn. To the south is the Golden Pincera Jade Bridge, to the east is the Cuiyuncuifang, and to the west is a piece of fresh green weeping willows, which is refreshing.

Shuanghong Pavilion is the preferred teahouse in Beihai in spring and autumn. In the scorching heat of long summer, the coolest teahouse in Beihai is the big mat shed in front of Fangshan on the north shore.From the 1950s to the early 1960s, Fangshan Restaurant was not located in the Yilan Hall at the northern end of today’s Qiongdao, but on the east side of the soil slope on the east side of the glazed archway of “Xumichun” and “Huazangjie” in front of the Temple of Heavenly Kings on the north bank. It is "Songpa Library".The scale of Fangshan Restaurant was small at that time, only a row of bungalows in the north, but the open space in front was very large, with a high mat shed in summer, which could accommodate 20 to 30 rattan tables and rattan chairs.When the sun is scorching in the afternoon, the place is shaded and cool, with wind blowing from all directions, so it is a refreshing place.Every hot summer afternoon, pick a rattan chair at the Fangshan teahouse and sit down at the table, and make a pot of good incense, the heat will disappear, and it will feel more natural than today's air conditioner.After sitting for a while, listening to the cicadas singing one after another in the trees on the bank, I felt a little sleepy, closed my eyes and fell asleep, and fell asleep.The weather in summer is changeable, sometimes the sky is low and dark, lightning flashes and thunder is heard, and there is a crackling sound on the mat above the head, followed by a heavy rain, and there are occasional rain leaks in the mat shed, so I hurriedly got up and moved the tables and chairs, and just settled down , the shower gradually subsided, it was just a false alarm.At this time, the breeze is blowing, and the sleepiness is gone. Please ask the tea room to brew a pot again, wash the cups and drink more, and enjoy the scenery of Chuji.On the opposite bank, Qiongdao is surrounded by green trees and white pagodas, reflecting a blue sky.Soon, the clouds cleared and the fog cleared in the west, and a rainbow appeared in the sky over the Wulong Pavilion after the rain.At this time, "Bi Wuqing" on the tree started clamoring again.

The Fangshan Tea House is not like the Shuanghong Pavilion. In addition to the regular fruit dishes, it can also be called dim sum imitating the imperial cuisine of the Qing Dynasty. The most common ones are pea yellow, kidney bean rolls and small steamed buns.These things can still be eaten in Yilantang and Daoningzhai’s Fangshan, but pea yellow has more starch than pea.Although the kidney bean rolls basically maintain the original quality, the small quantity is really just an embellishment.At that time, there was a dessert that is no longer seen today, that is kidney bean cake.Kidney bean cake is boiled kidney beans, which are peeled and ground finely. They are carved into small round cakes with a diameter of more than one inch in a patterned mold. There is no filling. They are placed on an eight-inch plate imitating the five colors of Qianlong. There is a small bowl in the middle of the plate. In the bowl is a marinade of rose honey.When eating, use chopsticks to pick up the kidney bean cake and dip it in the juice, then put it in your mouth. The juice is sweet and the cake is soft, and the fragrance of kidney beans and the fragrance of roses melt together.

When I was a child, I liked to go to the north bank of Fangshan with my grandmother. When the adults drank tea and chatted, I would go for a wild run on the hillside of Songpo Library, or I would run from the path next to Fangshan’s kitchen to Jiulongbi, and then follow the road from Chengguan Don ran back over there.But wait for the afternoon snack to sit on the wicker chair.Later, when I was a little older, I realized the comfort and leisure of sitting in a teahouse. At that time, the food of Fangshan was by no means as good as today's Yilantang, Bizhaolou, Daoningzhai, Yuanfan Pavilion and other places. It was as luxurious as the palace layout, but the dishes were honest and extremely Authentic, especially the several "chows" that imitate the Qing Dynasty, such as fried tenderloin, fried shrimp, and fried fish fillets.At that time, minced meat biscuits were also made very well. The minced meat biscuits sounded like the same thing to outsiders, but minced meat was minced meat, and biscuits were biscuits.Break open the biscuit with a knife, remove the dough in the middle, put the minced meat in and chew it. It is really a very popular food.This object was introduced into the palace from the folk, and was approved by the Queen Mother Lafayette.Later, it was introduced into the folk from the palace, and it became an imperial meal that could be imitated, and its value was naturally different.The sesame seed cakes have a slightly sweet taste, and the minced meat should be fried so that it is not too old or tender, dry and oil-free, and it is indeed not an ordinary sesame seed cake with minced meat.

Before the "Anti-Rightist Movement", Beihai held one or two activities such as the Hungry Ghost Festival Yulan Basin Festival and the release of lotus lanterns on July 15th, which was very lively.At dusk on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month in the lunar calendar, thousands of lotus lanterns in the Taiye Pool in Beihai were put into the water and drifted with the current.Lotus lanterns, also known as river lanterns, are made of colored paper. There is a hard holder underneath that is not afraid of flooding. Candles are inserted in the middle. After being lit, they are placed on the water and move slowly, shining like stars.I still clearly remember that the Guqin Society initiated by the people of Pu Xuezhai also came to make fun of it. They rented a big painting boat, arranged tables, chairs and refreshments, and played on the Taiye Pond. Around the ears, sending away the last afterglow of the setting sun.That day I was drinking tea and eating at the Fangshan Cafe, waiting for the night to fall.

It is mid-winter in Weiwei, the order is March 9th, and the North Sea is covered with ice and snow. At this time, if you want to sit in a teahouse in Beihai, there is only Lancui Xuan under the White Pagoda. Lancuixuan is the tallest building on Qionghua Island, sitting behind the White Pagoda and facing south.Although it is also five rooms wide, the scale is small and the depth of the room is also very narrow. It can accommodate a total of ten tea tables.The biggest advantage here is that there is a glass window in the north, and the view is extremely wide. Counting nine cold days, the north wind howled, bypassed the White Pagoda, and came to the gate of Lancuixuan.Opening the thick cotton curtain, a gust of hot air and a scent of tea rushed towards me.There is a tall coal stove in the room, which is burning vigorously.The house is not big, and you will feel warm in any corner.Picking a tea table by the window and sitting down, there is a feeling of revival all over the body, warming from the feet to the heart.When a pot of hot tea is delivered, first pour out a bowl, then lift the lid of the pot, then pour the tea in the bowl back into the pot and smash it, wait until the tea leaves lie down, pour out again, just right.Picking up the tea bowl and covering your hands, you can leisurely look at the scenery of the North Shore outside the window.

The North Sea in winter is gray and gloomy.In the distance, there is a layer of unmelted white snow on the frozen Taiye Pool.On the other side, Wulong Pavilion, Chanfu Temple, Chengguantang, Huazangjie and Jingxinzhai are clearly identifiable.Nearby are the Yilan Hall not far from the window, the Qingshuitong tile roof of Daoningzhai and the bare treetops.Looking to the east, without the shade of green trees, the immortal Chenglu pan can be seen clearly even in the biting cold wind.Due to the high terrain, the wind was particularly strong. The north wind rolled up dust and broken branches and leaves, and hit the glass of the window, making a burst of noise.

After refilling a pot of tea three times, after reading two or three chapters of a book, I can leave.Go down the mountain from the North Road and go straight to Yilan Hall.At that time, Fangshan from the North Shore had not yet moved to Yilantang, but Yilantang and Daoningzhai also sold rice. I can’t remember the flavor, but I remember selling Japanese-style sukiyaki upstairs every winter. Tofu, green spinach, tender chicken and fish fillets, dipped in raw eggs, taste very good.