Somebody told me a shortcut to Sheshan Mountain, so I drove along the road with expectation.
On the right of the road, automatic aerators rested steadily in the waves, suggesting that they were fish ponds. No wonder there is grassland on the left. The Sudan grass is not only loved by horses, cattle and sheep but it is also good feed for fish.
The cut grass may be thrown into the fish ponds. It not only saves time and energy but also provides fresh food for fish. The fish ponds are arranged in order. Ripples rise on the water surface in the wind. I really wanted to sit at the ponds and watch the emerald ripples quietly, but I decided it was best to continue on my way to the mountain.
Shortly after, I reached a turn. A river in the front flowed slowly to the north. A few cement boats stopped on the riverside. On river banks, there were small multistory farmhouses with black or red tiles and white walls, a sight commonly seen in the countryside to the south of the Yangtze River.
At the end of the river, green mountains overlapped. From them, a white sphere and an ember pinnacle were dimly seen. It must be West Sheshan Mountain. By the roadside, an old lady put up a stand and sold melons. This so-called stand was a wide pole on two plastic drums.
Different from the basketful of melons and fruits sold by some farmers, these ones were white and golden, others had green skin and light green pulp. They sat in a bamboo basket with peaches and I could easily tell that the fruit was homegrown. I chatted with the old lady. To my surprise, her family was rich. Her son had a house and a car in the Songjiang new town. She and her husband also had a rural pension. As they had some farmland, they planted vegetables and had some surplus. Since it is not very lucrative for her to sell it in a market far from her house, she sold it on the roadside while it was fresh. I had a temptation to buy all of her fruit and melons.
At a turn, I saw a water chestnut pond covered with water chestnut leaves, the receptacles were open already. The winding rattan changes the direction of water chestnut leaves. The light green leaves become mottled bright spots under the sun and made the whole pond glow. I couldn't help thinking of the sweet and crispy red water chestnut harvested in autumn.
The summer vegetables creeping on the roadside bamboo fences were like a fine "lace" on the small road and the green bean played a leading role this season. I like her twisting vines and tubular green pods hanging on fences, I found they resembled the tassels on the hemline of a lady’s skirt. I would rather call it skirt tassel bean.
I saw a mid-aged woman picking the beans. The beans were translucent, glossy and plump with even thickness. I tried to buy some, but was turned down by her. She said her granddaughter and grandson would come to spend their summer holiday, so she would keep the beans for them.
This long "lace" wandered on the road to Sheshan Mountain. Farmers' crops lead to this high-grade national tourist resort. Perhaps the planters had never thought of it, but it is the crops that make Sheshan Mountain even more beautiful.
Gradually I fell in love with this small road.
