Ice is not averse to deception

As Sun Bing lay on the hotel bed, Zhang Defa's voice and smile appeared in her mind.

Zhang Defa's home is near Sun Bing's school, in a very old little house.

The house is only about 30 square meters in total, with a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room so cramped that three people cannot sit down at the same time.

But Zhang Defa liked to sculpt clay figures and ice sculptures, liked to display his toys in the most prominent place in the living room, and liked to show off his new toys to Sun Bing and Wu Dayong.

So even though they were decades older than Sun Bing and the others, they still had a lot in common.

Because Sun Bing and Wu Dayong's homes are not close to the school, their daily commute to and from lunch takes up a lot of time.

Later, the parents of both families found Zhang Defa and saw that he was all alone and helpless. They thought of giving Zhang Defa 100 yuan a month so that Sun Bing and his wife could have lunch at Zhang Defa's house.

Zhang Defa agreed, and from then on, Sun Bing and Wu Dayong ate lunch at Zhang Defa's house for three years.

Sun Bing's early exposure to ice sculpting actually took place at Zhang Defa's home.

Winters in Harbin are very cold, especially more than ten years ago. Schools would close very early in winter, and people would hardly dare to go out. They would stay at home all day, tending to the heated brick bed and chatting.

Because the winter vacation was long and started early, Sun Bing and Wu Dayong, who couldn't stay idle, often went to Zhang Defa's place to play.

At first, Sun Bing was a little puzzled. Why was Zhang Defa not staying in the warm kang room on such a cold day, but instead running to the yard?

When Sun Bing first saw the entire process of ice sculpting, a light that adults could not comprehend shone in his boyish eyes.

Whenever he has time, Sun Bing watches Zhang Defa make ice sculptures, sometimes for an entire day.

A week later, Zhang Defa finally asked Sun Bing for the first time, "Do you want to learn? I can teach you."

Sun Bing nodded like a sparrow munching on a grain of wheat, his excitement written all over his face.

Wu Dayong also wanted to learn, but for some reason, Zhang Defa was certain that Wu Dayong wasn't cut out for this line of work. Instead, he often talked to Wu Dayong about the ways of the world among adults. Unexpectedly, Wu Dayong was very interested, and with these skills, he always managed to gain the favor and praise of the adults.

What Sun Bing didn't know was that Zhang Defa actually knew a lot about their family situations and personality traits.

  

Although both families were poor, Wu Dayong's parents were timid and business-minded. He taught Wu Dayong about interpersonal relationships and social rules, hoping that Wu Dayong could help his parents more and better resolve his inner doubts.

Although Sun Bing's family is not well-off, his parents have stable jobs and will receive pensions in the future. Sun Bing is also a patient person, and having a skill is obviously a good thing.

Although it may be a bit of an exaggeration, Zhang Defa did indeed put into practice Confucius's educational principle of teaching according to aptitude.

It was precisely because of this pragmatic and accurate judgment that Zhang Defa had a very good relationship with Sun Bing and Wu Dayong; the three of them acted like father and sons.

This continued until Sun Bing went to high school. Because he had to live in a dormitory far away, the three of them gradually lost contact. Only during winter and summer vacations would the two of them go to Zhang Defa's house to play together.

Then one day, Zhang Defa suddenly said that he was going to leave Bingcheng for another place, and left a sum of money for Sun Bing and Wu Dayong before he left.

Each person received over a thousand yuan. Keep in mind that this was around 1999, and over a thousand yuan was not a small amount. Later, Sun Bing and the others learned that this money was the "afternoon care fee" that their parents gave to Zhang Defa. Zhang Defa spent it very frugally, and after three years, he had more than two thousand yuan left.

On the very day Zhang Defa left, Wu Dayong and Sun Bing kowtowed to the ground and recognized Zhang Defa as their godfather.

In the beginning, Zhang Defa would return to Harbin during winter and summer vacations to spend time with his two adopted sons. However, as their academic pressure increased, they had fewer and fewer opportunities to meet.

By the time the two graduated from high school, they had basically lost contact with Zhang Defa.

Sun Bing went to university to study fine arts, but somehow ended up doing sculpture.

Not long after graduating from high school, Wu Dayong went to the south. Oh right, before he left Harbin, he saw his father kneeling and begging for mercy after being bullied by thugs.

Even now, although both of them have tried to find Zhang Defa, that feeling has long been blown away by the torrent of time. In addition, they really don't know Zhang Defa's address or contact information, so they have never been in contact with him.

It wasn't until recently, when Aunt Wu entrusted Sun Bing with handling Zhang Defa's funeral arrangements, that Sun Bing learned of Zhang Defa's passing.

"What a wonderful person he was, how could he have passed away so suddenly?"

While Sun Bing was expressing his feelings, Wu Dayong also fell into anxiety.

He never imagined that to obtain Zhang Defa's inheritance, he would have to fulfill Zhang Defa's last wish and help Zhang Defa complete an unfinished ice sculpture.

He had photos and design drafts, but Wu Dayong didn't understand them at all; he felt like he was reading gibberish.

Ironically, to inherit Zhang Defa's estate, one must complete the ice sculpture within a month; otherwise, Zhang Defa's estate will be donated to the Yanji government free of charge.

What's worse is that the agreement took effect at the beginning of the month, leaving only ten days until the agreed-upon deadline.

Wu Dayong was completely dumbfounded.

If it weren't for the signed and fingerprinted power of attorney, Wu Dayong would have thought Zheng Jie was deliberately playing them for fools.

Leaving an inheritance with so many obstacles? Isn't that a bit disingenuous?

Although Wu Dayong didn't know much about ice sculpture, he had lived with Zhang Defa for a period of time and knew that it would take three to five days to complete an ice sculpture.

Wu Dayong was conflicted.

He thought the best way was to find someone else to complete the work, so that he could take Zhang Defa's inheritance without anyone knowing.

While this approach would be most advantageous for him, it would also present many problems, since he knew nothing about ice sculpting. If the agreed-upon time passed, all his previous efforts would be in vain.

However, before he could dwell on it for long, Zheng Jie's words instantly perked Wu Dayong up.

"I saw Sun Bing today. Does he have something wrong with his head?"

Clearly, their first meeting was unsuccessful. Sun Bing mistook Zheng Jie for a fraudster, while Zheng Jie was even more ruthless, thinking that Sun Bing had something wrong with his head.

Zheng Jie had no idea how strange it would be for Sun Bing, a newcomer, to encounter an old man who immediately looked at her ID card. So it was understandable that Sun Bing acted strangely in terms of her expressions, actions, and speech.

However, Zheng Jie had already elevated these strange occurrences to a mental level, and even felt that Sun Bing had some kind of mental problem.

Wu Dayong had a sudden inspiration and instantly found a direction.

"Yes, or I would have brought him with me to see you. You don't know, Sun Bing has had a tough time these past few years. Although he's an ice sculptor, his wife is getting a divorce, his brother-in-law is causing trouble and picking fights, and even his mother-in-law doesn't like him. He's suffered some kind of shock and his mental state is a bit unstable."

"Oh? It's that serious?" Zheng Jie exclaimed in surprise.

Wu Dayong embellished the story, instantly transforming Sun Bing into a mentally ill patient who had failed in her business, had an unhappy family, a troubled marriage, and was disrespected.

Surprisingly, this instantly won them some sympathy from Zheng Jie, making the situation more favorable for them.