Fairy tale - white fruit under the ginkgo tree
Author: Zhou Renchen
At the foot of the north pagoda of the old mountain village, in the large apple orchard on the west side of the Niangniang Temple, there are two huge ginkgo trees. From a distance, it looks like a pair of giants rushing straight into the sky, as if they are comparing their heights with the peaks. Take a closer look, oh! These two large trees seem to stand out in the endless orchard, and they seem to be embraced by the stars and the moon. For many years, it has been a beautiful landscape in the mountain village.
Ginkgo biloba trees flower first, then grow leaves, and then bear fruit. When the fruit is ripe, it is white and crystalline, known as the white fruit tree. The flowers that bloom in spring are gray and fluffy in color with a rich fragrance. Not only will it attract swarms of bees to hum to collect honey, but it will also cause butterflies to dance! When the flowers wither and the leaves grow out, they will set fruit, and the fruit is lantern-shaped and emerald green, like a bunch of emerald gems inserted upside down on the branches; when the autumn wind sweeps away the leaves, the green fruit will become a piece of agate stone before it matures. At this time, it does not have to be picked by hand on the tree, and it will fall down on the branches "crackling" like the old saying that people say, "melon ripening and falling, water to the end".
According to my grandfather, this pair of ginkgo trees was planted by the old ancestors of the Xi family who lived in Our West Street, and have a history of more than 250 years. Don't you know that the ginkgo biloba tree is not only full of treasures, whether it is the trunk, bark, roots, leaves or fruits, all have Traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, which have special effects on the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Not only that, but it is also known as a sacred tree. If it can survive and blossom and bear fruit, it will symbolize the prosperity of the family, the wealth is broad, and the future is immeasurable. Speaking of this tree, the sacred tree is really not empty, within a hundred years, the Xi family after several generations of hard work, quickly got rid of the poverty situation, whether it is studying to become an official, seeking merit, or farming for a career, far more than other old squatting households, covering an area of 20 acres of four ming and qing dynasty courtyard mansions that flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, rose from the ground, and ascended to the ranks of large mountain villages in a dignified manner.
What makes the mountain biloba tree incredible is that it is very different from other fruit trees, and it is a rare tree species that is rare under the sky and cannot be pollinated by self-flowering. Some people did not believe this statement, and after the flowers of this tree fell behind, they went to two trees to take a closer look. oh! This is true, it is an indisputable fact. The tree in the south, known as the branch of the male tree, has never seen a single fruit shadow for many years, while the stout and tall mother tree in the north has been hanging upside down and fruitful.
People probably don't know that the ginkgo tree loves fruit as much as human beings love children, and who wants to innocently ask for a raw fruit is more difficult than ascending to the sky. This tree is thick and straight, not to mention, the trunk below 20 meters is smooth like ice, all the branches are thumb-thick strips, people can't say that they can't climb up, even if they climb up, there are no branches to lean on, they can't stand at all, they can't stand up, they can't stand up to the body, Hugh said picking, it is impossible to touch one.
People are born curious and willful, often the more they can't get their hands on it, but the more they feel precious, the more they want to get it. To this end, some people wield bows and arrows and slingshots, and others use brute force to throw stones at the branches, constantly attacking the fruits on the branches, trying to shoot them down one by one. As everyone knows, the fruit on the branch is as strong as a nail on it, even if it is torn apart by the bow and arrow slingshot and stones, and the crushed body refuses to come down, none of the partners can get a complete raw fruit.
Fortunately, there was an unexpected reward for our efforts, the ginkgo green fruit could not be beaten, but the leaves on the branches were beaten down by random arrows, stones and stones. Everybody pick it up and take a look, oh! It looks really good, apricot plum fruit-sized leaves, emerald green color, the leaves are clearly textured, as beautiful as the tail wings of birds, and it is as beautiful as a small folding fan with a condensed card, which is very beautiful and attractive.
I didn't think about it, this leaf was placed on the nose and smelled, huh! From time to time, a faint fragrance permeates the leaves. This taste can make people refreshed, and in a moment there is a sense of refreshment, this is undoubtedly a treasure, and it should be a rare good thing to take back as a book. To this end, everyone will take home a handful of ginkgo biloba leaves, and then bring them to the classroom to constantly show, keep smelling, and constantly praising, which has aroused the admiration of many people.
The ginkgo tree is only about 300 meters away from the mountain village primary school, and it takes only 20 minutes to collect some round trips there. At the beginning of the free activities of the class pe-sports class, there are groups of students running towards it. Special trip to the tree to pick up ginkgo leaves, in the spring and summer, the pick is emerald green, but after the autumn collection is golden yellow, the leaves are much thicker, and the fragrance is more intense. It is not difficult to find that students who read well prefer it, and people who read poorly will not care about its benefits at all, or even sneer at it and dismiss it.
I've always had a soft spot for ginkgo leaves, not only in all books, but also in homework books. Whether it is in class, or going home to write homework, as long as there is boredom or annoyance, as long as it is to take out a piece of ginkgo biloba leaf to look at, smell, the mood will become better, to stimulate the enthusiasm for learning has a certain role in promoting. This feeling, in the class of students with better academic performance, has been continuously verified and recognized.
Coincidentally, people with poor academic performance have not been able to find any feelings, so it seems that people often say that "the heart has a sharp mind, the heavens and the man are one, or "the benevolent see the benevolent, the wise see the wise". It is an undeniable fact that since the establishment of Yamamura Elementary School at the end of the Qing Dynasty for a hundred years, there have been more than 200 college students, and none of them do not like ginkgo biloba leaves in their hands, and it smells not enough on their noses. From this point of view, the ginkgo biloba leaves are indispensable, and they are worthy of praise.
Ginkgo biloba ripens late in fruit trees. When the apple harvest is over, the sky drops several thick frosts in a row, and the green leaves on the branches will change from emerald green to purple red. At this time, the fruit that used to seem to be firmly nailed to the branches, somehow, without the need for manual collection, really realized the "melon ripening, water to the water", from the high branches, like hail, "crackling" down.
It was after school one afternoon in the late autumn of the first two years of the Cultural Revolution , 1964 — and I and a group of friends were under a ginkgo tree and began to pick up the golden yellow leaves that fluttered down from time to time. Suddenly, I saw thumbs falling from the trees, purple-red things, whether they fell on the top of their heads or on people's bodies, slimy. Throw your hand on it, oh! It's a pretty sticky thing. Then a thick stench came to the nose...
The partners were amazed. Earlier, I wanted to get your noble body, but I refused to come down. Now it is good to say that one by one, uninvited, falls from the trees on their own. It's really good, it's an old friend who doesn't fight or deal! Since we have a relationship, you should give the aroma to us, and you should never reward us with the smell. At this time, everyone began to pay attention to the countless ginkgo fruits under the trees and under the grass, and people had been waiting for a long time.
Some people can't stand it, at this time they can't wait to see the true face of Lushan, what does the ginkgo fruit look like? Since the hands are stained with mucus, it is already smelly, where else can it stink? Bend down to pick up the rotten, sticky stinky fruit and gently peel off the skin and take a look, Oh! I really didn't expect that a layer of strangely smelly outer skin was wrapped in a snow-white, snow-white wild apricot core-shaped fruit. No wonder the name of this tree is Ginkgo Biloba, it was originally named for a reason, from the color and size of the fruit.
As the saying goes, the long-term flower room does not feel fragrant, and the old fiddling with the stinky peel does not feel that this thing stinks. The partners all had a large handful of ginkgo in their hands, let alone ten or eight. How to deal with these rare treasures? Some people say that if we are hungry now, it is better to light a bunch of campfires under the trees, as we did not long ago when we burned "buffalo" on the north slopes, to enjoy a wild game feast that burns white fruits.
The partners thought it was a good idea, and everyone gave a thumbs up to agree. In order to reduce the smell of the fruit, everyone picked up the white fruit in their hands, went to the river and stream under the tukan to wash it, and repeatedly rubbed it with the fine sand under the stream. Hold it up again and smell it carefully, huh! The smell is indeed reduced a lot, such as grilling after a fire, the taste will be good.
As for why the skin of the fruit stinks so badly, the partners slowly realized the mystery of it during the process of peeling and cleaning. In fact, the reason is very simple, is a kind of natural self-protection of ginkgo fruit, which is the same as cuckoos, mountain village people called stinky ducks, only by drilling into the coffin of the buried dead person to build a nest, rolling in the stinky dung pit, the whole body will be stinky and baked, the natural enemies will give up hunting, will effectively protect their lives. The ginkgo fruit is a stinky coat given by God, and the birds do not eat on the trees, the insects do not bomb, and the livestock and poultry that fall to the ground do not eat, this spell is not exaggerated.
Grilling wild game and enjoying a big meal is a small thing for the partners. Someone brought dry firewood, someone cut off some dead leaves and hay, and the two were put together, and the match was rubbed and burned. Partners have the lesson of burning grasshoppers in dongshan and "buffalo" in beishan in the summer, and when the fire is booming, you must not throw material into the fire, it will turn into ashes. I have suffered a lot of losses in the past, and now I have experience in this area, and only when the flame is slowly lowered can the ingredients be avoided from loss. Delicious outside and tender on the inside, enjoy the sense of gain to the maximum!
When the burning bonfire had passed the front peak, the smoke was no longer rising, and the red charcoal appeared in front of the eyes, everyone began to pour washed and dried white fruits into it. Three or five minutes later, there was a "crackling" sound in the pile, and then a group of "little pigeons" flew out of the fire, and they opened their small mouths one by one and flew into our hands like angels...
Having just caught the delicacy that flew out of the fire, his hands were a little hot, and he had no choice but to put it on the stone slab to cool down for a while, and then gently peeled it open, removing the outer skin, and inside it was another scenery. When the fruit is cooked, it is the color of blue tiles, soft, slippery, crystal clear, like the eyes of an animal, and like a glass ball. While the hot plug is in the inlet, there is a feeling of entanglement and incense, and it is a smell with a hint of Chinese medicine. At this time, the smell has long disappeared.
One by one, the partners stuffed their mouths and ate vigorously when they saw an old man basket in advance, wearing rubber gloves on his hands, and slowly walked over. Everyone turned their heads and looked, Oh! It is an old Chinese medicine doctor, the eighth grandson of the owner of this tree, Xi Zuoqing. The old man came to the tree, while looking down to pick up the fruit, he quietly told us: "White fruit contains traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, and it can be used in medicine to have a curative function." It can be eaten on fire, but not too much at once. When I was a child, I and a few brothers ate too much, there was poisoning and vomiting, it was the old people who used mung bean soup to save me, and I almost lost my life! ”
The words of the old Chinese medicine doctor Xi Uncle, the partners always keep in mind. Every time I go to the barbecue under the tree, a person only eats seven or eight, and no one dares to eat more than ten at a time, let alone eat in a full. Life is only once, once the life is lost, but it can't be found. For many years, whenever the apples were collected in the collective orchard, the friends would run over to collect the fruits and light a campfire under the silver trees to enjoy a delicious feast of white fruits. The ginkgo tree not only brought us delicious food, but also brought endless happiness and joy to childhood life.
Regrettably, something happened. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, a foreign captain listened to rumors that the ginkgo trees were not good to use, which seriously affected the yield of surrounding fruit trees, and led people to cut off two ginkgo trees on the pretext of collectively increasing the need for wood for cattle and carriages. Although the ginkgo trees have come to the end of their lives, their majestic and tall images have always stood in the hearts of the people of the mountain village.
Author's Note: This article is an original debut!
About author:Zhou Renchen, a native of Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province. Born in 1952 in a Manchu peasant family in Dachuan Village, Laohutun Town, he returned to his hometown after graduating from high school to work as a farmer. He has loved literature all his life, and although he has achieved nothing, he has not changed his mind. He is passionate about writing poems and words, and likes to write literary works in many aspects such as realistic prose and childhood memories. He has edited and published four books at his own expense: "Rural Style", "Tintin Roaming Animal City", "Cute Elf" and "Paradise of The Child's Heart". After its release, it was widely praised in urban and rural areas.
EDIT: True, true
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