The sky was gray and light snow was floating. It melted on the ground and paved with a thin layer of wet. The wind is not strong, but it is very cold. It blows on people like a small knife cutting.


    At the moment, there are few pedestrians in Liuying lane. Not long after Qingmu came out, he saw the lifelong flowers in front. Standing under the old willow tree at the entrance of the alley, he was removing the reed mat around the trunk, with a clean blanket in his armpit.


    Aoki opened his black umbrella, went up and spread it on the top of his lifelong flower.


    All his life, he wrapped the blanket carefully around the tree trunk and said, "give me a hand."


    Aoki reached out to help her hold the stall. All her life, Hua Teng went to tie the rope. First she tied a loose knot, and then carefully pulled it up and down, trying not to break the mottled bark. See if the position is appropriate, loosen the knot, tie it tightly again, and then tie it into a dead knot.


    "After a few rains, the reed mats tied before were rotten. Replace them with blankets and let them have a good winter." she said to herself as she worked.


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


    The lifelong flower walked around the willow. When he was satisfied, he stood still and said, "it looks like a wood, but I believe he has life. If he has life, he can feel the cold and warmth. God makes him lonely and cold, and I make him warm. I believe he knows in his heart, don''t you say?"


    Aoki said, "of course he knows what you''ve done for him. In fact, you can speak your heart out. Maybe he can hear you."


    The lifelong flower smiled and said, "he is a wood. Even if I say it, he won''t answer me."


    Aoki also smiled, but he didn''t speak.


    The snow grew slowly, and there was a layer of white on the ground and on the top of the umbrella. The wind gently shook the drooping leafless willow branches, across the umbrella top, making a Shua sound, leaving several faint traces on the snow particles.


    Cold filled the world, only the little side under the umbrella was warm. The heat exhaled from the nose of the two people turned into a faint white fog and dispersed between their faces.


    "Remember the day you first came?" said the lifelong flower. "You stood under this tree all day and night."


    "Yes, of course." Aoki said, "my memory of myself began on that day."


    "You looked really embarrassed that day! Everyone thought you were a beggar, but no one was willing to give you charity, because there was an old Gua on your head, which everyone felt unlucky." the lifelong flower reached out and touched the wicker hanging from the umbrella, with a smile on her face, as if she thought of the distant past, "But only I know that you are not a beggar, because you are very clean. Even if you find the whole Liuying lane, I''m afraid you can''t find someone cleaner than you."


    "I should thank you for taking me in."


    "Oh, after so long, are you finally willing to say thank you?"


    "Wood can talk sometimes."


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


    "Because it''s full of willows?" Aoki was not sure whether his answer was right.


    On this issue, the oldest old man in Liuying lane can''t say clearly, because it is said that it was not called Liuying lane before, but mulberry camp.


    However, the old people said that the willow was so old that no one knew how old it was and when it was planted here. All they knew was that it was the first willow planted here, while other willows in the street were planted with its branches. Because of the low life span of willows, many of the newly surviving willows have died. Now the government Began to replace the dead willow with ginkgo.


    Lifelong flower said, "this is the place where I was born. When I was a child, my grandfather said that it used to be called mulberry camp, surrounded by silkworm farmers. There was once an old mulberry tree that lived for thousands of years, and the mulberry seedlings around it were inserted with its branches. It is said that as long as this mulberry tree lives, there will be no end of mulberry leaves and silk."


    Aoki looked around and asked, "where is the old mulberry you said?"


    Lifeflower said, "it''s where we stand. The mulberry was destroyed in the war. This willow was transplanted later and carried in the place of the old mulberry. My grandfather said that the roots of this willow and the roots of the old mulberry have grown together, so this willow can''t be regarded as a completely willow. Do you think it''s a little different from ordinary willows?"


    Qingmu looked carefully and found that the bark and branches of the tree were really different from ordinary willows, but the difference was very subtle. If it hadn''t been reminded by lifelong flowers, he probably wouldn''t have noticed it.


    Lifelong flower then said, "in the past, the whole mulberry camp was owned by master Hua''s family. At that time, there were two rich people in Wuzhong, one was Nanzhen Xia''s family and the other was mulberry camp Hua''s family. Nanzhen Xia''s family was the ancestor of master Xia you know, and both were destroyed in the war. It is said that when the Japanese entered Wuzhong, the first thing was to go to mulberry camp to find this thousand year old mulberry tree."


    "Why did the Japanese look for this tree?"


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


    "Was the tree destroyed by the Japanese?"


    "No, before the Japanese entered Wuzhong, old man Hua personally lit a torch and burned the tree." lifelong flower said, "my grandfather said that when the old mulberry died, all the mulberry trees in more than ten miles died at the same time."


    "Why did he do that?" Aoki was attracted by the story and asked curiously.


    "That old mulberry tree was planted by the ancestors of the Chinese family. The Chinese family has lived here since it was planted. The Chinese family has lived here as long as the tree lives. They say, ''no mulberry is planted in front of the door, and no willow is planted behind the door'', but the Chinese family is very strange. They not only planted a thousand year old mulberry tree in the front yard, but also planted an old willow in the backyard."


    "Is that the one we see now?"


    The lifelong flower nodded and said, "master Hua''s fire not only burned the old mulberry tree, but also turned the huge house into ashes. Only the old willow in the backyard survived because of a pond."


    Aoki asked, "how did the willow plant here again? Where was it?"


    Lifelong flower said: "Mr. Hua probably expected the war and the consequences after the Japanese came in, so he scattered all his family wealth and dismissed the servants. Only the old housekeeper of the Chinese family refused to leave and stayed. When the fire broke out, the old man ordered the old housekeeper to leave and told him to transplant the Willows in the backyard to the mulberry tree in the front yard when the fire was out, but don''t hurt the mulberry The roots of trees. "


    "What about the Chinese family? It''s impossible for such a big family to have only the old man?" Aoki asked.


    "The Chinese family vowed, ''if the mulberry tree survives, the Chinese family survives, and if the mulberry tree dies, the family dies'', so they didn''t run away. They all died in the fire, from their families to their children."


    Aoki''s heart tightened, "what happened later?"


    Lifelong flower said, "the old housekeeper followed his master''s will and asked someone to transplant the willow to the original position of the mulberry just when the fire went out. After the fall of Wuzhong, the Japanese came to the mulberry camp, but they didn''t find any mulberry. Because the Chinese family died, they had to give up."


    "Later, the old housekeeper built a hut on the original site of the old house and lived there. He believed that old man Hua told him to do so must have deep meaning, so he vowed to guard the willow for generations. He cut some willow branches from the old willow every year and cut them on the nearby land. Over time, it became the later Liuying lane."