Apricots are not unique to Jiangnan, but the sentence "Apricot flowers and spring rain in Jiangnan" links apricots with Jiangnan. There is a poem in Fan Chengda's "Four Seasons and Pastorals": "The plums are golden, apricots are fat, and the wheat flowers are snowy and cabbage flowers are sparse. The fences are long and no one passes by, but only dragonflies and butterflies fly." The poem depicts the beautiful and quiet scene of the rural areas in Jiangnan during the Southern Song Dynasty. In the weather in May in Jiangnan, we smell the same fruit fragrance and see the same scenery as the poet.

In spring, the apricot flowers beside the flowing water of the small bridge are just white and shy pink. In May, the south wind starts to rise, and the wheat is ripe, and the apricots on the trees are yellow and yellow. The cool breeze blows towards us, carrying a faint rain mist and a sweet and mellow breath. Here, there, a tree, and there, apricots on the branches are covered with crystal yellow like agate, making people feel saliva grow under the tongue.

Some old trees with lush branches grow in front of and behind the house. When they open the window, the fruity fragrance is swaying. The watery apricots are within reach are red in yellow and have an attractive luster, and they tremble slightly on the branches. The surrounding scenery is also full of vitality, and the bright fruit color contrasts with the fun of pastoral life.

Hold the ladder to the tree, and you can eat whatever you want. Usually, the apricots on the branches facing south are bigger, sweeter, orange and warmer. If you bite it, the sweet and sour juice will overflow between your lips and teeth. If it is a large forest of endless apricot trees, when the fruit is ripe, how prosperous will it be? I am afraid that the air will be soaked with the strong aroma of fruit that cannot be melted.

There is a kind of small mountain apricot commonly known as "May Yellow", which is more petite and cute than ordinary apricots. It ripenses with fruits first, and the stars are like a bunch of branches, splashing, charming and simple, and no one can resist the temptation when they see it.

Pick one and wipe it in your hand, tear off the peel, hold it in your mouth, gently tap the flesh with your teeth, then purse it with the tip of your tongue, pick out the small fruit core, it is refreshing and sweet, and it is slowly sour, spreading in your mouth, it is really beautiful...

It seems that the little sister next door in the early years bit your ear and whispered with a giggle. It is hard to express the feeling to outsiders.

There are yellow spots in the bushes, and thousands of red lips are suspected to be filled with flush... Sometimes I can't help but think that living in May Jiangnan where wheat is ripe with apricots, a place full of fruit fragrance is really a blessing.

If the apricots are better than the year, they can't eat them for a while, so they can break the apricots in half and spread them into dried apricots in the sun, which is homemade dried fruit. For children in the countryside, apricot kernels are also good things. Use bricks to smash them, take out the almonds, and chew them in their mouths. The unique fragrance with a slightly bitter taste will never be forgotten in your life.

In May, the south of the Yangtze River is green, and the old silkworms are yellow. At the end of May and the beginning of June, it is the season when the loquats in the mountains and fields are ripe. This time, I was attracted by the light of several painters and followed them to the Xin'an Jiangjiang Mountainshui Gallery to celebrate the Loquat Festival.

First, we drove from Shexian County to Shendu, then abandoned our car and boarded our boat, and went upstream. The downstream of Shendu was built to store water. The mountains with thousands of peaks and beautiful peaks became the famous Qiandao Lake. The upstream of Shendu, which is where we went to taste loquats this time, Santan, known as the "hometown of loquats in China", has now become a tourist destination in Shexian County.

Deep pools and shallows, thousands of people are entering Xin'an. The Xin'an River flows thousands of miles, with green mountains on both sides, and the loquat forests stretch for dozens of miles in a row. The golden loquats float among the green leaves, which are as beautiful as brocade clouds. The Hui folk villages with white walls and black tiles are really beautiful.

The Queen Mother of the Sky is peached and the Three Tan Loquats on the Earth. Zhangtan, Miantan and Qingtan are three large and deep pools, which are also the names of three villages. It is surrounded by mountains, clouds and mist all year round, rainfall is abundant, and the climate is gentle, creating a unique natural environment for the growth of loquats. The loquats produced are characterized by thin skin, thick flesh, sweet juice, abundant water, fragrant and refreshing, and are famous all over the world for their precocious quality.

Going ashore at a ferry, we were walking among many fruit farmers carrying baskets and hooks. Immediately, someone came to contact us with his cell phone and led us to the loquat forest on the mountain. In fact, there were endless fruit trees on the roadside, ripe loquats hanging on the branches in clusters, bright red and shiny, shining with dreamy brilliance, which made people salivate.

Then I understood why Chinese painters like to paint loquats. Loquats are so beautiful. I heard that this is Zhangtan. I didn’t walk much, but I saw an octagonal pavilion built in the garden, which contains tea, five-spice eggs, pastries and other supplies. Obviously, these are red, everyone looked around, all their attention and eyes were attracted by the stars-like loquats hanging on the branches. The loquats here are concentrated in several varieties, some are red, some are white and pink, and some are yellow. We didn’t have to talk much, and we went deep into the forest and saw a big red loquat that climbed the branches and picked them down.

The ripe loquat skin is very easy to tear. I picked a loquat from the branch, twisted off the slant handle of the head, peeled it out in a few seconds, stuffed it into my mouth, and tapped it gently to spit out the slippery core. The fresh sweet and soft flesh was wrapped by the tongue, causing an alkyd smell to spread out immediately.

After walking for more than ten steps, I ate more than ten of them in one go, and my hands were covered with sugar juice. I burped up and my stomach was filled with sweetness. It was really pleasant. Two foreigners simply climbed onto the tree like a monkey, sat on a thicker horizontal branch, leaned on a branch with their backs, and supported one branch with their feet, picked whatever they wanted, and ate it with great savor, making faces to us below. In the forest, the cheerful figures of children and the light figure of women wearing clothes could be seen everywhere.

I saw that there were several trees not far away that were obviously much whiter, but not small, so I reached out and picked one and peeled it out. The flesh was also white, and it seemed to be very watery. It stuffed into my mouth and tasted so fresh. My friend Lao Wang, who had been with us, told me that this was called Baihua loquat. Then, Lao Wang let us see the precious varieties "Dahongpao" and "Glorious Flower".

"Dahongpao" is orange-red, with a slightly longer fruit shape, with sesame spots on the skin, and the flesh is crystal red, soft and thick, and fresh and sweet at the mouth; "Glorious Flower" is named after the obvious five-pointed star growing on the flower stem. It is characterized by soft and juicy, sweet and sour, fragrant and refreshing.
Chapter completed!