Lychees are red again
On June 7th, once a year, the college entrance examination begins. On this day every year, in addition to thinking about the past, regretting not being able to attend Peking University and Tsinghua University, I can only sing songs, drink and have fun during the day, and eat a few fresh lychees to moisten my throat. Looking back suddenly, I realized that today's college entrance examination seems to have only one function left. That reminds me: summer vacation is coming and lychees are red again. Yes, time is like a song. People are still young when they travel through the green mountains. The scenery here is unique - the lychees in my hometown of Conghua are red again!
I have been recognizing lychee trees since I was about three years old, and I have been bonded with lychees throughout my life. Not only is my home surrounded by lychee trees, but the entire Dabei Village is also surrounded by lychee trees. This is a southern mountainous township rich in lychees. It not only has the beautiful scenery of "green trees bordering the village and green mountains sloping outside", but also the elegance of "a bay of green spring water and red lychees on both sides". Here, not only on the banks of the Xiaohai River, but also in paddy fields, dry land, and on hillsides, there are densely packed and lush lychee trees. When we get straight to the point, when we open the window and look at the moon, what comes into view is the lychee tree. It can be said that Dabei people basically grew up under lychee trees.
Lychee trees have been growing up with me since I was a child. Just planting trees once brought me endless pleasure. The lychee tree is probably the tree I have planted the most in my life. When I was a child, my father often "cut lychees" in the lychee garden in front of his home, that is, by connecting the branches of a lychee tree with yellow mud and taking root, a lychee sapling was grown. My father said that the yellow mud on the mountain is the most suitable for "cutting lychees". As long as a section of bark is cut off, then wrapped tightly with moist yellow mud, thin and long roots will soon grow. When the tree roots are almost grown, the saplings can be cut down and planted on the ground. What I am ashamed of is that while I was watching and learning, I always helped sprinkle water, stir up the mud, and hand over tools. I never cut trees and jointed them myself, or raised a sapling.
However, I did not participate in the tree planting process other than "lychee planting". In those years, I participated in tree planting activities at home every year. My brother and I followed our parents, carrying saplings, cutting grass to open up wasteland, digging holes to plant trees, and even carrying manure up the mountain, digging soil and fertilizing, watering and caring for it carefully. At that time, I always looked forward to them quickly taking out their first leaf buds, growing their first green leaves, blooming their first flowers, and bearing their first red fruits. I also looked forward to them growing into towering trees as soon as possible. It becomes a forest and casts a green shade.
However, planting trees is easy but difficult to manage, and lychee trees are no exception. In addition to mastering the amount and timing of fertilizing and watering, you also need to master methods to deal with pests. In addition to caterpillars that eat young leaves, there are two main pests of lychees: lychee bugs and wood borers. Lychee stink bugs, also known as stink bugs in the countryside, like to lie on twigs, leaves and flowers, blatantly cause damage, and even spray out their smelly liquid to hurt people, making people feel the pain of being burned on the skin. If they are accidentally splashed by it, If it reaches your eyes, that's bad. As for wood moths, my father calls them "lucky beetles". They like to burrow into branches and trunks and come out day and night to carry out their poisonous attacks silently. This guy is a deadly killer of lychee trees, and his crimes are too numerous to describe. No matter how difficult the lychee bug is, spraying some pesticides is enough to do the trick, but to deal with the wood moth, you have to cut off the branches and then insert a steel wire or other sharp weapon into the borer to kill it.
After the fruit trees are properly managed and the pests are dealt with, we can finally sit back and watch the flowers bloom and wait for the harvest. The lychee flowers bloom silently and fall mercilessly, which makes me often indulge in the elegance of "spring sleep without waking up, hearing birds singing everywhere", but I am awakened by the sound of "the sound of wind and rain at night, how many flowers have fallen". The morning light is dim, the nectar is stained with dew, crystal clear and lovable. If you raise your head to suck, it is light, sweet and refreshing. This purely natural and original lychee honey always makes people salivate. Looking at this sea of flowers stretching from the riverside to the top of the mountain from a distance, it always makes people feel unforgettable and relaxed. This kind of pleasure can only be experienced when appreciating "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" or "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains".
If one season of lychees is like a TV episode, then the blooming of lychees is just the opening song, and the climax of the show is when the lychees turn red.
When the lychees are red, you will find the artistic conception of "the green poplar smoke is light and cold outside, and the red apricot branches are full of spring", and the momentum of "Huang Si's mother's house is full of flowers, and thousands of them weigh down the branches" , nothing more. When the lychees turn red, you will find that the red is so majestic and thorough that you can’t find a more charming red in the south. I often miss this red, and the smell that fills the air when the lychees are red.
Not only do I miss this ripe smell, I also miss the days when lychees "first broke red". I remember that every year around the Dragon Boat Festival, lychee fruits began to shyly turn from green to red. At that time, the fruits on the branches grew one shape every day, and the number of "first red" fruits increased day by day, from one or two to three to five. Clusters dot the entire tree and orchard. Being greedy, I often break into the orchards by the river and steal a few on my way to Xiaohai River for swimming. Sweet and sour, indescribable taste. It wasn't until I listened to Zhang Hanyun's debut novel "Sour and Sweet Is Me" that I realized that this was probably what it was like to grow up. Because the more we can’t wait to taste it, the more we can’t wait to grow.
The lychee tree not only witnesses my growth, but also the growth of my family. There are two thin acres of land in front of our house. Originally, we planted a garden of Sanhua plums. When I was four or five years old, my father planted lychees instead. Initially, I planted a glutinous rice cake, a black-leaf tree, and nine locust trees, and I managed to create a small orchard in the backyard. Since childhood, this has been my brother and I’s paradise. We used to swing here, dig for earthworms, pick up snails, dig out bird's nests, and entertain ourselves. We have also planted guava, grape peach trees, honeysuckle, mulberry, jujube and other flowers and fruits here, as well as various crops such as perilla, ginger, onion, garlic, cabbage and cabbage. We also secretly introduced an exotic flower called "fish fragrance" from the fish pond in Kangbo. The leaves of this grass are particularly fragrant when cooked with fish.
Later, my father cut down the branches of the three locust trees and the black leaf tree, leaving seven trees, which have remained unchanged for so many years. I agree with cutting down a few locust trees in order to build a parking lot and flower beds. But cutting down the black leaves for no reason, I can’t figure it out. My father explained that black leaves grow too fast, attract mosquitoes, and block the feng shui and light of the house. Moreover, the varieties are cheap, have a bad taste, and cannot be sold at a good price. What my father said is not unreasonable, but I still feel sorry for this black-leafed tree. This tree bears fruit almost every year and is the earliest. Its disappearance made me lose a lot of expectations and happiness. In fact, I think black leaf lychee is also very sweet, although it is far inferior to the flavor of glutinous rice cake and cinnamon, and its reputation is not that bad. Putting aside the worldly view of "rare things are valuable", I even think that the ordinary black-leaf lychee is also precious.
The black-leaf tree in front of the door finally fell down, and I couldn’t help but sigh. I'm just glad that my father was merciful and kept the glutinous rice cake. This is a lychee filled with memories of my childhood. It is probably the tree I climbed the most. When I was a child, I not only climbed up the tree every year to pick fruits, but also often climbed up to dig out bird's nests. In my opinion, if Guiwei is the "king" of lychees, then Nuomi Ci is the "queen" of lychees. Its fruit is graceful and graceful; its fragrance is breathtaking; its sweetness is refreshing. My family claims to have 300 lychee plants of various kinds, but there is only one Nuomici tree left that bears fruit. What’s even more legendary is that this tree not only produces my favorite Lingnan fruits, but also attracts my most beloved birds. Others have to go all the way to get the bird's nest, but I can get it for nothing as long as I wait at home. Interesting stories like this happen almost every year. Every time I see birds repeatedly flying in and out of the branches and leaves of this tree, I guess that my "old friend" - the long-tailed warbler has arrived at my door again, and it's time for me to take action again...
In fact, not only this glutinous rice cake, but also every lychee tree in front of the door has a deep friendship with me and my family. In my heart, seeing them is like seeing relatives; returning here is returning to my hometown; protecting them is protecting my home. Now, my father built a fence around the orchard, planted mangoes, podocarpus, and pineapples in the garden, and set up a small breeding farm under the trees, raising chickens, ducks, and even a Puppies, chickens crowing, dogs croaking, ducks laughing every day, it’s so lively.
The orchard that used to be exclusive to my brother and me turned into my nephew’s exclusive children’s paradise in the blink of an eye. The naughty little guy likes to run wild in this garden, sometimes teasing chickens, sometimes teasing puppies, and sometimes even learning to walk like a duck. My nephew is now two years old. I wonder if he knows these lychee trees besides his parents, family, chickens, ducks and dogs.
Regarding lychees, Du Mu wrote "The concubine in the red world laughs, no one knows it is lychees", Su Shi wrote "I eat 300 lychees a day, and I will live forever as a Lingnan native", Yang Shuo wrote I played "Lychee Honey", the red line girl sang "Selling Lychee", Maoming Gaozhou rushed to shoot the movie "Lychee is Red", I had no intention of following the trend, and I was unable to dominate, so I had to imitate others and wrote this thing, these words:
? Lychees are red again
When a young man first meets red lychees, it is like peach blossoms with rain.
When I meet Lychee Red again in my middle age, I still fear that my dream will come true.
Now I see red lychees again, but I feel shy in my hometown.
(Postscript) Most of this article was written in the summer of 2012. At present, the entire Dapi Village is no longer surrounded by lychee forests, but now surrounded by sugar orange orchards. Just because in recent years, villagers have switched to sugar orange planting. Fortunately, each household still retains a varying number of lychee trees. The beautiful scenery of "green trees bordering the village and green mountains sloping outside" is still intact; the elegance of "a bay of spring water is green and the lychees are red on both sides" is still there!
The small private backyard lychee garden described in this article no longer has a small breeding farm, no longer raises chickens and ducks, and only has one black dog. Moreover, there are only five lychee trees left in the lychee garden, but the parents added many new fruit trees and vegetables, and also set up a small swing. The orchard that used to be exclusive to my brother and me has continued to become a children’s paradise for my nephews...