Chapter 45 Write poems on the lotus with years

Passing through Baihe Township in Tainan County that day, it was like suddenly drinking a cup of cold honey water in Shudali, which was cool and sweet. Baihe town is an amazing place. It is the largest lotus plantation in the province. Walking in the alleys and wandering in the fields, you will see fields of big and beautiful lotus at the turning point.Those carefully cultivated lotus flowers seem to be naturally generated, and they are not ashamed in the good wind and beautiful scenery of the earth, and they have a particularly joyful atmosphere in summer. When I went there, it happened to be the harvest season of lotus seeds. People who planted lotus plants were busy. Adults and children all went to the lotus pond to pick lotus seeds. For those of us who sigh only after seeing the beauty of lotus flowers, we will never know how to plant lotus seeds. What kind of hard work did Lian's family use to maintain a pond of lotus and make it bloom and bear fruit?

"The setting sun is slanting, and the evening wind is blowing. Come and sing the ballad of picking lotus. The red flowers are bright, the white flowers are delicate, and the fragrance blows to the face. The lotus flower is happy.” The “Ballad of Picking Lotus” that we sang in childhood is like a dream in Baihe, because the lotus growers don’t pick lotus flowers for viewing, but lotus seeds to maintain the family’s livelihood, and there are no lotus fields to harvest. The lotus fat on the paddle, step by step in the mud of the lotus field. The time for picking lotus is when the sun just rises in the morning or when the sun is about to set in the evening. The lotus pickers carry bamboo baskets, put on bamboo hats, wade into the shallow mud, and pluck the mature lotus pods one by one. Take it off and put it in a bamboo basket.

The picked lotus pods first dig out the lotus seeds inside. There is a thick shell on the outside of the lotus, which needs to be peeled off one by one with a knife, and the crystal white lotus seeds will roll to the ground.After the lotus seeds are peeled, the lotus heart must be picked out with a fine needle. This is all thanks to dexterous handwork, and no one can be lazy, so the whole family joins in the work.Empty lotus pods can be sold to traditional Chinese medicine shops, and can also be hung for decoration; white lotus seeds can be used to cook lotus seed soup and make many delicious dishes;

I spent a day watching the lotus people in Baihe Town. I don’t know why I always feel that the lotus growers are like lotus seeds. On the surface, the lotus is beautiful. The landscape of the lotus field is the most beautiful among all crops, but they work Like Lian Xin, her hard work is bitter.The season for picking lotus is from the Dragon Boat Festival to the turn of summer and autumn in September. After the lotus seeds are harvested, the next step is to dig the lotus roots in the soil. The lotus field is actually a piece of mud, lotus pickers must beware of blood-sucking water frogs swimming around in the field, and the stalks of the lotus are covered with thorns.I saw that the trousers of every lotus picker were riddled with thorns, and sometimes there were bloodstains. It can be seen that it is not easy to live on the beautiful lotus.

The children rolled the lotus leaves into a cup shape, and ran around the lotus fields holding the lotus seeds, which made me realize that no matter how hard the harvest is, there is also a happy side. The lotus is actually a lotus, it is called "lotus" before it blooms, and it is called "lotus" after it blooms and bears fruit.I always feel that the two names have different meanings: the feeling of lotus is innocent and pure, like a clean and flawless girl, while lotus is solemn and precious, like a young woman who is about to give birth.The lotus is suitable for viewing, and is a friend of poets and artists; the lotus brings a bit of bitterness in life, and is the life support of lotus growers.Thinking of my ignorance of lotus for many years, I only like to see and think of lotus from a far high place; but I have never entered the real world of lotus, and I can't help feeling guilty when I see the joys and sorrows of life behind the lotus field.

Who knows that thirty lotus seeds in a lotus pod are irrigated with blood and sweat?Who knows how long a farmer has worked hard for a bowl of frozen lotus seed soup in summer? I accompanied a lotus planter to patrol his lotus field, and watched him walk by the lotus field that occupied an area of ​​one hundred and one hundred. He told me how a lotus is planted, irrigated, grown, and Harvesting, how to avoid wind disasters, and waiting for next year's harvest, I feel that one of the most ordinary things in the world may be difficult for us to know forever, even if it is as small as a lotus seed, there is a set of great knowledge about life.

I stood on the lotus field, watching the sun shine on the lotus field, and thought that "leaving the lotus to listen to the rain" is probably a state that the lotus people will not be able to enjoy, because when the lotus is left, they will plant seeds again.The lotus leaves in the field form one piece when they sit, and they also form one piece when they are standing. They are entangled in the field.We use some empty and clear poems to praise the beauty of lotus leaves and He Tiantian, and we will never be as good as lotus growers who use their years and blood and sweat to write poems on lotus leaves!

—September 2, 1981