My childhood was in the famine era, and there was a shortage of food at home, so I often supplemented my stomach with wild vegetables to make a living.
the hardest thing to remember is spring. At that time, my mother often said: the year is better than the spring. After the Spring Festival, the grain in the grain store at home was eaten up, and the spring crops were still early to mature. In this green season, even the most common and cheapest sweet potatoes and dried sweet potatoes, mothers have to count the days to eat in limited quantities. Mother took out the dried spicy vegetable tassels, radish tassels, dried radishes, beans and other dried vegetables, counted the quantity, and cooked a vegetable rice every day for dinner. These dried vegetables have lost their original flavor, and their taste is much worse than that of fresh vegetables. After eating a few mouthfuls, they feel difficult to swallow.
the temperature gradually increased during the Qingming festival. The earth is dressed in green. Wild vegetables come out, facing the warm sunshine, stretching their leaves and gradually plump up, swaying their attractive posture in the spring breeze. The growth of wild vegetables has attracted many men, women and children, and people are scrambling to dig wild vegetables for food. On Sunday, my mother asked me to follow my sister to dig wild vegetables in the slope. At first, I couldn't tell the types of wild vegetables, and I didn't know what wild vegetables were delicious and what wild vegetables were not delicious, so I studied with my sister curiously. Soon, I became warm with the vegetables such as mountain vegetables, shepherd's purse, thick hair, purslane, dandelion and bitter vegetable seeds, and soon became close friends with them.
When my sister and I came home carrying wild vegetables, my mother, who came back from work, always had a happy expression on her face when she saw the wild vegetables in the basket, and always repeated the sentence: There is food today. Then, mother directed us to choose vegetables, wash and cut. Sometimes stir-fried and sometimes mixed. Sometimes a little sweet potato flour and corn flour are added to make vegetable dumplings and steamed to eat, barely satisfying the hunger.
In a short time, there are fewer and fewer wild vegetables growing in the slope. Vegetables grow fast, not as fast as people dig. Later, even the young vegetable seedlings could not see the sun. At this time, people realized that "who knows that the dishes in the plate are hard?"
that Sunday afternoon, I ran around looking for wild vegetables. I was so tired that my back ached and my legs ached. I only dug a few low-value wild vegetables. As the sun was about to set, I hurried home. I feel guilty when I think that my parents and brother will not be able to serve food when they come home from work. So I began to cry. When I got home, my mother asked me why, so she comforted me and said, Don't cry. My mother has a way to ensure that you all eat. Mother went to the inner room, took out half a bag of dried sweet potatoes from the jar, counted out 11 dried melons, put the rest in the bag again, thought a little, and put one dried sweet potato back in the bag. My mother smiled and said to me, Put these dried melons on the ground and mash them, and add them to the wild vegetables you dug to make soup.
that night, the whole family had a soup with few wild vegetables and dried melons.
by the end of spring and the beginning of summer, every household has run out of grain and flour, and has nothing to eat. Anyone who can wrap his stomach will eat anything. The famine intensified further. There were no wild vegetables to eat on the ground, so we turned our attention to the trees. Sophora japonica flower has become a delicacy in our mouth again. This is my favorite wild vegetable, which is easy to eat and smooth.
At this time, the countryside is full of people rushing for food. Beside the village, on the side of the road, on the slope of the soil, in the ravine, people with thin faces and yellow faces are carrying baskets, dustpans or sacks, carrying hooks made by themselves and grabbing acacia flowers. The small broken flowers full of trees, strings, bundles, bending branches, swaying and fluttering, can smell pleasant fragrance from a distance. Bees are buzzing in droves to protect their honey source. Poor elves, how can they beat tough people! The scene was tense, busy, boiling and joyful. Everyone was full of expectations and longings, desperate for the flowers, and there were often many people competing for the attractive acacia flowers under a tree. My brother tied a sickle to the long pole and hooked off the acacia flower very quickly. Looking at the snow-white Sophora japonica flowers fluttering down from the canopy, I jumped excitedly and grabbed them in the air with my hands. After a while, I was filled with a basket.
I came home with my brother with Sophora japonica under my arm. When my mother saw it, she said happily, I'll make a big bag of Sophora japonica with bad sweet potato noodles for you. At noon that day, I ate a delicious meal that I hadn't eaten for many days, and I kept burping until my mother stopped me.
when I was eight years old, I did something wrong to eat wild vegetables, but it affected my life.
There was a Toona sinensis tree in the neighbor's yard in the alley that year. The buds on the Toona sinensis tree were green and red. It was just when they were picked, and I was drooling and eager to try it. I secretly had an idea for it. On Sunday, the adults all went uphill to work, and the neighbor's house was locked. I saw that there was no one around, so I quickly climbed the wall and jumped into the yard. That Toona sinensis tree is not old enough and its trunk is not thick enough to climb. I saw a ladder standing in front of my neighbor's hall, so I moved over, leaned on the Toona sinensis tree, and stepped on the ladder to pick the buds of Toona sinensis. The fragrant scent of Toona sinensis buds aroused my appetite. I quickly picked a few, stuffed them into my mouth and chewed them, feeling refreshed and strengthened. I picked it up nervously. After picking a few handfuls, I climbed out of my neighbor's yard with trepidation.
at noon, my mother came home from work. I held the Chinese toon buds in my hands and handed them to my mother with joy: Mom, give me scrambled eggs and pickles! Mother smiled and took it, put the leaves of Toona sinensis close to her mouth and took a deep breath: it smells good! Suddenly, my mother changed her face and said seriously to me: Where did it come from? I mysteriously pointed to my neighbor's house: his!
Mother flew into a rage, threw the Toona sinensis bud to the ground and slapped me in the face: Bastard, I have told you many times, freeze to death and stand in the wind, starve to death and don't bend over. Be a man with backbone. Besides, if you steal somebody else's Toona sinensis, what will they eat?
I touched my aching face, howled sadly, and cried and said, Mom, I'm hungry. I've had enough of those elm skins for a while.
Niang's face suddenly became guilty. She came up to me, crouched down and stroked my face with her hand: Sorry, son, I shouldn't have hit you! But you must admit your mistake and promise not to steal from others in the future, and your mother will forgive you.
touching my aching face, I quickly said, Mom, I will never steal from others again!
My mother hugged me to her chest, and tears dripped on my scalp. She said sadly, Good boy, it's all your mother's fault for not letting you eat delicious food. Wait, life will get better!
I nodded incredulously.
Then mother stood up and said, Come on, give the Toona sinensis bud back to others. My mother and I picked up the scattered Chinese toon buds from the ground and walked to the neighbor's house.