CHAPTER 5 Taking a Shower in the Hotel
After receiving 1,100 pennies, Marin immediately found an inn and checked in. He hadn't slept in a bed for two days and was feeling quite uncomfortable.
However, the inns in Bonn were quite expensive, with a single room costing 10 pennies per night. In small-town inns, a night would only cost one or two pennies.
But the price was worth it. At least, unlike the filthy small-town inns. In those days, there were no mandatory hygiene regulations, so cheap inns were usually dirty, messy, and had a strong odor. Even the blankets often smelled bad (according to the memories of the former Marin Hoffman from staying in rural inns). But this inn in Bonn, though not as clean as modern inns, at least didn't have any strange odors. It seemed the owner paid attention to cleanliness.
After handing over his dim-witted warhorse, Karl, to the doorman to be led to the stables in the backyard, Marin asked the innkeeper for a large oak tub and several basins of hot water—it was clear that Marin wanted to take a bath.
Although it was early spring, and a bath every few days would suffice, Marin was terrified by the memory of the former Marin, who was a devout Catholic. Due to the teachings of some unscrupulous bishops, many believers thought that bathing could cause illness. As a result, many Catholics went without bathing for years. For instance, the famous Sun King, Louis XIV, bathed only seven times during his 72-year reign. His mistress even fainted in bed from his stench...
Alright, that's just a jab at the Sun King. In this era, people in high positions, especially kings and dukes, were most afraid of death. And some foolish bishops preached that bathing would make people sick and die, so those who feared death refrained from bathing. But families like the Hoffmans, who were always ready to face death as knights, were not so afraid. Yet, due to religious beliefs, they also bathed very rarely—only a few times a year. According to the previous Marin's memory, the Hoffman family typically bathed more frequently in the summer and fall, because in summer, knight training made them sweat a lot, and in fall, the hard work of harvesting rye made them sweat, too. But in other seasons, with Europe's cool climate, the Hoffman family bathed less often.
For example, it was already late March, and Marin "remembered" that his body had last bathed just before Christmas...
"My God, I haven't even noticed my stench these past two days!" Marin was shocked...
But this wasn't surprising. In the past two days since Marin had crossed over, he'd been too busy thinking about how to survive to care about hygiene. Moreover, it's usually hard to notice one's odor unless it's overwhelming...
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Marin waited for the inn's servant to bring the large oak tub and hot water. Then, Marin began soaking in the tub in his room...
This inn was run by Jews. Jews didn't believe in Catholicism, and many of them traveled between Europe and the Middle East, gaining a lot of experience. In the Middle East, especially in Turkey, bathing was very popular—Turkish baths were famous. So, Jewish-run inns were generally cleaner than local inns and provided hot water for bathing. Of course, the crafty Jews charged a bit more for this service.
As he got into the large oak tub, Marin realized he didn't have any soap (in fact, soap was available in Europe at that time, but it was expensive—10 pennies per bar, which only nobles and wealthy people could afford). So, Marin had to use his hands to scrub off the dirt. To his dismay, he rubbed off a thick layer of grime...
Young people have a high metabolism, and after more than three months without bathing, the grime was thick, almost like an extra layer of skin. Thankfully, Marin took a timely bath, leaving him feeling refreshed and lighter, as if he'd shed a few pounds...
But after the bath, Marin encountered another problem—he didn't have any clean clothes to change into...
This was understandable, though, as medieval Europeans were generally quite dirty, and the previous owner of this body was just a 16-year-old boy with little self-care ability. His bundle of clothes only contained a few dirty, worn-out garments...
With no other option, Marin put on the cleanest set he could find and left the inn. Following the innkeeper's directions, he headed to a tailor's shop...
Clearly, Marin wanted to buy clothes. But the price of ready-made clothes shocked him—a simple linen outfit cost 15 pennies, and woolen ones were even more expensive, starting at 30 pennies. Considering that in those days, a common laborer earned just 2 pennies a day, and a craftsman 3 pennies, 15 pennies equaled about seven and a half days' wages for a strong man.
Fortunately, Marin had made enough money from the large stag he'd caught earlier, or he wouldn't have been able to afford even one set of clothes. Originally planning to buy several sets of clothes for changing, Marin only bought two linen sets.
Back at the inn, Marin considered throwing away the dirty, worn-out clothes in his bundle, but then he silently picked up a wooden basin and went to the well to wash them...
At dinner, Marin spent 6 pennies on a piece of black bread and a roast goose, feasting to his heart's content. However, the Europeans' lack of culinary skills meant that the roast goose had little flavor, only salt...
This wasn't surprising, though. The Age of Exploration had just begun, and Europeans hadn't yet taken control of the spice-producing regions of Southeast Asia. So, spices in Europe were as precious as gold and very rare. Usually, only nobles and the wealthy could afford to season their meat with ginger, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. For ordinary people, even salt was a luxury. It was said that in Russia, which followed the Eastern Orthodox Church, the highest honor in hosting a guest was to serve white bread made from wheat and salt...
As he ate the bland roast goose, Marin's mind began to wander—if he could use his basic Chinese cooking skills to open a Chinese restaurant in Europe during this era, wouldn't he make a fortune... Marin fell into a daydream...
But soon he snapped out of it. This era wasn't a time of law and order. Sure, his Chinese cooking skills might make his business thrive in the short term, with Europeans licking their plates clean. But his culinary secrets would undoubtedly attract envy, and he would struggle to protect himself.
The reasoning was simple: the Middle Ages were dominated by nobles. In this era, nobles ruled everything, and commoners' lives were worth little. If Marin possessed the secret to great cuisine but lacked status, any noble could send men to capture him, torture him for the "secret recipe," and then, to monopolize the market, the noble might restrict Marin's freedom or even kill him...
Having watched many episodes of "Beyond the Realm of Conscience" and "Empresses in the Palace, The Legend of Zhen Huan" Marin shuddered at the thought—how terrifying...
"In the end, if you want to survive in the Middle Ages, you need to have noble status!" Marin sighed, stuffing the remaining goose into his mouth before retiring to his room, deep in thought...