Hua Jie’s room door was wide open, and the boy and girl sat a step away from each other, yet the atmosphere felt as if they were entwined together.
A strange heat twisted around them, brushing their cheeks, earlobes, fingertips, and necks, heating everything up.
Even though they weren’t even looking at each other, they felt more heart-flutteringly shy than if they were embracing intimately.
Hua Jie, having lived two lives, had never experienced this feeling before; she couldn’t even tell if it was awkwardness or something else.
She felt something indistinct scratching at her heart, making it beat faster, her body heat up, her brain congested and unable to function, her whole being in a haze, even wanting to turn around and burrow into the covers to transform into an ostrich.
When her mother entered, she was so nervous she almost suffocated, as if she had just done something bad and got caught.
And there she was, sitting on the bed, quite literally “caught in the bed”…
“Is Shen Mo helping you with your homework? If there’s anything you don’t understand, take the opportunity to ask him while he’s here,” Hua’s mother said, seeing the boy with his back to her sitting at the desk. She mistook him for helping her daughter with homework and smiled as she stood in the doorway.
“Ah, okay,” Hua Jie stammered.
“Are you hot? Why is your face so red?” Hua’s mother stared at her daughter, just before the girl could metaphorically explode on the spot, she laughed and said:
“If you’re hot, go outside and grab a frozen pear, and maybe an ice brick too.”
“…Mhm.” The girl nodded blankly.
“Why are you sitting so far away? You want Shen Mo to shout the answers to you?” Hua’s mother said, then turned around, went to the living room to grab a stool, and placed it right beside Shen Mo.
“Come sit here.”
“…” Hua Jie got up like a zombie, took a step, and sat down next to the boy.
“Study now, ask him anything you don’t understand quickly, don’t waste too much time, it’s not safe for Shen Mo to go back too late.” Hua’s mother said as she patted her daughter on the shoulder and even helped to close the door as she left.
Though the door had a window, it still provided the two children a secluded environment to focus on their studies.
Hua Jie even heard her mother outside telling her father:
“Don’t keep making him work all the time, you do it yourself, it’s good for him to help our daughter with her studies.”
“…” Hua Jie looked down to see the sketch on the paper spread across the table, a full-body image of her own making.
As everyone knows, David is not clothed.
Moreover, she blamed herself for drawing too well and too detailed; some parts were quite clear…
!
Hua Jie almost instinctively looked down at certain parts of Shen Mo, but fortunately, she regained her senses in time and restrained herself.
She quickly reached for her sketchbook and tossed it aside, pulling over the math workbook and the problem-solving booklet instead. Swallowing nervously, she said:
“How about… you explain this problem to me?”
“…” Shen Mo didn’t make a sound, just reached out and grabbed her workbook.
But no sooner had he opened the workbook than he quickly withdrew his hand and hid it under the table.
Damn!
Even the back of his hand was red.
His brows furrowed in annoyance, he glared at the workbook as if it were an enemy, as if he was about to shred it into pieces at any moment.
He took a deep breath quietly, trying to calm himself. But unfortunately, the girl was sitting so close that he could smell her shampoo and a unique, possibly shower gel fragrance.
No, no, no!
He dared not think further.
Any stray thought could conjure a series of indescribable images.
Shen Mo felt he was corrupted, his mind filled with junk.
He wasn’t like this before.
“Move further away!” he said annoyedly.
But unexpectedly, his voice came out a bit hoarse.
“Are you thirsty?” Hua Jie raised an eyebrow, pulling her cup closer, then thinking better of it, “Let me get you a glass of water.”
Saying this, she stood up, pulled her chair further away, and then hurried out of her room.
At the same time, both the young man and woman sighed in relief.
Phew…
Finally, she was a bit further away from him.
He could breathe again.
Shen Mo glanced at the stool now an arm’s length away, then withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes to relax a bit.
When Hua Jie returned, she considerately handed him a cup of cool boiled water.
Shen Mo gulped it down in one go, finally feeling a bit more comfortable.
He gently wiped the sweat off his forehead and noticed a layer of perspiration.
For the next half-hour, Shen Mo didn’t talk much about the problems; instead, he held the book and tested her on many practice questions and text recitations.
The young man had suddenly become silent, seemingly preoccupied with heavy thoughts.
When the young girl finished reciting the last poem, Shen Mo stood up and said softly:
“I should go back now.”
“Ah, okay.” Hua Jie stood up, also appearing somewhat restrained in his presence.
The boy paused for a few seconds before turning around and walking out of her room.
Suddenly remembering something, Hua Jie called out to him, crouched down, and pulled a painting from under the bed drawer, smiling and saying:
“A gift.”
Shen Mo took it.
“The frame was made from scrap wood from my dad’s furniture making. Take good care of the painting. When I become a millionaire artist, it’ll be worth a lot,” she said with a smile, her face bright with joy and pride.
Shen Mo looked up at her briefly, then quickly shifted his gaze back to the painting.
It depicted him ice skating, with a small wooden plaque in the lower right corner of the frame, carved with the words: “Chasing Wind Youth.”
She always portrayed him as spirited and lively, as if he carried the pride of the whole world, and the stars on his back.
He would definitely hang it in his bedroom, so the first thing he saw every day upon waking was this painting, starting his day with his own charm.
He pursed his lips, his eyes flickering, then quickly glanced at her smiling face again before muttering:
“I’m not going to sell it.”
Whether she becomes a millionaire artist or not, he would never sell this painting.
“What?” Hua Jie didn’t hear clearly.
“Nothing.” Shen Mo tucked the painting under his arm and turned to walk away.
“…” Hua Jie watched his back, pouting slightly.
Why did his aura suddenly become so somber?
What happened?
The heart of a young boy is truly hard to understand.
Shen Mo politely said goodbye to Hua Jie’s parents and was escorted to the door by Hua Jie herself. He then left, tucking the painting under one arm and pushing his bike with the other.
As the boy turned the corner, Hua Jie went back inside to lock the door and enter the house.
However, Shen Mo didn’t leave. At the corner, under the wall, he stopped and stood still, taking deep breaths of the harsh, dry air of the winter at minus forty degrees.
Only when he felt chilled from the inside out did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
With his bicycle propped beside him, he leaned against the wall, his gaze drifting away, unconsciously sinking into his own thoughts.
He paced back and forth at the base of the wall, leaving countless sets of footprints.
It wasn’t until the loose snow on the ground was packed solid and hard, and he began to shiver from the cold, that he finally mounted his bike and rode away.
The moonlight wrapped around him, and the stars followed him, escorting the young man home.
…
…
After sending Shen Mo off, Hua Jie sat in front of her desk for quite some time before her restless mind calmed down.
Spending the whole day with such a boy, it was inevitable that her heart would occasionally falter.
She thought this was quite normal.
Humming “Quietly asking the holy monk, is the girl beautiful~~~,” she pushed the two large boxes filled with her drawing practice and study materials back to the side of the desk, tidied up the room a bit, and sat down again. Her mind was already recalling what her teacher had pointed out during today’s drawing lesson.
Then she ran to the kitchen, grabbed a potato and an apple, placed them in a white bowl, and returned to her room.
She draped a solid-colored towel over the desk, arranged the still life, and continued to draw and practice.
Sometimes she found drawing monotonous, repeatedly sketching the same set of objects from different angles, rearranging and continuing to draw.
She would feel tired, lost, and lonely.
And occasionally, she would just collapse, not wanting to draw a single stroke anymore.
But when she took out her first watercolor painting and compared it with her current work, realizing the progress she had made, it seemed she could persist a little longer.
Using clean tissue paper to create unique lines on the still wet paint, watching the paper absorb the paint and dry, the pressure brewing inside her chest once again eased.
Painting is such an interesting activity, employing all sorts of tools to create a piece of art, truly filled with uncertainties and changes.
Sometimes, she even treated it like a game, quietly interacting in subtle ways with the things she could see and feel around her.
Gradually calming down, stroke by stroke, piece by piece, until the moonlight deepened, and she could barely keep her eyes open, she finally put down her brush to wash up.
When lying in bed, she habitually grabbed her tape recorder and listened to English tapes as she drifted off to sleep.
…
…
On Tuesday evening after school, Hua Jie slung her backpack over her shoulder and went downstairs.
She pushed through the thick, cold-proof curtain inside the main door and then struggled to push open the heavy door of the school building.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind her, over her head, and easily pushed the door open.
Hua Jie turned her head to see Shen Mo’s resolute jaw close at hand.
“Hands too weak to truss a chicken,” he joked, propping the door open and urging, “Hurry up.”
The girl quickly stepped out, followed by Shen Mo.
A girl behind them tried to slip out through the door he was holding, but he stepped out and let go of the door without noticing, nearly causing her to get caught. She gasped, but it didn’t elicit any reaction from the boy.
It seemed as if he was completely unaware of anyone else in the world.
Once outside the school, Hua Jie saw Teacher Shen’s car immediately and walked over to open the door. She saw Shen Mo walk to the other side of the car and bend down to get in first.
Raising an eyebrow, she got into the car as well.
Shen Jiaru planned to take the students to Ergun to paint the snowy plains, cedar trees, snow-capped mountains, and glaciers. They would drive through the night on Tuesday, arrive in the wee hours, sleep briefly, and start painting early in the morning, continuing until Sunday afternoon when they would return.
Since her family didn’t have a car, she was riding with Teacher Shen Jiaru, whereas Qian Chong and the others had their own cars to pick them up and drop them off.
Hua Jie had thought Shen Mo was just hitching a ride home, but after greeting Teacher Shen and Lei, the driver, she learned that Shen Mo had also taken leave to join.
“You don’t even paint,” Hua Jie turned to Shen Mo, who was sitting behind the driver’s seat.
“Rare chance to get out and have some fun, how could I miss it?” Shen Mo tossed his backpack aside, stretched out his legs, and leaned back.
Teacher Shen Jiaru sat in the passenger seat resting his eyes, while Lei concentrated on driving.
Hua Jie glanced at Shen Mo again before placing her backpack between them and began reciting her lesson while looking out the window at the scenery.
Jinsong City is very small; it wasn’t long before they had driven out of the city.
The moon was very bright at night, and its light reflected off the snow-covered ground, making the surroundings still clearly visible.
“It will be midnight by the time we get there, you guys should sleep for a while,” Zhao Xiaolei said.
“Okay, thanks for your hard work, Brother Lei,” Hua Jie said softly.
Shen Mo gave her a look, then turned his head back to the window.
Hua Jie, prone to motion sickness, had recited the text for a while before she closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat to rest.
Soon, she fell asleep.
Shen Mo, hearing the even breathing next to him, once again turned his gaze towards her.
The lights in the back of the car were off, dim and blurry, giving Shen Mo the illusion of being in a private space hidden away with the girl, invisible to anyone else.
He could unabashedly watch her profile, no longer having to hide his gaze or emotions as he would during the day.
…
Shen Jiaru and his group were the first to arrive at the Snow Mountain Resort. In this era, only wealthy tycoons like Shen Jiaru could afford to stay in such a setting for days.
The resort had a strong Northeastern flair, with corn cobs and dried chili peppers hanging on the door pillars as decorations, symbolizing a bountiful harvest.
The use of real wooden logs was prevalent, and the whole appearance resembled a large cluster of wooden cabins, self-made by a mountain keeper yet refined and beautiful, almost of the highest aesthetic quality.