A Young Woman's Heart

"That's hard to say, what if? Even if it's not that cold, a little snow would be nice. A winter covered in silver is the most beautiful. I hate it when it's already two or three degrees below zero, so cold that everything is frozen, but it still doesn't snow. It feels like, um... like spring without butterflies, summer without cicadas, and autumn without osmanthus!"

Snow, a staple of winter.

But only Mo Xueyao, a child who grew up in the south, would be so looking forward to snow.

After all, snow doesn't happen every year here; in fact, it might not snow for five years.

If we really let her live up north, she probably won't be looking forward to snow anymore.

Li Wanyan also looked up at the sky with a sense of longing.

"I hope I can spend the Spring Festival with my mother in the city this year."

"Hmm, then five people together is perfect. Oh, right, we can also invite Chen Cheng and his family, that would make it more lively! Or maybe we can go out on our own and invite Yin Yin, Le Le, and You You? Anyway, we have a place..."

Li Wanyan tilted her head to look at Mo Xueyao, and suddenly smiled.

She smiled as if she were an azalea blooming in autumn.

I don't know when it started, but she has so many friends now.

……

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Mr. Xue's Hair Bristles in Furious

The rain was like a muddy torrent, mixed with mud and sand.

The stream was no longer clear, and there were several footprints of varying depths on the yellowing grass.

As Mr. Xue walked across this old bridge, which was perhaps fifty or sixty years old, his thoughts wandered.

It is said that a Mr. Chen Duxiu once visited this place.

It was nothing important; it was only mentioned briefly in a biography.

That gentleman once had the youthful vigor and the passion to save the country. Although he became cowardly and a capitulationist in his middle and later years, and was even framed in the end, there was a time when he was truly unafraid of the hardships ahead and unafraid of death.

He did indeed enlighten many people.

This is probably what it means to have two sides to a person.

Most people change.

People who don't change are actually in the minority.

Mr. Xue, dressed in a black Western-style school uniform, smiled slightly as he looked at the rippling river below the bridge.

"Xiaoxue!" Gao Yuan's voice rang out from behind, "Damn, why are you walking so fast? Did you take a shortcut?"

"Yes." Mr. Xue followed Gao Yuan's gaze, glanced at the mud on his shoes, and nodded with a smile.

"Phew, you're really fast, even though I only bought an ice cream." Gao Yuan handed another ice cream to Mr. Xue. "We're here, we're here. That's the shop up ahead. My dad used to send me here to buy books all the time, mostly rare old books. It's just that the old man who sells the books has a bit of a weird temper, tsk..."

He wasn't worried at all that Mr. Xue would be angry; he just didn't really want to come.

But there's nothing we can do about it; he was the one who agreed to it in the first place.

That day, Mr. Xue casually muttered to himself that he wanted to buy some books from the Republican era or even earlier.

It's not for research purposes; it's purely out of interest.

Gao Yuan, who was standing next to him, chimed in, saying that he knew a place where they could buy them, and that the items were relatively well-preserved.

That's why we agreed to come together after the sports meet today.

This area used to be a newly developed street.

Unfortunately, it goes against Hangzhou's urban planning, and there is no intention to develop here for the time being.

In addition, the developer who built the buildings on this street a few years ago ran away, so although the buildings in this small area look relatively new, there is a lot of dust and very few people, making it seem quite deserted.

Instead of showing any signs of becoming bustling and prosperous, there's a sense of desolation, as if it will soon be deserted.

There are two rows of shops along the road, but only two or three are open here and there.

There was no security guard at the entrance of the residential compound; the gate was wide open, or rather, it was broken and couldn't be closed at all.

The buildings at the front are all completed and look fine, but the ones at the back are just topped out and no one lives there at all.

Various plants grew out of the buildings, making it feel like you had come to the long-forgotten Chernobyl.

In those days, anyone who could become a developer must have had powerful connections. Back then, when houses were built, people didn't even have property ownership certificates yet.

Even now, only urban residents can apply for it; it's very difficult for rural residents to obtain a property ownership certificate.

Although it's an unfinished street, there's a fairly large square at the entrance of the residential area.

A group of foreigners, who looked very well-equipped, were carrying cameras and filming something around.

On the other corner of the square—the side closer to Mr. Xue—a group of children were playing.

It was clear that they were divided into two groups: one group was dressed smartly, while the other group was dressed simply and should be local residents.

Among the people on both sides, a little girl and a little boy suddenly started arguing, and then the little girl, who was obviously a head taller than the little boy, suddenly pushed him to the ground.

A fist came flying at his forehead, and the little boy quickly blocked it with his arm. His companions next to him also seemed a little flustered.

Mr. Xue then noticed that the little girls all had different colored eyes.

Upon closer inspection, their hair color isn't pure black; it's either tinged with gold or has a brownish tint.

A man carrying a camera seemed to have heard the commotion, so he turned the camera around and filmed the scene with great interest.

"Why did you hit him?" a little boy nearby couldn't help but ask.

The little girl didn't speak, but she kept spewing out profanities in English.

Although the boys couldn't understand her, they could tell she was swearing.

The little girl next to her also had a mocking expression on her face.

The little boy, feeling angry, also shoved the girl.

Unexpectedly, other girls immediately surrounded them.

His own companions, however, moved away from him in perfect unison, like magnets that had been pushed aside.

It was almost instinctive, almost without thinking.

Moreover, as they backed away, they subconsciously glanced at the foreigners who were filming something over there.

These little girls got out of their car.

Judging from their attire, they might be models or child actors who will be participating in the photoshoot later.

The camera pointed this way has stopped moving; the photographer is intently filming.

Mr. Xue clearly saw the word 'BBC' on the car next to him.

"What's wrong, Xiaoxue? Why do you look like you know what's going on?"

"Hehe...it's nothing." Mr. Xue glanced at Gao Yuan, and his toes, which were originally heading towards the old bookstore not far away, shifted slightly in that direction.

The little boy also had a bad temper. Seeing the little girls pushing and shoving each other, and even one of them slapping him in the face, made him feel very ashamed.

For children, face and dignity are the most important things.

Unlike adults who are hesitant and cautious, children will go to great lengths to protect their face and dignity.

Uh... of course, it's also possible to burst into tears on the spot.

It depends on how much face one loses and how much dignity one loses in their heart.

The ways to go all out are also different.

Clearly, this little boy is very tough; his way of going all out is to fight back.

One person beat up four little girls.

Even in a situation where the other person was clearly taller than him.

"He's quite a fighter..." Gao Yuan couldn't help but sigh when he saw his fierceness.

The four little girls seemed a bit stunned. They probably didn't expect that this little guy would actually dare to make a move, and so ruthlessly at that.

This is being applied directly to the face.

as a result of?

He couldn't possibly imagine the consequences.

The photographer who was filming quickly put down his camera and came to the rescue, along with two other people who looked like assistants.

"STOP!!" shouted a very strong-looking foreign male assistant. Perhaps afraid that the little boy wouldn't understand and might actually hurt the girls, he quickly added in broken Chinese, "Stop! Stop!"

This time, he understood.

The main thing is that with so many adults coming over, you can understand pretty much everything just by looking at their posture.

"Just a little kids' slapstick," Gao Yuan chuckled, not taking it to heart at all. But she didn't expect the man who ran over to slap the little boy across the face, knocking him to the ground. His face, which wasn't fair but was clean enough, immediately became red and swollen.

He immediately opened his eyes wide, somewhat stunned.

"Oh, shit—fuck—" the man cursed, spat next to the little boy, and kicked him hard. "You, you...kneel down and apologize! Apologize! You, you hit, girl!"

"She hit me first!" The little boy tried his best to look up, but he was still trembling with fear, and his voice was trembling with sobs.

"You have no manners, you're really backward, a barbarian!" The man continued his incessant rant, his tall figure giving him an immense sense of oppression. "Apologize, kneel down, apologize! Otherwise, I'll call the police! Your parents, arrest them! And you too!"

The boys immediately fell silent, looking at each other in bewilderment, and then turned to scatter and run away.

Foreigners still enjoy privileges in this region.

Even a child knows that.

So he started to get scared.

He was afraid of making a big fuss, which could land him in jail or even implicate his parents.

For children, the police station is the scariest place in the world.

After all, many parents use this to scare their children.

The little boy bit his lip, his mental defenses seemingly crumbling.