“Are your parents home?” Shen Mo had met her parents before, but the thought of seeing them again still made him nervous.
It would be better if no adults were home; he could just go over, check on the birds, play for a bit, and then head back.
“They’re not; they left this morning. My mom told me to eat lunch outside and just heat up dinner when I get back. My dad even asked me to feed the birds and the dog,” Hua Jie said as she pushed her bicycle uphill, turning to speak to Shen Mo walking beside her.
“Okay, I’ll sit for a bit, play with the birds, and then go,” he said.
“And play with the dog for a while too; Huan Huan really likes you.”
“I seem to be quite popular,” he chuckled.
“The dogs and birds treat you like family.”
“Are you cursing at me?”
“Hahaha…”
“…”
After climbing the hill and cycling a little further, they arrived at Hua Jie’s house.
The two locked their bicycles, unlocked the door, and stepped in, immediately meeting the gaze of Hua Jie’s father and the large wolf dog he was petting.
“Hey, get Huan Huan’s bowl and fill it with water—” Hua Jie’s mother pushed the door open, walking out with a bowl of water.
“…”
“…”
Weren’t there supposed to be no adults at home? Now both parents and an additional large wolf dog were present!
“Uncle, Auntie~” Shen Mo quickly recovered, suppressing his impulse to thump the girl on the head, and greeted Hua Jie’s parents instead.
If he had known adults were at home, he would have bought some fruit on his way over. After feasting here last time, showing up empty-handed again was just too awkward!
Hua Jie set me up!
“Mom, Dad, Shen Mo came over to check on the birds,” Hua Jie said awkwardly, turning back to smile at him.
Seizing the moment when the adults were not looking, Shen Mo glared fiercely at her, but when he raised his head to face Hua Jie’s parents, he switched back to his polite, exemplary young man demeanor, changing faces faster than a Sichuan opera actor.
“Come on in, it’s cold in the yard. The birds are inside; you can feed them yourself, it’s quite fun,” Hua Jie’s father patted the wolf dog’s head, standing up to speak to Shen Mo. Although his face was not smiling, his lengthy speech revealed his fondness for the boy.
“Sure,” Shen Mo said, rolling up his sleeves eagerly.
Seeing his interest, Hua Jie’s father also got into the spirit, clapped his hands for Hua Jie to close the yard gate, and let the wolf dog inside to join Shen Mo in playing with the birds.
“Dad, whose dog is this?” Hua Jie wasn’t afraid of the big dog; when she was around four or five years old, her family had a large wolf dog named Hu Zi who was especially smart and affectionate. She remembers often curling up and sleeping in the dog’s kennel, which led her mother to frantically search for her there whenever she couldn’t find her.
She reached out to pat the large wolf dog, and sure enough, it immediately started wagging its tail, neither barking nor whining, as if it could sense the closeness of humans.
“I made a sledge, and borrowed the wolf dog from a friend. I’ll take you out sledding in a bit,” Hua Jie’s father said.
“Wow!” Hua Jie’s eyes lit up immediately. A sledge is similar to a small sled, much like the ones Santa Claus uses, only smaller and simpler.
When she was younger, there was a sloped road by her house; every winter, the snow on the road would become compacted and hard. She would push the sledge up the slope, sit on it, and slide down, repeating the process over and over, often playing all day except for meals.
Shen Mo turned to look at Hua Jie, curious.
When he was in elementary school and first moved back to Jinsong with his father, he was somewhat introverted and unsociable, sticking to reading books by himself and not playing with others.
It wasn’t until middle school that he started to fit in with his classmates through physical prowess, but living in an urban area without the environment for sledging, and being past the prime age for such play, he was quite unfamiliar with it.
Sitting at the round table in the small living room, Shen Mo’s father silently placed a super luxurious, handcrafted bird cage he made himself in front of them, busying himself with preparing mung bean and egg paste, as well as the fishing bait he bought.
“Here, try feeding them.” He put the paste into a popsicle wrapper and handed it to Shen Mo, saying, “Squeeze it to feed.”
“Okay.” Shen Mo was still figuring out how to feed the birds when he reached his arm into the cage, and two fledglings with not yet fully developed feathers immediately started squawking loudly.
He raised his eyebrows and laughed, then turned to look at Hua Jie’s father.
Hua Jie’s father nodded encouragingly, “Go on and feed them.”
Shen Mo extended the paste toward the fledglings’ mouths. After squeezing out some paste, the two little ones flapped their wings, bumping into each other as they fought over the feeding tool, which clicked and clacked.
“Ha!” Shen Mo’s eyebrows perked up, thoroughly enjoying himself. He carefully balanced his feeding, giving one bite to the left one and another to the right, seriously reasoning with any bird that tried to steal more than its share, truly acting like a child.
Hua Jie stood at the doorway, watching her father who was intently accompanying Shen Mo feeding the birds, and looking at the handsome young man whose face showed a childlike smile. She couldn’t help but smile herself.
She already knew Shen Mo was motherless, and that his father largely left him to be cared for by a hired aunt while busy with his job.
When she visited his home, she felt the palpable chill of the spacious house and saw the various books in his study, realizing that he spent much of his childhood quietly sitting there reading to pass the time.
He seemed like someone who skipped his childhood, rushing into an age of independence too soon. His academics and skills in games like Go were excessively strong, yet he was unfamiliar but curious about a game nearly every child in the north had played.
After Shen Mo finished feeding the birds the egg yolk and bean paste, and then with insects, watching the fledglings’ enthusiastic response, he simply couldn’t stop.
“That’s enough, any more and you’ll overfeed them,” Hua Jie’s father said as he watched the birds eat voraciously, as if feasting during a festival. He placed his hand on Shen Mo’s arm and then stood up, saying:
“Let’s go sledge.”
“…Oh.” Reluctantly, Shen Mo withdrew his arm from the cage, with the fledglings still chirping after his hand.
His gaze lingered on the little birds, resembling a father reluctant to leave his child.
The larger lark, swaying from side to side, couldn’t find food and, turning its head, bit its sibling on the head several times, struggling to swallow before reluctantly letting go.
The bitten little brother clamped his mouth shut, looking dazedly from side to side, as if still trying to figure out what had hit his head, looking quite silly.
Shen Mo was amused; he reached through the bars of the bird cage to rub the little fellow’s head. Mistaking the gesture for feeding, the bird turned around and opened its mouth wide, howling loudly.
“…” Shen Mo, not daring to provoke further, withdrew his hand and stood up.
Hua Jie’s father had already taken her outside, and Shen Mo bent down to pick up Huan Huan, the little dog that had been clinging to his knees waiting to be held. He opened the door and stepped out with the dog.
Huan Huan, like a little imp, quieted down as soon as it nestled into Shen Mo’s arms, its fluffy underside resting on his shoulder, forepaws wrapped around his arm, nestled into the crook of his elbow, its round puppy eyes gleaming, content as a baby.
Hua Jie finished securing the sledge for her father, straightened up, and poked Huan Huan’s forehead. The little thing just listlessly wagged its tail.
“Stinky dog, snuggling up to a handsome guy and can’t even bother to greet its owner!” she pouted.
Shen Mo grinned, a mix of pride and disdain in his smile.
Shen Mo’s father opened the yard gate, leading the dog out, with the big dog pulling the empty sledge behind.
The trio and two dogs walked straight to the open space behind the mountain. Hua Jie’s father stomped the snow solid in the clearing while Huan Huan frolicked, darting and jumping in the snow.
“Hey, Shen Mo!”
Shen Mo was compacting the soft, fluffy snow on the other side when Hua Jie suddenly called out to him from behind.
Unsuspecting, he turned around, and Hua Jie hurled a big snowball straight at his face.
Expecting a direct hit, she was surprised when the boy swiftly dodged by turning his head to the side.
Not giving up, Hua Jie immediately advanced, trying to push him down by tripping him, aiming to press him into the snow. Instead, Shen Mo pulled back his hand, dodged her foot, and with a quick flick of his own foot—
The girl fell down with a thud.
“Ah!” She exclaimed, thankful that the snow was soft and not at all painful.
“Idiot.” He arrogantly dusted off his hands, looking down at her disdainfully, kicking some snow at her, covering her face and head, and leaving her yelping in mock indignation.
Feeling triumphant, he looked up only to see Hua Jie’s father a few steps away, turning back and clearly having witnessed the entire scene of him bullying his daughter.
“Uh…” Shen Mo awkwardly froze his smile.
Caught off guard…
Fortunately, Hua Jie’s father exchanged a glance with him before turning away to continue compacting the snow.
“…” Shen Mo breathed a sigh of relief, extending his hand to help Hua Jie up.
The girl lay on the soft, fluffy snow, not feeling cold at all.
She looked up at the deep blue sky, where thick white clouds were being hurriedly blown across the heavens.
“It’s really comfortable, you should try lying down too,” she beckoned.
The boy hesitated for a moment before willingly lying down.
The ground was slightly cold, but for a boy who had just been running around, it felt refreshingly cool and comfortable.
Resting his head on a down jacket hood, he gazed up at the sky, finding it beautiful for the first time.
The two children lay there for a while until Huan Huan came over and began licking Shen Mo’s face.
He pushed the dog away, did a kip-up to jump to his feet, and reached out his hand to her again.
Hua Jie looked at his hand and then stealthily glanced at her father.
Her dad was turned away, not looking in their direction.
She then reached out and grasped his broad palm.
The boy caught her small hand, pulling her up from the snow effortlessly, as if she were merely a feather.
Hua Jie pursed her lips, withdrew her hand, and quickly stuffed it into her pocket, the sensation of his thick, warm palm and strong fingertips lingering on her skin.
Her heartbeat quickened; the warmth and strength transmitted from his hand made her aware of the robust, fervent male spirit residing in his body.
The feeling of being enveloped by his powerful strength made her mind wander and her cheeks flush slightly.
She rubbed her hands inside her pocket to calm her spirits.
It must be because I’ve been single for too long that I’m so easily flustered.
Stamping her feet in the snow, she continued to help her father compact the ground.
After reuniting with her dad, he suddenly turned and glanced at Shen Mo not far away, whispering:
“Should I take care of that boy for you?”
“…” Hua Jie was momentarily startled, raising her head. She had forgotten that her father had this mischievous, childish side.
Yes, her father was only 39 years old now. In the big cities of later times, there were many people his age still traveling around, enjoying life, living as if they were forever young.