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Late-opening hyacinths
He Yongkang
In the autumn of 2019, I was invited to stay in a scenic spot in Ya'an for two days with a group of people who danced and inked. At the end of the trip, the hospitable host gave each person a small gift – a seed of hyacinth. Hyacinth was originally from outside the territory, originally a rare thing in flowers, as precious as the friendship of the owner, so he took extra care of it during the trip, and the first thing he did when he returned home was to check whether it was safe and sound after a bumpy ride.
Hyacinth seeds are shaped exactly like a head of garlic or say like an onion, and are stuck in a special round glass bottle. Strictly following the master's instructions, I poured a little water into the bottle, and the water level was better not to soak the root of the seed, it only needed to absorb the water vapor to grow. After half a month, through the glass bottle, you can see the white roots and whiskers emerge; and after half a month, the roots and whiskers extend into the water. After that, more and more whiskers filled the bottle. But the scaly orb at the mouth of the bottle did not move, presumably because it was the coldest time of the year, and the flowers and leaves were still hibernating. Wait, wait for the spring wind, wait for the flower letter, otherwise why call it hyacinth?
In the waxing moon, friends have successively posted pictures of their hyacinth blossoms in the WeChat circle, accompanied by the text of "repaying the plum blossoms to bloom", and the joy is overflowing. And my hyacinth remained silent, without a hint of breaking the shell and spitting out green, like a settled old monk, looking like he was doing his own thing, without desire or desire.
I was reluctant to search online: why don't hyacinths bloom? The answer is strange, but none of them get the point. Rather, a little knowledge said: hyacinths are similar to daffodils and are known as "ocean daffodils". This gave me a flash of inspiration and vaguely remembered the early days of raising daffodils. That daffodil also did not bud for a long time, which made people anxious. It is said that cutting a "ten" shaped opening on a bulb with a knife can be encouraged. I did so, and it worked.
Seeing that the Chinese New Year's Eve is approaching, I no longer have the luxury of asking hyacinths to blossom, but even the "public flowers" should sprout a few leaves, giving people a little auspicious, right? I found a knife and intended to operate on the lifeless little orb in the posture of a surgeon. But I couldn't get my hands on it for a while, and finally I gave up my plan to be an executioner. After all, I am no longer the "me" who decisively cut through the skin of Narcissus, my heart has been much calmer, and I often shed tears of compassion inexplicably. I have long learned to tolerate the unsatisfactory in life, so let's tolerate it again, to tolerate the slow growth of a plant.
Chinese New Year's Eve afternoon, I went to the balcony, planning to invite the hyacinth that had been basking in the sun for a few days back to the living room, and I was worried that the firecrackers and fireworks put by the people across from me at night would burn it. Inadvertently, I saw a bunch of green and purple coming out of the top of the bulbous guy's head. Green is a few thick leaf tips, surrounded by a cluster of purple petals. Haha, finally woke up, finally blossomed!
Early in the morning of the first day of the New Year, I went to look at it, but I saw that the leaves of the hyacinth had stretched out in all directions, and a thick flower stem in the middle raised an oval flower cluster, and dozens of small flowers brushed together to open, which was the best New Year's gift given to me in early spring. Late hyacinths, late blooming just in time!
Late is synonymous with late, and late is the antonym of early. The late opening of hyacinths once again made me understand the dialectic of morning and evening. Flowers have early blooming, people have early wisdom; flowers also have late blooming, and people have late ripening, which are two different types: sensitive and slow heat. Blindly seeking early is tantamount to pulling out seedlings and promoting growth, and it is inevitable that they will go astray due to quick success and short-term gains, and blindly pursuing large instruments and late success may not be effective. Most of the people who "wait for the day" are depressed and hateful for life. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", Jia Yucun said, "Jade asks for a good price in the tree, and when it is waiting in the chamber, it flies", but after all, he has the knowledge to sell at a price. The reason why Zhuge Liang tossed Liu Guanzhang frequently and looked around, it was better to go out of the mountain early than late, because he had "Longzhong pair" to invest capital, and "profit" was sooner or later.
Sooner rather than later. Isn't the hyacinth that blooms late also a flower?
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Author: He Yongkang
Contributed by: Ya'an Local History Compilation Center
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan
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