Purple Cabbage Flowers Bloom Again
In early spring, Bincheng resembled a lazy woman without makeup, with the mountains along Binhai Zhong Road standing silently and without much greenery.
The sea breeze was noticeably warmer, and I walked along the wooden boardwalk of Binhai Zhong Road. Turning off the boardwalk, I found a winding path, and at the end of the path was the azure sea, which led to Fucheng Sea Bathing Beach. The path passed through a locust grove, surrounded by withered weeds in shades of gray-brown or pale white, a shortcut for tourists to the sea.
Walking on the path, the spring breeze blew gently, warming me pleasantly. Through the branches of the locust trees, I could see the vast expanse of the sea in the distance, the distant islands, the nearby waves, all in sight, and I could faintly hear the sound of waves crashing against the rocks.
Suddenly, a cluster of pale purple flowers came into view, standing out against the gray-brown and yellowish-brown background, the pale purple color was particularly bright. I rushed towards them, knelt down, and excitedly examined them.
It was a cluster of wild flowers.
On the ground covered with fallen leaves and twigs, a cluster of small flowers stubbornly emerged, with a few flowers clustered together, some even with fallen leaves on their heads, they broke free from the grasp of the weeds, blossoming with green in the silent mountains, and exuding beautiful pale purple hues.
I had seen this flower in a book titled 'Common Wildflowers,' called 'Early Violet'. Early Violet is a wild vegetable that can be eaten and used medicinally, with properties of clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing inflammation and promoting skin regeneration. It is also known as 'Purple Flower Earth Ding' in traditional Chinese medicine. Violet flowers often grow in hillside grasslands and along irrigation canals, especially in the eastern sunlight, and are the earliest gifts that the 'Four Seasons Old Men' brought to Northeast China for spring.
'The Book of Odes' also mentioned violet flowers: 'Original Field Velvet Velvet, Violet Tea like Honey.' It refers to the south of Qishan Mountain, where the land is fertile and abundant, growing violet and wild vegetables with a delicious flavor. In the primitive era of underdeveloped economic conditions, people relied on collecting wild vegetables and fruits for sustenance, so they viewed flowers and plants primarily from a dietary perspective. 'Like honey' means as sweet as honey, even bitter vegetables can be enjoyed with a sweet taste. In the primitive era of '' (eating raw meat with hair), people were surprisingly optimistic.
'The Book of Odes' is so distant; 'The Book of Odes' can only exist as written records. The violet flowers there, together with the vibrant scene of collecting wild vegetables, have become a history long faded. Many plants mentioned in 'The Book of Odes' have disappeared, disappearing too quickly. Some plants, we can only admire them in ancient texts.
Fortunately, in this bustling city, there is such a quiet corner where we can encounter a plant mentioned in 'The Book of Odes.' After thousands of years of wind and rain, it has not disappeared, and every time the spring breeze blows, it blooms in its most beautiful form. How resilient and tenacious must it be?
I suddenly heard Tian Zhen's 'Wildflowers': 'Wildflowers on the mountain bloom for whom? Bloom and wither for whom? Just wait quietly, will anyone pick them?' It must be a love song, isn't it? The woman poured her sorrowful and melancholic feelings into the wildflowers, expressing the regret of 'so many beautiful flowers lying idle, unappreciated.' This is simply a perspective of the admirer. It is the poet and singer who gave the wildflowers a beautiful imagination. As for the wildflowers blooming and fading, blooming and fading again, it's just flowers striving for reproduction. But without wildflowers, it wouldn't be a true spring, at least this 'Early Violet' has brought vitality to the quiet locust grove.
I reluctantly left those delicate flowers, and as I walked back along the path, I wondered, 'Why is it called 'Early Violet'? 'Early' is self-explanatory, but what does 'Violet' mean? I looked it up in a dictionary: 'Violet' refers to pale purple.
Closing the dictionary, the pale purple color seemed to linger like a mist, leaving the deepest memory of this early spring hue in the yellowish-brown landscape.
