Text/Song Yunliang
Looking at the willows on the street, I suddenly remembered the elm trees in my hometown. In the warm sunshine of April, it is time for elm pods to flock.
Elm tree, is a deciduous tree, its fruit is elm pods, because of its shape resemblance to ancient copper coins and also known as elm money.
When I was young, there were elm trees everywhere in my hometown, and the front and back of the house, outside the courtyard, were planted with elm trees, towering into the clouds, and the short ones were one after another, and the trunks were mostly straight. Probably in order to use this Yu Qian harmonic sound to attract wealth into the treasure. In the years of famine, when the green and yellow are not connected, the elm tree can contribute all its own, and when the elm money is finished, it will pick up the leaves, and the leaves on the branches will be light, and the bark can also be peeled off to make an elm nest. Elm flour can also be made in soup, and it tastes good and sticky. I hadn't experienced that kind of hard life, but I had caught up with three years of natural disasters, when I just remembered, I only knew the sweet taste of Yu Qian, not only the stomach, but also the pleasure of picking.
On the west side of the wall of my yard, there used to be a very old elm tree, and every time in the spring, I watched the elm money expand in a circle, and my saliva also swallowed hard and swallowed, and I looked forward to it growing faster. When the tender, green elm money was dotted with branches, about the size of five cents of a coin, my brother tied a cloth pocket around his waist, and climbed to the tree like an ape, I looked at the tree with my eyes, begging my brother to throw me a few strings, my brother always chewed on his own first, and the faint fragrance tempted me to be more and more anxious, but unfortunately I could not climb the tall tree, grandma did not allow me to climb the tree, she always patiently taught me, you are too thin, you must not go up the tree, but I have paid the price of not being able to taste first. As my tears swirled in my eyes, my brother began to coax me: "Catch it!" Strings of seductive elm money flew down and fell into my hands, so I carefully held it, quickly wiped away the tears with the cuffs, and eagerly shoved the elm money into my mouth, sweet, sticky, and the fragrance under the trees was instantly overflowing, and then filled the whole yard. When the harvest is full, my brother and I are half full, and the rest, Grandma will use it to steam the elm money nest, for several days, a large family can chew the joy of spring in poverty. In those years, Yu Qian's nest was a very characteristic delicacy of spring, and when the willow flowers thanked the spring red, Yu Qian became the expectation of the next spring.
When I'm bored, I always like to circle around the elm tree, trying to find answers to the questions in my head, how does the elm pod call elm money, just because it looks like money? I don't know where to read a sentence: Yu pod money is difficult to compare, Yang Huaxue is not as good. I inexplicably understand that the value of Yu qian is very high, more precious than money, although the money is good, it is not as direct as Yu qian, and when you are hungry, money cannot be eaten immediately. Thinking like this, I added a little respect to the elm tree in my heart, and then I thought, if I have to meet the guidance of the immortals, I can order the elm money for money, then it is easy to buy a picture book, but where are the immortals, only stay in the story? Later, he swallowed jujube and read "Dream of the Red Chamber", and saw that there was a sentence in the funeral flower words, "Willow silk elm pods from Fangfei, regardless of peach piao and Li Fei", asked his brother, and understood that the approximate meaning was: Liu Shu, Yu Qian, only know to show their own Fang Fei, all regardless of the peach blossoms floating zero, pear blossoms flying. The heart is very uneven, you peach and plum with their own brilliance early ushered in the spring, the wheel is also the turn of Yu Qian, for such a simple thing, why not complain?
I also like to touch the rough bark with my hands, such an ugly appearance and sweet silk elm money is difficult to associate with it, presumably nutrition is drilled into the elm money, the bark is willing to make such a sacrifice. Looking up, there is a section of the trunk that is still naked, which must be the traces left by the old people in their early years to make a living. More often, I look at the ugly scars on the tree in a daze, why does it have so many scars? Because of old age? The bark of the small tree is tender and smooth.
Go and ask Grandma, she said that the tree will also be injured, and when it is healed, it will leave a scar, like a human. Cold winter waxing moon, ice and snow for a long time, ice hanging too heavy, the branches of the tree will be crushed, hot summer, the tree is too high, sometimes struck by lightning, the large branches are broken, drying clothes block the light, will also be trimmed, elm trees are also easy to be moths, these will leave or peeled or neat scars. The tree can not resist natural or man-made harm, only silently bear, the tree also left the traces of time. I looked at my own hand, oh, people are like trees, my fingers are cut, and there is a hard mark on the healing place. But I bled, I cried, and my mother medicated me, bandaged, comforted me, my pain can be decomposed in time, the tree, the tree is silent, but strong, never flinching, let time slowly smooth the wound, the next spring, still indifferently blossom and bear fruit. People are sometimes not as tough as trees, and there are always people who are injured and cannot recover, especially heartbreaks.
Every year Chinese New Year's Eve, when I want to paste the Spring Festival, I will be very active to help, pick my favorite "Spring" word, "Fu" word paste on the tree, afraid of sticking not high enough, but also step on the chair to paste. Later, my parents asked us to write our own Spring League, so, the ones pasted on the old elm trees were naturally the ones I was most satisfied with, and my naïve pen and ink were often able to accompany the old elm trees for several days to send winter and spring. At the Lantern Festival, I put on the lanterns that had just been repaired and circled the tree three times, because Grandma said that the trees that were illuminated by the lights would be more prosperous next year.
Later, because the adobe house we lived in leaked too badly, we had to build a new house. At that time, relying only on his father's meager salary, the family was very poor in the economy, most of the money to buy bricks and tiles was borrowed, so he had to plan to cut down the trees in the courtyard as purlins, and this elm tree was the first choice. My brother and I were very sad, and my brother was still young, and only asked, "Can it grow out after cutting?" Will you still have money next year? I was immersed in a little sadness, disdainful to answer my brother's childish questions. In fact, my nostalgia is not a kind of childishness? Elm money is only a small function for people, and trees are always used in more important places. Adults often say, "Sand wood purlins and elm beams are superior shelves." "The new house is completed, look up, you can see the elm tree made of girder, very smooth look, obliquely pasted with red auspicious words: this day on the beam, Pepsi auspicious." A very festive atmosphere spread out, completely less crude than before, and my sense of loss was slightly comforted.
The following spring, we planted elm trees again and began to look forward to the days when elm pods were strung together. The elm seeds sprinkled by the old elm tree have sprung up a lot of small elm trees in the yard, and the yard has become an elm forest.
Later, when I grew up and became farther away from home, my trivial life gradually diluted the memories of my childhood, and the old elm tree that remained in my mind was the essence of memory.
The years passed, and the decades of time slipped away quietly, and the trees I carried and emerged from when I was a child were enough material for the beams. In these days of growing up together, we face the wind and rain together, and accept the baptism of nature and life. On this warm and intoxicating spring day, the elm pods in my dreams fluttered lightly, scattering a faint childhood heart on the ground, just like the faint aroma of elm pods.
(Image from the Internet)
【About the Author】Song Yunliang is a member of the Shandong Writers Association.
One Point Number Contemporary Prose