The sky was overcast, and light snow began to fall, melting on the ground and forming a thin, damp layer. The wind was light but cold, feeling like tiny knives cutting into your skin.
At this moment, there were few pedestrians in Liuying Lane. Qingmu had not walked out for long when he saw Bi Shenghua standing under the old willow tree at the entrance of the lane, taking off the reed mat wrapped around the trunk, with a clean blanket tucked under her arm.
Qingmu opened the black umbrella, walked up, and held it open above Bi Shenghua's head.
Bi Shenghua didn't stop; she carefully wrapped the blanket around the tree trunk and said, "Give me a hand."
Qingmu reached out to help her steady the stall. Bi Shenghua freed her hands to tie the rope, first making a slipknot, then carefully pulling it up and down, trying not to tear the mottled bark. After checking that the position was right, she loosened the knot, tightened it again, and then tied it into a knot.
"After a few rains, the reed mats we used to tie up have all rotted. Let's replace them with blankets so it can have a good winter," she muttered to herself as she worked.
"It's just a tree, why be so nice to it?" Qingmu said.
Bi Shenghua circled the willow tree once, and only when she was satisfied did she stop and say, "It looks like a piece of wood, but I believe it has life. If it has life, it can feel cold and warmth. God made it lonely and cold, but I made it warm. I believe it knows this in its heart, don't you think?"
Qingmu said, "You've done so much for him, of course he knows. Actually, you could just tell him what's on your mind; maybe he'll hear you."
Bi Shenghua smiled and said, "He's a blockhead. Even if I spoke, he wouldn't answer me."
Qingmu smiled, but didn't say anything.
The snow gradually intensified, covering the ground and the tops of the umbrellas with a layer of white. The wind gently swayed the drooping, leafless willow branches, whistling past the tops of the umbrellas and leaving faint streaks on the snowflakes.
A chill permeated the air, except for the small patch of warmth under the umbrella. The breath they exhaled from their noses turned into a thin mist, dispersing between their faces.
"Do you remember the day you first arrived?" Bi Shenghua said, "You stood under this tree for a whole day and night."
"I remember, of course I remember," Qingmu said. "My memories of myself begin from that day."
"You looked so disheveled that day! Everyone thought you were a beggar, but no one was willing to give you alms because a crow was perched on your head, which everyone considered unlucky." Bi Shenghua reached out and touched the willow branch hanging outside the umbrella, a smile appearing on her face, as if recalling a distant past. "But only I know that you weren't a beggar, because you were very clean. Even if you searched the entire Liuying Lane, you probably wouldn't find anyone cleaner than you."
"I should thank you for taking me in."
"Ha, after all this time, you're finally going to say thank you?!"
"Sometimes even wood can talk."
Do you know why this street is called Liuying Lane?
"Because this place is full of willow trees?" Qingmu wasn't sure if his answer was correct.
Even the oldest resident of Liuying Lane couldn't say for sure, because it's said that the area wasn't originally called Liuying Lane, but rather Mulberry Camp.
But the old folks say that this willow tree is very, very old, so old that no one knows exactly how old it is or when it was planted here. They only know that it was the first willow tree planted here, and the other willow trees on the street were all propagated from branches cut from it. Because willow trees have a short lifespan, many of those newly propagated willow trees have already died, and now the government has begun to replace the dead willow trees with ginkgo trees.
Bi Shenghua said, "This is where I was born. When I was little, my grandfather told me that this place used to be called Mulberry Camp, and the surrounding area was full of farmers who raised silkworms and planted mulberry trees. There used to be an old mulberry tree here that had lived for a thousand years, and all the mulberry seedlings around were propagated from its branches. Legend has it that as long as this mulberry tree lived, there would be an endless supply of mulberry leaves to eat and an endless supply of silk to harvest."
Qingmu looked around and asked, "Where is the old mulberry tree you mentioned?"
Bi Shenghua said, "Right where we are standing, the mulberry tree was destroyed in the war, and this willow tree was transplanted later, planted where the old mulberry tree used to be. My grandfather said that the roots of this willow tree and the old mulberry tree have grown together, so this willow tree can't really be considered a willow tree anymore. Look at it, isn't it a little different from a regular willow tree?"
Upon closer inspection, Qingmu noticed that the bark and branching of this tree were indeed different from those of ordinary willow trees. However, the difference was so subtle that he probably wouldn't have noticed it if Bi Shenghua hadn't pointed it out.
Bi Shenghua continued, "The entire land of Mulberry Camp used to belong to Master Hua's family. At that time, there were two wealthy families in Wuzhong: the Xia Family of South Town and the Hua Family of Mulberry Camp. The Xia Family of South Town were the ancestors of the old Master Xia you know. Both families were destroyed in the war. I heard that when the Japan entered Wuzhong, the first thing they did was to go to Mulberry Camp to find this thousand-year-old mulberry tree."
Why are the Japan looking for this tree?
"I was curious about it back then, so I asked my grandfather, but he couldn't explain it either."
"Was that tree destroyed by the Japan?"
"No, before the Japan entered Wuzhong, Old Master Hua personally set the tree on fire," Bi Shenghua said. "My grandfather said that when that old mulberry tree died, all the mulberry trees within a radius of several miles withered and died at the same time."
"Why did he do that?" Qingmu asked curiously, intrigued by the story.
"That old mulberry tree was planted by the Hua Family's ancestors. The Hua Family has lived here ever since it was planted. The Hua Family has lived here for as long as the tree has lived. It is said that 'you don't plant mulberry trees in front of the door, and you don't plant willow trees behind the door,' but the Hua Family is very strange. Not only did they plant a thousand-year-old mulberry tree in the front yard, but they also planted an old willow tree in the back yard."
"Is this the one we see right now?"
Bi Shenghua nodded and said, " Old Master Hua's fire not only burned down the old mulberry tree, but also turned the entire large house to ashes. Only the old willow tree in the backyard survived because it was next to a pond."
Qingmu asked, "Then how did this willow tree get transplanted here? Where was it originally located?"
Bi Shenghua said, " Old Master Hua probably foresaw the war situation and the consequences after the Japan entered, so he had long since given away all his wealth and dismissed his servants. Only the old steward of the Hua Family was reluctant to leave and stayed. When the fire broke out, the old master ordered the old steward to leave, instructing him to transplant the willow tree in the backyard to the mulberry tree in the front yard while the soil was still scorched after the fire was extinguished, but not to damage the mulberry tree's roots."
"Where are the Hua Family members? Such a large family can't possibly only have the old man, can it?" Qingmu asked.
" The Hua Family had a vow: 'As long as the mulberry tree stands, the Hua Family stands; as long as the mulberry tree dies, the family perishes.' So none of them fled; from their wives to their children, they all perished in the fire."
Qingmu's heart tightened. "And then what happened?"
Bi Shenghua said, "Following the master's last wishes, the old steward had someone transplant the willow tree to the original location of the mulberry tree as soon as the fire was extinguished. After Wuzhong fell, the Japan came to Mulberry Camp, but they couldn't find a single mulberry tree. Since the Hua Family had died, they had no choice but to give up."
"Later, the old steward built a thatched hut on the original site of the old house and settled down. He believed that there must be a deeper meaning behind what Old Master Hua asked him to do, so he vowed to protect the willow tree for generations. Every year, he would cut some willow branches from the old willow tree and propagate them in the nearby land. Over time, this place became what later became Liuying Lane."