Chapter 3: The Watermelon Vine That Leaves a Mark
Lin Xiaoman set up the scaffolding at an astonishing speed.
She fished out a few thick bamboo poles nearby and some sturdy hemp rope from the corner of the yard. She climbed the wooden ladder up the makeshift bamboo frame with the agility of a squirrel. Chen Wang, who was handing tools from below, was repeatedly flustered by her commands of "the hemp rope on the left," "a wooden wedge," and his palms were sweating.
Wangfu squatted nearby and watched the excitement for a while, then suddenly ran over to pick up his rubber toy ball, gently placed it at Lin Xiaoman's feet, and wagged his tail like a flower.
"It's quite likable." Lin Xiaoman smiled and bent down to touch Wangfu's head. His fingertips accidentally touched the watermelon vine next to him - that was a handful of ordinary watermelon seeds that Chen Wang had casually scattered when he was clearing weeds last week. Unexpectedly, it sprouted and climbed half a meter along the edge of the tomato rack. The tendrils were wrapping around the bamboo pole and going up.
"Have you farmed before?" Chen Wang couldn't help asking as he watched her skillfully use hemp rope to fix the bamboo pole, tying the knot quickly and firmly.
"I grew up in an orchard." Lin Xiaoman kept working, sweat dripping down her forehead. She raised her hand to wipe it away. "My grandparents were old fruit farmers. The old orchard in Qingxi Village is ours. We've been growing pear trees and strawberries there for thirty years." She raised her chin towards the west end of the village. "That old pear tree is a hundred years old. Every spring, the flowers it blooms fill half the village with fragrance. You can go and see it when you have time."
Chen Wang nodded, mentally jotting "Go to the Old Orchard" down on his to-do list. He noticed that Lin Xiaoman's voice had a light, lilting cadence to it, like the rustling of leaves in the wind—much more pleasant than the formulaic "got it" and "okay" of her city colleagues. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tomato leaves, falling on her face, tinting her eyelashes golden and making even the tiny speck of mud on the tip of her nose look endearing.
Just as the ladder reached its highest point, it suddenly wobbled. The soil beneath had been softened by water, and the foot of the ladder sank half an inch. Chen Wang instinctively reached for support, but his foot caught on loose grass and he fell backward into the soft earth. A small cut on the back of his hand was made by the bamboo stick, and light red blood immediately oozed out.
"Be careful!" Lin Xiaoman immediately jumped down from the ladder, her movements so fast that they made a gust of wind. When she squatted beside him, her brows furrowed. "Are you okay? How could you be so careless?" She grabbed his hand and took a look, then pulled out a Band-Aid with a strawberry pattern from her canvas bag. "Fortunately, the wound isn't deep. Don't get it stained with mud."
Her fingertips, slightly cool, brushed the skin around the wound, and Chen Wang flinched as if burned. Lin Xiaoman didn't notice, concentrating on applying the Band-Aid. Her eyelashes drooped, casting a small, fan-shaped shadow beneath her eyelids. Chen Wang's eyes fell on her muddy canvas shoes, the toe of which rubbed against a familiar star-patterned tomato leaf, and his heart suddenly softened.
"Thank you," he whispered, his voice a little softer than usual.
"Don't be polite." Lin Xiaoman patted the dust off her hands, stood up and continued to build the scaffolding. "Remember to wear gloves when you work next time. Your delicate skin can't withstand the scratches of bamboo sticks." She teased with a smile, the light in her eyes brighter than the star patterns on a tomato.
Chen Wang touched the Band-Aid on the back of his hand. The strawberry pattern rubbed against his skin, and he suddenly felt that the small wound was not so painful anymore.
When Lin Xiaoman left in the evening, the setting sun was dyeing the sky orange. She hugged the two cucumbers Chen Wang had forced on her and said, "I'll come back tomorrow to help you check on the tomatoes." Wangfu walked her halfway down the street and returned with a loose hair tie in his mouth. It was pink and white, with a faint scent of shampoo.
Chen Wang, carrying a watering can, went to the backyard to water the plants. Passing the watermelon vine Lin Xiaoman had touched, he suddenly stopped. The very front tendril was wrapped around a newly unfolded leaf. There was a small indentation on the leaf, shaped like a curved smiling face, with the corners slightly raised, as if someone had gently pressed it with a fingertip.
"Strange..." Chen Wang rubbed his eyes and squatted down to take a closer look. The lines of the smile were crystal clear, even the curve of the corners of the eyes was exactly the same as when Lin Xiaoman smiled. He reached out and touched the indentation. The leaf trembled slightly, and next to the smile, a tiny star appeared, like a miniature tomato seed.
Wangfu came over, rubbed his nose against the watermelon leaves, then looked up at Chen Wang, wagging his tail happily, as if to say, "I see."
Chen Wang suddenly remembered Lin Xiaoman's smile as she helped him apply the Band-Aid. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the leaf. He opened his photo album, created a new folder, named "Orchard Diary," and set the photo as the cover. In the photo, the setting sun shone on the smiling leaf, the tomato vines beside it swayed gently, and the star-shaped veins of the fruit shimmered in the twilight.
As the night deepened, the breeze in the backyard grew gentler. The leaves of the tomato vines rubbed against each other, making a subtle rustling sound, like someone whispering. Chen Wang sat on a bamboo chair, watching the moonlight cast on the smiling watermelon leaf. For the first time, he felt that his impulsive "homecoming" might not be an escape, but rather a true discovery of a place to put down roots.
He fished out the few remaining colorful seeds from his pocket. In the moonlight, the patterns on their surface suddenly lit up, resembling the starbursts on a tomato. Chen Wang suddenly understood what Grandpa Lin meant by "the land speaks back to you"—it wasn't the land itself that was speaking, but the tenderness and miracles hidden within it, slowly opening its arms to him.
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