Prose about the fragrance of bitter herbs and flowers

The arrival of spring always comes with gentle steps and great momentum. The plum blossoms are smoked and the willows are dyed, the apricots are white and the peaches are gorgeous, the old swallows have returned newly, and the grass color can be seen in the distance. People who changed out of their winter clothes said, "It's really spring." Yes, it's spring again, when the flowers bloom and your eyes are stunning. The memories of the old days also turn green in the warm breeze.

When I was a child, I especially liked spring. In the warm spring breeze, the children in the mountain villages took off their heavy cotton-padded clothes. Their bodies became much sharper and their brains became easier to use. There were one more child. The first task: cut out rabbit food, mainly looking for bitter vegetables, which are also known as chicory and coriander. When the shepherd's purse blooms with white flowers, the bitter herbs in the field will grow new leaves, and the rabbits who have chewed hay straw all winter can finally enjoy fresh food.

After school in the afternoon, we finish the homework left by the teacher in a blink of an eye. When we have nothing to do, we can play wildly together until dinner. But when the bitter vegetables turn green, the thrifty mothers will chase us away. Go pick out the rabbit food and stop us from playing around. Each person carries a basket and a small hoe in his hand. A group of children are noisy like sparrows on the ground, heading towards the mountain ditch beside the village. In their ears are the unified instructions of the mothers: don't come back if the basket is not full. !

Of course it’s depressing not being able to play, but fortunately my friends are like this, so I feel less resentful. The common bitter herbs in our Lu area are divided into large bitter herbs and small bitter herbs. The large bitter herbs have plump, oval leaves and are as graceful and luxurious as a lady; the small bitter herbs have slender, feather-shaped leaves and are as exquisite and delicate as the jade of a small family. Compared with the two kinds of bitter vegetables, the big bitter vegetable is much more delicious. They all have yellow flowers, and as soon as the leaves are torn off, the white juice will flow out. It will stick to your hands and turn black and dry, and it is difficult to wash them off. If you accidentally get them in your mouth, you will tremble with pain when you keep them. Take the tongue out and wash it. This is probably the origin of its name.

The rabbit loves this wild vegetable so much. I put the bitter vegetable in front of the rabbit's three-petal mouth. It greedily grabbed it, fearing that I would regret it. It moved its front teeth quickly and chewed the corners of its mouth. The beard is curled up and up, the eyes are half-closed, and there is no sign that it is unpalatable, but he is enjoying the meal! In a short time, he wiped out a large piece of bitter greens, not even the root of the bitter greens was left. He was still looking into the basket with his little nose twitching. His greed was completely gone.

Bitter herbs grow beside the fields and ditches. There are also some in the spring fields, but not many. Bitter greens are one of the most diligent plants in spring. As soon as they feel the warmth of the spring sun, they can't wait to push away the dead grass and fallen leaves and struggle to get a green leaf. Children in the mountains have brisk legs, and when they walk around the ravines in the mountains, their baskets are almost full. As the sun sets in the west and smoke rises from the village, we return in triumph.

Mothers sometimes fail to fulfill their orders. When they go up the mountain, they accidentally overdo it, such as being busy swatting at winter grasshoppers, competing to jump over embankments, or in the oak forest. Looking for eight shelves of cans... In short, it is impossible for Fun to complete the task of filling the basket. There are those who have melon seeds in their heads that can be used to teach them the secrets. Pull up half the basket of withered grass to support the canopy, and put the handful of bitter herbs on top. At first glance, the basket is almost full. However, this method should not be used often. Shrewd mothers can often see through it. , rabbits will continue to beg for food if they are not full.

I just don’t dare to feed shepherd’s purse to rabbits. Even though shepherd's purse is also a wild vegetable, mothers must tell their children not to cut up shepherd's purse and take it home, saying that rabbits will vomit water and have diarrhea after eating it, and their lives will be in danger if they eat too much. Is it so serious? We dare not experiment. After all, rabbits were also an important family property at that time. If they died, the loss would be heavy. Sometimes I am too lazy to pick out the bitter herbs, so my mother enlightens me like this: "The rabbit will grow up quickly if it eats grass. When it grows up, it will be sold to get tuition for your schooling, new clothes for you, and candy for you." "Tell me who you cut the rabbit for." I would nod and say, "For me." The best time to find bitter herbs is when they bloom, and they are bright and bright. , like broken gold all over the ground. Mr. Yang Jiang praised the shepherd's purse flowers as if they were peonies, which was indeed a profound statement. For bitter herbs, flowering is both an important thing and a dangerous thing. Originally we were the ones looking for them, but once they bloomed, they were the ones looking for us.

Bitter vegetables have the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, cooling blood, and stopping dysentery. Bitter vegetables have been eaten by the people for more than 2,000 years and are also commonly used as herbal medicines. It is said that the Red Army often ate bitter vegetables to satisfy their hunger during the Long March, which later became known as the "life-saving vegetable" and "Long March vegetable". But people in my hometown don’t eat it and only use it to feed livestock. We dig it out every year, and there are bitter herbs every year. It takes root, and a new one will grow if you leave a root behind. It has a humble life, but it lives very tenaciously, just like my fellow villagers who have dug in the soil for generations. .

It’s spring again in March, and the bitter flowers are blooming again. The mountains and rivers of my hometown remain the same, but there are no children running around all over the mountains. Almost all the young people have settled down outside, and children are hard to find in the village. There are only three or two families in the village who still raise rabbits, just for leisure, and they don’t expect to spend money in exchange.

In the wilderness, the golden clumps of bitter cauliflower flowers that could never reach the upper echelon of society no matter how hard they tried were deeply imprinted in my childhood memories. The little bitter herbs supported the deep hearts of my parents and gave me a happy childhood.