Chapter 21 Talk about cigarettes, tea, and wine

"Three Questions in Leisure" written by Mr. Zhang Tuowu in Issue 314 of "Crown" (Ninety-six Issue of Southeast Asia Edition) talked about tobacco, tea and wine.These three necessities of life have all been with me for nearly a sixty years.Now, although some of the three have become gentlemen's friends to me, they are as indifferent as they are, but when they mention the past, they are still mellow and fond of talking about it. Since I was a child, I have always been disgusted by people who are addicted to cigarettes and covered in smoke when they walk up to them.I have never envied the complacent attitude of some students who puffed out clouds and mist in their hands.I left school and went to work in Wuhan. Just after 20 years of floods in Wuhan, epidemics were rampant. I either caught a cold or had diarrhea. Anyway, I was a part of any epidemic in the market.A friend of the author, Dr. Liu Xuezhen, M.D., is a well-known doctor in Hankou. He examined me carefully. It turned out that my internal organs were very weak and could not withstand any external evils. I completely lost my resistance. So respond to injections and medicine.The medicine he gave me was a pound of brown powder, and he gave me a triple B pipe for me to smoke after every meal.Wait until the pound of medicine powder is finished, and then go to get the medicine. He said that you don't need to use medicine anymore, just buy a pound of Jinniu shredded tobacco with the lightest smell to smoke, and you will naturally be immune to evil in the future.Sure enough, since he took up a pipe and became an addict, he really didn't suffer from any ailments.

My job used to be in the collection business of wheat flour, cement, and matches. Because I learned to smoke and was able to try smoking, I changed to the collection business related to cigarettes, cigars, shredded tobacco, and tobacco. I naturally smoked again for business needs. Lit on the cigar.There are many types of cigars, which can be roughly divided into three categories: Holland is light, Havana is moderate, and Luzon is strong.No matter how mellow and light the cigar is, it is much stronger and thicker than cigarettes.The more proficient you are at work, the more you smoke.Not long after, my superiors called me to evaluate the quality of cigarettes and approve tax levels.This job of reviewing reviews is very arduous. For colleagues who are responsible for reviewing reviews, each desk is full of mouthwashes such as Oudu and Li Shidelin. If you try to smoke a new brand of cigarettes, you have to rinse with the water for a whole day. Try another brand.Although I don't smoke cigarettes, in order to meet the needs of my work, I have to do what I can.So my smoking history started with pipes, followed by cigars, and lastly I smoked cigarettes. From strong to weak, it is conceivable that I have a great addiction.

When I first came to Taiwan, I was still doing cigarette making work related to my old business.Cigarettes were produced in the province at that time, the ordinary Banana brand, and the better one was Red Paradise.Banana cigarettes are influenced by the Japanese tobacco-making system. They have a strong low-grade powdery smell, which is not only unpleasant, but also pungent; although the smell of Hongyuan is a bit bland, the packaging design is helpless. Red on the top and blue on the bottom, it seems to be wearing a red padded jacket and blue The village girl in cotton trousers is extremely vulgar.At that time, Taiwan-Shanghai shipping was still booming, so Shanghai-made products and imported foreign cigarettes came across the sea one after another, and they were dumped. Fortunately, Taiwan launched new brands of cigarettes, Xinyuan and Green Island, to cooperate with the trade show.Green Island is a menthol cigarette, which is only wrapped in cellophane for aesthetics. The cigarette sticks are not wrapped in tin foil, which is prone to odor and mildew. It failed to open up sales, and finally stopped production.Although the new paradise bag is not beautiful, it is packed in tin foil, and the smoke is mellow, which is suitable for the appetite of addicts.Even at that time, Ren Xianqun, the Minister of Finance, did not smoke foreign cigarettes and only smoked Xinyuan, and asked me personally whether there was morphine in the raw materials of Xinyuan, and why he smoked other cigarettes after getting used to Xinyuan. ?Later, we obtained a batch of Guangdong Nanxiong tobacco leaves, so we considered the formula and produced Xiaohuaguang.At that time, the Air Force had a brand of 814 cigarettes. Following the Navy's request, the bureau released an American cigarette, Da Hua Guang, whose packaging design all imitated the blue tin bag.As soon as the new product was launched, it was mistaken for imported cigarettes by Mr. Yin Zhongrong, then chairman of the Industrial Committee.Later, they researched and developed the Double Happiness brand to supply and sell in the market. Originally, they only planned to produce 10,000 sticks in 80 boxes per month. Later, due to panic buying, a black market occurred, and the monthly production was increased to 20,000 boxes, but the supply still exceeded demand.In order to strengthen quality control, there was no machine packaging at that time, and it was completely hand-packed and feared that the wrong brand would be packaged, so I had to test and check batch by batch, which almost made my tongue numb.There was an important meeting between China and Japan in Taipei, and the PAECE spleen cigarettes brought out by the Japanese side were packed in 50 paper packs, although the 20 sticks of paper-packed Double Happiness we provided at the meeting place were very popular among the Japanese participants. But I always feel that I am in charge of the cigarette manufacturing in the whole province at such a grand event full of toasts, and I am sincerely ashamed that I can't bring out canned cigarettes to entertain the guests.After successfully researching and marketing 50 sticks of canned Baodao cigarettes, I retreated from my job and switched to tobacco farming.Since it has nothing to do with smoking, pipes, cigars, and cigarettes are still in the mouth, and they smoke all day long.In 1968, the duodenal hemorrhage was massive. After the operation, he resolutely insulated from smoking. He gave away the pipe and cigars together. He has quit smoking for more than ten years and has never touched his lips with any tobacco.

Mr. Lin Yutang, a former smoker friend, told me that someone who can stop smoking immediately is called a ninja, and he would never make such a friend.Fortunately, I was in Pingtung when I quit smoking, and he lived in Taipei, so we didn’t meet each other. He would drive back to Daoshan in two years. Otherwise, he would know that I had no hesitation and quit smoking brazenly. Wouldn’t I lose a fellow pipe smoker who is also humorous? Are you friends?Since I stopped smoking, I have never been tempted by someone smoking expensive cigarettes on any occasion, even though the room is full of smoke, but occasionally I smell the top-quality shredded tobacco and premium cigars, and my quiet ancient well also has some slight ripples.I think it's my innate inferiority that is making trouble in my heart again!

When it comes to tea, I consider myself an idiot who said in "Ming Ji" written by Tu Bensong of the Ming Dynasty that it can be consumed by one inhalation.Since I tied my hair and taught books, I despised boiled water and didn't drink it.Every morning, the teacher would give me a cup of incense tablets from the book boy, and he would use another small teapot to make a pot for me.By the time the raw book is finished, the tea leaves will start to smell, and if it is not cold or hot, you can drink it up in one gulp, so you have developed the habit of drinking strong tea. It is impossible to verify exactly when Xiangpian tea came out, but judging from the description of tea making methods in the tea book "Qun Fang Pu" written by Wang Xiangjin of the Ming Dynasty, there was already Xiang Pian tea in the Ming Dynasty.He said: "Kapok, jasmine, rose, rose, cymbidium, lotus orange, gardenia, woody fragrance, and cotton can all be made into tea. When all the flowers bloom, pick half of the flowers and put the pistils in full fragrance, and measure the tea leaves. How much, use flowers as tea, stop tea three times, stop flowers once, use porcelain pots, one layer of tea, one layer of flowers, alternate to full, tie the paper tightly, boil it in a pot of soup, take it out when it is cold, and seal it with paper Wrap it, dry it on the fire and use it.” Isn’t this ancient method similar to the modern method?

Because I love to drink xiangpian, all friends from the south and the north, I treat them with xiangpian.When I visit relatives and friends in the south, I always give the fragrant tea from Peiping as a gift.Infected by me, there are many friends in the south who drink green tea and black tea instead of fragrant tablets.Fragrant pieces are smoked tea, also known as scented tea, which means soaked with flowers and then smoked?Back then, tea shops in Beiping paid attention to the amount of copper dollars per pack of fragrant sliced ​​tea, and each pack was enough to brew a pot.The packaging paper is printed with jasmine double-scented mahogany stamps. When you go to the theater to listen to an opera, any customer who does not hesitate to tip, the teahouse will make you a good tea, and you must tie the packaging paper on the spout of the teapot to show that you have special good tea. , I have to talk about a few more small rewards.

According to "Qunfangpu", there are more than 20 kinds of scented teas, and only three or five kinds of scented teas exist now.The smoked jasmine tea in Peking is particularly delicious, but it is not right to drink the local jasmine tea in Shanghai.In Shanghai, the pearl orchids are smoked better. In Suzhou, we drink Daidai scented tea, and in Fuzhou, we drink narcissus scented tea. This is the best tea, which probably has a lot to do with the origin of the flowers.In the north, almost all scented teas are jasmine slices, but according to ancient records: "Jasmine originally came from Persia and was transplanted to the South China Sea. People in Yunnan and Guangxi like to plant it. The flower nature is chilly, so it is not suitable for middle soil..." I once asked a person The shopkeeper who manages the flower factory, according to him: "There are many varieties of jasmine, with different advantages and disadvantages. A master tea maker can know it by hearing and seeing. All the jasmine used in the smoked tea of ​​the Peking Tea Shop is made by their own gardeners (they are called Bashi). Fengtai’s greenhouses cultivated in insufficient quantities, so they were mixed with some Luoyang jasmine at the beginning of scenting. Tea drinkers who know how to drink tea can tell that the tea is not authentic as soon as the tea is in their mouths, so the tea shop is not a last resort. Even Chu Xun refuses to use Luoyang Jasmine."

Once upon a time in Guanghe Building, when I was listening to Fulian Cheng's class, there was an old shriveled and thin monkey tea seller who carried an old earthen pot and covered his head with a cotton cloth cover with hundreds of holes.Almost at the end of Zhongzhuo Wuxi, he staggered over and poured you a cup of hot fragrant tea from the pot.This cup of tea has a suitable concentration of light and sweet, and the taste is pleasant. Drinking it is really as comfortable as drinking nectar.When Dazhuozi sang halfway, he came to serve tea again, still hot and hot, and pulled out a piece of yellow paper, which he copied from the wooden card backstage for the next day's play.At that time, the play newspaper only wrote "Auspicious New Play". If you want to know which play will be sung in which corner tomorrow, you have to see it first, all thanks to his yellow tea leaf paper!After watching the playlist, he will be satisfied and thank you for paying a dime or two.Maybe I was young at that time, but I still feel that the bitter old man's fragrant tea is the most enjoyable.

After Xuantong left the palace, the Forbidden City Clean-up and Rehabilitation Committee once sold a batch of surplus materials at Shenwumen, including a large number of Yunnan Pu'er tea for sale.My great-grandmother said that the ancient Pu-erh tea, which is more than a hundred years old, can digest water, cure colds, and dispel rheumatism.After eating barbecue in winter, I sometimes feel full in the chest and diaphragm. Brewing a pot of Pu’er tea and drinking two cups of it will be more effective than eating soda tablets and strong stomach powder! When I came to Taiwan, I only had Wenshan tea at first. There are many, and the proportion of export volume is very high, so the manufacture of scented tea has been carefully studied, and it has made great progress compared with before.When oolong tea suddenly disappeared in recent years, the top-quality frozen top oolong sold for tens of thousands of yuan per catty, which is simply shocking. In fact, it is just another species transplanted from Wuyi, Fujian.Recently, Professor Liu Rongbiao of National Taiwan University has researched that tea can inhibit the spread of cancer cells, and the effect of oolong tea is particularly remarkable. The sales of oolong tea may increase in the future.I have a friend who is an expert in making oolong tea. He couldn't finish talking about the history of oolong tea for several days.Let me drink oolong for a little taste, but after drinking for a long time, I will feel unsatisfied. I still feel refreshed after drinking a few cups of Xiaoyexiang tablets.As for drinking kung fu tea and talking about the tea ceremony, those are the elegant affairs of literati.

I have had an indissoluble bond with wine since I was a child. When I was babbling, the adults dipped the tip of their chopsticks in some sorghum wine and asked me to sip it.The grandmother was good at making Cantonese chicken wine, saying that it can nourish Qi and invigorate the middle, and children can strengthen their muscles and bones.I started school from Shufa, and whenever I made chicken wine, my share was always indispensable.Your Majesty died long ago, and I was going to set up a family at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and deal with the outside world?With the staggering of toasts and cups, the natural alcohol capacity gradually increased, and it seemed that it was hard to find three or a few catties of yellow rice wine.

One of the famous wine connoisseurs in Peking is Mr. Fu Mengyan, who was a former secretary of the Qingdu branch. He had no other hobbies in his life, so he had to collect good wine.The most precious wine in his family's cellar is a 75-jin jar of Chen Shao. It is said that during the Taichang period of the Ming Dynasty, Shaoxing Mansion presented a special tribute wine for the imperial use.It is said that the wine becomes mash, the amber congeals, and the yellow cong resembles jade.One tablespoon of this kind of wine paste should be made first, put in the big wine sea, and brewed with Chen Shao for 20 years.Do not use iron utensils, stir it as much as possible with a bamboo knife, knock off the foam that floats on it completely, add ten catties of new wine, and you can drink to your heart's content.If the concentration is too high, after drinking, you can be intoxicated for several days without waking up!The annual wine tasting party in his family increased from one table to three tables, and the good wine spread far and near.At that time, Yang Yinhua, director of the Municipal Finance Bureau, was also a fledgling drinker, and encouraged me to attend Menglao's reception with him.There are rules for wine at the reception, and the people at the meeting will drink the Chen Shao prepared by the host first, and then join the crowd to the table.This toast can only hold about one catty of wine. At that time, both of us had a drinking capacity of more than three catties. We toasted together, like a long whale sucking up hundreds of rivers in one gulp, and then sat down.Unexpectedly, after the first course was finished, we fell asleep and slipped to the table one after another when the second course was served. Fortunately, we didn't return the table on the spot.It was only later that we found out that in our first cup of wine, there was a small wine cup forty years old, which shows how easy it is to get drunk with old wine. After that drunkenness, my drinking became even stronger, and it happened that my cousin Wang Yunxiang was also interested in wine.One day he suddenly became interested and came up with a wonderful way to drink.There are many restaurants on West Chang'an Street in Beiping, Xiao Nian, and there are more than a dozen restaurants that use the word "Chun" as a recruiter. So he invited two drinking buddies, and each of them took an acquaintance rickshaw at the door. From the beginning, there will be people every spring, and each person will carve half a catty of flowers, only order one appetizer, and leave after eating.Then Xihuchun, Daluchun, Xinluchun, Chunyuan, Xuannanchun, Qinglinchun... all the way to the Meihuachunxi restaurant on Fuyou Street: Huadiao is there as soon as you enter the door, and Lao Wang, the waiter No. 1, will see everyone Walking and walking, drunk and blindfolded, the alcohol was already strong, and he opened two bottles of beer.After drinking and going out, the beer overflowed, and when the wind blew, it was really like a car, and the wine was poured out one after another.The next day my uncle, Wang Songru, found out that he wrote a poem titled "Drunk in Chang'an's Ten Families of Spring", using a potter's wheel style, and punished Yun Xiang and me to compose four regulated poems each.Although I don't remember the poem, but after this lesson, I never dare to drink too much and lose face. At the beginning of the liberation, when we first arrived in Taiwan, there were many types of wine produced by the winery, such as Taibai, Honglu, rice wine, and orange wine. They either had a strange smell, or the aroma was too strong. The only drinks we could drink were sake and beer. .There is no good wine or wine that suits your taste, so all social occasions are just tasted.Later, when Huadiao came out, Zhang Runsheng, the director of the Puli winery, wanted to bet on wine with me. Each person had to drink a 0.6kg bottle of Huadiao. He didn’t know that he had found the wrong person until I drank two bowls of old wine. Not to be insulted.Since my duodenal operation, cigarettes are of course strong and clear, and wine is also a toast. The so-called cigarettes, tea, and wine are the three necessities of life. , only tea, which still maintains the style of the former sage Wang Su and Liu Jin, and it is always fun to drink some top-quality fragrant tea.