Chapter 20 The Song of the Osmanthus Tree

It is said that the first osmanthus tree in the village was planted by my grandfather's grandfather.That ancestor probably had the square face and bushy beard unique to the Tong surnamed family. He was loved by others and was always the chief of our district when he was alive.At that time, in addition to the long stream of water, there were miscellaneous weeds in the valley, but there was not a single tree, and the trees were growing vigorously in the south of the mountain.Once my ancestors took a few good men to Shannan and picked this tree in other people's villages.The tree was in bloom, and the intoxicating scent stunned them.In the dead of night, they secretly dug up the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the south of the mountain, and then several people took turns hitting the tree and sneaked back to the village overnight.Now there are sweet-scented osmanthus trees growing everywhere here, I don’t know if that tree is still there, maybe it was chopped off by Lei Shan, maybe it is the king of sweet-scented osmanthus by the small pier.When my father told me this, his face was full of golden color.The children often pick off the sweet-scented osmanthus branches and put them in their schoolbags, because the female teachers in the town stand guard at the school gate in the morning and ask for them.Female teachers like to put sweet-scented osmanthus in bottles and hang them on the wall, and some men put sweet-scented osmanthus branches on the door locks to express some beautiful emotions.

But foreigners are not allowed to steal the sweet-scented osmanthus from our village.Thieves who steal flowers will be tied to the osmanthus king tree in the small pier, and the old man will smear the thief's hands with nectar, which will attract a large number of wild bees to sting the evil hands.Finally, scoop a bucket of water from the river and pour it from head to toe, so that the smell of sweet-scented osmanthus will be washed away from the thief's body. I remember this procedure since I was very young. Take me to watch, and look around at the small pier, there are many boys huddled under the armpits of the adults, watching this scene similar to the performance of the folk scene in the movie.

"Flower thief!" "Flower thief!" My father told me that the osmanthus tree is the spirit of the ancestors in our village.It is not too much to kill those who steal flowers.But they don't dare to come next time without killing people.They steal flowers to make wine.But why don't those bastards think about it, will we let the spirits of our ancestors steal wine with them? I am a good descendant of a family with the surname Tong, and I think that if I encounter flower thieves, I will not spare them, but in my long youth, I have never caught a flower thief.I watched the two people in the river flick across the water like two wild ducks. I dodged behind the king osmanthus tree, staring nervously and excitedly at my two prey on the water.The little pier was empty.The sun that day was as hot as in summer, and the sweet-scented osmanthus tree exuded a tired and strong fragrance. My father left me to go to the widow's house in the village to help her grind soybeans.It was an unusual day, but finally I met the flower thief.

The people of Fushui went ashore quietly.Unexpectedly, it was two immature girls who fled across the pier on tiptoe and bare feet like water demons, flinging bright water droplets from their bodies indiscriminately, which dazzled me. "Flower thief!" "Flower thief!" The two little water demons jumped and ran recklessly in my sight, panting loudly. In front of the tree, he tugged at the branches brutally and hastily.It was a late sweet-scented osmanthus tree, and the old flower stars quickly sprinkled them all over.The two little water demons shook their dripping bodies, but the sweet-scented osmanthus seeds didn't fall, so they frantically attacked the high branches, jumping up to knock down the dense flowers.I let out a wild roar and chased after him. I forced the flower thief like a leopard. I was brave and strong, and my eyes shone with the golden light of anger that is unique to our village—in a flash, I had such a pair of eyes.

"Flower thief, I will tie you up." I spoke to them calmly like a father.I have seen hemp ropes hanging from osmanthus king trees.The two little water demons each held a handful of sweet-scented osmanthus branches in their hands, and were stunned. "I'll also smear your hands with nectar, and let the wild bees sting you." Their flat chests rose and fell nervously, and their yellow and yellow faces were molded behind their wet hair. It froze for a while.The older girl's eyes lit up timidly like a firefly, and she hid her hand holding the sweet-scented osmanthus branch behind her back.

"Why did you tie us up?" said the older girl. "You are flower thieves. Not only will I kidnap you, but I will also let the wild bees sting you and irrigate you with water from the river. I will not let you go." I said. The big girl took the little girl's hand, trying to escape to the river bank.I grabbed her wet and warm flowered shirt, and that strange body like a water demon desperately twisted and resisted, which gave me an inexplicable pleasure. "Why did you tie us up? The sweet-scented osmanthus tree grows by itself." I didn't listen to their screams, and just dragged them towards the old sweet-scented osmanthus king tree.A rope for tying flower thieves hangs from that tree branch.I was ruthless, like a well-trained hunter dealing with the prey under the gun. In a burst of falling osmanthus rain, I tied up my flower thief.I squatted on the ground like my father and closed my eyes.Waiting for the osmanthus king tree to appear.My father told me that all the flower thieves who were tied to the sweet osmanthus tree had pain all over their bodies, and the souls of our ancestors had thorns.I didn't expect those two girls not to cry.They huddled together tightly, staring at me with the same dark eyes, confusion mixed with hatred.They leaned against the sweet-scented osmanthus tree, very peaceful, without a trace of pain.

"Why don't you let the wild bees sting our hands?" The little water demon said to me suddenly and seriously.She opened her mouth wide and looked around at the sweet-scented osmanthus forest in our village, as if she had been waiting for something.The procedures for punishing flower thieves that I had memorized in my mind gradually became blurred.For a while, I felt that they were looking at me, my face was a little hot, and then I became frantic, turned around the tree twice, and suddenly picked up the sweet-scented osmanthus stars that fell on the ground and pointed them at their faces again and again. Call on the past.

"Let you steal, let you steal, let you steal." I growled, in a surprisingly rude voice.The faces of the ancestors of the Tong family emerged in front of my eyes, and those distant and sincere eyes surrounded me.The indifferent square faces and black beards of the ancestors all bloomed into flowers and hid on a huge sweet-scented osmanthus tree. The two little water demons trembled slightly under the attack of sweet-scented osmanthus.I guess they have probably been stung by the sweet-scented osmanthus tree.They will also cry out in fear like other flower thieves, and then beg for mercy.But I clearly felt that the little yellow face was smiling under the cover of the sweet-scented osmanthus, and the laughter gradually grew louder.

"The sweet-scented osmanthus in your village is really fragrant. I have never seen such a flower tree. Why don't you give us a few to take home?" The sweet-scented osmanthus in our village bloomed in such a strange way on the faces of the two strange flower thieves that the golden color of sweet-scented osmanthus flickered even in their eyes.I started to panic, and in a trance, I wanted to call my father.I threw the two little water demons on the sweet-scented osmanthus tree with shame and hatred, and ran towards the village with heavy heads.I can only go and find my father.Just after running out of the hot osmanthus grove, I suddenly heard two joyful shouts in the distance, and two little white figures flashed past the depths of the grove, rushing to the bank of the river.How did they break free from that sacred old osmanthus king tree?When I chased to the water's edge, two weird little water demons were already in the middle of the river.Under the bright and white sun that day, the surface of the water was steaming with a touch of heat.The flower thieves who came away from the water were misty and mysterious, they were just two weird little water demons.I picked up stones from the bank and threw them towards the center of the river.I waved my fist towards the messy river again, and shouted hoarsely:

"If you come again, flower thieves, I'll kill you--" They looked back at me in a splash of water.They pinched a lot of sweet-scented osmanthus branches in their hands.Two little water demons stole the sweet-scented osmanthus from our village. I seem to feel that the flower branches of the old osmanthus king tree are not as lush as before.Sometimes when I walked past the pier and stared at the old tree, I felt a little confused.I put my hands heavily on the tree, trying to test the mysterious thorn of my ancestors, but I couldn't feel it.It's cold on the palm, my ancestor's sweet-scented osmanthus tree is old.Hemp rope dangled from the fork, swinging before my eyes.I will think of those two little water demons who stole flowers.I don't know what kind of village they returned to after crossing the river.I don't know why the osmanthus king tree in our village didn't hurt the two flower thieves.My father said that in late autumn, there will be three days of wind that will blow all the sweet-scented osmanthus off the trees.The villagers were all afraid of the wind, but they pinched their fingers and calculated the date of the disaster as if they were waiting.That autumn did not go, and the clouds in the sky were very white, without black halos, and there was no sign of wind.Osmanthus groves are scattered peacefully by the river, viewed from all directions around the village.They all look like a bunch of queer human figures.A few old men sat on the threshold of their own houses, looking at the osmanthus grove, feeling uneasy at the same time, they met later to enter the osmanthus grove, and did not come out for a long time.It is said that they touched almost every tree, and finally surrounded the old osmanthus tree. Strangely, they found that the fragrance of osmanthus was much weaker than before, and the main branch of that tree became sparse, and someone brutally attacked it. The sweet-scented osmanthus tree in our village.

"Flower thief!" "Flower thief!" The old people looked up at the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in horror and resentment, their minds were confused.Above their pale heads, the golden osmanthus flowers roared, and there was a sinister signal hidden in it.Only the elderly who have smelled sweet-scented osmanthus for half their lives can tell the difference.They have always believed that the sweet-scented osmanthus in our village has immortals and spirits. In the past few days, everyone in the village heard the old people's description of the osmanthus forest.It is impossible to judge whether the disaster will befall our village, but if anyone catches the flower thief in those few days, the flower thief will be killed alive by the restless villagers like wild beasts. "Did you see the flower thief?" My father once cornered me in the door and scanned me with those wolf eyes. I leaned against the wall and shook my head at my father, and looked through the crack of the door towards the small pier. "Don't you kill the flower thief when you see him?" My father grabbed my body and shook him.I suddenly wanted to cry a little, and I threw my father's stone-like arms away desperately. "I didn't see it. If I see it, I'll kill him!" As I fled outside, I turned around and shouted at my stunned father.I somehow ran to the small pier.I have been seeing water splashes on the river these days, and it seems that someone is coming towards the sweet-scented osmanthus forest.I didn't know it was an illusion until I got to the shore, or it might be because the sun was so bright.I can't forget those two little water demon-like flower thieves.I can't forget the humiliation and anxiety they brought to my heart.Maybe the last osmanthus branch they stole was the crown on the old osmanthus king tree, so I was responsible for the disaster in the village.I followed my father and moved to the bamboo house on the small pier.We are going to guard the mature osmanthus grove, and we can't sleep to death day and night.To catch all the flower thieves, we have to wait until the three-day strong wind blows to our village and all the osmanthus flowers fall from the trees before we can evacuate from the osmanthus forest. "The wind is coming soon. When the wind comes, all these sweet-scented osmanthus will be gone." My father lay on the muddy ground covered with broken sweet-scented osmanthus petals, looking up at the sky.The sky was cut into small skylights by the claw-like osmanthus branches, and the blue was crystal clear. Occasionally, clouds drifted across the skylights, and my father was actually looking at those clouds. And I am waiting for the flower thief.The flower thief will come.Maybe those two little water demons will cross the river again and break into the osmanthus forest of our ancestors, then I will have a chance, I will not spare them, and I will not humiliate my ancient and staunch Tong family.What happened that day was unusual from the start.It was an evening filled with golden mist.We found that strange stranger from the small window of the bamboo hut. He was sitting peacefully in the osmanthus grove of our village, smoking his cigarette on and off, looking up at the huge osmanthus grove. walk over.He must have heard hurried footsteps, but the stranger didn't even glance at us. "Is it a flower thief?" My father suddenly snatched the cigarette butt from the stranger, threw it on the ground, and stomped it out. The stranger was very thin, with a tired look on his face.He smiled at us warmly, without panicking at all.I saw a few glistening drops of water condensed on his hair, and he probably came here too. "I don't steal. Why should I steal?" asked the stranger suddenly.My father was staring at the stranger. He had already caught the hemp rope and twisted it on the back of his hand. I saw that my father didn't want to rush to do it. He exerted force roughly and suddenly pushed the stranger.The stranger didn't move, and he was on his guard. "Flower thief, where did you come from?" "Shannan, there used to be sweet-scented osmanthus trees in Shannan, but none of them have disappeared since then." "Do you fucking want to move these trees back?" "Can't move." The stranger still smiled wearily.He got up lazily and walked ahead of us, deeper into the woods.I followed behind his thin figure, made a fierce choking motion towards him, and then asked my father with my eyes: Do you want to kill him?Still holding the rope in his hand, the father stared at the stranger, panting heavily.He saw my action, but he didn't react as he should.I went to pull his stalagmite-like arm again, and only then did I feel the strangeness of my father.His pair of gray wolf eyes are already very dazed. "He's not a flower thief." I heard my father mutter.The osmanthus grove at dusk was silent, and after the arc-shaped purple-gold halo settled down, the grove gradually presented an unfathomable darkness.The stranger was like a sorcerer performing witchcraft, and we, father and son, were chasing him.Later, he stopped in front of the osmanthus king tree, tilting his head to look at the loose flower shadow.We saw him stretch out a palm, like a villager, and put it against the thick tree body tenderly.Father rushed up and grabbed the stranger's hand. "You monster, what the hell are you doing here?" "I heard that the king osmanthus tree is dying. Come and see, I've never seen this tree." "You'd better get out of the way, don't talk about this tree." "I also I don’t know if it’s the tree that grew in Shannan, I want to take the flowers back, but our winery in Shannan doesn’t have sweet-scented osmanthus.” “Do you really want to throw your life to our village?” "I gave you a lot of money. I spent a lot of money to buy these sweet-scented osmanthus. There is not a single sweet-scented osmanthus tree in Shannan." My father was silent, his eyes glowed with the familiar fierce light again.He bit his lips and smiled coldly, groping for the noose in the darkness of the sweet-scented osmanthus forest.Immediately afterwards, the noose was released from my father's hand like a bird, flew over my head, and landed on the neck of the stranger.The stranger turned his head sharply.He was not frightened, as if everything was expected, but his long gaze at his father made the dusk dignified.I'm a little out of breath. "Are you really going to kill me?" said the stranger softly, in a weary voice, "It's easy for you to kill me now. I'm so tired, I've walked all day from Shannan to get here, and I've lost all strength "The father tightened the noose, then loosened it.The stranger stood motionless.I saw many sweet-scented osmanthus stars fall from the tree to his disheveled head.The twilight is getting thicker and thicker, and the figure of the stranger caught by the rope is like a thin mountain, standing stubbornly in front of us. "You are the real flower thief. But how did you steal the sweet-scented osmanthus from our village? There are ancestor gods surnamed Tong attached to the trees everywhere." Father said. "I don't steal. I spend a lot of money to buy your sweet-scented osmanthus. I spend a lot of money just to buy sweet-scented osmanthus. There are no sweet-scented osmanthus in Shannan." "Couldn't you use other things to make wine? You are so fucking hell." "We are used to drinking osmanthus wine, and many people in far away places are also used to drinking osmanthus wine. We didn't know that osmanthus is so hard to find now. There are sweet-scented osmanthus trees. Thousands of cans of good wine can be brewed every year. The sweet-scented osmanthus in Shannan has always been picked from the tree to make wine." The stranger with a noose said these things, as if he couldn't hide the arrogance and arrogance of the Shannan people. self-esteem.His thin face is obviously overflowing with the moving image of sweet-scented osmanthus, flickering for the last time in the dusk.But he was really exhausted, and there was an ominous expression on his tired eyes, which reminded me of the monkey trickster who often passed through the forest.My father walked over to prevent the dead tree-like body from falling on the trunk of King Osmanthus.He undid the noose, and said to the stranger: "Go away, go back to your Shannan." The stranger touched the blood-stained neck and sighed deeply.We saw him walking out of the forest, staggering, touching the sweet-scented osmanthus in our village with his hands all the way.When approaching the river, the stranger stopped suddenly, looked at the dark blue sky, and turned to us and shouted: "Look at the sky, there's going to be a strong wind." The voice sounded very sad.My father shuddered. "That Shannan man is here again." "I saw it a long time ago, don't worry about him." "Why does he sit there all the time looking around?" "He won't steal sweet-scented osmanthus, leave him alone." Father leaned in front of the window of the bamboo house, watching the figure in the osmanthus forest from a distance.Every evening, when the sweet-scented osmanthus trees are burning in late autumn, strangers from the south of the mountain will appear in the sweet-scented osmanthus forest.I don't know what he is thinking quietly, but in my opinion, he is more magical than those two little water demons who stole flowers, and has a kind of shocking magic power. "He is also waiting for the wind. When the wind blows for three days, all our sweet-scented osmanthus will fall to the ground." Father said to himself, "When the sweet-scented osmanthus is gone, we will go home and live." "Why didn't we catch the flower thief?" "Our luck is bad this year, or it's good luck this year." When my father smiled, his eyes were a little weird.He looked extraordinarily gloomy and restless in those dusks.That day he bumped back and forth in the bamboo hut, dragging the hemp rope that had been hung on the osmanthus king tree.I don't think he wants to tie up the Shannan man. The wolf-like expression in his eyes has not reappeared for several days. Later, I saw him hang the hemp rope on himself, and then bit his lip with his teeth, strangely laugh. "I think it's going to be windy tomorrow. I'm going to talk to the Shannan people today. Everything needs to be settled." I don't know what my father is going to do.I just remember that my father's square face, which is unique to the Tong family, suddenly became blurred in the sunset in the bamboo house.The sweet-scented osmanthus smelled strange that night. I always wanted to find out what happened to the sweet-scented osmanthus grove, and why it was even more fragrant on the eve of being blown down by the wind.But the windows and doors of the Zhuliao were locked behind closed doors by my father.He went to the osmanthus grove alone to meet the Shannan people. He drove all the sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance in through the cracks in the bamboo hut, and made me fall asleep. I slept in the dark bamboo hut, and I had many dreams one after another.It was probably early in the morning, and I was woken up by a sudden strong wind.The wind really came on this day.I saw that the doors and windows of the bamboo house were violently pushed open by the first strong wind, sweet-scented osmanthus blossoms swirled from the trees and the ground, dancing in the sky like gold stars, hitting my eyes.I suddenly realized that this night was unusual, and rushed outside against the strong wind.The sweet-scented osmanthus in our village disappeared overnight.The osmanthus grove by the water is bare, swaying against the wind from all directions.I ran and shouted frantically among the osmanthus piles all over the floor, looking for my father.But the father and the stranger in Shannan disappeared from the osmanthus forest.This is the wind that our villagers fear and wait for.I feel that I will be blown by the wind and fly like an osmanthus. Later, I stood on the stone slab of the small pier, and the falling osmanthus almost sank my instep.I shivered in the wind with bare feet, because I discovered the secret of how my father "finished".The big white wooden boat moored by the small pier all year round was launched in the wind.The ship has come a long way.I saw the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers flapping like flames in the strong wind, and the river where the boat passed was dyed a bright golden yellow.I saw my father on the boat, and the stranger from Shannan.The wind bumped their sweet-scented osmanthus boat and turned it around, but my father and the Shannan people grew on the boat like two sweet-scented osmanthus trees.They drifted down the river in the wind, getting farther and farther away from our village.It's still early morning.The strong wind did not shake the sleeping village awake.After a long time, the few old people in the village who woke up early heard my shouting first.I stand barefoot in the warm osmanthus pile.I stood on the desolate pier and shouted over and over again: "The flower thief--" "The flower thief--" "The flower thief--" My father never came back to his hometown. Since then, there has been the famous osmanthus aged wine in Shannan. Since then, there has been this variegated record in Tong's family tree.Three years ago, our area was drought, and the river bottomed out.The sweet-scented osmanthus forest didn't bloom for a whole autumn.That year it was my turn to guard the sweet-scented osmanthus forest, but one night, I crossed the river in a trance, and then came to Shannan, looking for my father.In the lively market town in Shannan, I found osmanthus.The sweet-scented osmanthus is tied up in bunches and piled up on the stall.Two women hid their bodies in the pile of flowers, showing their seductive faces, and sold those sweet-scented osmanthus to everyone.They may be little water demons who can swim. I mingled among the strangers in Shannan, and squeezed in to buy a bunch of sweet-scented osmanthus.No one knows me, not even the woman who sells sweet-scented osmanthus.But I remember everything, and I came from a village full of sadness and confusion.