Chapter 28 My toon tree

After reading Mr. Wang Hongjun's great article "Toona Fragrance After the Grain Rain", the thoughts of hometown arise spontaneously. The former residence of Shexia in Beiping was probably a royal mansion in the early Qing Dynasty.Because the roof of the main house and the main hall is made of round tiles, there are no wing rooms in the east and west, but a wide corridor with Danying ink.In the courtyard of the hall, there is a phoenix tree on the left, a catalpa tree on the right, and Xiu Ke Jiayun, all of which are quite old trees.The two windows in the west ear of the hall are the same height and wide open. The author and his brother Tao Sun read and write in the room every day.There is a small courtyard in front of the window, and there is a flower bed in the middle, which is planted with lush daylilies.In the window, there is an old toon plant that cannot be hugged by two people. Whenever the heat is hot, the branches and leaves are dense, and the shade is uneven, making the room cool and cool.I often think that although the predecessors did not specialize in garden design, they had ingenuity. What a beautiful mouthpiece that Tong Zijiao and Chun Xuan are luxuriant.Therefore, Wang Wenzhi (Menglou), a famous calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty, gave a plaque of "Yiye Qingfen" to his great-grandfather. According to Mr. Zhao Cirui, these four characters are majestic and elegant, and they are extremely simple. They are Mr. Menglou's classic works.When we were young when we were studying, we only knew that the Chinese toon tree is a great shade. Although the Chinese toon tree is strong and has clusters of brown fruits, which can be used to make various small animals, but when the tree is full of flowers and the clusters are full of branches, it has a strange fragrance. After smelling it, the aroma is too compelling, and I feel quite uncomfortable!

One early morning in the early spring of one year, I went to the study room to look for window lessons. I usually went to the study room at eight o'clock to review the books. It was less than seven o'clock that day, and as soon as I entered the study room, I saw a person climbing on a tree picking toon buds.The concierge Xu Lin immediately followed up in the study and said that the toon buds in the market were not yet on the market, and Lao Chen, the vegetable seller, asked him to pick some to sell, so he would get a lot of money.Since the vegetable seller at the door wanted to pick some toon buds, I didn't ask.Later I learned that the older the toon tree, the earlier it will sprout. People pick the toon buds in Guyu. My toon tree is more than a hundred years old. Once the spring equinox is over, the flat wood is tired and buckled, and the green buds of green, purple stems and green stamens have appeared. .It is said that Chinese toon sprouts are divided into first bud, second bud and third bud. The earlier the bud, the stronger the fragrance. Put the first bud in boiling water and eat it with cold tofu, sesame oil, and oyster sauce.If you eat Zhajiang noodles and use them as noodles, the taste is better than that of bean sprouts, which is a must.At the second and third buds, the taste gradually fades away, but when used in stewed eggs or scrambled eggs, it still has a delicate fragrance and a unique flavor.For the first buds that Lao Chen picked from the tree, he could pick more than two catties for the first time, and a little more than one catty for the second and third times.He picked off the first buds, washed them with clean water, trimmed them neatly, tied them with fine water cattail, put them in a small cattail bag the size of a fist, and offered treasures at the gates of various houses. Goods) sell, those who love toon sprouts, of course, use it as a rare vegetable, and it can be sold at a good price.He picks toon sprouts at the house to sell, the concierge would never dare to ask him for money, but he has a lot of other seasonal vegetables in his car, it is human nature to choose some for the concierge to try new ones, I naturally turn a blind eye and close my eyes, and will not go Mind their business!

Since I came to Taiwan, I haven’t eaten fresh Chinese toon in the first few years. Several Nanhuo seafood restaurants on Hengyang Street occasionally sell pickled dried Chinese toon. In 1957, when the author was working in Chiayi, there was quite a lot of open space in the thatched hut.A friend who worked as a breeder in an agricultural experiment institute gave me four purebred Chinese toon seedlings that were moved from the mainland.Although it is only more than one foot high, it is swaying in the breeze and contains a hidden fragrance, which is absolutely extraordinary.After years of fertilizing and cultivating the soil, it has grown stronger and stronger. Mao Jun, the manager of a central restaurant in Chiayi, although he is from Sichuan, loves to eat fresh toon mixed with tofu.Once I picked some toon buds and took them to the central restaurant to serve as a side dish in the kitchen. After tasting them, Manager Mao thought that the fragrance of these toon plants was exactly the same as that in the mainland.From then on, he often sent people to my residence to pick them. From the first buds to the third buds, the third buds grew into toon leaves, and then they stopped.

In the early summer of last year, I happened to visit the former residence in Chiayi, and the several Chinese toon plants in the courtyard were already towering emerald green, and the pavilion was like a cover.Probably the current owner cherishes these toon plants very much!After crossing the sea and coming to Taiwan, time turns, and more than 30 years have passed. The Xinxin grass has become a tree, and the years have passed. Are the old twigs and twigs in the old houses in Beiping still safe?Looking at Yanyun in the north, I feel sad and full of thoughts. I wish I could go back and have a look. I think people over fifty years old have this kind of thinking!