In the village, there was an old plum tree

In the village, there was an old plum tree

Little Li lived in a village called Musang Village, which had a total of 20 households. Their houses were surrounded by mountains, and if not for a muddy path that led to the outside world, the place could be described as isolated. One evening after school, Little Li, Zhang Xiaohua, and Baozi, along with the half-grown child Dongping, sneaked into Old Man Li's plum orchard to steal and eat his plums. "Be careful," Little Li cautioned the others, "Old Man Li used to be a hunter, and we need to watch out for traps he may have set in the orchard." Little Li, the leader of the group with the most experience, reminded the others. "Hmm, I've picked up four sticks, everyone take one now."

They used the sticks to probe the ground as they walked, taking care not to step on any traps. If they did, it would be terrible. Zhang Xiaohua, the only girl in the group, also held a stick, and they all proceeded cautiously, using the sticks to check the path ahead, which was covered with fallen leaves, and to ensure there were no hidden traps. They walked trepidatiously for about half an hour until they finally approached a few plum trees, all showing joyful expressions. Baozi, excitedly, climbed the largest plum tree, but Little Li frowned and examined the biggest tree, "Did you notice? This plum tree is different from the others." Upon his mention, everyone noticed that this plum tree was bigger than the rest and must have been alive for dozens of years; it was an old plum tree.

At that moment, Zhang Xiaohua shouted out loud, suddenly feeling fear, "Have you ever heard the plum tree story told by Granny? Could this tree be the one from her story?" Little Li's face turned pale. Granny lived next to him and was the oldest person in the village. She told stories to the children every day, seemingly with an endless supply of tales. The children of Musang Village grew up listening to her stories. According to Granny, the story of this tree was something she personally experienced when she was a child, and it was something she could never forget. Moreover, after telling the story, she would always seriously instruct the children never to pick plums from a very old plum tree.

Little Li began to recall the plum tree story told by Granny. At that time, Granny was still a child when a snake catcher from outside the village came and, with the village chief's permission, stayed at the deserted Li family homestead. The Li homestead had only one family living there, but they had all died in a disaster. It was said that the woman of the house was a notorious miser in the village. If someone took an egg from her, she would curse them out publicly the next day. This woman had a plum tree right in the mountains behind her house. The snake catcher who stayed in the Li homestead died mysteriously under that plum tree the very next day. Granny said it was because the snake catcher ate plums from that tree and was cursed to death by the miserly woman.

Another time, a gluttonous child in the village secretly picked and ate two plums when the adults weren't looking. That night, his father discovered the child, at three in the morning, under the plum tree, frantically digging with bleeding hands, still digging without any sense. Despite his father's efforts, he couldn't pull the child away. The child became catatonic, smiling foolishly at people and continuously saying, "Give me back my plums, my plums." Some children asked Granny, if the plum tree was so terrifying, why didn't they cut it down? Granny shivered and replied, "Exactly, after those two incidents, the village chief called the young men to chop down the plum tree. But what do you think happened when the sickle touched the tree?" The child asking the question turned pale.

With clenched teeth, he asked, "What happened?" As soon as the young man's sickle struck the tree, blood appeared. The village chief, seeing this, didn't dare to let the young men continue. Thus, the plum tree still exists to this day. Recalling this, Little Li suddenly thought of something terrifying. The plum orchard they were in was right behind the Li homestead, which meant that the old plum tree, which looked much older than the others, could very well be the one Granny talked about. If that was the case, then Little Li quickly called Baozi down from the tree, "Baozi, this tree can't be touched!" Baozi had already picked two plums and looked at Little Li, puzzled.

Little Li snatched the plums from his hand and threw them on the ground, urgently saying, "We need to go home, fast!" Heeding Little Li's urging, the four children ran down the mountain and back home. Not feeling at ease even then, Little Li went next door to tell Granny about the incident. Granny's face turned pale upon hearing it. She went to Baozi's house that night, and by then, chaos had already ensued. Since returning, Baozi had been absent-minded, as if he had lost his soul. During dinner, he was unresponsive, even when his mother used chopsticks to tap his hand and asked, "Baozi, what's wrong with you?" Baozi's face was pale, and he cheerfully told his mother, "Give me back my plums."

Baozi's parents were terrified, and just then, Granny arrived. Granny, hunched over, hurriedly told Baozi's parents to bring glutinous rice, a hot water basin, and a longevity belt. Baozi's mother, not daring to neglect, quickly gathered these items. Granny began to perform the ritual, which in the local dialect of Little Li's village meant something akin to calling back the soul. Granny stood outside while Baozi sat with his father inside. Granny put seven centimeters of rice into the basin filled with hot water. Instead of floating horizontally, the chopsticks stood upright in the water. "Baozi, come back," Granny called out to the upright chopsticks, shaking a broken bell continuously in her hand and chanting, "He's back, he's back."

After some time, Baozi, who had been sitting in front of the stove, suddenly sneezed, stood up, and loudly cried out seven times, "I'm back!" Hearing Baozi say "I'm back" seven times, Granny breathed a sigh of relief. Baozi's parents, seeing this, knew their child had been brought back. Following this incident, Little Li and his friends never dared to steal plums from the plum orchard again. When you walk by and see a plum tree with no owner, never pick its plums, because its previous owner might have been a miser, and picking its plums could provoke their revenge.