It’s another year when the wild fruits are in the beginning of the red jade and fall. Sitting in a corner of the park, looking at the little fruits in the grass, my mind began to drift on the top of the Ziwuling mountain in my hometown. It is the paradise of my boyhood, and it is also the place where my soul flies every night. Every season ends here, the mountain is like a picture of autumn on the mountain with clouds steaming, green trees, and birds flying and butterflies dancing. The mountains and plains filled the branches with precious fruits, pick an entrance, the sweet and sour juice like a ballet dance on the taste buds, the fruit of various colors began to awaken a period of long past… In
the past , the most favored by us was the snake Berry, its branches and vines often creep all over the ground, the leaves are also extremely delicate and emerald green, and the edges have jagged patterns. When I was a teenager, I always liked to clip leaves of various shapes into books as bookmarks. Whenever I was dazzled by my homework, I took out the leaves and traced its veins on the art book.
Snake berries are lychee-colored, inlaid like tiny red agates. When the sun shines, they give off a bright and moving luster. This small wild fruit, which carries the essence of the wind and rain, is full of sweetness between the lips and teeth, and the deliciousness is unparalleled. But we only know the taste, but we don’t know why the name of this infamous “snakeberry” comes from. After checking, it turns out that it is a blind medicinal material that can cure poisonous snake bites. Perhaps this is the origin of its name.
At that time, we were most impressed by a small red fruit with a figure eight-shaped bifurcation, which looked like a pair of shorts. It was bright red like jade, tasted sweet, and had a slightly bitter aftertaste. The naughty boy gave it one. Very indecent nickname “Red Pants”. It grows extremely luxuriantly, and every time the mountain breeze screams, this crystal clear little fruit sways in the wind between the branches, like rubies and little bells.
Because it can be seen everywhere, we often pick it up as “bullets” and play with boys during the break. Once, President Wang saw this scene and told us about his experience of studying as a young man in a heart-to-heart manner. This wild fruit was called a branch fruit in the hometown of Principal Wang. It has extremely high nutritional value. When he was in poor family in his early school years, he often couldn’t eat enough, so he suffered from anemia and calcium deficiency. His mother learned from the old Chinese doctor that he should eat this fruit often. Whenever he remembered his mother picking branches for him in the wilderness, Principal Wang couldn’t help himself and urged us not to ruin it.
Every autumn day when the red maple is like a fire and the mountains are like emeralds, what makes me covet the most is the small and exquisite duli fruit that resembles a cherry. The yellow-brown peel, long thin handles, like grains of warm and smooth beeswax, make the tongue grow fluid. I remember that on a clear autumn evening, the moonlight was like water. We happily gathered in the auditorium, carrying the mother’s freshly cooked duli fruit in our handkerchiefs, eating and watching the Japanese movie “Noriko”. This woman who had no arms at birth, exercised her feet flexibly, not only was able to take care of herself completely, but she was also admitted as a municipal government employee by studying hard. Du Li that night made me taste a different taste in the world. Years later, when I was also in a wheelchair, Noriko’s perseverance and stubbornness and the sweetness and softness of Du Liguo nourished my inner world from the depths of my soul time and time again, giving me a kind of upward strength and deep thinking about life.
Ziwuling is a place on the Loess Plateau, with the winding Qin Zhidao on the ridge. I have time and again thought about traveling through ancient times. Just imagine building the Great Wall and fighting against the Huns outside of Senegal. The wild fruits in the mountains will also give you long journeys. The warriors bring a trace of comfort on the taste buds. This picks the fruit of the essence of heaven, earth, sun and moon, and has captured the taste buds of many wandering memories.
