Text/Zhu Luoxi
At the entrance of the community, there is a transplanted kapok tree. Spring comes and goes, and the flowers bloom red and fiery, like rubies embedded in the blue sky.
After the spring thunder slapped the earth a few times, the kapok also fell into red tears, one by one, falling all over the ground. But to the strange surprise of the cleaning aunt, she failed to collect a kapok once. Whenever the wind and rain stopped, and she took the tools to sort out the fallen flowers, the tree was always clean, as if it had been sorted out.
At first, she didn't think anything of it, thinking that kapok was strong, the thunder couldn't move, the rain couldn't fall, after all, the branch was still warm. Several times in a row, she had to make her secretly suspicious.
When she was cleaning the elevator, she met me, knew that my balcony was facing kapok, and asked me to help her observe and observe, where did the kapok flowers go? When she talked about it, she was a little embarrassed, afraid that I would not agree.
But in fact, I also liked the proud red flowers of the tree, but I never noticed the dry under the flower tree after the wind and rain. As soon as she said this, my curiosity was immediately aroused, and I deliberately waited for the wind and rain to come and the thunder to fall in the days to come.
The weather was bad and I couldn't go anywhere. In between boredom, I paid more close attention to the ruby kapok tree.
One evening, it rained a lot, but I curled up in the bed and slept beautifully. Remembering, I quickly opened the curtains and looked there, the wet ground was empty, the flowers had fallen, and they had long disappeared.
I stood in front of the window, looking at the spring of the blossoming branches of the kapok trees, and had a different mood: what I missed seemed to be not only a falling flower, but also a truth.
I wondered where the flowers were going until nightfall.
The next day, I moved my desk to the window, put pen and ink paper, adjusted the red and black ink, and quietly drew the kapok outside the window, waiting for the rain to come. The child asked me, how did I suddenly think of painting, hasn't it been a long time since I stopped drawing?
I pointed to the kapok and asked her: You see, the image of this tree flower, okay?
The child said, Oh, it's really good. The kapok trunk was tall and the flowers were bright, unlike any other tree I had ever seen.
I nodded and told her that Kapok also had a name, Hero Flower. It is tall and tall, standing tall and majestic, like a hero. The flowers are bright red and elegant, which is really heartfelt.
After listening, the daughter sat down and said that she would also draw a hero's kapok plant. The ink wanders on the delicate rice paper, because it gives it many ideas, and the kapok on the painting is more upright and stylish than the kapok outside the window.
Watching the child add a few fallen kapok under the kapok tree she drew, I reminded her that there is nothing under the kapok tree outside our window, oh, how did you add the fallen flowers out of thin air?
She smiled and asked me, which tree didn't fall flowers? I didn't know how to explain it. In the midst of hesitation, the wind and rain came suddenly, and I stood nervously in front of the window looking at the kapok blown by the wind and rain.
The daughter said leisurely, the other small flowers and trees were blown to the east and west, only kapok, the grain did not move, even the flowers that were blown off, were all falling in the whole flower. It's really different.
I was short-sighted and did not notice that the kapok had fallen, and as soon as she said it, I left the room and prepared to go to the balcony to see. As soon as I arrived at the balcony, I saw a black and gray shadow, hurried through the rain curtain, and went to the kapok tree.
I fixed my eyes on it, and the black one was an umbrella, and under the umbrella was a pair of dark blue water shoes. The umbrella was close to the ground, and he had been hunched over in order to quickly pick up the fallen flowers. He didn't seem to care that the cold wind and ice rain attacked, and the kapok dropped one and picked up one.
If no flowers fall, he stands quietly in the rain. Moving or still, it lasted for more than half an hour, the wind and rain did not stop, and he did not go.
I hesitated whether to go downstairs to meet him, whether to tell him that I had a deep respect for him. This respect, I originally only gave to Sister Lin who buried flowers. But also worried that my self-righteousness disturbed him and shattered the tranquility of his world.
The wind and rain gradually stopped, and in the panic, I still impulsively went downstairs. In the lobby on the first floor, I was still wearing cotton slippers, and I finally met the owner of the pair of dark blue water shoes. He was an old man with white hair.
He approached me slowly, gasping for air, and I could feel that he was cold all over his body. He held an umbrella in one hand and a basin in the other, and the kapok flowers bathed in the spring rain were neatly arranged as if they were still branches.
Uncle...... I plucked up the courage to speak. How many floors do you go to? I help you press the elevator.
Thanks, 5th floor.
Good. My house is on the third floor, do you want to come in for a hot cup of tea?
No thanks.
This flower is indeed very good, not only good-looking, but also detoxifying, can cure dysentery.
Uncle looked at me, shook his head, and didn't speak. The elevator came, I invited him into the elevator, pressed the fifth floor, and he thanked him again. Before leaving, he said: This flower is not for food, this is my lover's favorite flower, every spring, I put it away, in front of her picture, is for her to see.
He turned and left, leaving me standing in the elevator, and the heat that had stopped in my eye socket earlier finally rushed out violently.
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Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Deng Qiong