There was a tree planted in front of my house, a locust tree.

The locust tree is very thick and has been around since my great-grandfather’s time. I heard from him that the tree was planted at home when he was a child, and it was never watered intentionally. It relied on the sky for food and growth. I couldn't hold it with two hands, but after trying it once with my brother, I found that two people can do it.

The bark of the locust tree is very rough and splits, exposing the trunk inside. In summer, ants crawl up and down, and the tops of the trees are shaded with green, blocking the sun. From time to time, a woodpecker would fly up to the tree and stick its long pointed beak into the tree, doing its own thing.

The locust tree witnessed my growth as a child. In summer we ate watermelon under the tree, and in winter we built snowmen together. When I was a kid, I was often scolded for getting muddy and watery on my pants, and Huaishu also witnessed it.

The locust tree has never spoken. It is very big and has an old mentality. I don’t think it can play with us. Every time we little kids play cards under the shade of his tree, it stays silent. I win every time and it never inspires me.

The old locust tree doesn’t eat anything. As my great-grandfather said, its roots are very deep, reaching deep into the ground. It is so big that its branches are entangled and guard our home.

The older generation believes in ghosts and gods. Every time my great-grandfather looked at the tree, the corners of his mouth would tremble slightly. I couldn’t tell whether it was in awe or relief. I always felt that with a tree in front of the house, the family would live in peace.

The old locust tree also has no clothes. It is normal for it to be green in summer and gray in winter. Maybe the old locust tree doesn't know that it has become a part of my memory and penetrated deeply into my heart.

I have seen too many poplars on the roadside cut down for publicity projects and replaced with delicate peach trees. The old locust tree has always been very tall in my mind. It has protected me for so many years. It cannot move like the tree people in "The Lord of the Rings", nor does it have the courage to fight for its home like them. Its home is We, what it wants to protect is just the world at the door.

I think it is so big that it would awe people and it would be impossible to chop it down. It survived countless thunderstorm nights and endured countless sunny days, but in the end it still failed to survive the saw axe.

I was not there the day the big locust tree fell, but I think people would be shocked by its vitality under the heavy blow of the "boom". I have long understood that although the big locust tree is very big, its root system cannot embrace our entire house. When I was a child, my great-grandfather's fantasy-like description made me even more curious. The roots of the locust tree are still deep enough into the ground to grow in the earth.

Cutting weeds requires removing the roots, but everyone knows that cutting down trees also requires removing the roots. The old locust tree circles in circles every year. I can't tell its age. I only know that maybe the moment it fell, its spirit of tolerance and loneliness was passed on to me, and its tolerant attitude influenced me.

If I go back to that day when I was a child, if I look carefully, I will find that every time I win a card, the branches will shake slightly and the leaves on the branches will rustle, even though there is wind. Yes, but the sweet sound comes from the old locust tree. That must be an encouragement to me.

I once kept a lot of bark from the locust tree, washed it with water and took it with me, but I can’t find it now.

When I grew up, I would often stare at a tree in trance, imagining the people it met and the things it experienced every day; imagining the changes in its body as the four seasons turned... the lush green leaves in summer, and the yellowing in autumn. fallen leaves, branches covered with snow in winter, and another new flow of life in spring.

If I have the chance, I will plant a tree somewhere, and it must be a locust tree. I will watch it grow vigorously, and it will watch me die of old age.