The sky was gray, and there was a light snow that melted on the ground and spread into a thin layer of wetness. The wind was not strong, but it was cold, and it blew on a person like a knife cutting.

At this moment, there are few pedestrians in Liuying Alley, and not long after Aoki walked out, he saw the lifelong flower in front of him at a glance, standing under the old willow tree at the mouth of the alley, removing the reed mat around the trunk, and holding a clean blanket in his armpit.

Aoki opened the black umbrella, walked up, and stretched it out on top of the head of the lifelong flower.

Bishenghua did not stop, carefully wrapped the blanket around the trunk of the tree, and said, "Take a hand." ”

Aoki reached out to help her hold the stall. Bishenghua freed his hand to tie the rope, first tied a slipknot, and then carefully pulled up and down, trying not to break the mottled bark, to see that the position was suitable, loosen the knot, re-tie it, and then tie it into a dead knot.

"It rained a few times, and the reed mats that were tied before were rotten. Swap it out for a blanket and let it have a good winter. She said to herself as she worked.

"It's just a tree, so why be so nice to it?" Aoki said.

Bishenghua circled around the willow tree, and when she was satisfied, she stood still and said, "It looks like a wood, but I believe it is alive." If there is life, you can feel the cold and warmth, God let him be lonely and cold, and I let him be warm. I'm sure he knows it in his heart, what do you say? ”

Aoki said, "You've done so much for him, of course he knows. In fact, you can say what is in your heart, maybe he can hear it. ”

Bi Shenghua smiled and said, "He is a piece of wood, even if I say it, he will not answer me." ”

Aoki smiled too, but didn't speak.

The snow slowly became heavier, and a layer of white accumulated on the ground and on the top of the umbrella. The wind gently shook the drooping leafless willow branches, slashing across the top of the umbrella and leaving a few faint marks on the snow particles.

The cold fills the heavens and the earth, and only the small one under the umbrella is warm. The hot breath exhaled between the noses of the two people turned into a faint white mist, which blurred and dispersed between their faces.

"Remember the day you first came?" Bi Shenghua said, "You stood under this tree for a day and a night. ”

"Yes, of course I do." Aoki said, "My memories of myself started on that day. ”

"You looked so embarrassed that day! Everyone thinks you're called Hanako, but no one wants to give you alms, because you have an eagle on your head, and everyone thinks it's unlucky. Bi Shenghua reached out and touched the wicker hanging down from the outside of the umbrella, and a smile appeared on her face, as if she remembered the distant past, "But only I know that you are not called Hanako, because you are very clean." Even if you find the entire Liuying Alley, I'm afraid you won't be able to find anyone cleaner than you. ”

"I should thank you for taking me in."

"Heh, it's been so long, and you're finally willing to say thank you?!"

"Wood sometimes speaks, too."

"Do you know why this street is called Liuying Lane?"

"Because it's full of willow trees?" Aoki wasn't sure if his answer was right.

The oldest old man in Liuying Lane can't say clearly about this issue, because it is said that this place was not called Liuying Lane before, but Mulberry Camp.

But the old people said that the willow tree was very old, so old that no one knew how old it was or when it was planted here. It is only known that it is the first willow planted here, and the other willow trees on the street are all revived with the branches that have been subtracted from it. Because of the low lifespan of willow trees, many of the newly surviving willow trees have already died, and now the government has begun to replace the dead willow trees with ginkgo.

Bishenghua said: "This is where I was born. When I was a child, my grandfather told me that this place used to be called Mulberry Camp, and it was surrounded by silkworm farmers. There used to be a thousand-year-old mulberry tree here, and the surrounding mulberry seedlings were all planted with its branches. Legend has it that as long as this mulberry tree is alive, the mulberry leaves here will not be eaten, and the silk will not be taken out. ”

Aoki looked around and asked, "Where is the old mulberry tree you said?" ”

Bi Shenghua said: "It's where we stand. The mulberry tree was destroyed during the war, and this willow tree was transplanted later, and it was carried in the place where the old mulberry tree was. My grandfather said that the roots of this willow tree and the roots of the old mulberry tree have grown together, so this willow tree is not exactly a willow tree. Look at it, isn't it a little different from ordinary willows? ”

Aoki looked closely, and found that the bark and branches of this tree were indeed different from ordinary willow trees, but the difference was so subtle that he probably wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the lifelong flower reminder.

Bi Shenghua continued: "In the past, the entire land of the mulberry camp belonged to Master Hua's family. At that time, there were two rich people in Wuzhong, one was the Xia family in Nanzhen, and the other was the Hua family in Mulberry Camp. The Xia family in Nanzhen is the ancestor of the old man Xia you know, and both families were destroyed in the war. I heard that when the Japanese entered Wuzhong, the first thing they did was to go to the mulberry camp to find this thousand-year-old mulberry tree. ”

"Why are the Japanese looking for this tree?"

"I was also curious back then, and asked my grandfather, but my grandfather couldn't tell."

"Was the tree destroyed by the Japanese?"

"No, before the Japanese entered Wuzhong, Mr. Hua personally lit a fire and burned the tree." Bi Shenghua said, "My grandfather said that when the old mulberry tree died, all the mulberry trees in a radius of more than ten miles died at the same time. ”

"Why would he do that?" Aoki was intrigued by the story and asked curiously.

"That old mulberry tree was planted by the ancestors of the Hua family, and the Hua family has been living here since it was planted. As long as the tree lived, the Hua family lived for as long as it should. It is said that 'no mulberry is planted in front of the door, and no willow is planted behind the door', but the Hua family is very strange, not only planting a thousand-year-old mulberry tree in the front yard, but also planting an old willow tree in the backyard. ”

"This is the one we see now?"

Bi Shenghua nodded and said: "Old Man Hua's fire not only burned the old mulberry tree, but also turned the huge house into ashes, only the old willow tree in the backyard survived because it was attached to a pond." ”

Aoki asked, "Then why did this willow tree be transplanted here again?" Where was it? ”

Bi Shenghua said: "Old man Hua probably expected the war situation and the consequences after the Japanese came in, so he had already scattered his family wealth and dismissed his servants, only the old housekeeper of the Hua family was reluctant to leave and stayed." When the fire broke out, the old man ordered the old housekeeper to leave, and told him to wait for the fire to be extinguished, and when the soil was scorched, he transplanted the willow tree in the backyard to the position of the mulberry tree in the front yard, but not to hurt the root system of the mulberry tree. ”

"What about the Hua family? With such a big family, it can't be just the old man, right? Aoki asked.

"The Hua family has an oath, 'If the mulberry tree exists, the Hua family will survive, and if the mulberry tree dies, the family will die', so they didn't run, from their relatives to their children, they all died in the fire."

Aoki's heart tightened, "What about later?" ”

Bi Shenghua said: "The old housekeeper followed the old man's will, and when the fire was just extinguished, he found someone to transplant the willow tree to the original position of the mulberry tree. After the fall of Wuzhong, the Japanese came to the mulberry camp, but they didn't find a single mulberry tree, and because the Chinese family was dead, they had to give up. ”

Later, the old housekeeper built a hut on the site of the old mansion and lived there. He believed that Old Man Hua must have a deep meaning when he asked him to do this, so he vowed to protect this willow tree for generations. Every year, he cut some willow branches from the old willow trees and cut them on the nearby land, and over time, this place became the later Liuying Lane. ”