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Prose: Mao Needle
Text: Old fool
In the countryside, thatch needles should be a "delicacy" that children can pick at will.
After the moistening of spring rains one after another, the fields and ponds at the end of the port are verdant, which is crazy thatch. Patches of verdant thatch, swaying in the breeze, seem to tell the secrets of nature. Those thatches, their vitality is tenacious and vigorous, and they can take root and grow in this land no matter how the environment changes. And in this thatch, there is a heart-warming delicacy hidden - thatched needles. The so-called thatch needle is the bud that the thatch is about to bloom, hidden in the green stem, pointy, white, taste, fragrant, refreshing, Yangchun seems to be such a taste.
When I was a kid, I liked to go out on a sunny day. Picking the needles is a game that we never tire of. Find a thatched field, peel off the thatch leaves, pinch it tightly with your thumb and index finger from the root, and lift it upward, the thatch needle will "squeak" and immediately fall off, peel off its emerald green outer membrane, and the snow-white flower spikes will tremble and tremble, like solidified milk. Thrown into the mouth, sweet silky, soft, a fresh and tender taste quickly diffused in the tongue coating, straight into the heart.
On the eve of Qingming Festival the year before last, I went back to the countryside of my hometown Ezhou to worship my ancestors. Passing by a paddy field, I found clusters of dense thatch at the ridge. The second uncle and cousin who were traveling with me saw it, and they were very excited, and called me to pull the needle together, and I had been living in the city for a long time. Peel aside the layers of thatch, and carefully pull out the thatch needles, for fear of hurting its delicate body. Its skin is pale yellow and soft, and you can feel the plump juice flowing out when you squeeze it. Peel off the skin to reveal the white and tender flesh inside, and put it in the mouth, a faint sweetness instantly spreads, which is the purest taste of nature, which makes people have an endless aftertaste.
Generally speaking, after Qingming, the Mao needle will be "old", and there will be no taste if you eat it again, just like dry cotton wool. Children in the countryside like to pluck the "old" thatch needles to play games, stick under their noses to make white beards, compare who is more like the old grandfather, laughter echoes in the time and space of childhood...... The children of that year are so easy to satisfy, full of ease and happiness.
Thatch, too, can bloom. This is something that only those who have lived in the countryside for a long time and have dealt with it for a long time can really understand. Although the thatch needle does not have the dazzling and charming appearance of those colorful flowers that spread all over the mountains in spring, it has an inner sweetness and fragrance, and the closer you get to it, the more profound the feeling. Mao needle is a precious gift from nature. It is not only a kind of food, but also an emotional sustenance and a spiritual inheritance. Let us stop in our busy lives and feel this gift from nature. Let the soul return to the original innocence and beauty, and let life bloom with more brilliant brilliance.
I thought: Mao needle is actually called "Mao Zhen" may be more appropriate, because it is indeed the most essential part of thatch. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", Mao needles can clear away heat and generate Jin, diuretic and moisten the lungs...... This is an inconspicuous rural "delicacy" that can be seen everywhere, and it seems that it is really a natural green food that is good for people's body and mind.
More often than not, thatch is lonely and humble, mainly because of its large amount. However, the thatch will not escape the fate of being trampled on, gnawed and hoeed by people because it can't escape it, and it does not give up on itself and collapses, and it will bloom when it should bloom, so there is this "thatch needle" that makes people sigh and make people feel evocative...... Is this very much like an optimistic and open-minded belief in life, is it very much like a kind of compassion for fame and fortune, and is it very much like the fate of those hard-working villagers?
Pulling out the needle is a game that children in the countryside can never play enough in spring. And the fresh and tender thatched needles in their memories will warm their long life when they grow up in the future.