My hometown is a mountain village. On barren land, there is a lack of water nourishment. Malnourished grains tend to grow. There is no food in the shop, and I am in a panic. The days when you can't open the pot will make people lose the clues of life, and mountain people are afraid of such days. Perhaps because of the protection of these two old trees, my family seems to have hope at any time. Although there are many children and mouths in our family, it is these two old trees that have solved one problem after another and brought too much hope to our lives.
In winter, after the old tree leaves, my father always climbs the ladder, removes the dead old branches and prunes and shapes the old tree. Apply the fattest Tujia fertilizer in the family at the beginning of spring, and then water it again. In the days to come, my father will expect them to sprout, blossom and bear fruit every day, just like his children grow up. Almost in his father's "attention ceremony", the old tree pulled out its spores, unfolded its leaves, bloomed its buds and covered it with fruits. Green fruits grow on the branches day by day, and my father's smile increases day by day. The old tree has never failed his father's expectations. When persimmons gradually become Huang Chengcheng, my father will take out a "spoon" from the bag and pick them off the tree one by one. Needless to say, this homemade tool is really smart, simple and practical, and the picked persimmons are really unscathed. My father will dry, reshape, scrub and store the peeled persimmon skin.
When my father is busy in autumn, he will ride a unicycle and simply bring some dry food to sell persimmons. According to my father, selling persimmons has to go outside the mountain. Things outside are rare and expensive, and they can fetch a good price. Many times, before dawn, my father set off in the creaking sound of a unicycle; It was late and the car came back with a tired tone. Father saved all the money he got. This little persimmon helped my brother and sister go to school a lot. When our six brothers and sisters are going to school and my father can't support our tuition, my father looks at these two old trees and always says that it will pass in a while. Just didn't let us drop out. Although two old trees can bear a lot of fruit every year, we enjoy it to our heart's content, and sometimes there is hardly any. As the saying goes, "mother-in-law who sells salt drinks light soup", many years later, when our brother and sister walked out of this small mountain village with the creaking sound of my father's unicycle, we really understood my father's expectation for the old tree, as well as his children and a better life.
As the saying goes, "Persimmons harvest for half a year in one season" is true. Persimmon has become a life-saving food for the whole family when the years are bad, the crops in the fields fail and the crops are green and yellow. At this time, my mother will also take some, wrap them up and give them to the neighbors in the partition wall to tide them over.
In my father's view, every persimmon on the old tree is precious. But when my father leaves persimmons every year, he will leave a few on the top of the tree. Persimmons turn red and lovely after frost, and birds will peck them soon, and dad won't catch them if they eat well. I asked my father if it was a pity. Father smiled and said, "They are our neighbors, too, so they should have a share in the good things." Father said that older people are like this.
Perhaps the old trees have given us too much, and my father always protects these two old trees like he protects his life. According to my father, these two old trees really wouldn't stand in such a gloomy place if they hadn't guarded each other with their lives in those years. In my father's words, these two old trees are the life of our family.
Later, my brother and sister walked out of the small mountain village one by one. Dad never forgets to bring us some persimmons before going out. We know that my father is praying for his children-everything goes well. Things are getting better and better at home. Before the persimmons on the old trees are fully ripe, my father will pick them and make them into persimmons. It is rare to see persimmons full of trees mature. Now we can finally wait.
Persimmons full of trees turned into red lanterns, and the festive atmosphere made everyone feel warm.
Many years later, once you have passed the first frost and returned to the mountain village, you will see red persimmons all over the mountain. On the way into the mountain, tourists are weaving. It turned out that the village was full of persimmons, which attracted guests from all directions. Red persimmons are really red throughout the mountain village. Seen from a distance, my two old trees are still so striking.
About the author: Yu Yue, a teacher of Gaoshan Primary School in Geshi Town, Ningyang County, Tai 'an City, Shandong Province.