Chapter 9 Persimmon tree

Going south from Inokashira's apartment, you can walk to Tokyo Women's University.In the Inokashira area, there are no high-rise buildings, only two-story small buildings and bungalows, all with yards, very similar to the countryside.I always love to take a walk in this area, and this trail to Tokyo Women's University is a trail that I like to walk even more, because there is no shop on both sides of the trail, and in the peaceful atmosphere, there are only different but different shops. Very stylish residences.These homes are breathtaking. Japanese people do not have tall courtyard walls, only symbolic low walls.Such a low wall only prevents gentlemen, not thieves.They were made of brick, or planks, or simply a row of privet trees.Therefore, you can see the scene in the yard at a glance.Several fruit trees are often planted in these yards, or oranges, or oranges...

To go to Tokyo Women's University, you have to pass through Yamamoto's house.There was a persimmon tree growing in the yard of Yamamoto’s house. It was already an old tree. Its branches flew open, and some of them protruded out of the yard and lay across the sky above the path. Soon after the persimmon tree blooms, it bears small green fruits.These green fruits have withstood the sun and rain, and grow up without your knowing, so big that you have to pay attention to them when you pass under the branches again.I counted the persimmons on the branches sticking out of the courtyard very carefully, and there were twenty-eight in total.

Twenty-eight persimmons, twenty-eight small lanterns.As long as you walk under the branches, you always have to look at them.They are very evenly green, and the green is black, and the luster that other fruits do not have, makes people feel like jade.When walking under the branches at night, there happened to be a street lamp slanting down the light not far away, and they flickered faintly in the branches and leaves.The less clear it is, the more you want to see them.At this time, you will feel that they are like blue birds sleeping on the branches at night. Autumn has come.Persimmon trees are very strange plants. They often turn yellow leaves before the fruit is ripe.With a few autumn winds, when you walk down the path, you will see the autumn scenery of Su Ye Tuoke and Xiao Xiao falling.The twenty-eight persimmons were exposed day by day.Finally one day, the wind blows down the last dead leaf. At this time, all you see is a tree of naked persimmons.These persimmons finally began to change color under the still strong autumn sun because there was no shelter. The lanterns began to light up one by one, first lightly, then one by one red.

At this time, the persimmons on the branches that cross the road can be counted at once.From summer to now, there are actually not one of them, but twenty-eight. Twenty-eight small lanterns decorate this trail. The persimmons are finally ripe.They fell heavily, bending the branches.Twenty-eight persimmons, you can touch almost every one of them as long as you stretch out your hand.I thought: from now on, these twenty-eight persimmons will decrease day by day.Because, on this trail, many students will pass by during the day, and in the middle of the night, there will be one after another who return home at night.The Yamamoto family had neither a guard dog nor any other precautions.I even suspect that the Yamamoto family is just an empty house.Because, I have walked by his house countless times, but I have never seen anyone in his house.

It is almost natural to throw away persimmons one by one. Sooner or later, these lanterns will be picked off one by one, until only a few iron-like black branches remain. However, a week passed, and there were still twenty-eight persimmons on the branches. Another ten days passed, and there were still twenty-eight persimmons on the branches. That day, I looked up at these glistening persimmons under the branches, and felt that this world was a bit incredible.More than ten years ago, my family also had a persimmon tree── This persimmon tree was given to me by one of my high school classmates. At first, my mother did not agree to plant it.I said: why not plant?My mother said: I planted it, but it turned out to be picked by someone.I said: I am biased.My mother had no choice but to agree with me to plant this persimmon tree in the yard.

The persimmon tree grows very fast, and in just one year, it is taller than me. Another year passed.In the spring of this year, when there was still a bit of chill, the persimmon tree in our house actually bloomed dozens of flowers.They bloom delicately in the wind, a little shy and timid. Every morning, I always count the flowers before I go to school. A few gusts of wind and a few gusts of rain knocked out more than a dozen flowers.Seeing the persimmon flowers withered on the ground, I hoped that the dozen or so flowers that survived on the branches would never wither again.Later, the weather was very peaceful, and none of the dozen or so flowers withered, bloomed beautifully on the branches for several days, until they produced small green fruits.

Since then, I have been looking forward to the persimmons growing and ripening. One day, when I came back from school, my mother stood at the door and said, "First, see if there are any persimmons on the persimmon tree." I went straight to the persimmon tree, and after just one glance, I found that four were missing. I saw those persimmons almost every day. I knew exactly which branch they grew on, how big they were, and what they looked like. Clearly. "Who picked it?" I asked my mother. "The Tianlong at the west end picked it." I cursed, dropped my schoolbag, and ran out of the courtyard. My mother grabbed me and said, "Where are you going?"

"Beat him!" "He's still young." "He's still young? Isn't he also in the sixth grade?" I struggled to get out of my mother's hand and went straight to Tianlong's house.On the way, I saw Tianlong, who was bullying two little girls at that time.I grabbed him and threw him to the edge of the field.He turned around and lay there watching: "You hit someone!" "Beat people? I want to kill people! Who told you to pick persimmons?" I jumped off the ridge, grabbed him by the collar, dragged him up, and pushed him back violently, and he fell to the ground. Immediately burst into tears.

"Don't touch the persimmon again!" I clapped my hands and went home. Mother came out from afar: "Did you hit someone?" "Hit." I tilted my head. Mom conveniently slapped me on the back of the head. After a while, Tianlong was dragged by his mother and came to my house: "Is it Tianlong from our family, or Wenxuan from your family?" I rushed out: "Should I just steal from others?" "Who stole? Who stole? Didn't I just pick a few green persimmons from your house?" "What is this called stealing?" My mother quickly came out of the house, dragged me back into the house, and then hurried to the door, apologized to Tianlong's mother, and said to Tianlong: "When the persimmons grow up, Tianlong will pick them again."

I stood at the door: "Fart! Throw it into the cesspit, and it won't be his turn to pick it up!" Mother turned her head and pointed: "Say one more thing, I'll tear your mouth apart." Tianlong's mother took out the four small green persimmons from Tianlong's pocket and threw them on the ground, then slapped Tianlong's butt several times: "Why are you so greedy? Why are you so greedy?" Then, He grabbed Tianlong's arm and dragged him away. Along the way, he kept saying, "Didn't you just pick a few green persimmons? Didn't you just pick a few green persimmons? It's like picking someone's heart!" From now on, you are not allowed to enter other people's doors. If you enter other people's doors again, I will break your legs!..."

My mother went back to the house and said to me: "At the beginning, I told you not to plant this persimmon tree, but you didn't listen." "What's wrong with planting persimmon trees? Is it a crime to plant persimmon trees?" "You just wait. Uneasy days are yet to come." Later, things turned out to be as my mother had said. This persimmon tree caused our family to get into neighborhood disputes several times.Finally, there were only three ripe persimmons left on the persimmon tree.Looking at the three remaining persimmons, I feel very boring.However, after all, they still gave me and my family a little comfort: I finally saved three persimmons. I arranged these three persimmons separately: one for my Chinese teacher (my composition is good because she helped me a lot), one for old man Joe on the ferry (I always ask for it every day) let him ferry to school), and keep one for the whole family to share (from the persimmon fruit bearing to today, the whole family is worrying about this persimmon tree). Three persimmons hang on the bare branches, very dazzling. Mother said: "Take it off early." "No, let them hang on the tree for a few more days, it looks good on the tree." I said. On a thin persimmon tree, three persimmons that become translucent in the sun are hung, which become a scene in my small courtyard.Because of this scene, the poor courtyard of my family has a sentiment, a warmth, and a wordless joy.I feel that only our yard is worth seeing.There are no fruit trees growing in the yards of people here.The reason why there is such a yard is only to put soy sauce jars, pile up broken bricks and rotten tiles, or pile up tree roots for firewood.When someone came, those three persimmons would make their eyes shine immediately when they looked up. Several magpies always wanted to come and peck the three persimmons.The younger sisters took turns sitting on the threshold to frighten them. That night, I was woken up by someone pushing me, and when I opened my eyes, I vaguely thought it was my mother.She said softly, "There seems to be movement in the courtyard." I turned over and got out of bed, wearing only a pair of underpants, with my upper body bare, slammed down the latch, and rushed out of the door. I saw a figure jumping up the wall from the courtyard. I trembled and shouted: "Catch the thief!" !” The figure slid down to the courtyard wall. I opened the courtyard door and chased it out, only to see a figure slanting across the crop field under the hazy moonlight and disappearing into the night. When I went back to the yard, I saw that the persimmon tree stood dry under the pale moonlight. "See who it is?" asked the mother. I told my mother a bit like who. She shook her head: "he is quite honest." "But I look like him, very much like him." I carefully recalled the figure's height, fatness, and running appearance, and insisted to my mother: "It's him." The mother and everyone in the family stood in the cool night wind, looking at the silent persimmon tree. I suddenly rushed out of the courtyard door, shouting and cursing.In the dead of night, the sound seemed extremely loud and far-reaching. My mother dragged me home. The next day, the man heard from nowhere that we suspected that he had stolen the three persimmons and made a fuss at my house.He looks very fierce, not at all "honest".Mother said again and again: "We didn't say you stole, we didn't say you stole..." The man glanced at me and spat on the ground: "It's just three persimmons!" His mother said repeatedly, "We didn't say you stole", and he walked away cursing. I kicked hard at the persimmon tree a few times. Mother said: "I said at the beginning, don't plant this persimmon tree." At night, the moonlight is desolate.I chopped down the persimmon tree with an axe.Since then, the yard of our house has been turned into the same monotonous and mediocre yard as other people's homes. ... Facing the persimmon tree in Mr. Yamamoto's house, I respected the folk customs of this country in my heart, but at the same time I was deeply puzzled: How can there be such a pure folk custom in the world? That day, Ms. Nakayumiko accompanied me to visit Mr. Maekawa Yasuo.In Mr. Maekawa's study, I talked about persimmon trees and told Mr. Maekawa my appreciation of Japanese folk customs.However, I didn't expect Mr. Maekawa to sigh after hearing this, and then he said some words, which suddenly overturned my impression and made me fall into a daze and confusion about the whole world. Mr. Maekawa said: "I wish someone would pick these persimmons." I can't help being surprised. Mr. Maekawa put his hands on his knees: "Many years ago, there was a persimmon tree growing in the yard of my house. When the persimmons were ripe, many school children would pass by here, and they would come in to pick the persimmons. Help them pick it, and say, pick it up, eat a few more. Seeing them eating persimmon juice, our whole family is very happy. After the children finished eating persimmons and went to school, we would stand at the gate of the courtyard Said, come back to eat after school. But now, this warm time has passed away forever. You are right, no one will steal a persimmon hanging on the branch, but in the face of such a Situation, don’t you think that people are too humble and gentleman, too respectful, too alienated, too cold? Isn’t the persimmon tree too boring for no one to pick it? Isn’t the persimmon tree too lonely? " On the way back, I kept thinking about Mr. Maekawa's words in my heart.He made me suddenly face the dilemma of value choice, and I didn't know what to do. I saw the persimmon tree of the Yamamoto family again.I suddenly felt that the persimmons in that tree were so beautiful and desolate.It stands alone, with nothing but a tree of good fruit.No one who passes by here will patronize it.It can never hear the words of praise that are uttered after eating its fruit.Even thinking about Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Yamamoto's family is boring. I can never accept what happened to the persimmon tree in my family, but I also feel sorrow from the bottom of my heart for the situation of the persimmon tree in Yamamoto’s family that I viewed with appreciation. Autumn is deep, and the persimmons on the persimmon tree of Yamamoto’s family finally can’t hold on anymore while waiting. As long as there is a gust of wind, three or two will fall off the branches and fall straight to the ground.The persimmons were so ripe that they fell to the ground and became mushy, like piles of discarded colors. Before they are gone one by one, I will stop walking this trail. That is, in this season, I wrote the persimmon tree—another persimmon tree—with a lot of emotion, innocence and poetry in my novel.I have to stand between my persimmon tree and Yamamoto’s persimmon tree to write this persimmon tree: When the persimmons are ripe, the child's mother always wears an apricot-yellow headscarf and walks in the village alley with a white willow basket on her shoulders.The basket was full of persimmons, and she sent them one by one.Some people would say: "Let's go directly to the persimmon tree to eat." She said: "Under the persimmon tree, I will eat under the persimmon tree. But how many can I eat under the persimmon tree?" Walking in the alleys of the village, talking and laughing with people, the apricot yellow scarf flutters gracefully in the autumn wind... May 20, 1997 at Yanbei Campus, Peking University