There were a few sweet-scented osmanthus trees in the alleys of our childhood. As soon as the scent of osmanthus wafted, we slipped under the osmanthus trees, picked up the branches we liked, folded them, and put them in vases. In the eyes of children, autumn is the best time of the year. In the autumn of sweet-scented osmanthus, the sweet-scented osmanthus cake made by grandmas is soft and glutinous, and sweet-scented osmanthus candy is crispy and sweet. I don’t know when, the tip of my tongue has been heavily stamped by sweet-scented osmanthus, which is the blessing of autumn.
The air is also full of footprints of sweet-scented osmanthus, the wind blows through the woods, passing a tree, it is an sweet-scented osmanthus tree, so I circle around a few times. Another one passed by, it was not an osmanthus tree, and I still went around a few times. The sweet fragrance is like sugar silk, spun around the tree one by one, and the sweet-scented osmanthus-flavored marshmallows are planted one by one on the golden autumn ground.
What a sweet-scented osmanthus! As if born to be our good neighbor. So delicious, so approachable, always smiling and living with us happily. Several children in our alley love sweet-scented osmanthus, looking forward to the yellow petals climbing up the branches every year.
Drunk in the sweet-scented osmanthus, I seem to have never noticed its appearance.
The first time I looked at the shape of sweet-scented osmanthus was following Granny Axiang. I heard that there is a kind-hearted mother-in-law who has moved into the alley. She always sits alone in the mild sunshine, threading needles and making some delicate things by herself. That morning, when I came back from the park, I saw from a distance a man in a water-blue blouse holding a cloth bag of purple flowers on a white background, bent over and walking under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree.
”Ah Xiang, good morning!”
Oh! It turned out that this was Granny Ah Xiang, so I went up to say hello. Unexpectedly, Grandma Ah Xiang recognized me, she asked me if I wanted to pick it up with her, I nodded. I picked up an osmanthus, put it in my palm and looked at it carefully. Flowers the size of rice grains are scattered in the autumn like stars and broken gold.
I imitated Grandma Axiang, squatting on the ground and picking up an osmanthus flower and putting it in my palm, and another osmanthus flower and putting it in my palm, and I put the osmanthus flower that filled my palm into my pocket. I don’t know how long it took, and Grandma Axiang and I saved a bag full of “Yellow Stars”. Granny Ah Xiang muttered as she picked it up, saying that her wife used to love to drink osmanthus tea, especially the osmanthus tea she made, and said that as long as she drank this tea, all troubles would disappear.
”Pick up more sweet-scented osmanthus this year and send them to my girl.”
Grandma Ah Xiang’s girl is in Shanghai. Grandma Ah Xiang said that the girl always said that after drinking the sweet-scented osmanthus tea made by her mother, it was like seeing her. The mother’s eyes are as clear as osmanthus tea, and the smell of the mother’s body also has a faint fragrance of osmanthus.
One night, I was drinking osmanthus tea made by Grandma Axiang, and I heard her talk about the early years when my family sat around under a big tree to admire the moon on Mid-Autumn Eve, and gossiped about family affairs with osmanthus. Grandma Ah Xiang said that she remembered that the night sky on August 15th was very beautiful, the moon was like a disc, and the stars were dense and bright. Her girl pointed at the stars and yelled that it was sweet-scented osmanthus blooming to the sky…
oh, sweet-scented osmanthus blooming to the sky. There is indeed a folk legend about Wu Gang cutting osmanthus. According to legend, Wu Gang was punished by the Emperor of Heaven to go to the Moon Palace to cut down osmanthus trees, but the osmanthus trees in the Moon Palace followed suit. The Emperor of Heaven took this never-ending labor as punishment for Wu Gang. I looked up at the stars in the night sky, they really looked like falling osmanthus.
What is the night in the mountains like? Is it pitch black and silent? “Osmanthus fragrans fall, the night is quiet and the mountains are empty.” Wang Wei said, the night in the mountains is very romantic. You see, the stars in the sky are scattered on the big black curtain, the sweet-scented osmanthus in the world falls in the mud in the mountains, the shining in the sky and the golden on the ground complement each other. The sweet-scented osmanthus is falling in the world, and it is also falling in the sky. Wherever the moonlight reaches, the surroundings are so quiet that the breathing of vegetation can be heard.
Wang Zengqi once praised osmanthus for its ornamental value and economic value. Indeed, dried osmanthus can be used to make Yuanxiao stuffing and rice cakes. The plate of sweet-scented osmanthus steamed chestnut flour cake in “Dream of Red Mansions” still whets the appetite of readers. The sweet-scented osmanthus blooms outside the window, and the autumn wind begins to brew honey again. There is a glass of wine made from stars, and you will be drunk after just one sip.
