Text/Liu Xueguang
Standing under a tree and looking up at a tree of flowers, it is full of delicacy. A petal gently fell on the hairline and slowly landed on the ground, and the eyes also turned, and the heart was full of pity and love. Crouch down and pick up this fallen flower and place it between the wings of your nose to smell: fragrant, fragrant, and drunk. Placed in the palm of the hand: lilac, trumpet-shaped, crystal clear, pink and delicate. Get up and look up at this blossoming tree again, purple mist, rich canopy, magnificent!
I remember more than 20 years ago, when my father-in-law and I were planting peanuts in this field, we found this small sapling like a hemp pole, which was lonely on the edge of the ditch, although it was inconspicuous, but it grew vigorously, like a hairy boy with his head held high and pulled open and sprang up. I was overjoyed, and the staff carrying the water grew as if it did not hurt it. My father-in-law and mother-in-law sat resting on the ground, and it stood up quietly, as if a child were listening to our conversation. A gust of wind passed, and it slapped the palm-sized leaves to us, and it was cute. I scooped a scoop of water from the bucket under the small sapling, and it was as excited as if I had drunk a glass of milk, and the way it danced was even more lovely. My father-in-law and mother-in-law cast a curious look, "If you don't keep it, this is also a life, and when you grow up, you can shield us from the wind and rain." My father-in-law laughed. Neither my mother-in-law nor I objected, and we felt pity in our hearts.
From then on, this little tree was settled. Every time my father-in-law came to serve the crops, he also took care of it. Watering and fertilizing, there is no shortage of it. Sometimes when I come to help with farm work, I will open a small stove for it and secretly add some nutrition to it. The small trees are also fighting for breath and growing hot. A few years of spring rain, a few sunshine, a few degrees of autumn and winter, and within a few years, it has grown into a mushroom cloud with a lush canopy and huge leaves. In the summer, the sun is like a fire, and the father-in-law and mother-in-law who are tired of farm work will happily come to rest under the tree, and when they look at it, they will steal the beautiful music in their hearts. "It's really not in vain to serve it, it has been rewarded, and it has been stained with it." The mother-in-law wiped the beads of sweat from her face and chanted in relief. My father-in-law stared at the layers of dark green leaves and felt like a small umbrella floating in the air. The day of June is indeed like a child's face, and suddenly, the dark clouds and the wind are rolling up, and the heavy rain is suddenly coming. Neighbors and people farming not far away ran to shelter from the rain, and someone lit a cigarette for my father-in-law and looked at the rainless canopy of trees in appreciation. You seem to be praising the tree when you say a word to me, but you are actually praising its owner. Naturally, the father-in-law's face would be very happy. I don't know who said, "No one has far-sighted worries, but will have near-term worries." alas! Who would be willing to plant trees on land with long grain? At the beginning, many people joked that leaving trees on the ground delayed long grain. The father-in-law would shake his head and smile.
A few years ago, this tree became a landscape. I hung a green wooden sign with a red rope on the tree and wrote eight words "Respect nature and protect the environment". This vast field, just this green shade, has attracted people's attention. Magpies also occupied this position, and the branches became Qionglou Yuyu. Even hares sometimes come to nap under the trees. The green grass under the trees includes grasshoppers, praying mantises and butterflies, bees gathering. The tree grows thick and lush, tall and atmospheric, many garden company owners are optimistic about buying, some offer high prices, have been politely rejected by the father-in-law. Sometimes, I would drive alone under the tree to talk to it, talk to it about my troubles at work, and it would make a "whooshing" sound to answer. I understand what it has to say. Because I know it very well, I watched it grow up day by day. It is not only my friend, but also my loved one. From a seedling that no one pays attention to, it has experienced wind and frost, and it can become a towering tree that shields the wind and rain, which is worthy of my awe and learning.
I remember riding a bicycle on Brown Avenue in Chishang Township, Taitung City, Taiwan, the pastoral highway went straight ahead, and the fields on both sides were lush, and it was indeed an "emerald paradise road". Riding on The Avenue of Braun is like riding in a poem, indulging in a loose image, ethereal, ethereal, and beautiful. But what I still remember the most is the big tree next to the road, known as the "Golden City Takeki". This great tree is the soul of the wilderness, the most beautiful footnote in a poem. I don't believe in the celebrity effect, but this big tree really shocked me, and I suddenly admired the owner who left it alive to protect its growth. It became a tourist attraction, and I felt that this big tree was also a scenery in the landscape. Because it left me with the deepest memory.
This year's epidemic has taught us a lot of lessons. Man and nature live in harmony, not alarmism. I stood under the tree and pondered, is it the most important thing that we only need food to feed ourselves? A flower floated leisurely, and I watched it fall to the ground.
Yesterday, I heard that this land is going to be developed and built. I was worried about that tree, sleepless nights. Can't we tolerate a single tree?
In the future, I may only meet it in my dreams, and the dazzling blossoms of the tree.
(Image from the Internet)
【About the author】Liu Xueguang, member of China Prose Literature Association, member of Shandong Writers Association, member of Shandong Prose Literature Association, member of Yantai Writers Association, vice president of Yantai Prose Literature Association, director of the Creation And Creation Department, executive editor of Yantai Prose Micro-Journal. Since 1995, he has been in Yantai Daily, Yantai Evening News, 6 o'clock this morning, Qilu Evening News, Lianhe Daily, Northern Literature, Contemporary Prose, Mass Culture and Leisure, Yantai Prose, Jiaodong Literature, Deyang Prose, Beihai Literature, Peninsula Metropolis Daily, Yantai Propaganda, Yearbook of Young Chinese Writers, Rizhao Daily, Yantai Prose Decade Selection, Surging Sea, Chronicle of the City, Contemporary Literature Overseas Edition, Reading, China Cooperation Times He has published many works in newspapers and periodicals. He has planned and organized several essay contests and served as judges. "The City in the Heart" was compiled into the textbook by the Confucius Institute in Atlanta and won the first prize of the competition. "The Garden in the Heart" was selected as 30 articles read by the whole people in the 2019 World Book Day activity in Yantai City.
Sponsored by the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Society, Contemporary Prose is a bimonthly prose journal, which mainly publishes the works of members of the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association, and welcomes Shandong prose writers to apply to join the Shandong Provincial Prose Association. The Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association holds various prose activities throughout the year to provide book publishing services for writers. Contact number: 18765312921, 18653131587; submission email: [email protected]
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