Mulberry

Not long after the second semester of the fourth grade started, the trees were covered with fruits one after another.

Ye Chen stared at it every day, and found it immediately, and announced the good news excitedly.

"This shows that the tree is growing very well. Wait a little longer, and you should be able to pick mulberries in May."

So she was even more excited to look at it every day.I still remember the sweet and sour taste in the dream, but in reality I can only stare at the fruit on my own tree and swallow.

As the days passed, the two taller trees next to it had turned from green to red, and the bright colors were particularly conspicuous among the green leaves.

It is only her elder sister Sang who hangs Kazuki's green fruit unmoved.

"Did it fall on the ground..." Ye Li muttered unwillingly after school, "It shouldn't be, why is there none?"

After searching around, there was no result, so I could only sigh helplessly.

I dare not eat the green ones, but it should be fine to try the red ones...

After being greedy for a long time, I finally couldn't help moving a chair and comparing the maturity of the other two trees.

However, a one-story-high half-year-old tree is already very respectable to bear fruit, there are no purple or black ones, and the leaves are not discouraged.

She stretched her arm to pick a bright red one, rubbed her hand and stuffed it into her mouth, her jaw tightened instantly.

His face was frowning, his mouth and eyebrows were all twisted into a ball, he neither swallowed nor spit.

How could it be so sour! ! !

Sour and astringent, it is not an edible tree species, and the hair on the fruit has not faded.After chewing it twice, she couldn't help but pooh into the ground.

The juice stained my mouth and fingers red, and I wiped it with paper, and I was extremely embarrassed.

"Bah, it tastes so bad, I knew I'd have to wait a few more days." She turned to her mulberry tree in despair, "Please, it must be delicious, it's up to you!"

Drooping limply, he walked home.

At night, the rest of the "movie" was almost the same plot, and Sang's figure was condensed day by day, and he could already see his facial features clearly.They sat together under the tree and chatted, listening to Ye Li complain about the big troubles of Sesame.

She directly pestered Sister Sang: "Why are your fruits not yet ripe? I tasted one today and it was so bad..."

"I know."

"Ah, you won't be watching my jokes all the time, are you?" Ye Mo asked angrily.

A sly smile appeared on Sang's face, "No."

"I do not believe!"

"Okay, okay, I don't have that much energy, I have to wait for a few days. I still want to grow taller, how can I just bear fruit."

"Will you be able to manifest later?"

"There's no difference, since others can't see it anyway."

Yes, Ye Mo retorted silently in her heart, I can see it, I hope you can have your own figure, instead of just a ball of light and shadow.

After chatting for a few words, Ye Mo woke up from the dream, looking forward to it even more.

The little mulberry tree was growing crazily day by day, and soon reached the height of the first floor. The green fruits became fatter and fatter, and some were even as long as half a finger of the leaf mulberry. She was so anxious to death.

"How about it, did you agree to pick mulberries together?" Luo Xinyi chatted on the way back from school.

"It's not ripe yet..." Ye Mo walked towards the house sullenly, but she held her hand.

Luo Xinyi: "Hey, why haven't you come out to play recently?"

"No, I'm not with you every day!"

"You go home as soon as school is over," Luo Bo looked a little annoyed, "it's boring..."

"I'm sorry, you called me and I will definitely come out."

"Hey! Then let's go to the pond today." Luo Xinyi immediately showed a sly smile, "You promised! Go quickly, I found tadpoles over there!"

Summer is approaching day by day, and after returning to the southern sky for several consecutive days, there are already anxious frogs giving birth.

Ye Mo looked up at the sky, the days were getting longer and longer, although the sun had already set by half, it shouldn't be dark so soon.

It is rare to encounter strange things, rules or something, and it should be fine to be a little half an hour late.

Besides, how dare you keep throwing carrots and ignoring them...

She put her worries behind her, and ran to the small bridge with her schoolbag on her back.

Pond Garden is a bit remote, crowded in the back streets of several buildings, but the children are active and energetic all day long, and they have already touched the land clearly.

Standing on the two-meter-long bridge, the shadow of the two holding hands is reflected on the water.Even the knee-deep pool water has become a little unfathomable.

"That's it, but they're still very small." Luo Bo pointed to the position of the pier and motioned Ye Li to go to the edge of the pool and lie down.

The design of this pool is unreasonable, a pool of stagnant water, surrounded by grass and cobblestone roads.

Usually it is deserted, and only when there is a lot of rain in summer can it be filled.

It is inevitable that there will be some moss and dirt deposited in this way, gathering blackly at the bottom of the pool. At first glance, it looks like an endless deep hole.

After all, it was not broad daylight, and there was not enough light.Ye Mo squinted her eyes and watched for a long time before she found a crowd of tadpoles in the shadows at the bottom of the bridge.

They picked up some dead branches and leaves, and tried to make them into leaf pockets to play with tadpoles.

Of course, nothing was found, and the tadpoles had already cleverly hid in the cracks and ditches.Just like that, the two of them sweated their hair while playing, laughing and joking non-stop.

Ye Li saw that the sky was getting darker, and the impenetrable pool water was even darker and uncomfortable, with the street lights dangling, her heart skipped a beat twice, feeling a little uneasy.

Kicking the wet toes of her shoes, she picked up her schoolbag and pulled the radish, "Let's go, it's time to go home for dinner."

The radish also had a good time, drooping behind her, muttering, "We'll go catch tadpoles and raise frogs in summer."

"Let's talk about it when the time comes." Ye Li turned her head to look at the pool that was almost out of sight, and quickened her pace.

Xin said, it rained a bit hard a few days ago, and this little broken pool was full.

The night climbed up to the sky little by little, and the water in the full pool rippled and soaked the grass along the coast.

Like black water climbing up the shore.

That night.

Ye Mo slept very restlessly, and never dreamed of her sister Sang again, nor did she see that the color of the jade that was originally transparent had also darkened.

The moment she closed her eyes, it was as if she had fallen into a deeper hole.

Entangled and unable to wake up.

She had to go to school the next day, and the alarm clock rang several times tenaciously, and she couldn't stand up until her parents came in.

"Are you all right, Xiaoye?" Mom touched her forehead, seeing that she really couldn't cheer up, she felt dizzy.Let her rest at home all morning.

Ye Chen closed her eyes in a daze again, feeling empty and panicked.

Before her parents left for work at 08:30, Ye Li had a fever.

Low-grade fever, stuffy fever, the temperature has changed a lot in the past few days, my parents didn't think too much, let people take the medicine and left first.

It wasn't until I came back in the afternoon that I heard that the neighbor Ye Li had a high fever and was sent to the clinic for an injection by her grandmother.

"What's the matter, where is Ye Mo!" Mom rushed into the small clinic, lowering her voice hastily.

"Ah, I don't know, I haven't been sober all day, and my head is hot in the afternoon!" Grandma pointed to Ye Li, who was slumped on the seat, with a tall infusion tube still attached to her hand, "I brought it here quickly, It's almost over now."

"Baby, it's all right." Mom squatted down, and the fever had indeed subsided, "Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

Ye Chen didn't feel anything for the whole day, she seemed to be dreaming, and it seemed like paste stuck to her head, and she woke up only after the fever subsided.

She grasped the protective jade with her uninjected hand, pursed her lips to suppress the dizziness, "It's okay...it's just that I seem to have bumped into something..."

Mom hugged her, "It's all right, let's rest at home for a few more days."

Ye Mo nodded, weakly trying to fall asleep again.

Mother took Ye Mo home, turned around and contacted the master in the temple, please come and have a look tomorrow.

As a result, in the middle of the night, the leaf mulberry burned again, and a person was sick, hot and dry, and had no strength to distinguish reality from dreams.

In a daze, she seemed to fall to the ground, with dry sand on her fingertips, hungry and thirsty, her throat was burning with pain.

There were not many people in the dream, and they were all starved and haggard, leaning against the eaves of the village in disorder.

Ye Mo heard a hoarse cry.

"Give me something to eat...why isn't it raining..."

"It's raining!"

"Please God, let it rain..."

She saw in a daze that the scene in the village had completely changed, it was lifeless, and the eyes were filled with yellow sand.

All flora and fauna were gone, only flies buzzing about the starving man.

With tears in her eyes, she saw a lot of people stuffing soil into their mouths, but their stomachs were round; seeing better people chewing dry leaves, she couldn't even imagine such a life.

When she saw the bare tree trunk, it seemed to be dried up, and she felt so uncomfortable that she wanted to cry.

Could it be Sister Sang...

She understands that mulberry leaves are edible, and there is even a practice of making soup with mulberry leaves in the south.

But... but what about my sister Sang...

She saw the same thing with the little mute, who was so hungry that he was out of shape, leaning against the mulberry tree, weeping in a low voice.

Sister Sang barely showed her figure, and pushed the little dumb.

"Let's go, you can go to the south, there is no severe drought there."

The little mute leaned against the tree: "I won't go... Are you going to die? It hasn't rained for so long."

"Fool, I'm a tree spirit, so I won't die." Sister Sang squeezed out a smile, "Let's go while you still have the strength to feel it."

The little dumb stood up unsteadily, leaning on a mulberry branch as a crutch.

She raised her hand, wanted to hug the mulberry tree, and burst into tears: "But what should you do, I can't bear you..."

"I can't bear you..."

Sister Sang touched her head, "It's okay, we can still be good friends in the future, in this life, in the next life, forever and ever."

"Hurry up, there is no humanity under natural disasters, and they will eat people when they are hungry and crazy." She pushed the dumb guy away, "If you hold this crutch, treat it as me, and you can live."

The little mute turned his head three times, walked out of the village staggeringly, and saw Sister Sang waving to him in front of the tree, her figure was almost transparent.

She didn't see the corners of Sister Sang's skirt start to dissipate little by little, but she also knew that she had lied to herself.

They can't live anymore. In this world, there is no water, and there is no way for people to survive.

Xiaoya walked hard. She knew that there would be many lakes in the south, where rice would be planted all over the ground, and there would be endless food. In this way, no one would climb up the tree and pick up all the mulberry leaves. She could only Watching from the side.

But she couldn't go either.

There was not even a piece of grass along the way, so she fell to the ground from thirst and hunger, holding on to the mulberry stick tightly.

The little mute thought to herself, she had heard the opera singer say that after death, people would go to the underworld and drink Mengpo soup.

As long as I secretly pour out the Mengpo soup and take this mulberry branch, I will definitely see Sister Sang again.

We agreed...

Two ignorant girls, depended on each other in a poor life, harbored vague feelings, but they were buried in the troubled times before it could grow.

At this time, Ye Li seemed to be integrated with the dumb, feeling hopeless, thirsty, and hot.

To find water, to find water, to find a pond...

There is a tendency to sink deeper and deeper into the nightmare.

The foot of the bed at night is hidden in shadows, but the shadows grow more and more, spreading upward, as if to devour the leaves.

Suddenly there was thunder on the ground.

Lightning lit up the sky, and rain poured down.

The raindrops hit the mulberry tree, and the swaying branches immediately stretched out, emitting bursts of fluorescence under the cover of the rain.

A vague figure rushed into the window, slammed into Ye Li's body fiercely, emitting a dim light, dispelling the surrounding shadows.

Ye Mo, who was in a daze, was also awakened by the thunder, but it was not as uncomfortable as before, it seemed that it was not so hot and thirsty.

She managed to open her eyes, and saw some fireflies jumping in front of her eyes, and in a blink of an eye, she saw tree branches swaying in the rain outside the window.

Knowing something in her heart, Ye Li twitched the corners of her mouth, turned over and fell asleep very reassuringly.