Economic Observer reporter Liu Sixuan

The Northeast Bathhouse is a magical place.

There is no AI or embodied intelligence here, and hot topics in society are isolated from the mist.

In the small compartment next to the changing room, the bathing technician who was resting was swiping his phone when the sound of the AI short play interrupted just two seconds after it started. The technician said that this thing looks the same and is not interesting, so he slid his finger and started browsing the local blogger's store sharing.

Here, people also have no names. All the labels and clothes that people acquire in society are left in the dressing room, leaving only the simplest distinction of gender, age, and youth.

You can freely share your thoughts, and there will always be someone who will pick up the conversation and give you comfort and advice. These conversations are absolutely safe. When you step out of the bathhouse, no one can be sure that the person standing naked and talking inside just now is you.

Rub

For Northeasterners, the importance of scrubbing in the entire bathing process is comparable to that of crab roe to hairy crabs.

Rubbing is not an independent action. To achieve transparency, you need to prepare in advance: bring a pair of bath towels with the most suitable roughness from home, shout loudly "arrange a bath" when entering, carefully select from various services such as regular, milk, vinegar, and red wine rubbing, and judge whether to soak in a pool or wooden bucket first based on the skin condition.

Northeasterners have a quick temper and enjoy cooking in one pot. They are willing to complete tasks at once, but they are not hesitant when it comes to bathing. Before lying down on the washbasin, it's best not to do anything except soak. Shampoo and shower gel can make the skin slippery and affect the technician's performance.

Hot water is a natural cleaning product that can soften dirt and purify the mind. Whether it's the coal dust and rock dust underground decades ago, or the soreness and fatigue caused by sitting for long periods while typing keyboards now, they can all be washed away by hot water.

After soaking for a long time, my head becomes empty, as if I have returned to the years before evolving into an adult and swinging flagella in the ocean. All the projects that cannot be pushed forward and the relationships that cannot be made have been removed from the atmosphere.

Experienced technicians will invite you at this time: Is it almost time to soak? Once soaked, just rub it!

Spread out the plastic film, pour a basin full of hot water with a loud splash, and flatten it with the upside down opening of the basin. You first hand over the scrubbing towel, lie down on the bed in a daze, and then hand over all the body that you have taken good care of in your daily life.

The technician took the shower towel and body, abstracting you into an object with four sides during leisure time and two sides during busy time. He rounded his arm and rubbed every inch of the skin, like a craftsman carving a work. Slightly different from craftsmen, technicians will have a dialogue with the "work" during the creative process: Is it okay? With a loud creaking sound.

More than a decade ago, there were many young people in their thirties working in bathhouses. Time has passed, and they are now in their fifties. They have seen countless birthmarks, tattoos, and knife wounds, watched countless children grow up and disappear from this city, and also watched the backs of the elderly become increasingly bent and never appear again.

Chat

Chatting in the bathhouse is always real-time. A group of strangers stood facing each other, and when someone suddenly mentioned something, everyone began to discuss it in a flurry of words.

Young people speak a youthful language. GPA, recommendation for postgraduate studies, overseas universities, big companies, peers, "+1+2"... Older people cannot understand, it is a world they have never been to. They only knew that their children were being mistreated outside and their lives were not easy, so they surrounded them and kept coaxing, 'Our children are so good, don't listen to their nonsense!'!

Middle aged people also have their own language. A vegetable market promotion, homemade flowers and plants, a child buying a garage, or someone with a particularly "strange temper" one day... Ask one more question, and the speaker will talk endlessly, spreading the story from beginning to end, with ups and downs like storytelling; A new face intervened midway, and the story was told again until everyone in the bathhouse understood the ins and outs.

In the bathhouse, trust does not require conditions. With two pairs of eyes, a relationship is established, and you can freely confide or offer advice without any burden. This trust cannot be taken away either. No one takes out their phone, adds contact information, makes plans to meet again, or even says goodbye to parting ways. They put on their clothes, turn around, and the relationship ends. Strangers return to their unfamiliar lives.

As I walked out of the bathhouse, the cold wind blew, and car lights and noise collided head-on. AI generated advertising images were posted all over the bus stop.

Look down at your phone and notify each other. Algorithms guess what you like, work draws a pie for you, and the ever-changing world outside the mountains and seas crawls over the network cable calling out your name. You don't click on any of them, turn off the screen, and put your phone back in your pocket.

Perhaps AI will eventually replace everything, you can't help but think, unfortunately, AI can't go to Northeast China to take a big shower.

(Author Liu Sixuan)