Lao She has the habit of writing while drinking tea. According to Hu Peng Shengqing, Lao She's wife, whether in Beibei, Chongqing or Beijing, Lao She's habit of drinking tea while writing has never changed. Writing and drinking tea have become a lifestyle that Mr. Lao She can't live without. Tea has a close relationship with literati, and tea seems to be born for literati. Tea helps literati's poems to stimulate their thinking and has a special effect of inspiring thinking. As an art and beauty, drinking tea has provided a good environment for literati's creation since ancient times.
Tea has played a wonderful role in Lao She's literary creation. Mr Lao She always carries tea with him when he goes abroad or experiences life. According to Yu Shizhi, a famous artist who played Wang Lifa in Teahouse, when Teahouse was performed abroad, he thought more about tea. He can't drink hot tea, so he feels that no liquid can quench his thirst. At this time, it reminds him of what Mr. Lao She said to them before his death: "Take a thermos bottle when you go abroad. Before going out in the morning, put the tea away and soak it in a thermos. " When Teahouse was really going to perform abroad, they forgot what Mr. Lao She said. No one brought a thermos bottle, so they couldn't stand shouting for tea.
Mr. Lao She's daily life is inseparable from tea. Once he went to Moscow for a meeting, the Soviets knew that Mr. Lao She loved tea, but specially prepared a thermos cup for him. However, Mr. Lao She has just made a cup of tea and hasn't taken a few sips yet. As soon as he turned around, the waiter fell off, which made Mr. Lao She look very angry and said, "He doesn't know that people in China drink tea very late every day!" No wonder you drink tea from morning till night, maybe only in China. West Renye Fang people like to drink tea, but they talk about "meals" and have a sense of time, such as morning tea, morning tea, afternoon tea and evening tea. The waiter in Moscow Hotel saw the half cup of tea left there, and thought that Mr. Lao She didn't want to stay, so he dumped it. This is a misunderstanding and a collision between Chinese and western tea cultures.
In the old days, "old Beijing" loved tea, and drinking tea in the morning was their traditional way of life. They must "finish" their tea, and the day will be comfortable and full of energy. Beijing people's favorite drink is scented tea, "except scented tea, it is not tea." They think that only scented tea is tea. Many people in Beijing actually call jasmine "camellia". As an "old Beijing", Mr. Lao She is no exception. He also loves to drink scented tea, and he also brings his own top scented tea. Wang Zengqi said in his essay "Ordinary Tea Talk": "I don't like scented tea very much, but good scented tea is an exception, such as the scented tea in Mr. Lao She's house." Although Mr. Lao She likes to drink scented tea, he does not blindly like "old Beijing". He likes the top grade of tea, whether it is green tea, black tea or other teas, he likes to taste and tolerate. Famous teas from all over China, such as West Lake Longjing, Huangshan Mao Feng, Qimen Black Tea and Chongqing Luancha, are all tasted. Tea addiction, a drug addict in tea, changes three times a day and holds a pot in the morning, noon and evening. He also has the habit of drinking strong tea. In his autobiographical novel Under the Red Flag, he wrote that his family was poor. On his "full moon" day, he can't afford to buy full moon wine, so he can only wait for guests with "green tea". "Tea powder brewed in a small sand pot is always placed next to the stove to keep warm. Tea is very strong and sometimes a little fragrant. " Mr. Lao She later liked to drink strong tea, which may have some family relations. Of course, drinking strong tea is easy to cheer up and stimulate creative inspiration. China people like tea, while westerners like coffee. There is a Balzac in the world literary world who writes with a pen while drinking coffee, similar to Mr. Lao She who writes while drinking tea. Stimulated by tea and coffee, each of them has the same inspiration as an electric stove. His ingenious pen created a series of world literary masterpieces.
During the Anti-Japanese War, when Lao She lived in Chongqing, he once proposed to give up tea in an essay, which was by no means his original intention. "Whether I like it or not, the recent increase in tea prices has given me goose bumps." Looking back at the capital under the rule of the Kuomintang, even a great writer like Lao She could not afford to drink tea because of soaring prices, and even angrily proposed "giving up tea" to protest. Whew, Chata is expensive, which is even more difficult than eating. Just like Mr. Lao She, a scholar who loves and praises tea, he loves the content of tea, hates the price of tea, and loves and hates it.
Lao She is hospitable and likes to make friends. When he moved to Yunnan, a friend came to a party and invited a guest to dinner. He had no money, so he baked several pots of local tea, drank tea around a charcoal basin, and had a "cold night guest to drink tea" to chat. This is a real literati style! Lao She and Bing Xin have a profound friendship. Lao She often goes to his house. Every time he visited Bing Xin's house, he asked loudly as soon as he entered the door, "The guests are here. Is the tea ready? " Bing Xin never failed to live up to Lao She's tea, and entertained Lao She with jasmine scented chips rich in his hometown of Fujian. The thick fragrance of flowers made Lao She smell and taste good. They have a deep love for tea and a deep friendship with each other. Lao She later wrote a song "Seven Laws Give Bingxin Couples". The first couplet at the beginning is "Middle-aged people like to go to their old homes, sweat hard and ask for good tea." I miss the tea friendship they forged in Chongqing during War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's hard years. After returning to Beijing, every time Lao She went out to see his favorite tea, he always brought some back to Beijing to distribute to Bing Xin and his friends.