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From under the apricot tree

Việt NamViệt Nam30/03/2024

In the cold of early December, ornamental plant traders still go around the region to find yellow apricot. This Tet flower variety has never lost its value, but the price really skyrocketed since the beginning of last year, when the chairman of a central province launched a movement that every office and every household should plant a mai tree in front of their gate. It was a good idea and it made the price of apricot double or triple, even the price of old apricot trees reached billions. Bricklayers, carpenters, motorbike taxi drivers, many of them suddenly quit their jobs to trade apricot.

From under the apricot tree

Illustration: THANH SONG

After negotiating, the team digs up the tree, shovels it down, and makes a mound. If it is a loamy soil, it can be done in one session, if it is a rocky area, it can take a day at most. Occasionally, problems may arise. For example, when digging up the top layer of soil and seeing that the root system is too beautiful, the homeowner asks for more money. Sometimes, when they find an old root stuck in a rotten, flooded area, the buyer frowns and begs the homeowner to give them a discount. And rarely, they encounter an unexpected event that makes both parties hesitate, like the case of digging up Mr. Binh's apricot tree.

When the shovel was cut diagonally into the gourd, it made a "pop" sound.

- Damn, I got rocked again.

The digger cursed and gave another shovelful. A black metal plate appeared in the ground.

- Copper? This time you've struck gold, you should quit your job as a miner.

The man dropped the shovel, crouched down in the hole he had dug, and brushed off the metal plate. He saw that it was not black but rather blue-green, dotted with rust.

- Oh my god.

He jumped out of the hole, crawled and ran into the porch, his face pale. Two members of the tree digging team rushed after him. Mr. Binh from inside the house heard the scream and also quickly came out.

- Ammo box, sir. The child would have died. He was scared to death.

Quickly and gently, Mr. Binh went out into the yard, tilted his head to look into the hole. Startled, he quickly regained his composure.

- What a machine gun. Why is there an ammo box here?

Mr. Binh's apricot tree is a conservation tree, that is to say, an old tree, with a thick, healthy trunk and branches. The tree was planted since the liberation of the homeland, and no one knows who planted it, or if it grew from seed. Half a century is a human life, so is the age of the apricot tree. In the past, when things were difficult, he and his father often sawed off a few branches to bring to the city to sell for money to buy things. The sawed places on the tree trunk have now healed, creating bumps that look very old.

The age of the apricot tree is also the time since peace was restored. Whenever the old man met his fellow soldiers at home, he would point to the apricot tree and count the years of peace. The apricot tree actually had a happy memory. But who would have thought that under its root there was an object that reminded him of the painful period.

- If it could explode, it would have exploded. Keep digging.

The guy who bought the tree spoke as if giving orders. It was very difficult to hunt for an old apricot tree like this, which could be called an old apricot tree. And especially when he dug up the soil, it revealed a beautiful base, with large, sturdy roots sticking out from the trunk into the ground. First base, second trunk, third branches, fourth varieties, bonsai enthusiasts all know this saying, it is the standard to evaluate an apricot tree. The base is raised up, so it will be delicious, and that is right, because the branches can grow more or be bent, but the roots are a gift from God.

Yesterday, he offered the price for the fifth time before Mr. Binh nodded in agreement. Two hundred million was the closing price, no one in this area had ever sold or bought a mai tree for that price. The strong because of rice, bold because of money, he liked this saying, trading trees was not superstitious, but like gambling, the more afraid of losing, the more likely he was to lose. He also had time to take pictures and videos of the mai tree to offer to several bonsai tycoons in Hue , one customer had offered half a billion. Oh my, one afternoon and one morning, how could one make a profit of three hundred million, this was enough to have a warm and comfortable Tet. Thinking about the profit, he disregarded everything.

- What the hell is a bullet? Let me go down and dig it up.

- Oh, oh. If it explodes, you will die and I will be in trouble.

What does that mean? The three hundred million dollars that I was about to hold in my hand would be wasted. And with the newly opened base, the price of the tree might go up even more.

- Mrs. Thuong, where are you, Mrs. Thuong? Get me a cup and a plate.

Mr. Binh called his wife into the house. He must have been so panicked that he forgot that his wife had gone to the market this morning. He was so happy, she had the 20 million dong deposit money in the cupboard, and this morning she had taken out some bills to go to the market. When you get a lot of money, everyone is happy.

Actually, Mr. Binh is not interested in selling trees because they are full of memories. It was his wife, Mrs. Thuong, who urged him to sell them because the price of apricot trees is high, but last year it was not so high, and a tree of this size would cost 50 million VND. If he did not sell them, they would be cheap again this time. Just look at the price of the Sanh and Barringtonia trees that were sky-high a few years ago, but now no one wants them.

The apricot tree is located in the middle of the yard, like a screen that everyone in the countryside has. The tree's canopy spreads out evenly in all four directions, its branches intertwined. The apricot variety is also good, it blooms every year right on time for Tet even without any care. The tree is big with many buds, starting from mid-December it starts to bloom and blooms bright yellow until almost the end of January.

On Tet holiday, visitors all praised the land and people for their good fortune, which allowed the apricot tree to bloom beautifully. He placed a bamboo and rattan table under the apricot tree canopy as a place to drink tea. In the damp spring mornings, the apricot tree's fragrance was sweet and fragrant, a deep fragrance that only the green-bud yellow apricot tree of the Central region had. No wonder the kings of the capital in the past loved it so much, and now the same land was full of enthusiasm for planting apricot trees in front of its gates.

Mr. Binh went into the house to get a set of dishes and incense sticks. He opened his hands and placed two yin-yang coins on the plate.

- You want to buy and I also want to sell. But you are afraid of death and I am also afraid of being implicated. Isn't that miserable? Let's ask for a fortune telling to see what the heavens and earth have in mind. Odd is favorable, even is okay. Please light an incense stick.

The couple had already planned out the two hundred million they had spent on the apricot tree they had sold last night. They had to fix up the house to make it look decent enough to live in. The old tiled roof leaked and the storm blew away at any moment. They had to raise the ground and raise the yard a little higher to help with the annual floods. If they wanted to raise the yard, they would have to move the apricot tree, otherwise they would have to bury its branches, so selling it was reasonable. Another sum was to build a mausoleum for the old man on the village-issued grave land. The old man was now near death, his age was measured in days, his eyes and eyebrows were still clear, so they would build him a place to lie down so he would be happy. This was a win-win situation, selling the tree meant selling decades of memories, but in return, they would have a decent place to live and would also take care of their filial duties. "Then you probably won't be sad, right?" Mrs. Thuong asked the old man, receiving several nods.

Before Mr. Binh could ask for the glue, he saw Mrs. Thuong carrying a basket from the market. He put down his dishes, ran to grab her and pointed at her. The couple whispered a little, then Mr. Binh's eyes lit up, as if he was filled with fear and panic.

- No more selling. This incident was unexpected. Everyone needs money, but human life is more important. I'm sorry, please accept my deposit back. When this matter is resolved, I'll call you to come sell the plants.

Mrs. Thuong took out the stack of money and gave it to the tree dealer to count. He didn't bother to check it, just stuffed it into his pocket.

- Like other people, you have to pay double the deposit. But anyway, we have to live with the past. Remember to call me when you finish dealing with the iron box. Don't sell it to anyone.

Unlike his previous recklessness, he now seemed to have lost his eagerness to get the apricot tree. A few hundred million was nothing compared to a life. He told the diggers to pack up their hoes, shovels, and ropes and go home. He left the hole as it was for the homeowner to deal with.

Mrs. Thuong took out a plastic bag.

- I have some pig intestines, I was going to make a dish of bait for you guys to eat. You guys take them home and take care of yourselves. But hey, don't tell anyone about the ammo box. Otherwise, rumors will spread and no one will dare to come here during Tet.

The group of tree traders left, Mr. Binh closed the gate and checked the lock to be sure.

- Have you ever heard anyone talk about something buried under the apricot tree?

- No way. I saw this apricot tree when I was a kid. No one has buried anything under it since then. - I mean before that, in our grandparents' time.

- Let me remember. Back then, I heard that my grandparents were well-off, with vast fields and gardens, but were classified as landlords. Later, the fields were confiscated and redistributed to the villagers, leaving only this piece of land to live on. My grandfather died during that struggle, and my grandmother lived for more than ten years, but she was not very clear-minded.

- Sometimes the grandparents put their wealth in there and hid it because they were afraid it would be discovered and confiscated. Later, the grandmother was so afraid of being implicated that she didn't dare tell anyone.

- What you said makes sense. But I doubt it, I doubt it from 1972.

In the fiery summer of 1972, the war was fierce, the whole village evacuated when the rice crop had just been sown. A few months later, when they returned, the fields were golden and had a good harvest. It was said that the gunpowder contained chemicals like fertilizers, so the rice grew well. Clumps of cogon grass grew all over the sandbanks, the cogon grass was taller than a person's head, and they could be picked up to weave and re-thatch their houses. Grass also grew freely, in every house's garden, the grass grew thickly, and the houses were truly abandoned. Mr. Binh was only ten years old at the time, but the image of the day he returned to the village was deeply engraved in his memory, never fading. When he opened the door to the house, he saw a camouflage hammock left by American soldiers. His father told his mother and children to sit still, so he went around the garden to make sure before starting to arrange and clean up. When clearing the grass in front of the yard, they saw a tiny apricot tree the size of a toothpick growing there, so everyone helped to hoe the roots.

- It is very possible that the ammunition box was buried there by American soldiers.

- Why was the ammunition box buried so deep? It was a meter of ground, not a small amount.

- So what do you think?

- New gold and silver treasures buried carefully.

It is not uncommon for people in the area to find gold while digging for a house foundation. In the past, when digging for a house, they found an ancient ceramic jar containing gold and silver. In the South, someone working on a farm dug up an ammunition box filled with gold rings and necklaces. The newspapers reported that it was exactly the same seven-liter machine gun ammunition box as the iron box under the apricot tree. This type of box has a tight-fitting lid. In the past, whoever had one used it to store valuables. Nowadays, many people use it as a toolbox for car repair.

- If you have the guts, go out and pull it up and see. I'm scared.

- You are great. Go for it.

Call Uncle An.

- Didn't you call yesterday? He said he had full rights to us. And he was right, because I live in the house and have to take care of my father. Selling the apricot tree is also to take care of the family, so I can't ask for a share. Oh, but I don't know about that box yet, so don't rush.

- Sharing and profiting. Greedy before anything.

Mrs. Thuong burst into tears.

- I am poor, and you are also poor. Now that I am about to get some good fortune, you call me greedy. There, you two can share it yourselves. I don't even want the money for the apricot tree.

- I mean he works in the province, involved in the bomb and mine clearance project. He will ask someone to come back and check for bullets in the crate. He has to do it cleverly so it won't be discovered.

That same afternoon, after the detection system had detected no danger, the ammunition box was retrieved. He anxiously opened it to see. Inside was only a neatly folded dark blue tarpaulin. Spreading the tarpaulin on the floor, it turned out that it was not a tarpaulin but a rectangular bag the size of a table.

- We've seen this bag before. It's made entirely of nylon and won't deteriorate no matter how long it's kept. Every American soldier in the past had one of these in their backpacks, just in case they died, they could use it to hold their body.

Hearing the bomb squad member speak, everyone shivered a little. But clearly that flat bag couldn’t contain such a horrible thing. Unzipping the bag, they saw a bunch of parachute cord tied like a puppet.

- There is another piece of paper here. It's all in Western writing. If you know, Uncle An, please read it and see what it says.

Today, I just received the news that you were born. Halfway around the world, I am extremely excited and happy. I used a rope to weave a lovely doll for my daughter. But it is very fierce here, I am not sure if I can bring this doll back to America for you. So I put it in a nylon bag and buried it in the ground, marking this day, where I received the greatest joy in my life. Oh, but from now on, I have you, so I will definitely not need that bag anymore. I must live and hope that this terrible war will soon end so I can come back to see you. Later, I will plant a tree that I just found on the ground, I heard the people here say it is an apricot tree. Then I will also give you a Vietnamese name, Mai, which means Tomorrow. When we come back here to find it, the apricot tree will probably bloom. I love you. Quang Tri , February 7, 1972, David Anderson.

***

The yellow apricot tree is still at Mr. Binh’s house this year, blooming brightly yellow, everyone who comes to celebrate Tet is amazed. Some people click their tongues and say, “Why don’t you sell it if it’s worth it?” Others advise that if they leave it like that, it might go up to several hundred million more. The couple just laughs.

Hoang Cong Danh


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