Emerald green leaves, fluttering in the summer breeze, swaying vines, struggling in the hot sun. Looking back, that childhood summer, that young boy, that kind old man, and the box with the secret.
In the summer when the boys were in the third grade of elementary school, the school had a sericulture boom, and there were often vendors at the school gate. When school was over, groups of elementary school students gathered around the vendors, staring intently at the silkworms as white as jade in the bamboo baskets on the ground.
The school bell sounded crisply over the playground, and the boy walked out of the school gate as usual, carrying a school bag and his classmates. A few of them did not go home directly, but like other students, they surrounded the vendors and stared at the silkworms in the bamboo basket.
The boy bought 2 silkworm babies
The first time the boy saw a living silkworm, he had seen it in textbooks before, and he excitedly wanted to reach out and touch it, but he was afraid of being bitten. Until the vendor told them that the silkworm would not bite, the boy plucked up the courage and gently touched the body of the white silkworm baby with his index finger.
The onlookers constantly asked questions with the vendors, including the price of silkworms. The boy also wanted to raise silkworms, but after touching his pocket, he did not speak, but turned and ran home.
The boy was brought up by his grandparents, his parents worked outside the home for many years, the boy knew that the family was poor, and from an early age he was very sensible to share the housework for his grandparents. In his mind, there was no concept of money, because he never bought snacks, and any food and clothing was bought by grandparents.
The boy who bought the silkworm observed every day
The boy ran home breathlessly, saw Grandma cooking, and said breathlessly, "Grandma, I want a dollar." Grandma touched her pocket, took out a wrinkled dollar and gave it to the boy, saying, "Wait until you have dinner, don't run around." The boy answered and ran out of the house and towards school.
Seeing that the vendor and his classmates were still there, the boy walked over with confidence, took out the piece of money, and handed it to the vendor. The vendor put two silkworms and some mulberry leaves in a bag, handed them to the boy, and gave them simple instructions.
Watch the silkworms eat mulberry leaves
The boy happily carried the small bag home, then found the carton for the shoes, punched a few holes in the box, and poured silkworms and mulberry leaves into the carton. The boy looked carefully at the silkworms in the carton, and from time to time touched them with his hands, feeling as cold as touching jelly.
The boy suddenly thought of something, got up and went to the kitchen, and asked Grandma where there were mulberry trees. Grandma said that after dinner, she would take him to see if the mulberry tree was still there.
The boy climbed the tree to pick mulberry leaves
After the meal, the boy quickly took his grandmother's hand and went out with the bag to find the mulberry tree. They walked a long way and finally found a mulberry tree by the river. This mulberry tree is tall, with lush foliage and mulberries on it.
The boy climbed the mulberry tree happily, leaving Grandma to shout nervously. After a while of kung fu, the boy picked a bag of mulberry leaves, and some mulberries, and jumped off the tree. Then bounce home with Grandma.
Silkworms began to spit silk into cocoons
Watching the silkworm grow up day by day, the boy ran to open the box every day after class, stared at the silkworm in the box, and greedily nibbled on the leaf along the edge of the leaf. Time passed quickly, the silkworms began not to eat the leaves, and the boy thought they were sick and was anxious to ask Grandma. Grandma told him not to worry, the silkworm was ready to spit silk cocoon.
The boy was curious, but the next day he saw two silkworms start spitting silk and wrapping themselves in silk. A week passed, and the two white cocoons stayed quietly in the box, and the boy still stared at the box every day, dumbfounded.
2 silkworm moths are tightly linked
One day when he came home from school, the boy still hurried to open the box, and found that there were two more moths in the box, one very fat and one very thin. The white cocoon had an extra hole, and there was still yellow liquid at the mouth of the hole, and the boy carefully touched the moth that broke through the cocoon with his hand and found that there was some powder on his hand.
The boy was still observing curiously, the bodies of the two moths joined together, and the boy seemed to understand that he wanted to separate them, but they were very closely connected, like conjoined babies. Grandma saw it and told the boy that they were ready to give birth to silkworm babies.
The next day, the fatter moth became fatter, and the thinner moth began to brush its eyebrows with its slender feet. The boy saw the fat moth begin to move its body slowly, leaving behind round, light yellow eggs, the size of sand.
Eggs laid by silkworm moths
After a few days, two moths died one after another, leaving behind rows of eggs and two punctured cocoons. Grandma told the boys that the eggs would hatch more silkworms next year.
Mulberries produce mulberries
After some time, autumn came, and the boy still went to see the box every day after school, watching the eggs turn purple and finally turn black. On a day of thunder and rain, the boy habitually opened the box, when he found that there were several small black worms moving next to the eggs, and the eggs became transparent.
The eggs in the boy's box gave birth to silkworms again
The boy hurriedly called out to Grandma, who said that it hatched so quickly, and it seemed that it was two seasons of silkworms. The boy was very happy, ran out of the house, and ran alone to the mulberry tree by the river, at this time the mulberry tree still had leaves, but there were no more delicate new leaves, and there were no mulberries.
The boy carefully selected the thin mulberry leaves to pick, and then ran home with great interest. In his little world, he began to take care of these little lives selflessly, but he had slowly become familiar with the growth journey of these little lives.
Time flew by, and under the boy's careful care, the silkworms began to cocoon again and then become moths. Only this time there were more cocoons in the box, leaving a dense egg at the end.
Boy's box
Grandma told the boy that the eggs would not hatch until next year. The boy cleaned the boxes and finally put away the boxes that were left in the rows of eggs and placed them under the table.
The secret in the box is responsibility and cherishing
The boy grew up, and in his memory, the memories of three years of silkworm farming were sealed. Until he graduated from elementary school, he had his own little world every year, watching batches of lives come and go, looking at the mysteries of life, and in that familiar box, the boy contained his childhood secret, that is, responsibility and cherishing of life.