On the 22nd, another hot summer day, Tian Dajie, a sanitation worker in Quanzhou West Street, Fujian, went straight to the “free tea” stand at the entrance of the old Guanyi Street, unscrewed the faucet of the half-meter-high stainless steel insulation bucket, and took a bottle of warm tea with a mineral water bottle.
Then she turned to talk to an older woman with a kind face. Come to the west street work for three years, sweeping tired of her city came here to rest.
Huang, the old man who talked with field elder sister, is the mistress of the “free tea” stall. He’s 68, of course, but he looks very energetic. Since the beginning of 1995, she and her 74-year-old husband Su Bo have been providing free tea to passers-by every year. For 17 years, the couple has served free tea to passers-by to quench their thirst.
“I get up at 5 o ‘clock every morning, first boil water, put tea cakes, tea leaves into the boil, cool and then put into the insulation bucket.” Mrs. Huang told the China News Service reporter that the tea stall every day from 8 a.m. to the evening, a day to burn four or five buckets of tea, enough to have 300 pounds.
Mrs. Huang and her wife’s tea stall is really simple: a simple and sincere sign on the book “Serve tea: free tea” a few smart characters, an insulation bucket on the iron shelf, a plastic basket with a few clean glass cups. Huang Grandma and his wife also prepared a basin filled with clean water, which was specially used to wash the teacup.
“I clean the street for more than 10 hours every day, hot and hard, every day to drink three or four bottles of water, and the general money is not enough, reluctant to buy mineral water.” After drinking a bottle of tea to relieve the summer heat, Aunt Tian wiped her lips with her hand, “If I buy water, it is too expensive, and it is very convenient to drink water here.
Like elder Sister Tian, the number of people who go to the tea stall to drink water is not more than a few, there are Grandpa who collects waste products, master Mo, and aunt who sells vegetables, neighbors across the neighborhood, passing passengers… Mrs. Huang stood aside, constantly reminding those who drink tea water to remember to close the faucet to prevent extravagant tea.
“A small hour, with my mother to go to relatives, thirsty in the mountains, suddenly saw the roadside with free tea stalls, drink other people’s tea I secretly determined to help others in the future.” In this way, Mrs. Huang and her wife maintained free tea for 17 years.
In recent years, Su Abreu body slowly not as strong as before, the foot was boiled water when pouring tea in the year before. Today, the work of brewing tea has fallen on Huang Grandma.
In the chat with reporters, Mrs. Huang opened the lid of the thermal insulation bucket to see how many, many, many teas remained, and then turned into a narrow room to continue to cook tea.
“My house was blown down by a typhoon in 2010. I’m rebuilding it. I’m looking for someone else to rent it.” Huang Grandma stirred the tea with a slotted spoon in her hand, and introduced herself to reporters. The reporter saw that the only few square meters of the room is very crowded, coal, steam pot, tea, tea cake and other tea tools are available.
Huang’s kindness has moved the Quanzhou public, with some people sometimes offering money to buy coal or tea to help the couple. In 2009, Suab became ill and was unable to serve tea, and many members of the public voluntarily returned to visit him. Moreover, under the leadership of Huang Grandma’s wife, there are more and more free tea places in the old city of Quanzhou, and there are at least five or six.
“The money used to buy coal and tea every month is about 300 yuan of national currency, and we have no income source, but the master is very supportive.” Mrs. Huang is very grateful to all the people who support the tea stall, she told reporters that their free tea stall will keep doing, “In the future I did not prepare to do, will let the children continue to do.”
