Chapter 16 Buried fruit core

Walking in the evening, I walked to Lao Qi’s small courtyard unknowingly. The apricot tree in his small farmyard has a large canopy sticking out of the wall. It didn't matter what he said, "If there is no fruit, you will be crazy". He smiled and knocked on his vermilion door that was not concealed. He called my name loudly in the yard and laughed at me for being too polite.When I entered the courtyard, I saw him burying fruit cores under the wall over there again. Before I could comment, Mrs. Qi greeted me and said, "Guess what stupidity he did? You buried the fruit cores that you brought back from Hainan that time." The sapodilla core!" I couldn't help laughing.

Lao Qi is two years older than me. After retiring, he moved to live in this village. Because I set up a study in the village, I gradually got to know some old villagers and new residents in the village. Lao Qi is the one who walks around a lot recently.The first time I was invited into the courtyard by him, sitting in the shade of the apricot tree and chatting, he told me: "People always ask me two sentences when they first meet, one is 'Which unit are you from?' and the other is 'Where are you What are you doing?" When I answered the first sentence, most people were in awe, and some even made a fuss; but when I answered the second sentence, most people would show an expression of "I really didn't expect it", and most of them would not speak. "It turns out that he joined an important scientific research institution when he was a young man, and his work unit has not changed. What is his specific job, is he a boiler worker.He was surprised that I had chatted with him for a long time, but I didn't ask these two questions. I just asked him what hobbies he had.He said that he was good at playing military chess, and lamented that even young people rarely play this kind of chess nowadays.Just in time, Mrs. Qi brought the brewed incense, and smiled at me: "Listen to him! Military chess is not his number one hobby, his hobby, so no one can guess it: he loves to bury fruit cores!"

Indeed, Lao Qi loves to bury fruit cores the most.Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe this as a quirk or even a quirk.According to him, probably not long after he got married, he once ate a peach without thinking about it, so he buried the peach pit in a flower pot with no soil. He had completely forgotten about it, and one day his lover suddenly asked him: "What did you plant in this flowerpot?" He went over to see it, was amused, and quickly transplanted the peach tree seedling to the flowerpot under the window root inside.The peach tree grew up day by day, blossomed, and took leaves. It just didn't bear fruit seriously, but seeing the new life transformed by the core made him feel happy. Since then, he has been addicted to burying the core.Moving from a bungalow to a building, there is always a row of flower pots filled with soil on the balcony. No matter what fruit is eaten at home, he always picks out the fat and strong ones, and puts them in the flower pots after drying. Buried, some of the seedlings grew in the pots, and some were moved to the open area of ​​the dormitory courtyard.A jujube tree later became a treasure in the courtyard. Every year, it bears big green and white oblong jujubes. In autumn, the children pick them up and put them in big pots, and distribute them from house to house. "Qi Gong jujube"; but most of the fruit trees he transplanted not only did not bear fruit, but also did not live long; in the flower pots on his balcony, there was a small tree that buried sweet orange seeds for a long time and produced ugly and sour trifoliate trees, without the need for guests A joke, he used to grin at it himself.But no matter what, he just can't get rid of the "itchy hands" habit of burying fruit cores. What's particularly ridiculous is that he can't even sprout fruit trees that he knows are impossible to plant in such a simple way in the north. , such as lychees, olives, and even sapodilla stones, he still has to pick some and bury them in the soil.

I was thinking in my heart, is Lao Qi's eccentricity a kind of mental illness?Mrs. Qi came over to invite me to dinner, and said with a smile that she wanted you to be my companion. Don’t you like listening to people tell stories the most in your line of work? Today’s host and guest is "Quick talk Li Cuilian"!Lao Qi also insisted on staying, so I went into the house to eat their daily meals.It turned out that the customer who came before me was a female accountant of their unit who was still on the job.That "Li Cuilian" came to visit them from the city specially, and she didn't think it was "quick talk" during the dinner.Later I said goodbye with her, and Lao Qi and his wife insisted on sending her to the bus stop.

She will come to play with her lover and children next time."Li Cuilian" and I walked all the way, and took the initiative to talk about Lao Qi's hobby of burying fruit pits, saying that you look at the apricot trees in their small courtyard, the apricot pits have only been buried for five years, and they have grown so tall. The leaves are irregular and bear almonds; there are also grape seedlings grown from the buried grape cores, which are coiled on the vegetable field fence outside their house. It is really beautiful to look at, but the fruits on those vines are only the size of mung beans for several years; If Lao Qi really likes gardening, why doesn't he buy some professional books and ask the fruit growers to go beyond this childish state of simply burying fruit pits?

"You said he was childish?" "Li Cuilian" looked at me very dissatisfied, and then suddenly asked, "Do you know why I always wear these gloves in hot weather?" Before I could say anything, she had already taken off the gloves, Ah, she's missing the middle finger of her right hand!Afterwards, she really spoke quickly and told me her understanding of Lao Qi: Lao Qi buried fruit pits because he always felt that every fruit pit was a life. In his decades of social ups and downs, his attitude towards the people around him.For example, 20 years ago, when the agency moved, she lost her hand in the process of carrying the desk, resulting in such a disability. At that time, she was still at the age of a flower. How big a blow should this be!Who wants to marry her?Just when she was so depressed that she didn't want to live anymore, one day Lao Qi deliberately walked up to her and said to her, "It's nothing. I don't need anything in my heart, and the days to come will be sweet!" Lao Qi always couldn't bear it. I always want to get close to the "unlucky" person and leave what he has thought up. Some people listen to what he, a boiler worker, do not respond; There are quite a few in the unit alone who have planted the "fruit core" of goodwill encouragement and survived psychological crisis, life difficulties, and eternal heart.A newly elected academician of the Academy of Engineering was framed more than ten years ago, and no one cared about eating in the cafeteria. Master Qi went over to sit with him, shared cigarettes, and said to him: "The black coal is burning red. It’s pretty.” There are so many examples, I’m afraid it’s more than the fruit pits that Master Qi buried...

After seeing off "Li Cuilian", I didn't go back to the study right away, but wandered in the willow forest by the canal for a long time.