When I was a child, my family was very poor. My father worked outside the home and my mother took care of our three sisters at home. But dad earned far less than we could afford. In addition to saving money, my mother sometimes took us to the mountains to pick some mountain pepper, honeysuckle, etc. to sell for some pocket money.
Mountain pepper, also known as mountain cane, wood ginger, is a deciduous shrub. The branches and leaves have an aromatic fragrance, and the peel contains aromatic oil, which can be made into mountain pepper oil. The fruit of mountain pepper is round, emerald green, and about the size of a small soybean. The season when mountain pepper ripens is in July and August, which is the hottest time of the year.
About twenty years ago, I was eleven or twelve years old, and the mountain pepper was 4 cents a pound. My mother took me and my sister, three people, if you are lucky, you can pick fifty or sixty pounds a day, and if you are unlucky, you may pick a few pounds.
Mountain pepper likes to grow on deeper, higher mountains, and if there is a mountain pepper on a nearby hillside, it is also low and low, and the fruit is also sparse.
Around four or five o'clock in the morning, my mother got up, prepared the meals in the morning light, and took care of the pigs and chickens in the house. Then fill the midday meal in a thin aluminum lunch box, usually a few slices of tofu and vegetables like eggplant, plus some curd milk, or chili sauce in the jar. After eating, we set off early. Although it was the height of summer, we all wore long coats and trousers, because the mountains were full of thorns, thatch, and even hats. My mother filled two or three bottles of mineral water with cold water, and did not dare to bring more, because she had to carry it all the time, which was too heavy. In addition to this, Mom also prepared a chopping knife, snakeskin bag, gloves and flat shoulders.
Sometimes, my mother took me and my sister with me, and sometimes I set off with the neighbors in the yard.
When they reached the mountain, the families moved separately. My mother searched everywhere for the mountain pepper tree, and when she found it, she cut down the branches and leaves that were full of fruit, and my sister and I picked the small fruits and put them in the bag. At that time, I was very timid, and I was always worried that "little monsters" would suddenly appear, or that thieves who would suddenly appear to steal trees would take me and my sister away, so when my mother went a little farther, I would keep calling my mother. And my mother will respond to me every word, gentle and patient. At the end of the day, I have to shout about a hundred times. Mom is light, walks very fast on the mountain, and picking mountain pepper is very sharp. But she would occasionally step on the air, slip and fall, and pounce on a branch of fruit.
There are basically no roads on the mountain, all vines and burrs, even if there are paths, both sides of the road are covered with bushes and thatch, and if you are not careful, you will be cut and stabbed on your face and hands. It was hot and the sun was scorching, and we were wearing long coats and trousers, sweat rolling down our foreheads, past our eyes, through our cheeks. We let it roll down unchecked, not daring to wipe it with our hands, which were full of leaf juice, fruit juice and thatch.
The three of us carried only three bottles of water and took only a small sip each time we were thirsty. Mom usually doesn't drink water in the morning, and only occasionally takes a few sips in the afternoon. In the morning, it was fine, but in the afternoon, I felt particularly thirsty, my throat was smoking, I felt that I could drink a bucket of water, and I couldn't bear not to drink water, pursed my lips, and swallowed some saliva. Every time I couldn't help drinking, I was carefully afraid of spilling, and I only dared to take a small sip, wanting to leave a little for my mother and sister. Usually when it was almost time to go home, there was often a little water left in the bottle, and all three people said that they were not thirsty.
At noon, we ate our meals separately. My mother sandwiched all the dishes to my sister and she ate rice with soup or hot sauce. Although it was a simple meal, and even sometimes, the weather was too hot and the food tasted bad, but it was still the best meal I had ever eaten. After eating, the tired body seemed to be full of blood and revived, and it was able to climb up and down the mountain again.
In the mountains, it's actually very dangerous. Sometimes it falls, sometimes it comes across caterpillars, snakes, etc. Once, in a bamboo forest, there were dense mosquitoes everywhere. Mosquitoes are small and dark, very sensitive, and as soon as our arms show a little flesh, they will immediately bite. After being stung, it hurts and itches, and then it will swell up a large bag. We wrapped our heads and necks in plastic bags, digging a few small holes, revealing only our eyes and nose. You have to keep shaking your body so that the mosquitoes can't get close. But in the end, there will still be a big red bag on the face.
Around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, if it is estimated that you have picked forty or fifty pounds, you are ready to go home. From early in the morning to now, I didn't eat much, I didn't drink much, and I basically used my best energy. When I came, I felt that four or five kilometers was not far, and when I went back, I felt that the road was very long, and I had to carry some things, and my legs seemed to be filled with lead. Mom always pointed to a small tree in front of us or a shade and said we'd rest when we got there. We didn't dare to say we were tired, for fear that our mother would hurt us. Mom picked most of the mountain pepper with her thin body, her eyes full of guilt, and whispered, Tomorrow let me and my sister not come.
I rested dozens of times along the way and finally got home. Sometimes early, when you get home, the sun has not yet set, and sometimes, late, the moon has come out. Mom hurried to make meals for us. After eating, we cleaned out the leaves and branches of the mountain pepper and waited for the evening or the next afternoon to pick up a small processing plant four or five kilometers away to sell. Every night, my sister and I said we wouldn't go the next day. But the next morning, when we heard that my mother was busy in the morning light, my sister and I rolled over and prepared to go to the mountain to pick pepper again.
(Zhong Qianlin, post-80s, currently working in the North Tower District Court)
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