Colleague's father came to Wuhan from her hometown Honghu Lake, brought her a plastic bag of ripe diamond horns, I held the black diamond horn in my hand, while listening to my colleagues tell the story of picking diamond horns in the lake area when she was a child, full of powdery taste, we joked, which is a bag of diamond horns, clearly a bag of father's love, a bag of childhood.
Jialing is large, wild Lingxiang, Honghu Lake is rich in large diamond horns, and my hometown Tianmen Zhanggang grows more wild small diamond horns. The two-horned horn is called Ling, the four horns are called Qi (JI), the rural people call it "QiJiao" and "Qijiao", and there are also called "Flat Horns" and "ForkEd Horns", I directly call its name "Lingguo", the size is smaller than the family Ling, like water to grow in weir ponds, puddles or ditches, may and June bloom white flowers, August and September grow diamond horns, light green or dark red, horns with thorns, tips fine green and brittle. I don't know if it is the leaf diamond shape that is called the diamond angle? The rhomboid leaves are like a geometric pattern arranged in the shape of an umbrella by a computer, floating on the surface of the water like an open parachute, interpreting the magic of life.
Everyone's hometown, there is a similar pond, large or small, full of a pool of blue water, in the summer become a paradise for children, in addition to touching fish, shrimp, snails, mussel shells, the pond also hides only we know the story, sweet summer story, such as picking wild diamond horns.
In the Jianghan Plain, it can be said that where there is water, there is a diamond horn, but the diamond horn has a spiritual nature, knows how to be close to home pond, used as a rice washing and washing vegetables, the water surface generally does not grow, the diamond horn is in a slightly farther secluded place, in a remote desolate place to settle down. The rhombus angle has strong vitality, the root system is developed, the stem stem and the water hyacinth have bulging air sacs, and the vigorous rhombus leaves are one after another, spreading and growing, the water surface is silent, and the greenery looms. The pond was overgrown with weeds, swaying shrubs, dragonflies circling, and when someone came, the frog crouching on the diamond plate jumped into the water, leaving a circle of ripples.
There are several families in the village, there is a large round wooden basin, commonly known as the river basin, I guess in the eyes of rural people, the river is much larger than the river, use the river to describe the size of the wooden basin, so it is called the river basin. The river basin has a round, oval or waist type are called waist basin, which is the most suitable for picking diamond horns. The older child sat in the bucket, took a wooden board as a paddle, moved slowly towards the diamond corner, opened a waterway behind his back and closed it, crawled and lifted a plate of diamond leaves, pulled open the diamond horn vine, searched for it, took off the diamond horn and rowed it into the distance, picked it almost, and went ashore in two for the children who were stretching their necks on the shore to eat.
When there is no river basin, children always have a way, use two long bamboo poles to reach into the river, pull up one clip and one stirring, and then crouch together to rummage.
People and pigs eat the same kind of food, it is said that the rhombus vine can be fried vegetables to eat, can also be cooked as pig food, but in the village where I live, mainly growing wheat, cotton and vegetables, not belonging to the lake area, Jianghan Plain, rich in products, people rarely eat rhomboid vine. There are also many kinds of pig food, and the red amaranth vine, pulp vegetables or cabbage leaf gangs in the vegetable field are chopped and mixed with bran and mixed as pig food. Neither man nor pig is interested in eating rhomboid vine.
Wild diamond horns in my hometown
I once asked my mother, where did the diamond horn in the pond come from? Mother can not answer, there are many ditches and ponds in the countryside, there are always shrimp and fish, unowned things, who can say where it came from. Year after year, the crops are planted with stubble after stubble, the insects and horses' eyes are changed by a wave, the spring wind and autumn rain, and the countryside will have everything.
Lingjiao is far away, no one cares, but I secretly know ji Chu (the meaning of the Tianmen dialect) its growth, can't help but tell my best companion, tell her not to tell others that this is our secret, I don't know if she also said this to others, maybe the children in the village are like me, quietly waiting for Lingjiao to mature quickly.
The heavenly Milky Way pokes the horn, the underground chicken head diamond horn, it is said that in the seventh and Eighth months of the lunar calendar, when the milky way in the sky is facing southwest or northeast, the time to eat the diamond horn is coming. While mowing the grass, I came to the river pond to visit Lingjiao. Somehow, the diamond horn always grows in the center of the river pond, a little closer to the shore, people can't reach it, pull the branches from the side of the field, still can't reach it, pick up the bricks and tiles and throw them towards the top of the diamond horn, throw it far away for a while, throw it near, throw it closer, the water wave pushes the diamond angle farther and farther away from people, at this time how much I expect Sun Wukong to change a gust of wind to blow over, just blow the diamond horn closer to me. Really can't catch, pull up the pants leg to the knee, roll up the sleeve and simply go into the water, lean forward with the branches of the tree branch to keep plucking, finally enough to reach a little, on the edge of the diamond horn leaf slapping the water surface, back to the hook several times finally came, reached over, carefully searched, only one or two just formed diamond horn buds, knowing that they could not eat and also took off, after picking and throwing aside to continue to dial. My companion pulled on the corner of my clothes, and it was difficult to pluck a piece of the leaf that grew fat and green, this time without having to turn over, directly grabbed it and carried it up, and began to search carefully after landing.
"Quick, there are locusts!"
My companion pointed at my calf and screamed, and the slightest triumph of the booty was immediately dispelled by the panic of the locust bite. Children who grew up in the countryside encounter locusts are common things, although a little afraid, but dealing with locusts has long been experienced, I quickly spit out a mouthful of saliva in the palm of my hand, aimed at the part where the locust bites a burst of hard, the mouth read "kill you, kill you vampire", the shooting can not tell whether it is a little numb or a little painful, the locust with a trace of blood softly fell to the ground.
"You want to harm me, I'll kill you", pat to death, I and my companions found a wooden stick, aimed at the mouth of the locust, turned the whole body of the locust over, and then put it in the sun to explode, and soon the locust died. This is the only way of folklore to kill locusts, and it is cruel to think about.
The diamond horns are delicious and the skin is difficult to peel. We began to eat the diamond horn, a careless finger was stabbed and bleeding, the pain, the sweet temptation of the diamond horn is far better than the stinging pain, the finger into the mouth to suck a few times and then began to peel, carefully, more afraid of poking the mouth bleeding. That feeling of pain is mixed with the teenager's little love and hate, and I don't know if the words "hooked up" and "angular" are derived from the thorns of the diamond horns.
The diamond horns are too tender to eat and astringent, "Yuck"! A smell of watery mud, the old diamond horn with the mouth can not move, crooked teeth bone, diamond horn skin astringent, bite a corner can not change another horn, if the grain of rice falls on the clothes, immediately hold down, into the mouth, if the diamond horn tip is still a little white, then work hard in the palm of the hand wide, a few wide diamond horn meat out is the most satisfying delicious, or with the branch aimed at the dial, the branch is broken, and the last trick, the wild diamond horn is originally very small, put the brick with a sickle shovel to poke open, it is difficult to crack a mouth, The diamond horn meat inside was also broken, breaking open the shell finger a little bit twisted into the mouth, the remaining few immortal extra pity, with the fingers to break open or put into the mouth hard bite a pressure, a sound, a thin diamond horn meat just sprayed into the mouth, the wind and cheeks, hidden happiness and original beauty as at this time.
After eating the diamond horn, the naughty child continues to play, putting the diamond horn shell on the nail,
"Here comes the White Bone Spirit"
"The Bull Demon King is coming"
"Sun Wukong golden hoop stick is coming" The battle of opening teeth and dancing claws escalates step by step, you chase me back, you retreat and I rush. If no one is playing with him, a person will put the diamond horn shell on the thumb and index finger of his left and right hands, play the game of bull-to-horn fight, there is no victory or defeat in the haha, only the crazy wild childhood like the wild diamond horn.
The history books record that in the Ming Dynasty, there was a northerner who went to the south to be an official, ate the diamond horn without peeling the shell, swallowed it directly, was kindly reminded, and said with vigor and words that he ate in order to clear the heat and detoxify, and also said that there were diamond horns everywhere in the northern mountains, and everyone present covered their mouths and snickered.
When I was a child, the pleasure of eating diamond horns was full of summer, and when I grew up, I ate less, and I laughed alone when I read the interesting things about diamond horns in the book, and I was neighboring with the moonlight of my hometown in the aftertaste, and I enjoyed it in ancient and modern times.
When I was a child, I didn't know the Picking Ling Song, and when I grew up, I knew that it was a Jiangsu folk song, borrowing things to raise the concubines of Xinglang, although this Ling was different from the wild Ling in my hometown, I was still surprised by this inconspicuous thing and became the song of his hometown. A careful search found that the poems written on the diamond horn are like rivers and ponds across the countryside, and their style is no less elegant than that of lotuses. Reading that in the Southern Dynasty, Jiang Yan, who was famous for his Jiang Lang talents, wrote that "Purple Ling can also be picked, try to ease the year of sorrow", saying that the diamond horn can be used to fill the stomach and alleviate the sorrow of famine. In fact, Cai Ling is mostly a poor family to beg for a living, but it is as full of vitality as a hermit.
Diamond horns are more demanding on water quality and only grow in clear places. What I don't understand is that the same things that are rural, sprout and grow in the spring, and the diamond horns that grow old together in the autumn wind are snubbed, and no one tells themselves. I don't know if anyone feels like I do that Ling and Lotus should enjoy the same vision.
Rhombus horn is rich in nutrients, which is different from many functions such as tonifying the spleen and stomach, clearing the lungs and heat, and so on recorded in the Materia Medica. Diamond Horns nourish happiness and nourish my childhood in a cheap way.
It has not been tasted for many years in the hometown of Lingjiao, the hair is white, the vitality of such a strong Lingjiao said that it is gone, time has changed, in 1999, Lingjiao was listed as a national level 2 key protected wild plant. Diamond Horn was not only a sweet snack at that time, but also a deliberate gift from God, which was very kind and precious to me.
Nowadays, the diamond horns of the hometown are gone, and childhood is only a part of memory.