Pepper Tree Prose in Deep Memory

On the balcony, a flowerpot abandoned because of the dead flowers and plants has been in the corner for a long time. In spring, some three Ye Ping came out of the flowerpot, and the unique green leaves decorated the flowerpot, leaving only a dead pile.

At noon, the weather is sunny and the spring breeze is leisurely, bringing warmth. I moved a stool and sat on the balcony, bathed in warmth. Inadvertently, I saw two pepper seedlings growing in Sanyeping. They are so weak, just like two ugly ducklings mixed in the dense leaves of Sanyeping.

As soon as my eyes lit up, I quickly moved Sanyeping and the dead pile to make room for pepper seedlings. Ye Ping, no matter how good, is a weed. Although the pepper seedlings are small, they can produce peppers when they grow up, which is a delicious vegetable. Since then, I have to see them every day. Have they grown taller or stronger? When the soil is dry, pour some water on it and feel that the fertility is not enough, give the soaked bean cake water.

The tender pepper seedlings in the flowerpot tick out the "pepper tree" in my memory. They are all dark green in front of my eyes, but they can grow hard and become extremely clear, which seems to be within reach.

Those "pepper trees" were planted next to a well, which was built under a half-meter-high ridge. It is a cold water field that will not dry up for many years.

There are several palm-sized scattered fields by the well, which were distributed to our educated youth by the production team. Those scattered lands are unwanted and overgrown with weeds. With a finger of the production team leader's hand, he distributed them to three educated youths together with a few plots larger than the palm of his hand on a slope, so that we could grow some vegetables ourselves.

The land on the slope was dug up quickly and common vegetables such as radish, cabbage and potatoes were planted, but I didn't know what to plant in the palm of my hand by the well. There is a row of mulberry trees on the ridge beside the well. Because educated youth don't keep silkworms, this tree was given to others. The well with mulberry trees is damp and dark, which is not suitable for plant growth. In addition, relying on the well, for fear of polluting drinking water, you can't pour manure, and you can only point the base fertilizer when planting. After thinking for a long time, I planted several pepper seedlings left by villagers in the mountains there. Educated youth is a newcomer, and there is no pig to feed the chicken. Naturally, there is no base fertilizer. Growing peppers is just a matter of rights and interests. Although the land is small, it is also land. If you give it to us, you must use it, otherwise the villagers, especially the captain, will say that we are too lazy to plant the plots. As a result, those ordinary pepper seedlings settled down by the well.

Use water every day, go to the well every day, and naturally you can see peppers every day. Those peppers grow well in the private plots of the mountain people. Under the careful care of farmers, they are the same every day. They are planted in mid-spring and bloom in early summer. Our peppers are dormant. Leaves are green too, but they just don't grow. When the villagers ate Chili peppers, our peppers were still seedlings, which made us very depressed. After a long time, I will leave it alone, except that I am too dry to water them with some cold well water, and I will not give it any hope.

Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better in autumn. After the autumn harvest was completed, the temperature dropped quickly. The peppers planted by the villagers had already withered, the old vines were pulled out and new crops were planted. Our pepper seedlings seemed to wake up, jumped up and jumped out of the height in a few days. There was a thin layer of ice in the rice field, and those peppers actually grew taller than people. The leaves are big and dense. If you smell them close, they are all fragrant. It provoked many mountain people to come to see the wonders and said, "This is the only way to catch up. The peppers planted by educated youth turned into trees. How many peppers do you have to bear! " Begging us to leave more seeds. Next year, they will also plant some peppers that can grow into trees.

We are disappointed, and so are the villagers. "Pepper Tree" is very tall, with dense leaves, but it doesn't blossom or bear fruit, only the leaves are dazzling green. Everyone in the village said that digging is enough, and planting a few sweet potatoes and harvesting can cook porridge. We just laughed and didn't want to dig them. Let them grow there, they can't eat Chili, but they are beautiful. Besides, that sweet potato won't grow well without fertilization.

Although the "pepper tree" didn't bear fruit, it really came in handy and fulfilled a friendship between the three educated youths. Among the three people we ordered, the oldest tall man is Dashan, the youngest is Jianshe, and I rank second.

Dashan is tall and healthy, and I have never had any serious illness. Occasionally, I have a headache and brain fever, which will pass in a while. Only construction is a sick seedling. Construction surnamed Li, like Dashan and me, is a cadre's child. In primary school, Jianshe was my classmate. His body is very weak, and he often has blood in his stool. Advised him to see a doctor, he said that his parents took him to see a doctor, and the doctor said it was hemorrhoids, nothing. But I never liked it. How can you get hemorrhoids at a young age?

That year, his illness broke out again, with bloody stools more than a dozen times a day, dragging people like thin monkeys. Disgusting, I can't eat. When I saw that face turn into a crescent moon, Dashan and I were very anxious. At that time, the life of educated youth was very poor, and the vegetables planted in the vegetable field had long been eaten up, leaving only some new radishes and vegetables that were not too high. But the shallots on the edge of the ground are green. I want to cook him a disgusting meal, but I don't know what to do.

On this day, I went to the well to draw water, and saw the dense "pepper trees" in the hot air of the well water, so I had an idea. After carrying water back, I quickly carried a basket to the well, picked half a basket of pepper leaves and pulled out a few shallots on the slope. Dashan and I ground a few catties of rice noodles to make a unique rice noodle jiaozi for Jianshe.

A fire broke out in the kitchen. Wash the wok, drop a few drops of precious clear oil, put the scallion into the wok, pour in the pepper leaves and stir fry, and then add a proper amount of water. Rice noodles are also mixed, and the dry and wet conditions are suitable, making jiaozi without stuffing. The water is boiling. As the steam rises, there is a strange smell in the room. No monosodium glutamate. No soy sauce and vinegar. Salt is the only condiment. However, this makeshift zongzi actually made the construction appetite big, ate all the zongzi and kept saying "delicious, delicious!" " "

At that time, Dashan and I cooked him strange food with Chili leaves, such as cold Chili leaves, fried Chili leaves, chopped Chili leaves, baked rice cakes in rice noodles, and a little fried Chili leaves, which also made him eat a bowl of porridge ... According to the villagers, a Chili leaf made Dashan and I a famous dish. Ordinary pepper leaves actually made Jianshe's illness temporarily better.

We are careless, especially the parents of Jianshe. Just one year after I was drafted into the army, Jianshe also took part in the work. When he came to an ironmaking factory, his illness recurred. After examination, he found that he had hemorrhoids, not rectal cancer, and it had reached the advanced stage. ...

On my first home leave, I went home, and Dashan, who joined the army one year later than me, was discharged. We made an appointment to build a home, but on the way, we met Jianshe's father, who said that until he left, Jianshe had been obsessed with the Chili leaves he had eaten and the bowl of Chili leaves that made him stand up from his illness ... Jianshe, we didn't go, and Jianshe's father said that he couldn't forget Zongzi when he saw us. After all, parents neglected their son's health, which led him to that step.

I still don't understand why those peppers grow into trees. Maybe it's dark? Maybe it's the temperature of well water? However, the joy brought by the pepper tree is really left in the depths of memory.

I want to cultivate that pepper seedling in the flowerpot into a "pepper tree" and connect it with my lush years! That's true. I want to make another bowl of glutinous rice balls in the past to pay homage to my educated youth brothers and tell others what is happening in the world today. I will also experience that bitter and warm time again. ...