August is also called the Broom Month here.
This season has the most suitable temperature in the year.
The crops in the fields grow rapidly at this time, the wild fruits in the mountains and forests ripen one after another, and even the flowers bloom.
Bright, warm, fragrant and delicious, these are the biggest impressions that the Broom Moon gives people.
Entering the month of gorse, Mei Li's garden almost became a sea of flowers, especially gorse and azalea, which formed a continuous patch in the garden. Pink and white clouds clustered in the golden gorse bushes.
Mei Li finally picked ripe raspberries and wild blueberries at the edge of the forest. Maybe the fairies' party had ended a few days ago, so those little creatures were not seen picking berries these days.
She went to the edge of the forest alone, picked a small basket of berries and took them back, wondering whether to make them into jam or dried fruits. Passing by a swamp, she suddenly saw a thin and tall figure frozen in the swamp.
It's a swamp monster.
There has been almost no rain recently, so she hasn't seen the swamp monster again. When she suddenly saw him, she felt surprised and surprised, as if she had met a friend.
"Hi, long time no see." She greeted while standing by the grass.
The swamp monster was as still as a statue in the water.
Mei Li didn't know what she was thinking, but when she saw the wild flowers on the roadside, she picked one and threw it at the swamp monster.
It was so close that the flower landed directly on the swamp monster's head.
Then he moved slowly, raising his head which was almost submerged in the water, and also raising his hands which were in the water.
He touched the flower on his head, picked up the tiny yellow-white flower with his skinny hands, walked across the water and came to Mei Li, stretched out his arm and returned the flower to her.
Mei Li couldn't help laughing.
What's going on? This guy is so cute.
“Thank you for the flowers.”
She took the flower, pretending it was a gift from someone, and took a handful of red and purple berries from the basket and put them into the creature's hand.
"These raspberries and blueberries are for you to enjoy."
Will the swamp monster eat? Mei Li didn't know, but she was quite curious.
The swamp monster lowered its dripping head and looked at the berry in its palm. A round berry rolled down its palm and fell into the water with a splash.
He reached his hand into the water to touch the small raspberry. As a result, the berries on his other palm fell into the water one after another, and soon that palm was empty.
The swamp monster who had found a raspberry could only watch as the other berries disappeared with a gulp.
Mei Li was already holding her waist and almost dying of laughter.
Why are you so stupid
The swamp monster slightly opened its gray lips, as if trying to bury its head into the water. Mei Li squatted down, took a purple raspberry from the basket, and quickly stuffed it into the swamp monster's mouth.
The gray-white monster with long arms and legs stood still in a strange posture.
Mei Li moved quickly. He pulled up his sleeves and reached his hand into the water. He searched in the mud, found all the fallen berries, washed them, and put them back in his hand.
"Okay, okay, I gave it to you, don't give it back to me."
She smiled as she walked away along the path lined with wild flowers, her steps brisk and her mood melodious.
Mei Li discovered that he had been encountering swamp monsters more frequently recently.
He seemed to dislike the sun. Every time he appeared, he was in the shade of trees, with green moss, duckweed, calamus and water plants growing around him, and sometimes even wild flowers grew on his body.
People could not see him, and plants and animals took him for a stone.
Mei Li had seen moss and weeds growing on him, and had also seen birds using him as a temporary resting place when he stood in the water.
Can he be seen in this state
Mei Li pulled the little girl Hesha beside her and pointed at the swamp monster under the green shade in the middle of the water, "Hesha, look over there, there is a little bird."
At this moment, perched on the swamp monster's head was a bird with blue-green feathers. It was very beautiful. It stepped on his head and chirped with its head tilted back.
Hesha looked in the direction she pointed, "Where?"
Not only could she not see the swamp monster, she couldn't even see the bird that was standing on the swamp monster.
That’s amazing.
The bird flapped its wings and flew up, landing on an old tree by the water. Hesha then exclaimed, "I saw that little blue bird, but where did it come from?"
She looked around with a question mark on her head, and Mei Li answered her casually.
Ten days later, Mei Li went to the edge of the forest alone and encountered the swamp monster again. He wanted to say hello and leave, but the branch growing on his back was really hard to ignore.
Mei Li looked at it once, and then looked again.
It would be fine if there were grass growing on it, but why are there trees growing on it? Could it be that there has been too much sun recently and the plants in the Broom Moon are growing very fast
Wanting to see what was going on, she picked another flower and threw it over, successfully seducing him over again.
As soon as he got closer, Mei Li could see clearly that the small tree was growing from behind his spine, and flowers had already bloomed on several branches.
Looking more closely, Mei Li's pupils trembled... This, this looks like a raspberry.
Could it be that she gave him a raspberry last time, so it grew out of his body
It was a lie to children to say that if they swallowed a core or a seed, seedlings would grow out of their bodies. But did it really grow? Mei Li looked at the branches and flowers and was completely dumbfounded.
After a while, she coughed awkwardly and said, "I... really didn't expect this result. I'm sorry. Otherwise, I can pull it out for you?"
The swamp monster was too tall for her to reach, so she put one hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to squat down. He did lower his head slowly, but when Mei Li reached out to pull the raspberry, he stood up again.
Mei Li: "Wait, I haven't pulled it out yet!"
But he had already stood up, covered the back of his neck with one hand, and walked back to the center of the water.
What are you doing? Why won’t you let me pull it out
Mei Li squatted by the water for a long time, but saw no sign of him coming over. After hesitating for a moment, she simply took off her shoes and stepped into the water.
The swamp looked like it had only a thin layer of water, but after stepping in, the mud underneath was quite deep, almost reaching Mei Li's thighs. She couldn't get past the swamp monster, looked at her half-body covered in mud, and had no choice but to walk back in frustration.
There was a small lake nearby, where she washed off the mud and then returned home dripping wet.
She was still thinking about it on the way back. After she changed her clothes and went to water the vegetable garden, she thought about it again.
Come to think of it, the raspberries grew so fast in the swamp monster's body. They started to bloom after only a dozen days. If they were replaced with vegetables... Mei Li's eyes unconsciously looked at the vegetables she planted. Due to her lack of experience, these vegetables grew mediocrely and very slowly.
If you feed the Swamp Monster some vegetable seeds, perhaps in a few days his body will be covered with vegetables, growing quickly and well.
No, no, no, this is too cruel. She already has such a big vegetable garden, how can you still covet her body.
…But his raspberry plant is really well grown, really enviable.
Ever since discovering the raspberry on the swamp monster, Mei Li has often visited him, wanting to see with his own eyes the changes in the raspberry.
On sunny days, swamp monsters often stand in the water and move in the direction of the sunlight.
Mei Li squatted there for two days and felt sleepy. On the third day, she learned to use a homemade hammock.
The hammock is tied to a big tree near the water and can be used for taking a nap. Sometimes people also bring homemade food and spread a towel on the grass to have an outdoor afternoon tea.
When she chose science and engineering in college and went to the construction site to measure with her teachers and seniors wearing a construction hat, she never thought that one day she would live such a natural and simple rural life.
The encounters in life are truly wonderful.
The flowers of the raspberry tree faded and fruits grew. The fruits turned red, and occasionally a bird would perch on the swamp monster's shoulder and try to peck at the ripe fruits.
The swamp monster raised his arms and waved them slowly twice, chasing the bird away.
Mei Li watched from the shore and thought, it's like a scarecrow doing its duty.
The fruit was ripe, and the swamp monster came closer to her. He bent down, and a raspberry full of fruit swayed in front of her.
She was familiar with this posture, which meant that she should take it.
Mei Li was silent. She never thought that he wanted to give her the raspberries from this tree.
When Mei Li returned home with a handful of raspberries, she realized that she was in a daze and had forgotten to bring back the hammock and the basket.
She covered her face and groaned.
What's going on? Is he really a swamp monster? Is he an angel? What kind of angel is this!
It took her three rounds of eating the fruits of the raspberry tree. One day, when Mei Li went to see it again, the raspberry tree had disappeared from the swamp monster. There was no trace on his back, nor the hole left after the tree was pulled out as she had imagined.
Fortunately, I thought he was going to live with this raspberry tree forever.
The weather was hot, and Mei Li ran to the forest every afternoon to take a bath in the small lake outside. It was very close to the swamp where the swamp monster often stayed, so he could meet him every day when going back and forth.
"Hey~" Sometimes she would just say hello and leave.
Sometimes when she wanted to chat, she would just use something to attract him. The most common thing she used was flowers. She would pick a flower or make a bunch of flowers and throw them to him. He would soon come over with the flowers and return them to her.
"There are a lot of gorse flowers blooming in my yard. I trimmed them and brought a few branches to give to you."
The golden gorse was placed on the hand of the swamp creature.
Seeing him in a daze, Mei Li took another flower and waved it in front of his nose with a smile, "I'm giving it to you. Do you know what I mean? You don't have to give it back to me. This is for you."
I don’t know whether he understood or not, but he took the two flowers and left.
Mei Li went back and thought, could it be that he was planting broom on himself again
No, not at all. They are just two flowers. They have no roots and no seeds. How can he plant them
She went home optimistically, but she had underestimated the magic of the swamp monster. When she saw the swamp monster again after a while, a bunch of gorse had grown on his body.
The flower bloomed so beautifully that from a distance it looked like it was wearing a yellow floral dress.
At first, Mei Li didn't realize that it was a swamp monster. He just thought it was a bunch of broom growing by the water. But after a closer look, he found that something was wrong. The flowers were moving!
Mei Li: “…”
She swore that she really didn't intend to use the swamp monster as a field, nor did she intend to use it as a potted plant, really.
All in all, I gave away two sprigs of broom and received a large bunch of broom in return.