After the cold winter, warm spring comes quietly. Spring breeze blows over the mountains, bringing new green to the depressed mountains and singing to the long-frozen streams. And in my memory, at this time, I also started to act.

Every spring comes, there is such a small dish on the table-pepper leaf cake. This country dish has been with me for several years, and the flavor of my hometown flows quietly in it.

Every spring, my mother will take me over the next hill and step on the green grass to the back hill. The earth seems to be still groggy, and most of the flowers and trees just spit out new green. Under the mottled tree shadow, there is a delicate young tree-pepper. Everyone knows the buds of Toona sinensis, but everyone knows that this pepper leaf has a different taste. I usually think of pepper as a seasoning when cooking, but I can't associate pepper leaves with delicious dishes.

In the grass, we choose a few relatively lush young trees, because it is still spring, although relatively lush, but still a little green. After that, the long-awaited picking work began. Picking the leaves of Zanthoxylum bungeanum is almost equivalent to picking the buds of Toona sinensis, gently selecting the freshest buds with two fingers, and then carefully picking them off. Looking at the red and green leaves, I even felt a little pity from my heart.

Gradually, fresh young leaves filled the bag. When I got home, I mixed them with eggs and flour, and then baked a small cake from the pot, and the pepper leaf cake was finished. Pick one up with chopsticks and put it in your mouth to chew slowly. The mellow smell of eggs, the gluten of flour and the fragrance of pepper leaves all pour into your mouth, stimulating every taste bud. The unique faint smell of Chili leaves makes my tongue tingle slightly, but I can't bear to stop this enjoyment.

Looking back now, the tempting taste still intoxicated me, but unfortunately I haven't tasted it for several years.

Nowadays, the mountains that should have been intoxicating with emerald green have been ruthlessly replaced by cold gray, and the grassy mountain road has become a concrete clearing baked by the sun. Loess all over the sky, roaring machines and pungent gasoline have become the owners here. And birds are singing happily, and the mountain paradise where clouds wander disappears. Delicate and lovely pepper leaves may only taste when picked by hand, and the delicious sweat is incomparable to bundles of wooden poles in the market. Is a pleasant nature so worthless? Why do you disdain to destroy beautiful scenery for money and power?

I also want to go to the back mountain to feel comfortable and delicious, but the dust and fog in front of me make me unable to see the familiar sun ...